The Figure of Hyper-sexuality and Dangerous Intent - Dissertation Example

But from literature, the femme fatale has inevitably seeped into other forms of art as well. In the film, for instance, the role of the femme fatale has become a recognizable trope in certain genres, even inviting variations like spoofs or parodies of it. In the film, the genre of film noir has generally monopolized or been associated traditionally with the use of the femme fatale. Film noir makes room for two kinds of female archetypes: the sweet, dutiful, loving, and reliable women and the deceitful, mysterious, subversive, and manipulative femmes fatales (Dirks, ‘Femme Fatale’, n.d.).
An instance of a film where one finds both kinds is Double Indemnity (1944), where Phyllis Dietrichson, the homicidal wife who feigns interest in and plots with the insurance agent to kill her husband is the typical femme fatale while her step-daughter Lola Dietrichson, loving, honest and helpless, represents the only other type of woman that film noir allows for. The appearance and function of the femme fatale in films have evolved over the years, and film noir is no longer the genre that monopolizes the use of this figure.
Science-fiction films have also been repeatedly invoking the figure of the femme fatale over the years to complement their other thematic concerns. How, why, and where this use of the femme fatale has taken place will be evaluated in the course of this paper. What evolving roles has the femme fatale been invoked to perform; what common patterns and departures from such patterns have occurred in their representation; what universal concerns, if any, has the femme fatale stood for: these are a few of the questions which this paper will seek to answer.
The femme fatale must first be defined for us to be able to identify her in different works of art. Certain characteristics are popularly recognized as being typical of the femme fatale. Tim Dirks’s description of femmes fatales as ‘mysterious, duplicitous, subversive, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate women (‘Femme Fatale’, n.d.)’ puts in place some of these commonly accepted associations of the femme fatale.