The femme Fatal in Neo-film noir: comparison of Brick and Bladerunner - Movie Review Example

However, it is mixed with other elements of misogyny, sex, chauvinism and other elements of human nature. Film noir is gritty and often focused around the main character, usually male, in puruit of a goal. (notice that this is a modern version of ‘the hero.) The protagonist in such a theme is often the femme fatal, either guiding the main character to his goal or corrupting his goal.. In film noir, the goal of the main character is usually one of solving a mystery. Thus the main character is often a detective in film noir.

The femme fetal either brings the issue to him, aids him or distracts him. The criteria will be the ‘standard’ by which the degree that the femme fatal is found in particular examples of film noir or neo-film noir. The concept of the femme fatal within film noir The genre of film noir developed after Second World War in opposition to the optimism of the population of the US. The first films that could be classified as film noir developed after the Wr in the U.S., but the roots of the film noir came from France and Pre-War Germany.

They included various themes and archetypes. The first film noir films were in black and white with low lighting, disturbing camera angels, dark night shots and isolated sounds. They later developed in variations of these themes to be termed neo-noir or retro-noir of which there are numerous examples. The film noir movement is generally thought to have begun with the Maltese Falcon (1942). The first films were based on detective novels which were cynical. The Maltese Falcon (1942) could be considered the model for others that could be classified as film noir.

( World War II had changed the atmosphere of the sexes. While the Post-War era was still chauvinistic, women were gaining some independence and not dependent upon men. This is because during World War II, many women had taken roles that had been generally thought of appropriated for men. They had been working in factories, managing businesses, and were in some cases the main provider. Independent women had been seen in film before, but always associated with their dependence upon men. Two obvious predecssion of the femme fatal in film nor could be found in the charater of Scarlett O’Hara, as portrayed in Gone with the Wind.

ome of the femme fatal characteristics were also found in the ‘vamp” character of 1920s silent films as portrayed by Theda Bera (Taker 1998; Wager, 2005.) Criteria of measuring the ‘presence’ of a femme fatal in film noir A femme fatal in film noir is a woman who is usually attractive, self-absorbed, goal-oriented, seductive and corrupting. Of the virtue of a man, who portrayed as innocent and uncorrupted before meeting the femme fatal the femme fatal is often juxtaposed with the virtuous woman-or femme attrapee, who is usually linked with the main character either as his wife or lover.

The femme fatal is a woman who is childless, not married, cynical and disdains tradition including marriage. However, the male character is drawn to her because of her overt sexuality. Thus, she is the antithesis of the femme attrapee, The role of the femme fatal its strength and the degree it measures up to the ‘classic’ definition will be discussed in the context of two neo-noirist films, the Brick (2006) and Blade Runner (1982) (Wager, 2005) Review of Film 1: Brick (2005)