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Annie Lau Eng. 3/Sec. 31 Final Draft Assignment #3 Films Hidden Battle Embodying the saying that women are the root of all problems, the femme fatale is a mysterious woman who seduces the male and plunges him into a whirlpool of crime and danger. Noir filmscharacterized by low-key lighting, gloominess, and harsh portrayal of sex and violenceare hardboiled detective mysteries where the male lead must save himself after he is seduced by a female and drawn into a conspiracy that tends to involve a greater power. The female lead which is also known as the femme fatale, meaning deadly woman in French, is depicted as beautiful and captivating, but also deceitful. Successive of film noir from the 1940s and 1950s, contemporary noir takes a similar approach in both style and characters. However, films today, including neo-noir, are greatly influenced by modernism, societys changed way of thinking and what is conceived as modern. Feminism, one aspect of modernism, drives the revolutionary change in roles of women, and in order to accommodate this change, noir films attempt to bring down previously established gender boundaries by transforming the antagonistic femme fatale into the heroine of the film, despite maintaining many of the same characteristics. Although the changes in the female roles are worth noting, male roles are also worth using as a point of comparison because they have remained somewhat identical, positive and righteous, for the past few decades. While feminism has had a profound influence on the roles of women, noir films such as Chinatown, depict the struggle between two opposing forces, conventional and modern thinking. Regardless of the progressive ideas incorporated into female characters, noir films continue enforce gender stereotypes by portraying liberal females negatively, which is further endorsed when contrasted with their masculine male counterparts, who are depicted positively.

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In Chinatown, the detective J.J. Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband Hollis Mulwray, the citys chief engineer, who is later drowned. However, Gittes soon realizes that the woman is not Evelyn Mulwray and becomes entangled in Noah Crosss conspiracy to gain control of Los Angeles water supply. Even though the real Evelyn Mulwray befriends Gittes, she seems to be hiding crucial clues that may lead to the truth behind her husbands death. Later, Gittes discovers that Evelyn had an incestuous relationship with her father Noah Cross, who has been plotting to gain control of the San Fernando Valleys water supply and bringing it to LA. This is a creation myth that is based on Los Angeles exploitation of the people in Owens Valley for their water in the early nineteenth century. In the end, Evelyn Mulwray dies a tragic death while protecting her daughter/sister Katherine, who is taken away by her abominable father Noah Cross. Influenced by feminism, the contemporary femme fatale is no longer a cunning seductress who uses men for her pleasure and advantage but a woman who is kind, protective, and victimized. Even though the audience is led to believe that Evelyn is the one responsible for her husbands death for the majority of the film, she is later revealed to be a victim in her incestuous relationship with her father Noah Cross. Because Evelyn is unable to escape the constraints of her father, her character is further complicated. Differing from the conventional, sly femme fatale who bears ill intentions, Evelyn is both a victim and a heroine. According to Julie Grossman, by shifting our nomenclature, for example, to talk about these trapped women as hard-boiled females rather than strictly as femme fatales, we can see more clearly the ongoing force of binary oppositions in the presentation of gender in contemporary culture and we highlight film noirs aim to destabilize gender categories (22). In this case, the shift of female roles indicates societys search for moral progress and illustrates how film can satisfy that desire.

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Because of feminism, society wants to see women portrayed positively like men; as a result, the femme fatale is no longer portrayed negatively as the antagonist but as a struggling protagonist. Despite the shift of the femme fatale from being an antagonist to a protagonist, most of her negative implications remain. Many cultures have similar proverbs stating that a beautiful woman is beautiful trouble, and the film reinforces this image. Both the traditional and contemporary femme fatales are beautiful but also seen as trouble, because in both cases, the male protagonist is placed into jeopardy for her, whether she planned it or not. While the previous femme fatales entice the males into a pit of danger, Gittes is at risk because he tried to protect Evelyn. In spite of her good intentions, Evelyn still ends up bringing trouble to Gittes like the femme fatale. Even though society attempts to bypass these gender stereotypes by changing the femme fatale into a female protagonist, women are still given negative connotations, such as being troublemakers. Society also attempts to bypass gender stereotypes by incorporating liberal women into noir films rather than submissive females. Evelyn is an independent and modern woman who differs from the stereotypical female. Living in the thirties, women like her who smoked cigarettes and wore pants instead of dresses were considered to be unconventional. Introduced after the First World War, the social group flappers transgressed gender boundaries and blurred the distinctions between the two sexes. However, according to Aaron Devor, persons who perform the activities considered appropriate for another gender will be expected to perform them poorly; if they succeed adequately, or even well, at their endeavors, they may be regarded with ridicule or scorn for blurring the gender dividing line. (567) Evelyn is just as strong and smart as any male, but no matter how much she struggles, she ultimately fails to protect Katherine or defeat Noah or the system that he controls. Although the women in neo-noir films

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are progressive and do not follow an ideal houswife image, their deviation is not supported or seen positively. Women who are not ideal housewives are portrayed negatively for their multiple sex partners. The first images displayed in the beginning of Chinatown are pictures of a wife in various sex positions with her lover, because Gittes was helping his friend Curly investigate his unfaithful wife, who had been secretly seeing another man. Rather than setting this as the second or third scene, the film fixates on the image of women as infidel into the audiences mind as the film commences. Furthermore, even Evelyn, the heroine and victim, sleeps with three men: Noah Cross, Hollis Mulwray, and Gittes. While she was not unfaithful, she still had multiple sex partners, what was seen as promiscuous and disapproved of at the time. Although Hollis was thought to be cheating on his wife with another woman, later revealed to be Katherine, he was proven to be loyal to his wife in the end. In short, the only adulterous characters in the film are women while the men are portrayed as loyal. Both of the women stray from the image of the ideal woman, but their negative characteristics such as unfaithfulness rather than positive characteristics like independence are accentuated. The women who refuse to be molded into traditional ideal women are depicted negatively as promiscuous women. Aside from being depicted negatively, the women who stray from the image of the ideal female are penalized. Rather than being the stereotypically submissive housewife who stays at home, takes care of her family, and only has eyes for her husband, Curlys wife betrays him by having a love affair. She is later seen with a black eye when she is punished by her husband who beats her back into her place. The last scene that she appears in is at her house preparing food for her family at the dinner table, seen as a place where women should belong. This contrasts with her pictures from the beginning of the film, which was taken with her lover outdoors in a

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beautiful, green field. Even though Curlys wife is happier out of the household, she needed to give up that lifestyle because it did not conform to societal expectations. She is punished until she is the ideal submissive housewife that her husband wants. While the women have minds of their own, they are puppets defenseless against the dominant men. In their society, men are in control and can do as they wish, while the women are expected to devote their entire lives to their family at the cost of their own contentment. Evelyn is also another liberal woman who deviates from the stereotypical female, yet she is unable to avoid her inevitable fate and punishment, a bullet through the head. Noir films have a tendency to not give any happy endings to the independent women, because they do not adhere to the norm, what society is comfortable with. Like many other advancements that challenged the traditional beliefs in history, the new representation of females was met with strong opposition. The struggle between the two opposing forces, conventional and modern thinking, is expressed in films such as noir. While women are finally portrayed as a progressive as opposed to the obedient female or cunning antagonist, they are discouraged from so through their tragic fates and punishments exerted by males. The male protagonists embody the strength and aggressiveness and other conventional, masculine characteristics. Stereotypically dominant in nature, men are described as tough, aggressive, and unsentimental, which is juxtaposed with the nurturing and caring nature of females. In Chinatown, Gittes is a well-groomed, handsome detective who makes an honest living when people come to him in desperate situations. Shown as cynical and lonely, he fits the stereotype of being unsentimental and barely flinches when someone attempts to slice his nose open. He is tough and independent because he lives on his own and tends to investigate on his own without much aid from his associates. Even though he is remote at times, he can also be

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assertive when needed. For example, when a banker criticizes his job, Gittes exclaims without a moment of hesitation, Maybe youd like to step down from the barber chair and go outside so we can discuss it. His act of aggression and readiness to defend his honor further exemplifies his masculine characteristics. Male protagonists in noir films from the forties and fifties have generally maintained the same conventional, manly traits. While the male protagonist of the film maintains masculine characteristics, he also has a soft, vulnerable side that is necessary for the audience to see him positively and identify with him. Gittes was a police officer until he failed to protect a woman who ended up dying in Chinatown, resulting in his cynicism and loneliness. When others mention this incident in Chinatown, he tries to avoid the topic, expressing his pain at the mention of the subject. His tragic past is also his fatal flaw that makes him vulnerable to the femme fatale. In this case, Gittess desire to protect Evelyn Mulwray is a projection of the same incident from Chinatown. He hopes to correct his mistake and overcome fate through this second chance given to him, but instead, he places himself in the direction of danger. This vulnerability is unfortunately characteristic of every male protagonist in noir films. If he is aloof and cold, then the audience will extend that image onto the male population, which is not wanted. As a result, he needs to be able to keep the audience in favor of him through this vulnerability. In addition to being depicted positively through his vulnerability, the male protagonists are also presented as respectable and righteous. In Chinatown, Gittes voluntarily left the police force in order to avoid corruption and instead chose to become a detective, one who makes an honest living, rather than joining them. In the last scene, Gittes openly defies the wicked and greater power as he screams at the top of his lungs that Noah Cross is rich and can get away with anything to the police officer who responds with Shut Up! He places himself in danger

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by deceiving the police and opposing Noah Cross in order to protect Evelyn, even though he fails in the end. This sense of righteousness contrasts with the corrupt society that surrounds him. Furthermore, Hollis Mulwray resisted Noah Crosss scheme of stealing water from the San Fernando Valley. Despite going against the wishes of the public, he does not sway and refuses to build another dam that will eventually collapse and take hundreds of lives with it. Both Gittes and Mulwray are willing to sacrifice themselves for they believe is right and are depicted as moral and just men. The masculine men are once more seen as positive in contrast to the negative impression of females in the film. The male protagonist enforces his authority when he exerts his control over the femme fatale, thus abiding by the stereotype of male dominance. By being unknown and mysterious, the femme fatale poses as a threat to the male protagonist. Femininity is also about accommodating men, allowing them to feel bigger and stronger than and superior to women, not emasculated by them, so this entrances the male and gives him the urge to investigate and uncover her secrets, thus unarming her by taking the dangerous element away (Mariah Burton nelson 540). According to Sigmund Freud, the dangerous woman poses a threat to his masculinity, and the man can respond by either sadistically punishing or saving the threatening women. In Chinatown, Gittes attempts to tame the femme fatale through both ways. Before discovering Evelyns relationship with Katherine, Gittes slaps Evelyn many times as she alternates between saying she is my daughter and she is my sister. By punishing Evelyn through violence and forcing her to speak the truth, Gittes is rendering her harmless because she is no longer a mystery and potential threat. Eventually, she breaks out in sobs and admits that Katherine is both her daughter and sister. He is exercising his control through violence. In addition, he also decides to save Evelyn by helping her avoid the police and Noah Cross. As

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someone who is vulnerable and dependent on his help, she no longer poses as a threat to his masculinity and he is able to exert his male dominance. Both males and females break the law, but the males can escape without a scratch while females must suffer the consequences. Noah Cross committed many horrid and unforgivable deeds but ends up getting his way in the end. He committed incest with his daughter when she was fifteen, planned to exploit the residents in San Fernando Valley and take away their water supply by secretly buying away their land, and murdered Hollis Mulwray. He even disposed of the evidence by threatening Gittes with a gun, caused Evelyns death, and kidnapped Katherine, his daughter and granddaughter. Evelyn merely wanted to protect her daughter, start a new life, and escape the constraints of her father. Suspecting that Evelyn was the one who murdered her husband, the police blindly fires after her, resulting in her tragic death. Overall, her crimes were trivial in comparison to the ones that her father had committed, yet she suffers much more. According to Elisabeth Bronfen, to focus on the femme fatale, of course, also means introducing the question of gender difference into a discussion of tragic sensibility, in the sense that, while she comes to acknowledge her responsibility for her fate, the hero she involves in her transgressive plot is characterized by the exact opposite attitude, namely, a desire to stave off knowledge of his own fallibility at all costs. (106) She, the female, needed to pay with her life while Noah Cross, the male, walks away unscathed. Noah Cross easily escapes the punishment of incest, a crime that only Gods like Zeus in Greek mythology can get away with. Even Oedipus, a powerful King from the Greek Myths, was exiled and blinded after committing incest with his mother. The men are favored over women in the film and are given God-like abilities to transgress the law. In the final scene, Gittes is handcuffed by the police but is later released out of pity from his previous police partner. Even though he is seen as a nuisance by the police and

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Noah Cross for defying them, he walks away unhurt as well. Both the good and bad men in the film can easily transgress the law, while the females must be severely punished for their actions. The conventional men of the film are given special privileges while modern women are forced to comply with their supremacy. Representations of males and females in the media are influenced by modernism and are dynamically changing to accommodate societys desires. The oncoming pressure from groups to correct these stereotypes and melt these barriers is a factor driving these changes. Distinctions between the two genders were once very clear in noir films, but are now blurred as females begin to transgress these boundaries. Neo-noir films are the products of a struggle between the older generation that holds onto traditional values and the younger generation that is more willing to embrace new ideas. Despite the attempts at incorporating progressive ideas, films continue to hold these age-old stereotypes that are deeply rooted in our past. Even though the femme fatale changes from a devious seductress to a victimized heroine, she continues to reinforce traditional male dominance and female submissiveness through her tragic fate. Her tragic death is punishment for her deviant ways, because all females that do not adhere to the norm are tamed, punished, and beaten into submission. If films are a reflection of society, then many prejudices regarding the place of males and females still exist, masked under the illusion of progress. Society is what the audience sees as a beautiful garden where the weeds of discrimination are neatly trimmed away rather than pulled out. Film attempts to conceal this by giving groups different roles, but in the end, they still reinforce many of the same ideas that they promoted decades ago. While society is not taking huge leaps of change, it is slowly inching in the direction of progress.

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BIBIOLOGRAPHY Bronfen, Elisabeth. "Femme Fatale-Negotiations of Tragic Desire." New Literary History. 35.1 (2004): 106. Print. Grossman, Julie. "Film Noir's "Femme Fatales" Hard-Boiled Women: Moving Beyond Gender Fantasies ." Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 24.1 (2007): 22. Print. Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Bedfordst Martins, 2008. 567. Print.