The Femme Fatale’s Power: Constructed Transgression

Abstract

The femme fatale, stemming from a French term meaning “fatal woman,” is one of the most common female archetypes in popular culture. First emerging in classic film noir stories, the femme fatale is most well-remembered for her proclivity to manipulate and seduce the male lead. However, in classic noir tales, she frequently meets an unhappy end in her narrative—either imprisoned or dead by the end of the story. By comparing the femme fatales of both the film and short story versions of Gun Crazy, the film Too Late for Tears, and the novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, this research seeks to understand the ways in which the femme fatale gains and loses power over the course of her narrative. To address the reasons behind this loss of power, I contextualize the narratives of film noir within the cultural expectations of the time period—in particular, the expectations of the Hayes Production Code. I also address the sensational advertising that explains why we still think of the femme fatale as a powerful woman who gets what she wants rather than as a victim of the patriarchy in her own way. This media’s portrayal of the femme fatale reflects women’s treatment in the post-war era, reinforcing the patriarchy and possibly even leading to the delay of the second wave of feminism.