Femme fatale
For other uses, see Femme fatale (disambiguation)A
femme fatale is a
stock character, usually a
villainous
woman, who uses the malign power of
sexuality in order to ensnare the hapless
hero. The phrase is
French for "deadly woman" or "fatal woman". She is typically portrayed as sexually insatiable. Although typically villainous, femmes fatales have also been known to be
antiheroines in some stories and sometimes even repentant heroines. Today, the archetype is generally seen as a character who constantly crosses the line between good and evil, but despite any allegiance, acts rather unscrupulously. A
femme fatale is a nexus of evil: whether it be her own, that of a lover, of a third party, or some combination thereof, varies, but generally arises when a woman's traditional role as subservient lover comes into conflict with other goals. For this reason a modern
feminist woman may have quite a different evaluation of a so-called femme fatale in movies or fiction than a male companion. Consider the qualities of a beautiful woman wielding power by proxy (from her father or family), or who posseses it in her own right -- but will lose it if she marries:
* A man may declare his "love" for her, but his true objectives differ from what he states out loud, not only by subterfuge but because he may develop affection for the woman he initially sees as only as a pawn in a political struggle.
* Similarly, initially captivated by the woman's beauty, he may be shocked at the means she goes to pursue her political or commercial objectives, even though the same measures taken by a man would not cause comment.
* Under these conditions, a woman of power, being offered romance, needs to treat it with great suspicion, and as noted above
even a true lover's intentions may change under pressure from his family or her own. Since a woman of power typically surrenders both her personal political power and romantic power to her husband, she has to put her potential partners under severe stress.
Part of the traditional femme fatale's power is to emotionally enslave her lover without his realising it. What makes her a tragic character is that the reason behind her methods and actions cannot be explained, even by the femme fatale herself. Her personality is a mystery to others and an abyss to herself.
|
The Spirit, Oct. 6, 1946 which features one of the classic femme fatales, P'Gell. |
The femme fatale has existed, in one form or another, in folklore and myth in nearly all cultures. Some of the earliest examples include the
Sumerian goddess
Ishtar and the Biblical
Delilah. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the
femme fatale became ubiquitous in Western culture and can be found in the works of
Oscar Wilde,
Edvard Munch, and
Gustav Klimt. This may have been a reaction to women's movements and the changing role of women at the time. With the introduction of
film noir in the 1940s, the femme fatale flourished in
pop culture. Examples include
espionage thrillers, and in a number of
adventure comic strips, such as
The Spirit by
Will Eisner, or
Terry and the Pirates by
Milton Caniff.
The femme fatale is sometimes portrayed as a sort of sexual
vampire; her dark appetites were thought to be able to leech away the virility and independence of her lovers, leaving them shells of their former selves. On this account, in earlier
American slang femmes fatales were often called "
vamps", short for "vampire". A classic portrayal of a
femme fatale is given in
Lawrence Durrell's
Alexandria Quartet in the character of Justine.
In
opera and
musical theater, the femme fatale is usually played by a
dramatic mezzo-soprano and is sometimes the
foil or the enemy of the
ingenue and/or the
damsel in distress.
Some argue that the figure has a male counterpart. Some examples could be
Don Juan,
Heathcliff from
Wuthering Heights, many of the heroes in
Lord Byron's books (termed the "
Byronic hero"), as well as such diverse characters as
Billy Budd,
Count Dracula, Tadzio in
Death in Venice,
Georges Querelle in
Jean Genet's
Querelle of Brest,
James Bond, and
Tom Ripley in
Patricia Highsmith's "Ripley" novels.
A possible name of any male "femme fatale" might be
homme fatal.
Although often depicted in ancient texts as a symbol of corruption, in more recent times the femme fatale is often portrayed in fiction as a symbol of free will for women and unrestrained passion.
There has been greater attention to
sexist and male-biased points of view in older fiction in recent centuries. Many women state that many of the so-called villainous women in literature are merely seeking an improved enjoyment and
quality of life, personal satisfaction, or
metaphysical self-actualization, which has raised questions about the view of women as subservient and unworthy of
free will in the eyes of some men in history. A big point of debate is the subject of
Lilith, the mythological first wife of
Adam before
Eve. In most texts depicting Lilith, many point out that her only real crime against Adam and God was voicing her own opinion. She is sentenced to
hell, and God creates a new woman for Adam in the form of Eve.
Eve, however, is considerably more subservient to Adam than Lilith was, who showed signs of desiring more equal treatment. This text has infuriated many women for centuries, who argue that the passage is extremely male-biased. Many people (including those with religious beliefs) question the validity of such a religious statement of subservience, questioning whether or not any god would wish such an unfair fate upon all women. It has been suggested by many that religious books are heavily influenced by male values of the time, such as men's believed superiority over women.
In modern times the Femme Fatale has enjoyed a better image. Even Femme Fatales in older texts have been at times looked upon in a different, more sympathetic, light.
In modern media, the Femme Fatale archetype can actually be seen quite often. Popular examples of this character type are the movies
Nikita and
Moulin Rouge, to name a few, and a number of assorted media from
video games to comic books.
Elektra, a character from the
Marvel Comics universe is arguably a femme fatale and is quite a well known character in comic circles, as is
Catwoman from the various
Batman stories. The female
Ninja, the
Kunoichi depicted in countless media are very well known and legendary for being trained in femme fatale like methods, using their sexuality as fluidly as their deadly assassination skills.
Both fictional and factual are listed.
Modern Fictional characters
*
Ada Wong, from the
Resident Evil video game series
*
Angeltop, daughter of Flattop who sought to murder
Dick Tracy in revenge for the death of her father
*
Ava Lord from
Sin CityLa Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad by
John Keats*
Baroness from
G.I. Joe*
Blackarachnia*
BloodRayne, a
dhampyr.
*
Brigid O'Shaughnessy from
The Maltese Falcon*
Contessa Livia from
Camillo Boito's famous
novella Senso.
*
Carmen*
Catwoman, one of whose nicknames is actually the
wordplay feline fatale*
Darla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
*
Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
*
Delilah*
Emma Frost of the
X-Men*
Faith Lehane from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
*
Faye Valentine from
Cowboy Bebop*
Inque of
Batman BeyondJustine (In
Lawrence Durrell's
The Alexandria Quartet)
*
Minerva Mink*
Mirage*
Poison Ivy, a recurring opponent of
Batman*the assassin Priest from
Spawn (film)*
Ramba, an erotic Italian hitlady
*
Selene from
Marvel comics.
*
Talia al Ghul*
Jessica Rabbit (In
Roger Rabbit 1988)
*
Catherine Tramell, the main character of the films
Basic Instinct and
Basic Instinct 2*
Wuya from
Xiaolin Showdown*
Xenia Onatopp from
Goldeneye*All girl monsters in various forms of animation, especially
magical girl anime.
*
Lovely from
Kirby: Right Back at Ya!"Femme fatales" in Mythology
*
Ishtar*
Lilith*
Circe*
Medea*
Scylla*
Lamia*
The Sirens*
Calypso*
Morgan le Fay*
Morgause*
La Llorona (see also
damsel in distress, however)
*
Yuki-OnnaHistorical figures
*
Clodia (C.
95 -
50's BC).
*
Salomé (
1st century).
*
Lucrezia Borgia (
April 14/
18,
1480 -
June 24,
1519).
*
Erzsébet Báthory (
August 7? ,
1560 -
August 21,
1614).
*
Mata Hari (
August 7,
1876 -
October 15,
1917). (see also
damsel in distress, however.)
*
Theda Bara (
July 29,
1885 -
April 7,
1955) (persona as actress)
*
Musidora (
February 23,
1889 -
December 11,
1957) (persona as actress)
*
Nita Naldi (
April 1,
1897 -
February 17,
1961) (persona as actress)
Films
Les Vampires (
1915) -
MusidoraA Fool There Was (
1915) -
Theda BaraThe Blue Angel (
1930) -
Marlene DietrichThe Maltese Falcon (
1931) -
Bebe DanielsThe Devil is a Woman (
1935) -
Marlene DietrichThe Maltese Falcon (
1941) -
Mary AstorDouble Indemnity (
1944) -
Barbara StanwyckLeave Her to Heaven (
1945) -
Gene TierneyGilda (
1946) -
Rita HayworthThe Lady from Shanghai (
1948) - Rita Hayworth
Chinatown (
1974) -
Faye DunawayBody Heat (
1981) -
Kathleen TurnerBasic Instinct (
1992) -
Sharon StonePoison Ivy (
1992) -
Drew BarrymoreThe Crush (
1993) -
Alicia SilverstoneFemme Fatale (
2002) -
Rebecca RomijnBrick (
2005) -
Nora ZehetnerBasic Instinct 2 (
2006)
- Sharon Stone
* Chicago'' (
2002) - Catherine Zeta-Jones; Renee Zelwegger
*
Metal Gear Solid: Sniper Wolf
*
Metal Gear Solid 3: Eva
*
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (Malia Gedde)
*
DarkStalkers (Morrigan Aensland)
*
StarCraft (Sarah Kerrigan)
*
WarCraft III: Frozen Throne (Lady Vashj, Sylvanas Windrunner).
*
City Of Heroes: Femme Fatales Supergroup
*
Max Payne: Mona Sax
*
Resident Evil 4: Ada Wong
Bram Dijkstra has written two books that discuss the
Femme fatale-stereotype at great length:
*
Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture, ISBN 0195056523
*
Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture, ISBN 0805055495
The Velvet Underground have a song off their album
The Velvet Underground and Nico titled "
Femme Fatale".
Senses Fail refer to a Femme Fatale in their song "Let it enfold you"
*
Feminist film theory*
Male gaze*
Warrior princess*
History Television's Femme Fatales.
