This feels like history repeating itself, and not in a good way—the femme fatale came into being as men tried shoving women back into the home following WWII (something they couldn't do during either the War or The Great Depression, because you needed women in working outside the home either in the fields or at a job for the family unit to survive!).
While feminism started getting women working outside the home again, it was economics that really pushed things, because once again a family couldn't really sustain itself on one person working full time, assuming they could even hold onto a full-time job for the full extent of their working life. But...The Right's Gotta Push Back for a time that only existed when their precious corporate masters were actually paying taxes, and the workers had strong unions to watch out for them—so the femme fatale is back, or an AI version of her, at least.
Noir and femme fatales have continued to be a somewhat popular genre—Gone Girl is an example. They've changed and adjusted as women have gotten somewhat more rights...
I'm trying to remember if the femme fatale was a major player in Thirties movies, but I don't think they were. I remember lots of tough-talking dames who were showgirls, dancers, actors, schoolteachers, the occasional aviatrix or lady professor, and a lot of reporters!
Glenda Farrell is the one most people think about because her B-movie series character, Torchy Blaine, was explicitly mentioned as the genesis of Superman's adversarial love interest Lois Lane, but there's also Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson from HIS GIRL FRIDAY (in the original Hildy was a man, and there was no romance between him and pushy editor Walter Burns!), Joan Crawford's Bonnie Jordan in the pre-Code DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE, Frances Dee's Jane Mallory in the pre-Code HEADLINE SHOOTER, Jean Arthur's "Babe" Bennett in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, Barbara Stanwyck's Ann Mitchell in MEET JOHN DOE, Claudette Colbert's "Gusto" Nash in ARISE, MY LOVE, Bette Davis's Ellen Garfield in FRONT PAGE WOMAN....
They may have skated on the thin edge of ethical lines but they were always on the right side of that line in the end.
I have got to stop reading your movie reviews because they always have immediate spoilers.
The film is like 10 years old!
I don't movie well. It's my fatal flaw, according to my girlfriend.
Women pretty much have to be a fantasy or unreal to be free and empowered.
This feels like history repeating itself, and not in a good way—the femme fatale came into being as men tried shoving women back into the home following WWII (something they couldn't do during either the War or The Great Depression, because you needed women in working outside the home either in the fields or at a job for the family unit to survive!).
While feminism started getting women working outside the home again, it was economics that really pushed things, because once again a family couldn't really sustain itself on one person working full time, assuming they could even hold onto a full-time job for the full extent of their working life. But...The Right's Gotta Push Back for a time that only existed when their precious corporate masters were actually paying taxes, and the workers had strong unions to watch out for them—so the femme fatale is back, or an AI version of her, at least.
Noir and femme fatales have continued to be a somewhat popular genre—Gone Girl is an example. They've changed and adjusted as women have gotten somewhat more rights...
I'm trying to remember if the femme fatale was a major player in Thirties movies, but I don't think they were. I remember lots of tough-talking dames who were showgirls, dancers, actors, schoolteachers, the occasional aviatrix or lady professor, and a lot of reporters!
Glenda Farrell is the one most people think about because her B-movie series character, Torchy Blaine, was explicitly mentioned as the genesis of Superman's adversarial love interest Lois Lane, but there's also Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson from HIS GIRL FRIDAY (in the original Hildy was a man, and there was no romance between him and pushy editor Walter Burns!), Joan Crawford's Bonnie Jordan in the pre-Code DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE, Frances Dee's Jane Mallory in the pre-Code HEADLINE SHOOTER, Jean Arthur's "Babe" Bennett in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, Barbara Stanwyck's Ann Mitchell in MEET JOHN DOE, Claudette Colbert's "Gusto" Nash in ARISE, MY LOVE, Bette Davis's Ellen Garfield in FRONT PAGE WOMAN....
They may have skated on the thin edge of ethical lines but they were always on the right side of that line in the end.
wikipedia's article is actually really good in discussing the history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale