C4 Forum Questionnaire

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1. Define in 3 words what 'femme fatale' means to you?
2. Which female character from which film do you think encapsulates the phrase 'femme fatale' most effectively?
3. How do you think the classic femme fatales have progressed in contemporary noir?
4. Which neo-noir encapsulates the visual style of classic noir most effectively in your opinion?
5. Which film would you consider the 'ultimate' film noir?
6. How important do you think the femme fatale is in terms of film noir as a whole?

Questionnaire incomplete

Although the questionnare may sem quite indepth and requires the person answering to have quite a substantial understanding in film noir already, the forum which I am posting it on has a specific 'FilmFun' section which will attract knowledgable participants in my area of research.

'The Postmodern Always Rings Twice: Constructing the femme fatales in 90's Cinema' by Kate Stables

"Postmodern film...pillages, adulterates and reconstitutes past cinema with extraordinary facility."

• One of the main differences between classic and postmodern noir is the technological advance that has been made in film-making. e.g. Rodriguez's Sin City
• Can use CGI/ Green Screen / Pyrotechnics etc.
• Expressed as 'Noir Lite'
• Using similar thriller scenarios/ expressionist lighting/ 40's styling and a saxaphone soundtrack
• Main difference is the progression of teh femme fatale
• Different branches of the new femme fatale
• Monster villainess mastermind (Basic Instinct & Sharon Stone)
• Unnatural Mothers (The Grifters)
• Postmodern sex toy - woman's body as a deadly weapon
• Deadly retro-noir housewives (The Hot Spot)
• Psycho - femme killer in mainstream slashers e.g. fatal Attraction (Glenn Close)
• Sex is part of the psycho-femme armoury, but they are defined primarily by their psychosis
• HOWEVER - they may be fatal to men but they are not femme fatales (faux fatales)
• The Last Seduction gave us the first fully fatale protagonist
• The ingredients to construct a femme fatale are always based on the time and climate of her creation
• At the same time they are a "timeless fantasy"

Latest Action Plan Review

So far I have been focusing on secondary research, reading essays, articles, book reviews on different takes on the femme fatale. The development (similarities & differences) of the classic & postmodern noir femme fatales has been of particular focus, looking at the common conventions of the fatales in the 40's & 50's crime thrillers and then seeing how they have progressed. I am now looking into the possible methods of primary research & am planning to have watched all of my film texts over the weekend. I will textually analyse each of the films, taking relevant clips and use them in focus groups of separate genders to get useful responses. I have also signed up to a C4 forum to post my questionaires and get a relevant feedback from people with soem knowledge of my area of research.

Posted by Skip to Miss T.

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Break-down of Title

Here are 8 questions/ areas that my research will be focused around, agreed between me & Miss B.

1. The development of the femme fatale - Classic Vs. Post-modern
2. Definition of stereotype - conventions that make a femme fatale
3. Influence/ Importance of the femme fatale
4. Narratice issues - whether her behaviour/ actions drive the narrative. Significance within the narrative, how she affects other characters.
5. Male issues - How they interact - binary opposites.
6. Culture & social context - Gender issues in society.
7. Audience responses - sympathies/ feelings towards the male & female characters?
8. Institutional - popularity at box office/ marketing/ branding/ production & distribution - postmodern advantaged by special effects)

Skipstar8.X

Question Make-over <3

I am currently re-thinking the title of my research slightly. Although I was currently taking a stronger focus on the Classic Film Noir Femme fatales, I am now thinking about a more balanced, comparative title looking at the progression of classic to postmodern femme fatales and theor impact in the film industry.

Skipstar*.X

E.Ann Kaplan 'Women in Film Noir' BFI Publishing, London, 1998

• The Neo Noir heroine is the product of what coud be read as "disappointment at what feminist movements failed to achieve'
• Classic femme fatales must be contained in order for the patriarchal order to be restored
• Most feminist discussion centred on the way in which noir disrupted the patriarchal social order only to emphasise the potential disaster unleashed when women do not know their place.
• Neo fatales vent their angst upon less intelligent, oppressive men
• The Neo-Noirs are not moral tales, nor do they possess

'Shades of Noir' Edited by Joan Copjec

A Question of Genre

• The films are the antithesis of a 'woman's' film
• Although film noir features strong, independent women with determined desires. It is argued that the figure is invariavly destroyed literally/ metaphorically
• Replaced by her inverse the 'nuturing woman'
• Connection of desire & death - central to film noir

E.g. Double Indemnity

• Neff's desire for Phyllisis linked to his knowledge of her desire to kill her husband.