'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"