Postfeminism and the Fatale Figure in Neo-Noir Cinema

This Book Is A Thought-provoking Study That Expands On Film Scholarship On Noir And Feminist Scholarship On Postfeminism, Subjectivity, And Representation To Provide An Inclusive, Sophisticated, And Up-to-date Analysis Of The Femme Fatale , Fille Fatale , And Homme Fatal From The Classic Era Through To Recent Postmillennial Neo-noir . Introduction: Beyond The Limits Of Noir Scholarship -- 1. What Makes Those Dames So Deadly? -- 2. The New Fatale: 1980₆1999 -- 3. Mad, Bad, And Queer -- 4. Con-artists, Valkyries, And Revenge Seekers -- 5. What Are (fatal) Little Girls Made Of? -- 6. Playtime Is Over -- 7. Duplicity, Desire, And The Deadly Man -- 8. Turning The Spotlight On The Homme Fatal -- Notes -- Selected Filmography -- Works Cited. By Samantha Lindop. Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction: Beyond the Limits of Noir Scholarship 10 Classic film noir 13 Neo- noir 18 What is postfeminism? 20 Outline of chapters 24 1 What Makes Those Dames So Deadly? 28 Sensual seductresses and human tarantulas 29 The femme fatale and psychoanalytic theory 35 The vamp 38 Post- World War II, American culture, and the fatale figure 42 Racial anxiety in classic noir 46 The ageing spider woman 50 Conclusion 51 2 The New Fatale: 1980– 1999 53 Let’s talk about sex 54 Getting away with it (most of the time) 60 Rape- revenge 64 Conclusion 66 3 Mad, Bad, and Queer 68 Postfeminism and heteronormativity in popular culture 69 Mulholland Drive, Carmilla, and the gothic 71 Feminist interpretations of the lesbian vampire 76 Chloé and the deadly lesbian 78 Abjection, rejection, doubles, and insecurity 80 Conclusion 83 4 Con- Artists, Valkyries, and Revenge Seekers 85 Tensions, contradictions, and nostalgia in Derailed 86 Sin City and the new kind of tart 91 Race, class, and revenge in Descent 97 Conclusion 100 5 What Are (Fatal) Little Girls Made of? 102 Sex, lies, and lollipops: girlhood as masquerade 103 The fille fatale and the (much) older man 106 Postfeminism and the deadly girl 108 Conclusion 112 6 Playtime Is Over 113 Stoker: coming- of-(killing)- age 113 Hard Candy and the deadly grrrl 122 Tough guys and guilty girls: reclaiming control in Brick 126 Male identity and ‘protest masculinity’ 128 Conclusion 132 7 Duplicity, Desire, and the Deadly Man 134 The homme fatal and the gothic 135 The female investigator noir 139 Postfeminism and the women’s psychothriller 142 Conclusion 149 8 Turning the Spotlight on the Homme Fatal 151 Taking (over) lives and undermining feminism 152 Submerging into the subjectivity of Mr Brooks 157 Perverting romance: In the Cut 164 Conclusion 172 Notes 175 Selected Filmography 183 Works Cited 188 Index 198 This book is a thought-provoking study that expands on film scholarship on noir and feminist scholarship on postfeminism, subjectivity, and representation to provide an inclusive, sophisticated, and up-to-date analysis of the femme fatale, fille fatale, and homme fatal from the classic era through to recent postmillennial neo-noir. While the femme fatale has attracted considerable scholarly attention over the decades, Samantha Lindop's timely and engaging study is the first to trace the cinematic history of the character by also taking into account the spider woman's lesser known counterparts, the fille fatale and homme fatal. Lindop explores the earliest instances of noir, challenging some of the assumptions attached to the figure of that era, through to the most recent postmillennial phase of neo-noir production. She considers the multifaceted interactions between the histories, origins, and conventions of characters and genres, and the way these interweave into contemporary interpretations. In doing so, Lindop compellingly engages with current critical debates about dominant postfeminist discourse, particularly in relation to sexuality, nostalgia, aging, race, girlhood, and the postfeminist man. These themes are considered through close readings of the films Mulholland Drive, Chloe, Derailed, Sin City, Descent, Stoker, Hard Candy, Brick, Taking Lives, Mr Brooks, and In the Cut While the "femme fatale" has attracted considerable scholarly attention over the decades, Samantha Lindop's timely and engaging study is the first to trace the cinematic history of the character by also taking into account the spider woman's lesser known counterparts, the "fille fatale "and "homme fatal". Lindop explores the earliest instances of "noir", challenging some of the assumptions attached to the figure of that era, through to the most recent postmillennial phase of neo-noir production. She considers the multifaceted interactions between the histories, origins, and conventions of characters and genres, and the way these interweave into contemporary interpretations. In doing so, Lindop compellingly engages with current critical debates about dominant postfeminist discourse, particularly in relation to sexuality, nostalgia, aging, race, girlhood, and the postfeminist man. These themes are considered through close readings of the films "Mulholland Drive", "Chlǒ", "Derailed", "Sin City", "Descent", "Stoker", "Hard Candy", "Brick", "Taking Lives", "Mr Brooks", and "In the Cut." This Book Is A Thought-provoking Study That Expands On Film Scholarship On Noir And Feminist Scholarship On Postfeminism, Subjectivity, And Representation To Provide An Inclusive, Sophisticated, And Up-to-date Analysis Of The Femme Fatale , Fille Fatale , And Homme Fatal From The Classic Era Through To Recent Postmillennial Neo-noir . Introduction: Beyond The Limits Of Noir Scholarship -- 1. What Makes Those Dames So Deadly? -- 2. The New Fatale: 198061999 -- 3. Mad, Bad, And Queer -- 4. Con-artists, Valkyries, And Revenge Seekers -- 5. What Are (fatal) Little Girls Made Of? -- 6. Playtime Is Over -- 7. Duplicity, Desire, And The Deadly Man -- 8. Turning The Spotlight On The Homme Fatal -- Notes -- Selected Filmography -- Works Cited. By Samantha Lindop. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Beyond the Limits of Noir Scholarship....Pages 1-18 What Makes Those Dames So Deadly?....Pages 19-43 The New Fatale: 1980–1999....Pages 44-58 Mad, Bad, and Queer....Pages 59-75 Con-Artists, Valkyries, and Revenge Seekers....Pages 76-92 What Are (Fatal) Little Girls Made of?....Pages 93-103 Playtime Is Over....Pages 104-124 Duplicity, Desire, and the Deadly Man....Pages 125-141 Turning the Spotlight on the Homme Fatal....Pages 142-165 Back Matter....Pages 166-199