Women in Film-Noir

There are three main types of character that women in film-noir can be seen as; the marrying type, the good woman and the femme-fatale.

• The marrying type was first seen in the late 1940s in “Pitfall” she threatens to domesticate the “hero” and make him fulfil to his social role. He finds this dull and this is what leads him to the femme fatale. The marrying type isn't seen as a dangerous woman, they are socially acceptable, and a sweetheart but they can be seen as dangerous as they are the ones who hold the hero back. 

• The good woman is seen to embrace her traditional “place” in the family, but is out of place in film-noir. Although she is seen to offer escapism for the hero the story, she is a mirage that that the hero cannot reach. The good woman offers lack of excitement and contrasts with what is expected of film-noir. In 1946 when “The Killers” was released, it showed that the good woman lost the hero to the femme fatale. 

 • The Femme-fatale character is an attractive and seductive woman who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. She rejects the conventional roles of a woman such as; devoted wife and loving mother that society expects. In the end her transgressions of social norms usually result in her downfall and of the men around her, this supports the existing social order, that a woman will be punished if she is powerful and independent. The femme-fatale character is very independent and if confined within a marriage, she will result to murder in order to escape, in the 1947 "Out of the Past" Kathie Moffett shoots her way out of a relationship.