Start Date
18-11-2016 1:45 PM
Description
Introductory Paragraph:
The struggle for women’s rights and roles in society has been an ongoing battle, since the beginning, with Adam and Eve. The subjugation that was presented upon Eve, because of her fault and easiness to be deceived, has trailed behind mankind, and film noir would not be excluded. The femme fatale seems to play the role of what Eve started, seducing men with her sexuality to carry out wicked schemes and being the downfall of all men. Thus, men began to identify women as a threat to their very essence but, yet, still cannot resist the temptation women can offer. However, when allurement is not heavily projected through a female’s sensuality, and her independence becomes her greatest asset, the attraction becomes non-existent, but the danger still persists. Michael Curtiz affirms the fear of working women in Mildred Pierce (1945) through Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) and Ida Corwin (Eve Arden); the oppression of working women in the household, work place and the dating realm traces back to early preconceptions placed on men—what it takes to be a man—and the effects of World War II during that era.
Included in
American Film Studies Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Fiction Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Nonfiction Commons
Hold Them Down: Oppression of Film Noir's Working Woman
Introductory Paragraph:
The struggle for women’s rights and roles in society has been an ongoing battle, since the beginning, with Adam and Eve. The subjugation that was presented upon Eve, because of her fault and easiness to be deceived, has trailed behind mankind, and film noir would not be excluded. The femme fatale seems to play the role of what Eve started, seducing men with her sexuality to carry out wicked schemes and being the downfall of all men. Thus, men began to identify women as a threat to their very essence but, yet, still cannot resist the temptation women can offer. However, when allurement is not heavily projected through a female’s sensuality, and her independence becomes her greatest asset, the attraction becomes non-existent, but the danger still persists. Michael Curtiz affirms the fear of working women in Mildred Pierce (1945) through Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) and Ida Corwin (Eve Arden); the oppression of working women in the household, work place and the dating realm traces back to early preconceptions placed on men—what it takes to be a man—and the effects of World War II during that era.