Femme Fatales in Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema”
Feminist investigation of the image of women in
mainstream Hollywood films argues that the discursive
image of women projected on-screen is internalized by
society. Mostly feminist theorization of women in
films rests on the image shown of the women in the
narration. However, Mulvey’s theorization of
psychoanalysis rests on the image of women and
theory of “visual pleasure” created through the male
gaze. Mulvey uses psychoanalysis theory to show “the
way the unconscious of patriarchal society has
structured film form.” (833) Consequently, patriarchal
influence on films ensures visual pleasure for the male
spectators. In other words, films are enjoyable because
of “the pleasure of looking” or using Freud’s
terminology, “scopophilia” (Mulvey 834-5).
Therefore, the women we see on screen are basically
what the male protagonists in the movies believe them
to be. Female characters are objectified through the
male gaze and then projected on a screen for the
viewers. This trend remains unchanged even in movies
based on strong female protagonists as the primary
character (for example femme fatale movies). The
movies allow us to see the female characters through
male gaze, thus providing a biased, masculine
perspective of the female characters. Hence, men in the
movies judge the female characters and that is what is
captured in the films.
I argue that the male protagonists in movies primarily
based on the femme fatales are just the vehicle to
establish the supremacy of the less-than-powerful
heroes representing patriarchy over the dominant
women characters who are nothing but objects of
“visual pleasure” and male gaze. The male gaze is
actually the male point of view and films project this
male view. However, if the gaze can be reversed or
made neutral this would create a completely different
film. Thus, if the patriarchal control over cinema can
be revealed, avenues to create a new form of cinema
automatically open.
The theory of patriarchal control of cinema and the
“male gaze” presented by Mulvey is largely dependent
on the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jacques
Lacan. Many critics consider this return ironic. Mulvey
uses “gaze” as a tool to look at the “male pleasure” in
mainstream narrative cinema. However, Mulvey
follows Lacan and accepts that the gaze is an innate
form of subjectivity of the humans than the patriarchy.
Though, the patriarchal subjectivity of the gaze is a
very powerful tool, it is only a secondary manifestation
of the cultural media. Thus, with the help of Lacan’s
theory, Mulvey explains the difference between the
“symbolic” and the “imaginary” and demonstrates the
power of the eye, the visual nature of the “agency”, and
the concept behind “spectatorship” (Manlove 84).
Mulvey’s theory of visual pleasure and her feminist
deconstruction of mainstream narrative cinema have
been influenced by many academic disciplines. The
two concepts that widely define Mulvey’s present
study, namely the “gaze” and “visual pleasure” have
been applied in many multidisciplinary studies.
Further, the theory draws from both western and non-
western philosophers such as Nietzsche, Freud, Plato,
Aristotle, Bhaba, etc. (Manlove 84).
The interdisciplinary application of the gaze theory
usually demonstrates the hierarchical relationship
between a group of people and an “object.” Usually
studies into other cultural areas strive to understand the
following: “”white” and “black” gazes, the “tourist”
gaze, heterosexual and homosexual gazes, the
“imperial” gaze, the “transatlantic” gaze, the “animal”
gaze, and the “meta-fictional” gaze, to name but a
few.” (Manlove 84) All these studies point out that the
gaze indicates objectification from the point of the
viewer.
For example, when we talk of the “white” gaze it
shows what the “white” people perceive when they see
a particular object. In our analysis, we study the male
gaze objectifies a female protagonist in films and try to
understand the result of the objectification on viewers.
Even though the theory has found acceptance in other
cultural studies, application of Mulvey’s theory in film
studies is limited. Therefore, understanding Mulvey’s
theory and using it for analysis of the visual pleasure
demonstrated in mainstream narrative cinema is
important. In this paper, I will discuss three film
sequences from Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and
Body of Evidence, using Mulvey’s theory as a model
to prove how the theory of “visual pleasure” creates the
genre of cinematic femme fatale and the masochistic
gaze over the physical presence of these female
protagonists on-screen.
These three films are exemplary films as they typically
represent three female protagonists who are overtly
dominant and control the male counterparts, otherwise
termed as femme fatale. However, the representation of
women in the film and objectification of their body can
easily be explained using Mulvey’s theory of visual
pleasure and gaze even with the presence of
masochistic underpinnings present in the movies. In
femme fatale films, the male protagonists are male
point-of-view that judges the female characters and are
used to establish the supremacy of the masculine
characters, which represent patriarchy. Thus, the
dominant female characters become objects of “visual
pleasure” and male gaze.
In these films about femme fatale, the female body is a
source of the greatest fetish, and the beauty of the
women becomes an object. These films typify women
as a symbol of sexuality. She is objectified as the
perfect product, possessing beauty and glamour, to
satisfy the male gaze. These films offer voyeuristic and
sadistic pleasure for watching the female protagonists
on-screen, objectified as a sexual icon, and directly
giving pleasure to the male libido.
However, these films objectify the female figure as the
shadow of the superior male protagonist is cocooned
within the ideological correctness. The femme fatale is
engaged in unlawful activities, while the male
protagonist is the righteous upholder of law. These
films relate the stories through the point of view of the
male protagonists, allowing the spectators to identify
with the male protagonist and making them “share his
uneasy gaze” (Mulvey 841). Thus, spectators enjoy the
visual pleasure of watching the femme fatale on the
screen through the male protagonist. This paper
discusses how these voyeuristic pleasures in the films
about femme fatale mimics the theory presented by
Mulvey about visual pleasure in cinema.
Mulvey’s theory of “Visual Pleasure”
Mulvey’s thesis rests on her argument that “visual
pleasure” is embedded in the gaze within narrative
cinema that allows (male) viewers to identify with the
hero (male) in the cinema. The theory of “visual
pleasure” described by Mulvey in her essay is based on
Freud’s theory of sexuality. Freud contends,
“scopophilia” as the primary instinct that drives
sexuality is independent of the “erotogenic zones”
implying, that the sexuality derived from the “pleasure
of looking” is not related to the physical areas of
heightened sensitivity (835). Freud believed that by
objectifying other people though “curious” and
“controlling” gaze contributed to scopophilia (835).
In other words, the “curious gaze” creates the
perception of the object. The aim is to derive sexual
pleasure through sight by employing “curious gaze”
over the object. Thus, according to Mulvey,
scopophilia helps control the “curious gaze” that
objectifies other people (835). Freud’s study was
originally based on children and their inherent curiosity
about genital and bodily functions. Though Freud
suggests that the gaze is associated with pre-oedipal
stage observed among children, Mulvey extends the
theory to the voyeuristic elements presented in
narrative cinema. Thus, the argument rests on the
viewer’s propensity to derive desire from unseen
actions that unfold before us in a film.
The second source of “pleasure,” according to Mulvey,
is from “scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect” (836).
The pleasure that an infant derives from looking at
itself in the mirror is the first sign of pleasure derived
from watching. The infant perceives the image in the
mirror as more real and perfect than its own body.
Thus, the infant recognizes the image but also believes
that the image is superior to its real self. This “mirror-
image” escalates to form the child’s ego.
Lacan believes that idealization of the mirror image
occurs in the pre-oedipal stage and therefore, precedes
language. Mulvey argues that as the infant watches the
mirror, it identifies its image as a superior creation than
him, as he is not yet aware of the “self”. This results in
a loss of ego, and identifies with the mirror image as
the real self. This process of forgetting the self to
identify with the image projected in the mirror, which
shows a larger than life image of the self, is replicated
in films.
Mulvey identifies the underlying tension presented by
these two visual pleasures (837). Scopophilia implies
that the self and the image of the other must be
separated in order to create an object of sexual interest
or pleasure. The narcissistic pleasure derived from
watching the mirror arises from the pleasure of
watching the mirror image of the other superior being
and ultimately identifying with the image.
In films, Mulvey argues, the spectators identify with
the male figure of the hero on-screen and therefore,
through his gaze, separate the “erotic identity of the
subject from the object on the screen (active
scopophilia)” (837). As this identification takes place
in the pre-oedipal stage, there is always a fear of
“castration”: “Desire, born with language, allows the
possibility of transcending the instinctual and the
imaginary, but its point of reference continually returns
to the traumatic moment of its birth: the castration
complex.” (Mulvey 837) Presence of a woman on-
screen crystalizes the threatening aspect of the
pleasurable form (837).
This brings us to the portrayal of women in the films as
an object for the “male gaze.” The “male gaze” in
cinema is designed in such a way that it can be
identified with the male fantasy. Mulvey argues that
the women are displayed “as sexual object is the
leitmotif of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to
striptease… she holds the look, plays to and signifies
male desire” (837). This idea is present in all
mainstream narrative films.
Presence of women on screen is important as it
provides an “element of spectacle” within the narrative
of the film. Though her physical presence is essential
to enhance the spectacular image of the film, her visual
presence often tends to become an obstacle to the
“development of a story line” that restricts the “flow of
action in moments of erotic contemplation” (Mulvey
237).
Mulvey states that the presence of women on-screen
has served two purposes – first to serve as an erotic
object for the main character or hero in the film and
second, to serve as an erotic object for the viewers of
the film (838). For instance, a showgirl shown in the
movie unifies the two gazes. Therefore, the female
protagonist acts within the storyline without disturbing
the narrative or challenging the male gaze. Thus, the
image of the woman on-screen becomes a zone outside
the narrative structure of the film. Thus, this infuses a
different level of eroticism within the narrative
structure.
Narrative films create male and female characters
differently. The male character becomes the ideal that
one observes in the mirror while the woman is the
“icon,” an object for the male characters and the
spectators (Mulvey 840). The woman on screen is
“isolated, glamorous, on display, sexualized” which
changes to transform her as the secondary to the male
protagonist delivered to the spectator through the
power of the male gaze (840).
In most cinemas, the woman’s iconic image transforms
to a lovelorn image that rotates around the larger than
life image of the male protagonist. However, in
“fetishistic scopophilia, builds up the physical beauty
of the object” and then voyeuristic pleasure is
associated with sadism that determines “pleasure” that
“lies in ascertaining guilt (immediately associated with
castration), asserting control and subjecting the guilty
person through punishment or forgiveness” (Mulvey
840). Thus, sadism is used in the film narrative as a
tool to force a change within the female object through
a “battle of will and strength” wherein the female is
shown to succumb to the male prowess and accept
“defeat” (840).
“Visual Pleasure” in Hollywood depiction of Femme
Fatales
This paper studies three iconic movies about femme
fatale as depicted in the Hollywood mainstream
narrative. In the three femme fatale movies analyzed in
this paper, an undeniable connection can be established
between the three. All the women are obsessed with
their sexuality and are found on the wrong side of the
law. Alex Forrest, in Fatal Attraction (1987), shown as
the mistress of a married lawyer and colleague, ends up
deranged and murderous (Fatal Attraction).
In Basic Instinct (1992), Nick Curran, the main
detective consciously places himself in the same
situation as his murder victim and he is shown tied up
to the bed poster by the seductive femme fatale, he
believes to be the murderer (Basic Instinct). In the
Body of Evidence (1993), Frank Dunley, a lawyer
hired to defend a woman accused of murdering her
lover, unwittingly falls for her charms and continues to
doubt her innocence (Body of Evidence).
In all the three movies the female protagonists are
iconic in terms of their depiction on-screen, their overt
expression of uninhibited sexuality, and their
dominance over the male protagonist. However, in the
end the greedy, unholy, murderous, seductress femme
fatales always are brought to justice by death,
marriage, or incarceration (except in Basic Instinct
where the female protagonist avoids any of the three).
The femme fatale genre of Hollywood movies is
believed to pose a difficulty for feminist critique of the
films as they reverse the gender roles presented by the
feminist film theorists like Mulvey. However, I believe
the role reversal is just another way of objectification
of a specific type of female who are stereotyped in
classic noir films as beautiful and manipulative, cold
and calculating, and one who is overtly aware of her
feminine beauty and uses it to coldly manipulate the
male protagonist. The femme fatales in the Hollywood
films are usually beautiful and charming, self-assured
and in control. This is what attracts the male
protagonists towards them.
However, in all these films, in the end, the female
protagonists are shown as mentally disturbed,
murderous, paranoiac, and culpable. They end up
playing the villains antagonizing the innocuous and
passive hero. The female character is projected as the
evil counterpart who deserves punishment. My analysis
of three sequences from Fatal Attraction, Basic
Instinct, and Body of Evidence show women as the
oversexed, manipulative creature that uses feminine
charm to seduce the hero but their sexuality is
dominated by the greater masculine power of the hero.
Feminist argument lay in the objectification of the
female body through the male gaze.
Some believe the genre of femme fatale in mainstream
cinema deviates from this stressed victimization and
masochism of female protagonists under the male gaze.
However, the genre of the femme fatales is no different
from the victimization theory developed by the
feminist theories. The theory of visual pleasure and
male gaze presented by Mulvey can very clearly
analyze the degree of objectification of the female
figures in these movies, which depict them in a
stereotypical genre to satisfy the egotistical male gaze
that accentuates the male fear of castration. This fear
ultimately creates the victimized heroes, who in spite
of their senses become prey to the seduction of these
evil women.
The passivity of women is reversed to show overtly
sexual, iconic female figures that use their feminine
charm to satisfy their sadistic desire, which is narrated
from the hero’s perspective. The overt victim is the
hero who is righteous but falls prey to the female
manipulation. As Mulvey pointed out, these female
characters are essentially creations of the male gaze,
figment of the male imagination.
The female protagonist in the three movies is seductive
murderer. In Fatal Attraction, the female femme fatale,
Alex Forrest is woman who seduces a married man,
Dan, and when the latter ended the affair, she looses
control and attacks his family and wife. At the
beginning of the movie, the male protagonist, Dan is
captivated by Alex and her “look”. Dan is shown as a
victim of Alex’s glance. When the affair between Dan
and Alex is over, she refuses to leave him alone. She
becomes increasingly obsessive and intrusive, which
takes a dangerous turn when she starts showing her
violent streak. Blinded in her obsession, Alex
continually tries to physically damage to Dan and his
family.
Thus, Alex is the quintessential femme fatale –
seductive and murderous. Similarly, Catherine Tramell
in Basic Instinct is seductive, manipulative, yet
fearsome femme fatale who lures men for sexual
gratification and expends with them when her need
subsides. The focus of the movie is the interrogation
scene, a classic example of objectification of the
female body under the primacy of the male gaze.
Catharine Tramell is summoned for interrogation in the
police station; she is put at the stand with a team of all-
male police detectives to question her. But the
sequence projects Catherine as a cool, seductive, and
fearless woman, who intentionally crosses and
uncrosses her legs to show her vagina in order to
render the detectives speechless. Catherine, under the
scrutiny of the male detectives, and especially, Nick
who believes in her guilt, become a victim of the male
gaze. The visual pleasure derived by the male
characters and Nick is clear as they enjoy the
dominating show of sexuality by Catharine.
They are attracted to her because of her self-assured
sexuality. The male gaze of the spectators too assume
the identity of the male characters and see Catharine as
a beautiful sexual being who is definitely menacing,
but need to be tamed to create male supremacy.
Similarly, in Body of Evidence, Rebecca Carlson is
charged of murdering her lover using her body as a
weapon. She is shown as a manipulative femme fatale
who seduces her attorney to believe in her innocence
only to reveal in the end her evil nature. Rebecca is
again the portrayal of female sexuality and her
obsession with male dominance through her
animalistic sexual instincts. She seduces men and
manipulates them to help her reach her goal. She to is
dangerous to the patriarchal male world, like Alex in
Fatal Attraction and Catharine in Basic Instinct.
In all the three movies the primary aim of the male
protagonists, who are righteous victims of the female
charm, is to control the dangerous femme fatales. In
the movies, the male protagonists constantly try to gain
control over the female characters. Mulvey points out
that the presence of women on screen is enough to
project the sexual difference around which the idea of
visual pleasure and male gaze can be theorized (840).
Hence, the sexual difference that the sole presence of a
woman on screen signifies “the absence of the penis as
visually ascertainable, the material evidence on which
is based the castration complex essential for the
organization to the symbolic order and the law of he
father.” (Mulvey 840) The aggressive and dominating
presence of the femme fatale is a digression from the
subjugation of stereotypical submissive women in
classical films. Though the creation of the femme
fatale can be a backlash of the Hollywood patriarchal
production to the feminist criticism, they fail to
become the figure of resistance.
However, the female protagonists in these type of
movies place women outside the stereotypical
depiction of women presented in the other classical
narrative films, they created a separate genre of women
who are typified as “desirable but dangerous” (Hanson
216). The femme fatales are stereotypical characters
that are both repressed by the patriarchy, who
constantly brand them as evil and malicious, and
transcend the boundaries of the general film narrative
to become a part of the male fantasy.
The development of the strong, independent, female
characters enhance the sociocultural anxiety creating a
tension for the male gaze. The women are not
subverted to the male position. Instead, they become
the dominating presence, engulfing the male attention.
However, the subversion of these female characters
comes through the presence of male gaze. These
femme fatales are always narrated through the male
gaze present on screen and usually the hero on the right
side of the law, who sees the real, malicious nature of
the woman. Thus, the woman’s character is not only
presented as a stand-alone icon, but becomes the
figment of the male fantasy (when she is the
seductress) and male judgment (when she is the
murderess).
The dominant women on screen accentuate the
endemic male fear of castration. They become the
symbol of the bearers of the wound caused by the lack
of penis/phallus. Thus, the stress of these movies
becomes the identification of the male spectators with
the masochistic identification of the femme fatale and
the object of male desire. The male spectators identify
with the male protagonist’s controlling look depicted in
these films. Mulvey points out, “in a world ordered by
sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split
between active/male and passive/female. The
determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the
female figure, which is styled accordingly” (337).
Objectification and submission of women continually
on screen is reversed in these films wherein the
controlling male gaze gains the upper hand. The
spectators choose either the passive masochistic view
or the dominating male gaze that controls the narrative,
but feel castrated.
Fatal Attraction perfectly shows the castration anxiety
of men that becomes the central argument of Mulvey’s
psychoanalytic theory. Mulvey believes that the “The
male unconscious has two avenues of escape from this
castration anxiety: preoccupation with the re-enactment
of the original trauma … or else complete disavowal of
castration by substitution of a fetish object or turning
the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it
becomes reassuring rather than dangerous” (339).
Forrest, with her seduction and charm, evokes that fear
of castration in Dan, but he is able to investigate her, as
suggested by Mulvey and demystify her charm as
dangerous and deranged. Dan breaks into Alex’s
apartment with the intention to understand her
obsession and after going through her medicines,
proclaims that she is “sick” as a male sanction for her
mental imbalance and dominance (Fatal Attraction).
However, her dominance is just a projection of her
sickness and hence she had to be fatally punished for
her obsessive behavior and sufferings caused to his
family. The film is a male projection of female
dominance and independence as unnatural enforced by
the castration fear embedded in the male gaze. Thus,
when the spectators watches a “sick” deranged femme
fatale destroying a “normal” family, they identify with
the victimized male protagonist, who actually controls
the events, and eventually punished the woman who
threatened his male ego. The movie is a man’s film as
it depicts a brilliant professional going mad in passion
for a man with little accomplishments. Despite the
presence of two strong female characters in the film –
the mistress and the wife – the movie essentially
centers on the male protagonist.
Body of Evidence and Basic Instinct follow similar
pattern, but the investigation is more ingrained within
the legal structure. In Body of Evidence, Rebecca’s
object of desire is unclear, though she is projected as a
willful male-hunter. Rebecca, who is on trial for the
murder of her lover, a rich, older man, was going to
inherit a large property from him. She initiates an affair
with her lawyer, Dulaney, when the trial is in progress.
She introduces him to masochistic practices.
All other lovers that Rebecca has are old, rich, and
have ailing hearts while Dulaney is young, healthy, and
belongs to the middle-income class. The underlying
assumption of the film is Rebecca’s desire for her other
lovers is just an act to manipulate them to leave her
their money, while her desire for the young male
protagonist was real. However, it is only at the end of
the movie it is revealed that Rebecca’s desire for
Dulaney too was not real.
This is because she believed her expression of passion
would aid in his defending her in court. Similarly, in
Basic Instinct, Catharine, like Rebecca, is a suspect of
a sex crime. She was alleged of murdering her rock star
lover with an ice pick while making love. The police
investigate her, and Catharine seduces the detective in
charge of the investigation, Nick Curran. Nick falls for
her trap even though he was initially convinced of her
guilt.
The movie spins a complex tale of jilted love, murder,
framing, and bisexuality. Catherine ultimately frames
her psychiatrist, and one time lesbian partner, Garner,
who is believed to be the real murderer. However, the
film ends with nick and Catherine making love, but
making no promise of happily ever after, as the camera
moves under the bed where the ice pick lay hidden.
This film epitomizes lesbian desire at the heart of the
murder mystery and the heterosexuality as the path
towards the main goal.
In all the three films, the women are demonstrated as
independent and in charge of their sexual desire. A
man’s sexual desire is always depicted, as a woman
while that of the woman is plural. She can gain
gratification from sexual relation with either a man or a
woman (example, Catherine in Fatal Attraction) or
through self-gratification or masturbation (Rebecca
does in Body of Evidence).
Catherine’s desire for Garner (or vice versa) created all
the tension in the film but the film ultimately tried to
satisfy the male ego by explicitly showing the
Catherine has belittled her relationship with Garner and
leaving Roxy (her female partner) when Nick came
along. Similarly, in Body of Evidence when Rebecca
lies on the floor and masturbates, Dulaney is rooted to
the ground unable to move, even though he had lost
faith in her innocence and wanted to end their affair.
Threatened by Rebecca’s sexual autonomy, he
handcuffs her and forcibly penetrates her reinstating
his male supremacy, which is the primary function of
the patriarchal sexual discourse. Thus, in both the
movies, the male protagonist establishes male ego by
subverting the female sexual independence.
Conclusion
The act of penetration is used as a male tool to
establish the patriarchal control over the independent
female body. In Basic Instinct, Catherine almost teases
the group of detectives with her seductive charm and
beauty that leaves an anxiety and unease among the
men in the room. However, when Nick ensues a
relationship with Catherine, he establishes his male
supremacy by engaging in penetration, that helped him
ease his castration anxiety.
When Dulaney watches Rebecca masturbate, he is
rendered helpless and his castration anxiety can be
overcome only by establishing his supremacy by one
way that patriarchy has taught him, that is by
penetrating the female body. Similarly, in Fatal
Attraction, the seductive harm and independence of
Alex is too alluring and her professional independence
creates a sense of female supremacy that the male ego
of Dan is unable to control.
Thus, he lets himself be seduced and ensues an affair to
establish the male ego. However, the twist in all the
three movies is that they project women as independent
and beyond the control of men. The men in the films
believe that they are the objects of the female desire
but in reality, they are mere puppets. The women in the
films render the male protagonists castrated in their
inability to control the female body and independence.
However, it must be argued that the visual pleasure
that Mulvey theorizes pertinently points out that the
women, though independent, are ultimately viewed
through the patriarchal lenses devised by the male
protagonists.
The women are objectified not as submissive victims
but rather the opposite – fiercely aggressive,
independent, manipulative, and evil. Thus, by creating
the other female side, that is undesirable by the
patriarchy, these films create a stereotypical image of a
woman who is independent and beyond male control.
Male ego is shown to be sexually aggressive and
nonconsensual emphasizing on the supremacy of the
male ego that the male gaze identifies.
The male gaze and visual pleasure is established in the
beginning of the films when the body of the femme
fatale is objectified as the body of male desire. The
male gaze, as Mulvey argues, is designed in
accordance with male fantasy of the women, in this
respect as independent and aggressive women who are
essentially evil. The depiction of women as an object
of male desire is evident in all the three movies as the
female protagonists’ physical beauty and sex appeal is
emphasized throughout the movies. These women,
who apparently seem independent and indifferent to
male gaze, are essentially creations of male fantasies.
They serve the purpose of erotic object for the male
protagonist as well as the spectators. The female
protagonists in these three films are isolated,
glamorous, on display, sexualized” as described by
Mulvey (840). It is in the enactment of the male
fantasies, through the recreation of an object of male
desire, that pose a threat to their masculinity but
ultimately are dominated and controlled by the male
protagonist, that the visual pleasure for the aggressive
femme fatales are created. The femme fatale is the
object of male fantasies. Due to the former’s
aggressive masculine nature, these women are
considered threats to the male masculinity. Therefore,
they are finally labeled evil or deranged by the
patriarchy.
The films make the female viewers feel being
scrutinized and judged by the ever-present “male
gaze”. These films provide three characters of the
femme fatale – they are overtly sexual and in control of
their sexuality, they are murderous, and in the end must
succumb to the male virility. These films make one
feel that even when women are strong and in control,
they are objects of male gaze or dominance. Further,
discourse of femme fatale shows women of strength as
unfit for society as they control, manipulate, and
destroy families and lives. These movies actually
endorse the patriarchal construction of women as
passive partners.
Confidence and overt sexuality corrupt the concept of
women creating monsters. Femme fatale movies
endorse this patriarchal discourse. Women become
object of male gaze in the films and that idea of the
woman is projected on screen for the viewers. Thus,
these films epitomize the objectification of women
through the controlling male gaze that endorse and
propagate the patriarchal concept of femininity.
Works Cited
Basic Instinct. Dir. Paul Verhoeven. Perf. Sharon Stone
and Michael Douglas. TriStar Picture, 1992. DVD.
Body of Evidence. Dir. Uli Edel. Perf. Madonna and
Willem Dafoe. Paramount PIcture, 1993. DVD.
Fatal Attraction. Dir. Adrian Lyne. Perf. Glenn Close
and Michael Douglas. Dino De Laurentis Company,
1987. DVD.
Hanson, Helen. “The Big Seduction: Feminist Film
Criticsm and the Femme Fatale.” The Femme Fatale:
Images, Histories, Contexts. Ed. Hanson, H. and C.
O’Rawe. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 214-227.
Print.
Manlove, Clifford T. “Visual Drive and Cinematic
Narrative: Reading Gaze Theory in Lacan, Hitchcock,
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