Examining the evolution of the femme fatale
TEAK ETC el
CURIA Rules

We anyone discusses stereotypes—
vocally or written—it is often to criticize

the way that they are specifically structured to

generalize.

The generalization is what makes the stereotype
so recognizable, but it is also what makes it
derogatory. A stereotype is simply a character
archetype—something that the audience can see
or read and immediately recognize what that
character’s purpose is, and understand what their
motivation within the plot structure could be. It is
a way of saving time and exposition in regards to

character development.

This process of relying on archetypes dates back
centuries to when stories were presented orally
and therefore had to be remembered. Within that
frame, the stereotypes that we are used to haven’t
really changed all that much. The hero is still the
embodiment of moral good, racial stereotypes
are still meant to mock and oppress, and most
gendered stereotypes are still there to support
the patriarchy by glorifying the idea of the female
caregiver/weakened damsel contrasted to the
strong, protective man. One stereotype that has
evolved and changed as our oral, literary, and
visual history has progressed, however, is the

Femme Fatale.

Our modern notion of the Femme Fatale paints
this archetype as a dangerous, morally-ambiguous
woman. Narratives are often structured around
the hero’s seduction of her, during which she then
becomes a force of good or loses her ability to
be labelled as “dangerous”—or, on occassion, they
are structured around her seduction of the hero,
and she becomes his ultimate demise. Keep in
mind that most narratives that involve a Femme
Fatale are often heteronormative and feature

a male protagonist, but not always. While plot
structures do hop around, this is still the general
synopsis of any story arc that features a Femme
Fatale character. However, the Femme Fatale
didn’t start off this way.

In its earliest incarnation, the Femme Fatale was
simply a woman who was either tempted to
behave against society’s definition of moral, or
who never displayed any desire to conform to that
ideal in the first place. This idea of “morality” was
largely defined by Judo-Christian belief, as well as
the chauvinistic definition of femininity popular
at the time. Basically, it was believed that women
were more susceptible to immoral behavior due
to their likeness to Eve. These characters strayed
from the righteous past, and then would die as a
result of their actions—hence the “fatal” aspect.

We can see this in one of literature’s earliest
examples of the novel format, Henry James’s
Daisy Miller. In it we see the titular character, a
young woman, who ts flirtatious to a fault. Her
flirtations lead her to following a man, who
leads her to an area infested with “Roman Fever”
(malaria), which she catches and ultimately
dies. These characters were meant to be seen
as cautionary—a literary representation of what
would happen if a woman behaved outside what
society presented as the “norm.” However, as
literature evolved and became more complex,

so did the Femme Fatale.

When you hear the phrase “Femme Fatale” you
probably think of the definition popularized by
the “Noir” genre—the detective stories, famously
remembered as black and white suspense
thrillers. You think of Mary Astor playing the
character of Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese
Falcon (1941), or Barbara Stanwyck playing Phyllis

Dangerous Liai

Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944). These
women were the quintessential Femme Fatales,
and were often the most compelling characters
within their respective films. They were brilliant,
ruthless, and seductive—but above all, they
were dangerous—not just because they were
sometimes murderers, but also because they
presented the possibility of moral degradation
on the part of the hero. They showed women an
alternative to being the perfect feminine ideal,
and that they were capable of being something
more than just an object in need of saving. The
backend is that they were a villain, so many people
read the Femme Fatale as being a stereotype
based off a fear of feminine sexuality, and that the
stereotype is derogatory, in that it portrays any
woman in charge of her own sexuality as evil. But
that doesn’t change the fact that the Noir Femme
Fatale is quite the massive departure from Daisy
Miller. Within this evolutionary phase, the Femme
Fatale displays agency and complexity that puts
them on the same level as the narrative’s hero—

they, as women, are a worthy opponent.

What began in the Noir genre was later refined
in contemporary constructions of the Femme
Fatale. That feared sexuality is no longer a weapon
of moral degradation, but more of an innate
trait to coincide with their overall impression
of feminine power. With that the Femme Fatale
remains a seductress, but she is usually used as a
means of killing the hero—as opposed to making

ASLAM bAee Wao

Backlash against the use of character archetypes
prevents the Femme Fatale from appearing in
most serious modern narratives, but she’s still
around. What was once used as a methodology
to avoid long, drawn out character development
has now become a Jumping off point for just that.
We can see this most prominently in video game
narratives, where the shallow use of character
archetypes is necessary to make a character
initially appealing to a player, but over the course
of the game the archetypes fade and the character