Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Nontraditional women in noirs
It is interesting to see how independent the women are in noirs. Kathie, in Out of the Past, is strong-willed, defiant, and very much a not-so-typical woman. Kathie does not act like a stereotypical female, as the other female character, Ann does. Ann cherishes relationships and marriage. She is innocent and traditional compared to Kathie. We are not interested in Ann, though, as much as we are the fearless Kathie. We never see happy marriages in noirs. There is no aspect of marriage in Out of the Past. Kathie wants Jeff to run away with her, but she never asks him to marry her. Kathie brings on her own death in the end because she refuses to be taken down by the men in her lives. She is the one giving Jeff the ultimatum in the end: either run away with her or take the blame for the murders. I just found this to be particularly interesting because we typically see it the other way around. It seems like the reason that this women are so deadly and destructive is because they are confined to a certain role in society and have no room for any kind of mobility. Maybe their destructive ways is a result of their confinement in society, especially in regards to men and marriage. Noirs do not show marriage as a happy, normal aspect of life, but as confining and restricting for women.
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I agree that Kathie’s independence makes her a more interesting character than Ann. Going off of what you said, I was wondering if anyone else found it weird that Ann lived at home with her parents. I thought it was interesting how Ann was shown as a grown, adult woman who was concerned about her parents’ approval of Jeff. Ann’s portrayal as dependent on her parents and living at home just enforces her innocence and her traditional lifestyle. Her character seemed more like a love-sick teenager than an adult. This contrasts the portrayal of Kathie as in charge and independent, and as you said, makes us less interested with Ann.
ReplyDeleteExactly. For its time period, I think it also is a comment on women that are independent--a man shouldn't and won't settle down with them since all they will cause is death and destruction, which is outlandish. Traditional, dependent women, like Ann, are what is romanticized and accepted.
ReplyDeleteOn the character of Ann--I was completely surprised at how accepting and almost gullible when Jeff was telling her about his past. There was no "You've been lying to me," or anything, I think, a modern woman would have a problem with given his situation. It was astonishing to me.
Jeff never seemed able to reconcile with the innocence of Ann, and was better off with Kathie. Ann was too folksy and not nearly as rounded a character as Kathie was. It seemed that Ann was less of a person and more of a force of sanctification for Jeff's character. If Jeff was to settle down with Ann, it would be the stereotypical country wedding, 2 and 1/2 kids, etc, etc. I agree that Kathie was a much more interesting and independent character...it seemed these women were 2 halves of a whole, one being force of darkness, the other being light.. however Jeff is not the Fiat-lux kind of guy..
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