Femme Fatale

 Representation of Women

 Femme Fatale

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)

• In the traditional sense, femme fatale is part of the conventions of film noir. It is a powerful female character, who is portrayed as a sexual beauty, therefore easy to fall in love with, but only causes trouble for the hero.

Marion Cotillard as Mal in Inception (2010)

• Mal (Inception, 2010)
  
     Meaning of the name: the French noun 'mal' means bad, evil, sickness, trouble, ache and death. The fact that it's the name of the main character's wife, symbolises the danger of being close to her. Her beauty is in contrast with her inner (rather negative) qualities and the suppressed feelings she holds such as her incredible rage and pain.  This duality had been present in many movements of Literature, such in the 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire's masterpiece Les Fleurs du Mal, which was translated to English as The Flowers of Evil (see: http://fleursdumal.org/). We can assume that the French actress, Marion Cottilard, who played Mal's role, was aware of all these facts.

Another strong reference of the French culture is the Edith Piaf song 'Non, je ne regrette rien', which was replayed again and again. The team used it as a catalyst, a sign that reminds them to wake up from a dream. Ironically the infamous French singer had been drifting in and out of consciousness before she died in liver cancer.  Her famous last words were 'Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for'. Which could be a reference for Mal's determination   to take revenge on her husband.

Anne Hathaway plays Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

• Catwoman (The Dark Knight Rises, 2012) The story of Catwoman never clarifies her true nature: sometimes she's a thief, sometimes she saves the day. Undoubtedly an ideal partner for Batman, who himself had trouble with the police and the expectations of the public.

Girl power: the woman who stabbed the heart of Batman

• The strongest appeal of femmes fatales, that men feel (sexually, mentally and sometimes physically) oppressed by them. In comparison, the conventional view of the female gender pictures women as repressed, gentle, dependent, fragile characters. Some men are willing to be seduced and then betrayed by them, as if playing with fire.

Semiotics

Inception

Discourse

• The signifier, the title 'Inception', connotes the act of cutting, entering into something. It also implies the whole premise of the film which is based on the possibility of entering people's minds and placing alien thoughts there. Because it is a mash-up word, it could also symbolise the internet culture we live in, where most website names and titles are created the same way, e.g.: YouTube, Facebook, MySpace etc.

• The signifier, one of the team members, 'the architect', denotes architecture and connotes planning and building, which points more towards the structures in real life than to the randomness of dreams. It creates slight confusion in the audience about which part of the story is real and which one is imagination.

Can humans control each other?

• The signifier, the metaphor, which compares thoughts to contagious parasites, connotes the popular media term 'addiction', which is commonly employed describing the love of computer games, films and other physically not addictive forms of entertainment. It could also lead to aspirations of brainwashing such as in communism, as it is pictured in Orwell's 1984 or in sci-fi movies about alien invasion e.g.: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull.

Do aliens control us?

• The signifier, the place called 'limbo', connotes the state of being lost, perished or stuck between dimensions, such as in many ghost stories and horror films, or even in the weird scenario of Matrix Revolutions, where some characters are waiting for a train forever being trapped between two worlds.

Visuals

Posters of The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010)

• The signifier, the dark urban setting, connotes film noir and horror genres. Cities like New York serve as general locations for comics (such as Spiderman, Batman etc.), detective stories (e.g.: M by Fritz Lang) and film noir (such as Sin City). The greyish colours resemble to those in horror and thriller as in Se7en and let's not forget that Sixth Sense was set in the cold and rainy Philadelphia.
• The signifier, the silouette of the character who turns his back to us, symbolises the villain or an unreliable hero who would disappoint those who trust him.

Concept of Postmodernism

Postmodernism

Existing concept or a non-real category?

Although postmodernism has been defined and used in very diverse ways, in general it has always have to do something with the new, the fresh, the unconventional. It is contemporary, therefore popular to some extent, shifting towards cultural aspects. It has been influenced by many previous movements from the philosophical achievements of the Enlightenment (Locke, Voltaire, Hume) to the French New Wave (Godard, Truffaut). Being linked to the experience of modernity it attempts to break free from the schemes and cliches of the 20th century.

In our world, where 'everything is a copy of a copy of a copy', there's  neither need nor chance to create anything original, meaning completely from scratch. Chance in terms that everything that we perceive during our lifetime influences our thoughts, our expressions. The need , if we interpret it by Baudillard's view, means that anything we create is most likely to already exist so everything is a copy.

There are so many stories out there that they are almost forced to borrow characters or recycle concepts from each other. In order to avoid boredom they become anti-conventional.

Returning aspects in films:

• Subjectivity
• Blurring of morality
• Hybrid genres
• Self-reflexivity
• Fragmented narrative
• Intertextuality
• Blurring of high and low art
• Hyper-reality
• Mixing of cinematic styles
• Mini-narratives
• Open endings
• Convincing characters, avoiding stereotypes

Appeal

Why is postmodernism so appealing to a contemporary audience?

Internet Culture

   Today's culture is based largely on the internet, the opening of many windows at the same time. There are sources available for everyone such as YouTube or Google that mix the high quality work with the trash. In many occasions it only depends on the viewer to choose between the two. This natural selectivity reflects on movies especially on those from the '90s and onwards. For example the greatest pioneer was Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which builds around 3-4 different story lines organises them in a non-linear way, which keeps the audience hooked up from the first moment to the last. Due to the success of this movie many filmmakers intended to reproduce this set-up, although, even Tarantino failed to recreate the same environment and mood for a film that regenerates the same excitement in the audience. The style has grown quickly from independent to mainstream and affected even such traditional comic-book heroes as Batman The Dark Knight, or the concept of Inception (a dream within a dream within a dream etc.).

Internet is the scene where the viewers can interact with each other and the filmmakers, give opinions, find similar films they might like or buy other products. The minute they start to wear a t-shirt with their favourite hero on it, the movie becomes a lifestyle, so the fans can feel part of the myth.

Fragmented narrative & Hybrid genres

Cobb and his (imaginary?) wife Mal

   Although it might seem that it is only something that have evolved recently in movies, deeply thinking of it, the fragmentation of story telling has always been part of our lives, so it seems quite natural to us. We might go further in time in linear, but some events are connected to each other through a great time-lapse. For example we might meet a friend, forget about the person, but it will affect our lives 5-10 years later when it's unexpected. Now it seems very likely that we would only mention that person after the event has happened. For example in Inception, we suspect that there is some dark secret around the suicide of the main character's (Cobb's) wife, but we only hear the confession in the end.

  The narrative structure often challenges conventions, which might seem odd, but as a result, most viewers nowadays get bored if they are forced to see something in chronological order, because they find it too predictable. It is evident to notice that some narrative structures are part of the genre conventions. For instance: the detective always solves the mystery by the end. E.g.: Agatha Christie's Poirot or Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Now what if the detective himself creates the mystery? Quite disturbing but interesting thought. (Eg.: Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige). We are never reassured in Inception that the characters are actually real and not just part of a dream.

Even Batman which follows a linear line contains frequent parallel cuts (which raise anticipation) and flashbacks (which provide background stories and include strong emotions).

Hyper-reality and audience response

A fan's drawing of Bane

  Now if we watch a film there is a wide range of platforms connected to it: we get to download the music (iTunes), the cast and crew's information (IMDb), gossip (magazines, TV), souvenirs (t-shirts, mugs, toys etc.) and above that there are the digital forms such as DVD, Blu-Ray, iPod etc. Therefore it is essential that the story introduces interesting characters, but leaves enough questions for the fans to create their own imaginary world out of it. That is one of the reasons why the popularity of trilogies and sagas increased in the last few years - they offer new concepts but leave space for dreams. For example the new villain (Bane) in Christopher Nolan's Batman The Dark Knight Rises was based on completely  on the fans drawings and ideas they shared on Facebook and other social networking sites. The fans of Inception created sites and blogs for each and every character of the movie above the official website.

Credible heroes

   Let's have Batman's example. Traditionally a comic-book hero is an instinctively good person, lives a full life, saves people etc. Lately the trend is to portrait the hero as troubled person whose past haunts him. E.g.: in Inception Cobb blames himself for his wife's death, in Batman Bruce Wayne blames himself for his parents death. It doesn't mean that the heroes are more real than before, but for the viewer it is easier to connect to them emotionally. Everyone recognises the meanings of childhood, grieve, hard work, love, lack of love, betrayal etc. However, interpretations make the differences in everyone's mind, so they might feel connected to the hero because they also lost their parents or also have been victims of crime and so on.

Applicability

  The gritty portrayal of hero almost ties the filmmakers to show the villain even darker. Although the morals are not as clear as in conventional views, the strongest message is that taking a life is definitely wrong.
E.g.: Batman despises killing people might they be innocent children or murderers. To the contrary his opponent Joker kills a many for 'philosophy'. Many critiques have identified this type of villain with the senseless killings of 9/11 and the Iraqi-an War. In postmodernism nothing can be declared to be a clear metaphor or anecdote of anything, but we can certainly notice similarities and apply them to reality.

'Some men just want see the world burn.'

At some points Inception implies that the danger is below the surface by comparing the idea to a virus both being 'highly contagious' and dangerous. This point of view awakens an awareness of our own imperfections, mirrors the fact that anyone can make mistakes or even kill.

An idea is the most resilient parasite

  Although we never see clear religious or political sides in either Batman or Inception, both are American, therefore the main ideology is American, which favours the general freedom and democracy. Films often reflect the public fear of losing these two, either in the way of terrorism, anarchy or a natural catastrophe which also leads to chaos.

Tarantino: pomo in films

The elements of postmodernism that are relevant to Tarantino's work are as follows: 

•  An emphasis on subjectivity, which concerns the act of seeing itself rather than what is seen, for example the scene in Pulp Fiction when Mia Wallace watches Vince via surveillance camera. A blurring of morality e.g. in Reservoir Dogs, cop (Me Orange) shooting civilian.
•  Self-reflexivity which basically means the film us drawing attention to itself reminding the audience that it is only a construct. Such as when television programs are discussed in a conversation, the character talks directly to the audience (see Kill Bill Vol II) or other homages and references drawing attention to the filmic heritage.
  
  Another reference point can be the music which could be simple entertainment (see dance competition scene in Pulp Fiction), mood or emotional enhancement (e.g.: Max Cherry first sets eyes on Jackie Brown), reference to other movies (e.g.: in Inglourious Basterds we hear David Bowie's Putting Out Fire in Shoshanna's make-up scene, which was the soundtrack of the 1984 movie Cat People) or it is also used to heighten tension, building to a crescendo during particular scenes in order to add to visual elements.
•  Leaning towards fragmented narratives, which can be seen in time-line jumping in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill films. Lack of distinction between high at and low art. This evident is underpinned by his use of literary (high art) techniques such as chapter format with pop culture references and references to other films (low art).
• Postmodernists don't believe in underlying reality. They say that everything is merely constructed of signifiers with nothing real actually being signified. If you view this in relation to Tarantino's work you can see that the Kill Bill saga, rife with references to other films both on visual and aural level, don't reference any recognisable reality, only other signifiers, in this case other films.
•  The rejection of 'grand narratives' which are built on the idea that there are truths that unify the whole of humanity. Instead, postmodernists use 'mini-narratives', which are concerned with localised events and individual perspectives, and are often open-ended. This can be seen in Pulp Fiction, where the stories are all about individuals and localised events, and they are all left open-ended to degree. For example, what happens to Butch and Fabienne in their life together?

 *These notes were made based on the book Quintessential Tarantino by Edwin Page, Chapter one, adding some of my own research and experiences.

Pulp Quote

'I don't think there's anything to be afraid of. Failure brings rewards - in the life of an artist.' (Quentin Tarantino talking about the pressure for further success after the release of Pulp Fiction)