What is the orientalized "femme fatale" like in film noir?
In 1975, Laura Mulvey published "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" in "Screen", in which she used psychoanalytic theory, introduced with Lacan's concept of "gaze", to establish a theoretical pattern of the binary structure of seeing and being seen, male and female, narrative and landscape, revealing "the split between active/male and passive/female pleasure in a world arranged by sexual imbalance." ”
This active and passive viewing is formed in the patriarchal ideology, and through the continuous strengthening of the film, women gradually degenerate into the projection and carrier of male desire, and in the male voyeurism and control, women are once again objectified as objects of lust.
The femme fatale in the classic film noir period usually breaks through the shackles of family relationships, seeks liberation or seduces men to achieve self-purpose by chasing money and fame, and the motives of the characters are mostly active and dangerous, and the "femme fatale" is transplanted in the context of Eastern traditional culture is bound to face localized rewriting, the setting of the "femme fatale" in the East is no longer like the image of the Western femme fatale, wearing jewelry, high heels, red lips typical feminine characteristics, a appearance with a glamorous posture with sexual attraction occupies the visual center of the screen, the motive of the orientalized femme fatale crime is forced sex.
Wu Zhizhen in "Daylight Fireworks" cannot afford to compensate for washing a fur, and then led to continuous blackmail by the other party, and finally forced to kill people in humiliation, her story of changing from victim to criminal is one of the signs of the localization of neo-noir: she is not the "femme fatale" with fatal seduction that threatens male identity in Hollywood noir, but first and foremost a victim through both economic and gender oppression.
Zheng Shasha in "Uniform" is a part-time employee of a video store during the day, and at night is a "angel escort" aid girl, after pushing Ma Ge to no avail, Sasha can only be forced to go to the appointment for a one-time transaction, in the low-angle fixed shot, Ma Ge and the client man occupy most of the space of the picture, between the two is Zheng Shasha stooped on the bed, the visual sense of oppression highlights the inequality of gender power relations.
When Zheng Shasha excused herself to leave, the client directly pushed her down on the bed, and she kept getting up but was constantly easily pushed down by men.
Wu Hongyan in "Night Train" is a female bailiff who enforces the law impartially during the day, and she is also a middle-aged woman who longs to be loved for several late nights, and when she feels the gaze from Li Jun, she enjoys it to her heart's content, releases her desires, but is still violently committed by her in the end.
Similarly, there is a erotic scene between Yan Ge and Liu Ai'ai in "South", in the whole scene, Yan Ge has been pinching Liu Aiai's neck, this action has a strong sense of sadistic control, one second Yan Ge is still full of benevolence and morality to the workers, and the next second he rapes Liu Ai'ai almost animal-like rough in the alley, and the contrast between the two scenes forms an irony of Philesian male power.
Diao Yinan's imagination of victimized low-level women in the film does not sanctify them like "Goddess" because of moral sympathy, and Wu Zhizhen in "Daylight Fireworks" still has a "femme fatale" side, "Any man who touches her will die." ”
In the sense of plot symbols, Wu Zhizhen embodies the mysterious, seductive and dangerous side of the "femme fatale", on the other hand, she does not hesitate to sacrifice her husband Liang Zhijun, who was "killed" for her, in order to control her own destiny.
In neo-noir films, female images are often constructed as "femme fatale" and "good wife and mother" two functional roles, "femme fatale" appears to be portrayed with a certain mysterious charm and deep into the so-called misfortune, and after successfully attracting men, they begin to manipulate them to plan criminal actions, and when the scheme succeeds, they show a ruthless side, prepare a layout for men, and kill the killer.
The female image of "good wife and good mother" is gentle and introverted, they are docile and considerate, and at the same time an important role in maintaining family relationships, when a film has both female characters, the male protagonist often chooses to abandon the gentle "good wife and good mother" and into the arms of "femme fatale", no matter what kind of female image, its root comes from men's imagination and deviation from the positioning of women.
Diao Yinan's construction of "femme fatale" in the film has been de-enchanted and de-lustful, and his mockery of "misogyny" in conventional film noir expression is realized through the satire of power.
The first is to carry out a de-desire transformation of the character image of Liu Aiai, who no longer highlights the physical characteristics of the traditional "femme fatale", but a female image with a flat head and wearing a single series of plain clothes, erasing the viewing relationship of traditional film noir, that is, a spectacle physical consumption of the femme fatale.
Secondly, through Zhou Zenong's uncle to find Hua Hua, Hua Hua forced Liu Ai'ai to participate in the criminal activity of reporting and taking a bounty of 300,000 yuan, the motive setting of this character was forced to participate, and the motivation of Liu Aiai's character was not self-dominated from the beginning, which dissolved the cunning, mystery and danger of the traditional "femme fatale" appearance.
With the increasingly rich types of female images in film noir, which not only express the equal rights consciousness of gender and strive to try, but also reflect the challenge and resistance to male power and patriarchal culture, they begin to gradually grasp the dominance of the narrative, promote the development of the storyline, affect the behavior of male characters, and outline their inner hidden struggles and divisions, which are of great practical value and progressive significance in terms of artistic attainment and social connotation.
