The Heights

As mentioned earlier, film noir came at a time when the media was making a dominant stand in representing both popular and unpopular culture. “When Film Noir Reflected An Uneasy America” by Ryan Reft says “...film noir depicted a nation in which the American dream was treated as a ‘bitter irony,’ marriage as ‘absolutely horrific,’ the police and politicians were ‘bleak, amoral and ugly,’ and morality little more than situational…” So, these movies gave a form of release for the oppressed and changing views and beliefs. The heights of them “fully embodies domestic anxieties and noir themes regarding gender and race” (Reft). Discussing gender and race, one of film noirs’ most notable characters is the femme fatale, a character mentioned in a prior post. Sexy, edgy, dark, her official definition being “a seductive and beautiful woman who brings disaster to anyone with whom she becomes romantically involved” according to Britannica. Her presence was one of importance during the time period, especially after World War II when the position of women was being stretched beyond what had become the accustomed upbringing. It was unnerving - “Postwar American cities provided greater opportunities for women professionally, socially, and sexually. Though such worries were not new, they had yet to be articulated as fully as in film noir and the war had accelerated these processes” (Reft). However, her character still held room for improvement, especially thinking about the criteria that must be experienced to even be a femme fatale, according to Dickos in “Women in Noir:”

1. Creates a sexual tension, simply by “being a woman in her most sexually active years”

2. “An independent or rebellious will”

3. “She is the ingenious and clever conservative wife or girlfriend”

4. A projection of male desire

5. Then, “the femme fatale mut inevitably die - or, at the very least, be mortally injured or be arrested for her crimes”

Thinking of things that motivate her, we see the 3: “A lust for exciting sex, a desire for wealth and the power it brings, and a need to control everything and everyone around her” (161, 162). This character pushed boundaries for the women of the time. Some of the more prominent movies are as seen on our home page and were the climax films for the period. Movies like Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Out of the Past (1947) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955) among others.