Film Images of Violent Females as Criminal Justice Types: From Femme Fatale to Retro Fatale and Beyond

Abstract

This paper looks at different images of female fatales in film as criminal justice types. We begin with the film noire genre in the 1940s and its evolution into the retro genre of the 1970s and 1980s; and compare each genre to the subversive proactive violent females of the 1980s and 1990s. Each are portrayed by the film industry as either manipulating or out of control. They lack legitimization for their violent acts because they are not supported by any form of institution. The film industry perpetuates images of female criminal types as out of control and destructive in their portrayal of them as violent. In contrast, the violent male is portrayed as proactive and endorsed by an institution. Male violence is largely accepted as the viewer sees the man taking control and acting when authorities cannot or will not. Female violence is portrayed as self serving and for the benefit of only the fatale or the subversive female.