The cinematic style defined as Film Noir captures ideological conventions that rupture with the generic typology of women, in contrast with specific genres as the women’s Hollywood blockbusters hits. The compilation of female characters portrayed in Film Noir give a sense of sexual mobility as a result of the artistic approach to the genre. As a clear example of this, Dyer points to an argumentative bond within Film Noir, but explaining the following:
“First, film noir abounds in colorful representations of decadence, perversion, aberration, etc. Such characters are milieux vividly evoke tensions that which is not normal, though connotations (including of femininity homosexuality and art) of that which is not masculine.” (116)
The argumentative aspects of Film Noir, specially regarding marginal aspects of society that include outlaw activities, leads to a specific context that allows mobility and change, not only on the thematic that are taken into consideration but the sexual aspects regarding the main characters in the films. Film Noir portrays marginality, social conflicts, and tough personalities within a space that calls upon a strong characterization in order to be considered not hegemonic, and become accepted.
The nature of the Film Noir, taking into consideration films like Gilda and Bound, refers to this gangster and outlaw spaces. Regardless of the genres convention continuity in both films, the way in which they approach the potentials of sexual mobility is different depending on the year the film was released. Gilda has a strong homoerotic triangle. In the movie, Johnny’s voice-over pretend to guide the audience to consider Gilda as a femme fatal, and as Dyer’s says: “to side with him in his denunciation on her” (117). The movies seems like if Johnny’s transgressed the norm not because of her love to Gilda, but due to his infidelity to the man that had brought him to richness. In the opening scene, Johnny is almost killed but Ballin rescued him, and not only saved his life but opened a new possibility of living as a rich man in Buenos Aires. The city is then taken as an exotic space where gender can have new connotations. But when Gilda was released in 1946, the homoerotic relationships were not portrayed so openly in films. Johnny devotion to Ballin would not let him love Gilda. The couple can be together at the end of the movie, just when Ballin is death. Dyer’s article, Resistance Through Charisma: Rita Hayworth and Gilda, points out at women in Film Noir as “unknowable” (116), but the unknown are Johnny’s desires.
Different from Gilda’s unspoken love triangle, Bound presents a queer relationship among the characters of Violet and Corcky. The narrative structure reveals the leading role of both characters. At the beginning of the movie, Corcky’s point of view presents the story; the camera follows her on spaces like the bar, and it only captures Violet in relationship to her experience. But as the movie continues and flash-forwards about rob are presented, the point of view shifts to Violet, portraying her experience after the event. The mobility about points of view is also represented with the presence of water. As Straayer recalls, “fluidity inundates Bound.” Water of toilets, the reference to wetness as a part of the sexual experience, Corcky’s found of the earring, all seems to be distinct shots of water. The fluidity can be considered not only as scene aspects, but a representation of the social construct that defines masculinity and femininity as monoliths. Sexuality is fluid, and it cannot be encapsulated.
Also, in both movies the gender considerations about norms and masculinity tend to mark an interesting aspect to take into consideration. In Gilda and in Bound the male characters (Johnny and Cesar, respectively) are not the ones that make up the fluidity of the story. They are trapped within the femme fatale wishes. The dichotomy that might lead someone to incorrectly consider women as passive and male as active is refuted in the film’s narrative. Mobility marks the female identity, as they are the ones that guide action and make the film’s intriguing plot. Gilda wants to get revenge at Johnny; Violet encourages Corcky to rob Cesar. The spaces they are inserted, whether it is an illegal Casino at Buenos Aires or Chicago’s mob scene, permit the main characters to break with gender constructions around femininity and the norm.
Film noir was a successful genre that became transnational. One example is the Mexican best Film Noir movie called “La mujer del Puerto” (1949), and it is from the director Emilio Gómez Muriel. The next video shows an abstract from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yv3almeuD0
It is interesting to now that the lighting and the representation of the female figure is similar to Gilda. After all, Film Noir expanded and became a transnational phenomenon.
“First, film noir abounds in colorful representations of decadence, perversion, aberration, etc. Such characters are milieux vividly evoke tensions that which is not normal, though connotations (including of femininity homosexuality and art) of that which is not masculine.” (116)
The argumentative aspects of Film Noir, specially regarding marginal aspects of society that include outlaw activities, leads to a specific context that allows mobility and change, not only on the thematic that are taken into consideration but the sexual aspects regarding the main characters in the films. Film Noir portrays marginality, social conflicts, and tough personalities within a space that calls upon a strong characterization in order to be considered not hegemonic, and become accepted.
The nature of the Film Noir, taking into consideration films like Gilda and Bound, refers to this gangster and outlaw spaces. Regardless of the genres convention continuity in both films, the way in which they approach the potentials of sexual mobility is different depending on the year the film was released. Gilda has a strong homoerotic triangle. In the movie, Johnny’s voice-over pretend to guide the audience to consider Gilda as a femme fatal, and as Dyer’s says: “to side with him in his denunciation on her” (117). The movies seems like if Johnny’s transgressed the norm not because of her love to Gilda, but due to his infidelity to the man that had brought him to richness. In the opening scene, Johnny is almost killed but Ballin rescued him, and not only saved his life but opened a new possibility of living as a rich man in Buenos Aires. The city is then taken as an exotic space where gender can have new connotations. But when Gilda was released in 1946, the homoerotic relationships were not portrayed so openly in films. Johnny devotion to Ballin would not let him love Gilda. The couple can be together at the end of the movie, just when Ballin is death. Dyer’s article, Resistance Through Charisma: Rita Hayworth and Gilda, points out at women in Film Noir as “unknowable” (116), but the unknown are Johnny’s desires.
Different from Gilda’s unspoken love triangle, Bound presents a queer relationship among the characters of Violet and Corcky. The narrative structure reveals the leading role of both characters. At the beginning of the movie, Corcky’s point of view presents the story; the camera follows her on spaces like the bar, and it only captures Violet in relationship to her experience. But as the movie continues and flash-forwards about rob are presented, the point of view shifts to Violet, portraying her experience after the event. The mobility about points of view is also represented with the presence of water. As Straayer recalls, “fluidity inundates Bound.” Water of toilets, the reference to wetness as a part of the sexual experience, Corcky’s found of the earring, all seems to be distinct shots of water. The fluidity can be considered not only as scene aspects, but a representation of the social construct that defines masculinity and femininity as monoliths. Sexuality is fluid, and it cannot be encapsulated.
Also, in both movies the gender considerations about norms and masculinity tend to mark an interesting aspect to take into consideration. In Gilda and in Bound the male characters (Johnny and Cesar, respectively) are not the ones that make up the fluidity of the story. They are trapped within the femme fatale wishes. The dichotomy that might lead someone to incorrectly consider women as passive and male as active is refuted in the film’s narrative. Mobility marks the female identity, as they are the ones that guide action and make the film’s intriguing plot. Gilda wants to get revenge at Johnny; Violet encourages Corcky to rob Cesar. The spaces they are inserted, whether it is an illegal Casino at Buenos Aires or Chicago’s mob scene, permit the main characters to break with gender constructions around femininity and the norm.
Film noir was a successful genre that became transnational. One example is the Mexican best Film Noir movie called “La mujer del Puerto” (1949), and it is from the director Emilio Gómez Muriel. The next video shows an abstract from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yv3almeuD0
It is interesting to now that the lighting and the representation of the female figure is similar to Gilda. After all, Film Noir expanded and became a transnational phenomenon.
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