Pre-historic

Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’ (1946)

Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’ is represented as a stereotypical femme fatale as she is shown to be very dominant and controlling; this is seen through her confidence and body language. She also comes across as very seductive towards the man as she dances her way around the stage, ensuring that all the men in the room have their eyes hooked onto her every movement.

She can also be classified as an object of attention and sexual desire; when she is shown to be rolling her gloves down slowly as her male audience shout ‘more’ ‘more’ ‘more’. She teases her male audiences by asking them to help her with her zip on her dress, as the men run and fall to her feet. The mise-en-scene including her sense of style connotes that she owns the stage as she achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure.

Marilyn Monroe in 'Niagara' (1953)

The star was an iconic symbol and one of the most famous femme fatales in history as she was named as the greatest blonde of all time as she was also famous for her blonde locks. Marilyn Monroe’s charms and sexually objectified body appealed to a great deal of men and women who inspired to be like her, she was represented as a manipulative, dangerously seductive and unfaithful wife. In the film noir ‘Niagara’ she created controversy as she abandoned the traditional womanhood and stopped playing the role of a devoted and a faithful wife in the 1950s.

The character of Rose Loomis is portrayed as a stereotypical Femme Fatale. In the plot, Rose Loomis uses her charms and her sexually objectified body to have an affair with another man as she plans to have her current husband murdered by her secret lover but in an ultimate twist, her lover is that one that ends up murdered then thrown into the Niagara Falls. The scene is introduced to the audience when Rose Loomis (Marilyn Monroe) walks out of her house in a very tight pink dress, in an attempt to make her husband jealous with a song containing sexual connotations and meanings, which results in controlling the eyes of the other men around her who are mesmerised and sexually aroused by her skin tight dress showing of her amazing figure and tiny frame. The man sitting with his wife campers Ms Loomis dress to his wife as this shows he’s blown away by her and suggest his wife should do the same. Although her dress is skin tight, the scarf on her and over her shoulder connotes a sense of elegance,class and Sophistication . Her sweet and flawless voice promotes her amazing singing voice as she was most popular for her soft voice.

Even though she is represented as an angle with her sweet voice and cute steps, her golden hooped earring’s is stereotypically linked with seductive and whore-like qualities (the Angle vs Whore), as so does her stereotypical femme fatale features such as blonde hair, sexy movement and a mysterious look her to face when her husband breaks the record as this indicates that she knows what she is doing by controlling her husband emotionality and playing with his mind to get what she wants.