This past week I have been researching some of the fabulous women of the Film Noir genre. As I said before, or at least I think I said before, I have switched my focus from all of the women that depict femme fatales in Noir Cinema, to one lovely lady, Phyllis Dietrichson from Double Indemnity. I watched the movie again this week, for the 20th time I'm guessing, and again something new emerged! (I just love finding new and interesting moments, themes, motives, etc. when I reread or re-watch something)
So, the new theme that has emerged... drum roll please... DOMESTICITY.
In particular, Phyllis mentions, both directly or indirectly, the home as a prison. She brings up her domestic life as a wife and how depressed she is in her current state of affairs. Hence the murder plot...
So, I've begun to wonder if there isn't a link between Phyllis and other femme fatales in terms of their view on marriage, the home and domestic life. Phyllis compares being a married housewife to prison. I have a book I have been reading called "100 Film Noirs," which is done by the British Film Institute and put together by Jim Hiller and Alastair Phillips. This book looks into the progression of the genre through history, evaluating and presenting 100 pictures by name and director, while briefly summarizing each film.
After I watched DI this week, I went to this book and read DI's entry. Right there in the short summary was a bit about the home being a prison for Phyllis.
This is obviously a very important aspect of the film, and I can't believe I actually let myself go this far into my research without picking up on it. Phyllis talks about prison sentences for women who commit murder and in the same moment talks about the home being a prison. Then the real kicker... prison might be better than the prison she currently inhabits by being married to her husband! Yes, she really did say that.
So, back to my point of domestic roles and the femme fatale. I can't help but jump to something I have always been fascinated with known as the cult of domesticity. I am going to have to do some research, because I apparently have come down with a case of early onset Alzheimer's (thanks grammy), but I think that this term was coined during the height of the Film Noir Genre, the 40's and 50's. The idea behind the cult of domesticity: women were to be the ideal homemaker and wife. Her domain, the home. Her job, caring for the children and taking caring for the home. Women were in charge of the domestic sphere...
Again, I need to do more research and look back at some of my older textbooks, but I think this may be a very good jumping point to better link Phyllis the femme fatale to her Noir counterparts. I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket, but I would be willing to wager a hefty sum that Phyllis is not the only femme fatale that hated the domestic life.
So, this is where I am progressing to... Fingers crossed this will help to open up some new avenues of research...
Till next time, stay classy my blogging friends.
Well, to answer your question, yes. My good boyhood friend, Jacob Avila, has been in and out of detention centers, jails, and prisons since he became a member of the Eastside Bloods in Flagstaff (or maybe it was the ESSL - East Sunnyside Locos, I can’t remember right now) when we were in middle school. Also, another friend––whom I wasn’t that close with, but did go to church with in high school, Jesse Collier, was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and murder of another guy who went to our high school. And lastly, my dad has volunteered as a chaplain at the prison for I think like ten years now. So the answer is yes.
ReplyDeleteTo say that the Cult of Domesticity and domestic life for women in general are exactly equivalent to doing time in prison is, well, a bit of an overstatement in the grand scheme of things, I feel. But I do agree that they have similarities and that lots of women, even today, are domestically trapped by their husbands, their society, or their own ideologies, and they have no way out. I think (and really, I have no expertise in this whatsoever--so don’t be surprised if this is completely wrong, and to boot I am a white male protestant with an innate sense of entitlement, and I have never birthed or mothered children) that the Cult of domesticity, which first became a movement in America from 1820 to like 1870, was originally promoted by women for women, but it was eventually exploited by men and became a really oppressive thing. When it reappeared in the 50s it was a response to feminism and women’s rights movements.
I think you would be right in saying that the cult of domesticity being represented as a prison in Film noir is a very important part of the genre. It definitely seems worth looking in to. So go for it!
And be careful, because outside there are a bunch of angry San Diego-ites?
San Diegite?
San Diego-ons?
San Diegans...who want your blood!
:)
I love the direction your project is taking, Kara. As you move forward, you need to define your term "cult of domesticity" through one or two theorists. So look for a few sources on the topic and make sure you could define what the "cult of domesticity" is to someone who was engaging in your project. This will work like a theoretical framework to your project because you are going to create a lens through which to "read" the femme fatale. In those sources you find, you will also want to extract other vocabulary and essential questions that you will connect to your artifact. An essential question is just a large, global question that the cult of domesticity answers (or attempts to answer). So perhaps post some sources you find on your blog so we can keep up with you? Keep going!
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