Femme Fatale Fetish

As as film buff Noir films have always been my favorite genre.  I love the black and white, the stark lighting, the slick wet streets, the dangling cigarettes and smoke, but most of all I love the Femme Fatale.

“The dark lady, the spider woman, the evil seductress who tempts man and brings about his destruction is among the oldest themes of art, literature, mythology and religion in western culture.  She is an old as Eve, and as current as today’s movies, comic books and dime novels.  She and her sister (or alter ego), the virgin, the mother, the innocent, the redeemer, form two poles of female archetypes.” —Janey Place, Women in Film Noir

“Cinema, as a form of popular culture, is a system that constructs myths about women and femininity.  Encoded with patriarchal values and points of view that are understood as absolute truths, it transforms the ideology of sexism to render it invisible.  Historically, the femme fatale of classic cinema has been a source of great anxiety.  Scripted as a sexually empowered, independent woman who actively engages in her own desires, she rejects the rigidly defined gender roles that society has imposed upon her.  Thus, the femme fatale is the psychological expression of man’s fears about sexuality, a terrifying threat that men must tame, harness or otherwise destroy.”–Domina Doll “Dominatrix-Reclaiming the Femme Fatale in Post-modern Sadomasochistic Films”

Here are some neo-noir photographs of Dutch model Lara Stone in ‘Style Noir’ for Vogue Italia (Nov 09 Issue), photographed by Paolo Toversi.

via [Trendhunter]

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