Femme Fatal

One of the most distinguishing conceptual underpinnings of noir is the role of a transgressive or 'spider' woman who leads the hero/anti-hero to his doom, through a series of doors, all of which she controls by her alluring sexuality.

Her sexuality is linked with death and ultimately with the male character's own internal, deep rooted self-destructiveness which rises to the surface, much as his cock does, by the beauty, mystery and must-have-ness of this almost mythical godness figure.

Her placing, in the early golden period of noir, reflects many things about the society of the day and could be seen as an excuse for woman bashing since during that period, post war, women where to be encouraged out of work and back into the home: to know their place as such.

Plus, with the growing position of women, noir could be percieved at a loss to what the future held and this codifiying of them as fatalles was a last gasp attempt to put the cat back in the box.

I'm not satisfied with this role of fatalle, and its the cornerstone of the whole enterprise to have understood what role women are to play in Dangerous Days. Such categorisation could also disenfrancise a whole slew of potential audiences. It's a bit dated.

My own feeling is somewhere closer to Blade Runner where both the man and woman can 'kill' each other or kill themselves by their own actions and conversely, both can rescue one another as well. In fact, one of the most interesting films of the early cycle, Secret Beyond the Door positions the man as the fatalle drive (the Thantos) and the woman (Eros) whose love gives her the grace to see beyond the boundaries of her somewhat sadistic and tortured partner and ultimately save him.

Although he too, of course, gets to save her. This osscilation of deceit and redemption going backwards and forewards between the genders is interesting.

All characters dealing honestly with their grit and being understood because of this be still being prone to their own deadly drives is very interesting.

That said. The women have to be interesting looking. Here's some thoughts on what might turn out to be our two female leads. Carla Bruni's face is in there somewhere. Those thin lips. But I'm interested in real women, not stick waifs, or fantasy perfect projections.