mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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One of my gentle readers, Rick, brought the movie It’s Always Fair Weather to my attention in our discussion of the femme fatale archetype. This 1955 production features some superb dancing, including Gene Kelly doing an early version of Stomp, tap dancing with trash can cover on one foot. WWII changed social roles and put women into the workplace for the war effort. After the war they were expected to be housewives without careers, and without support other than from the man of the house. I can imagine how the most popular actresses who portrayed femme fatale roles must have envied by every housewife in America. Who did not want to be Marilyn Monroe? Cyd Charisse, dancing above, plays a powerful business woman in the movie. She vamps a bit in her dance with the boxers, but she is only a warm up for the real feminist power performance.
The amazing dance number Rick pointed out from the movie is much more outlandish than Diamonds are a Girl’s Best friend or anything Marilyn ever did. Midnight with Madeline is the funniest camp vamp tribute to this character stereotype I have ever seen. Dolores Gray is over the top marvelous in this spoof (??) on Broadway musical style. There had to be at least a few women who enjoyed watching her take control of all the guys in suits. A romp through Hollywood history shows us that the femme fatale role can include socio-political meaning, and satire. Thank you, Rick, for bring this to my attention. It is classic.
Rita Hayworth embodied the ultimate femme fatale in her movie role of Gilda. She was the pin-up goddess that excited WWII soldiers with her sexy alluring figure. Classic dangerous women come in a few formats. In literature this woman can be everything from a succubus, destroying men in their sleep, to a sexy helpless woman hiring a private eye. She differs from the Vamp in her indirect approach. She uses manipulative behavior to acquire money and men without investing any personal emotion. In some stories, she also kills her victim. When she is rejected, like Scarlett O’Hara is in Gone with the Wind, she may experience an opening of the heart, and a change. Is this woman totally a myth, or do we see her in our lives? Are there public femme fatales?
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