Sources
Balint, E. (2014). Animated noir: investigating Walt Disney’s female characters of the 1940s and 1950s. E-journal of American Studies in Hungary, 10(1).
-The purpose of this article, written by Emma Balint, a professor at the University of Szeged within the institute of English and American Studies, was to show how even Walt Disney characters in the 40s and 50s were victim to many film noir tropes as well, including, but not limited to, placing females in the stereotypical position of the “femme fatale.” The primary arguments used by the author are regarding three different cartoons where in the female characters are hopelessly tricked or used as a means to an end within the plot. The source is an accredited university professor who gives specific examples to further her points and can therefore be treated as a reliable source. What this source conveys is the influence film noir had on the culture of the visual medium; even children’s cartoons played along with the stereotypes that plagued the genre, and it’s taken decades to move past that point. The article was written objectively and contained no bias, which therefore indicates it would be an interesting, although not a crucial source for anyone who wants a general understanding of film noir.
Gates, P. (2009). The maritorious melodrama: Film noir with a female detective. Journal of Film and Video, 61(3), 24–39. doi:10.1353/jfv.0.0036
-This article was written by Philippa Gates, who has a PhD in FIlm and Visual Culture. The article attempts to display how women were represented in film noir culture, and more specifically how the female protagonist was no longer celebrated as a pop culture icon post-WWII, but rather regarded as someone who had failed in her duties as a female (that is, getting married and being relegated to the role of a housewife). More often than not, the main female role is portrayed by a wife attempting to clear her husband’s name. The source is useful because it provides an important and overlooked point of context: WWII delayed social progression in film, and postwar culture’s attempt to hold to traditional values is what allowed film noir to hold females in similar roles from film to film. The information is reliable since it is coming from a researcher with a PhD, and there was nothing that signalled bias within the article, which therefore marks it as a great source for future researchers curious in understanding the culture behind film noir.
Kungl, C. T. (2006). Creating the fictional female detective: The sleuth heroines of British women writers, 1890–1940. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
-Carla Kungl is an Associate Professor of English at SHippensburg University, who wrote this book to examine undervalued female writers, specifically those writing detective fiction, and how they were able to establish authority through the detective genre. The source is useful because it strengthens the point mentioned in “The Maritorious Melodrama,” that if a woman rejected the offer to retire their career and become a housewife upon proposal, she could be seen as a disappointment to her peers and her entire gender. The source doesn’t provide as much unique information as others, but it serves as background information that furthers the argument that women were not given a variety of roles to play in film noir largely because the then-current culture dictated what a woman’s place really was in society. There’s no evidence to suggest this source was biased, and it is an excellent book to examine if the reader wants to see how far film has progressed from the early days of noir storytelling.
Jancovich, M. (2011). “Vicious womanhood”: Genre, the femme fatale and postwar America. Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 20(1), 100–114.
-Mark Jancovich is a Professor of Film and Television studies at the University of East Anglia, who explains that the genre of film noir became saturated with females in a stereotypical position according to their gender, as a cultural means to cope with a failing patriarchal society that desired to influence gender roles especially within the United States. It’s another useful source that provides an explicit answer regarding why female roles were consistently boxed into predictable narrative and/or character arcs, and allows us to see the effect that mass media has when it comes to influencing society. It strengthens the other sources within the bibliography by explaining why such rigid gender roles were prevalent in film noir and reasonably makes a case for why postwar America no longer welcomed the idea of independent females. There’s no reason to believe this source would be biased, and their academic credentials only strengthens their argument, making this an ideal source to provide extra historical context on the state of Postwar America and how that affected women in film noir.
Moustakas, J. (2004). Film noir, masculinity and the big sleep. Australian Screen Education, 1(35), 105–108.
-While there was no information on Jane Moustakas, the article she wrote was published in an academic journal, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about regarding her credibility. The main argument of this article revolves around masculinity, however it is included in this paper because of how it also addresses the effect that the overwhelming masculine themes have on female characters. The males are regarded as figures who we know very little about that never allow their own emotion and feeling to come through or cloud their judgement. The author argues that this trademark characteristic is the method by which the males attempt to assert their dominance over the female character and relegate her to a secondary role. This would likely be an excellent source for anyone interested in studying further into the genre since it is free of bias and helps the reader understand the patriarchal themes displayed in film noir.
