Catwoman: Femme Fatale or Flop?

Catwoman: Femme Fatale or Flop?

 

Article by: Danielle Dosser (Geek Girl Elle) & Laura Kaye

Elle & her friend Laura co-wrote this paper for their Women’s Studies Class on Catwoman as a femme fatale as they understood her to be and critiqued the 2004 movie of Catwoman, pondering why it was that the only time she's been shown on her own was not what fans had expected...

Catwoman: Femme Fatale or Flop?

Catwoman has long been regaled as the female sex kitten of the comic book industry. Her character is relatively simple with differing innovations throughout the continuities and mediums, (film, animated features, comic books, video games…etc.) However, placing her in the category of femme fatale because difficult when you take all of the genres into account, though all the main parts in common. Catwoman is a female cat burglar whose sole mission is acquire jewels and valuables while living in her apartment with her cats, no attachments family or romantic. She does have a flirtatious relationship to Batman/Bruce Wayne, but nothing ever comes of it for the most part of the continuities, leaving her to a sexually aware woman who takes what she wants, when she wants it without the needs for a partner or support system in her everyday life. The definition from Webster’s dictionary of a Femme Fatale is as follows, “a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations,” or “a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery” (Merriam-Webster) Catwoman does not attach herself to men and the men she does come in contact with are her enemies on all accounts, including Batman who works to put her in jail. She also exudes sexuality while still being completely clothed. Her attitude and sensuality as a women are what categorize her as a dangerous female. Strangely enough it seems the animated and comic book genres, (criticized for their over sexualisation of the female form) are more progressive than the film industry in that all through their run they tend to have a better representation.

However when she finally got the chance to come to screen without her cowled counterpart, it seemed that has to completely revamp the character. Instead of an independent woman who is not afraid of her sexuality (even using it to her advantage when it comes to males on multiple occasions in order to rob the joint, ) who has no attachments, we are introduced to a scantily clad Halle Berry. This comes as no shock, as during the growth in super heroes popularity throughout the past decade, the trend has failed to produce many, or any, good super-heroine movies. The 2004 release gave stage to the first super-heroine movie entitled Catwoman. Directed by Pitof, Catwoman follows Patience Phillips, whom until killed in an attempt to keep her from leaking important and detrimental information, has gone about life quiet, compliant, and unnoticed. When brought back to life by an Egyptian Mau cat, she begins to acquire cat-like abilities and unattainable need for vengeance on her killer. This portion aims to look at how Catwoman personifies the Femme Fatale but how this may or may not objectify woman.

Catwoman: Femme Fatale or Flop?
(Halle Berry as Catwoman)

The Femme Fatale emerged first in the early 1940's with the film genre Film Noir. This genre expressed feelings of suspicion and sexual incentive with the common story line involving a mystery. It is thought “that the 'femme fatale' is a projection of postwar male anxiety about changing or ambiguous gender roles”(Grossman 2) within this time. Film noir movies depicts women as a victim who's strength, whether it be sex or not, “keeps them from submitting to the gendered social institutions that oppress them” (Grossman 3). Julie Grossman states that some common qualities associated with the Femme Fatale are independence, mysteriousness, and an unstoppable sexuality who rebels against the patriarchal society she lives in (4-5). The Femme Fatale uses her “powers” in order to break the limits set by society.

Patience was not an outspoken person. She was shy and guarded, apprehensive and negative, a pushover and a underdog. When she is killed, she is blessed with the gift of becoming a Femme Fatale which is given to her through her revival. Patience, without any control over it, becomes Catwoman. She becomes confident and positive, sexual and alluring, animalistic and careless but in the best way possible. Patience was used to being picked on by her boss who made her feel worthless to his company. She feels unattractive and less entitled to the new guy that just came into her life. Patience did not do anything for herself. Catwoman or the Femme Fatale allows her to become the complete opposite of what others and herself see her as. Patiences transformation into Catwoman enables her to achieve her deep personal goals. She stands up to her boss and is able to attract the man of her dreams. She uses her womanly power as Catwoman to remove the oppression she has continued to experience to evidently reach her end objective.

The Femme Fatale has had many criticisms, mainly coming from feminists and for obvious reasons. This persona has been associated with danger and promiscuity for years since it was established. Grossman brings up two main feminist criticisms that are related to the Femme Fatale: misogyny and her mysterious and bad girl reputation. The most important one in relation to Catwoman is the critique that the Femme Fatale is mysterious and dangerous. The feminist view that the Femme Fatale is an “opaque yet transgressive female force” (Grossman 5) has “overemphasized woman as objects” (Grossman 3). Julie Grossman strives to move away from these feminist views in her book for that reason, they depict the woman as object and a symbol even though feminism is against woman as being an object. Catwoman, although features Patience as a complex and transgressive woman, tries to transcend this quality by focusing on what Grossman feels is more important in order to understand the Femme Fatale properly and effectively.

Why might Catwoman be objectifying women in its movie? One of the Femme Fatales most famous qualities is her alluring and stunning sex appeal and figure. Catwoman depicts Patiences Catwoman persona as extremely sexy, crossing over that fine line between alluring and out right flashing. When Patiences first starts to embrace her new found Femme Fatale identity, she pulls a box out of her closet that specifies it as an outfit for a “dating emergency”. This outfit consists of an entirely all leather outfit that fits tightly to her body in all the right places. Her second and permanent Catwoman outfit consists of all leather tight pants and bra that are connected by two leather straps crossed over he stomach. Dawn M. Szymanski, Lauren B. Moffitt, and Erika R. Carr define sexual objectification as something that “occurs when a woman's body or body parts are singled out and separated from her as a person and she is viewed primarily as a physical object of male sexual desire” (8). In my opinion, having a woman half dressed in tight leather singles out her body. Her original design allowed for much more to be “desired” from the station of a femme fatale. Though her cat suits were skin tight, the only skin showing on her was her face. There was an emphasis on her female shape without having to show her cleavage. Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr introduce Objectification Theory which says that “many women are sexually objectified and treated as an object to be valued for its use by others” (7-8). Sexual objectification is seen daily in our media and why? Because sex sells, it is a common phrase that is unfortunately true. There is a 49% chance that there will be at least one shot of a woman's chest in a beer commercial where there is only a 24% chance to see a man’s (Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr 16). This means a man is more inclined to buy that beer because of the girl’s boobs. If Halle Berry is walking around in all leather as Catwoman, she suddenly becomes the beer.

The film takes what is in concept a strong, independent female who is sexually empowered, open to her sexuality, alluring, dangerous, and independent and turns her into an over sexualized cat in heat who thinks grinding on a man during a basketball game in front of children is “empowering” to women. If you really want to get to know strong female character, get out of the cinemas and into the comic book store.

Catwoman: Femme Fatale or Flop?
(Geek Girl Elle as Catwoman)

Work Cited

Catwoman. Dir. Pitof Comar. Perf. Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, and Benjamin Bratt. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2004. Film.

"Femme Fatale." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

Grossman, Julie. Rethinking the Femme Fatale in Film Noir: Ready for Her Close-up. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.

Szymanski, Dawn M., Lauren B. Moffitt, and Erika R. Carr. "Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research." The Counseling Psychologist 39.1 (2011): 6-38. Web.

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April 21 2014

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