Topic > Embodiment of Gendered Experiences: Representing Gender in Double Indemnity

This annotated bibliography establishes a platform for understanding and research that can further integrate the arguments made for the chosen claim. Digging into the depth that the film has to offer allows us to understand and critically analyze how Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" represents the genre and establish the theme's significance to the overall plot, defining the characters and a motivation of basis of their behavior. actions. Both Bronfen and Grossman provide an understanding of gender in the film through the lens of the femme fatale, while Mallon's article focuses on the male gender and its deferences. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBronfen presents the Femme Fatale as a modern understanding of gender differences by recognizing the female attribute of ignoring one's "fallibility", while the male is seen as attempting to ward off awareness of one's flaws. The characters use their masculine or feminine characteristics to maintain control: while Walter is further attracted to Phyllis' sexuality, Phyllis attributes her revolutionary self to the information and means that Walter provides her, i.e. his job as an insurance agent. Described as "sexually uninhibited and brazenly bold", Pyhllis stands apart from standard models of femininity, while Walter acts exactly as expected and uses Phyllis to fulfill his "narcissistic sexual fantasies". Grossman suggests that the cultural experience of gender has rendered a "limited image of a woman's role in society", and that the Film Noir of 'Double Indemnity' offers a continuous extension of these constraints, thus mitigating gendered social spaces and criticizing gender differences, providing examples of what happens when women cross these conventional boundaries. Her article proposes the dictate of a "binary form" between the two genders, as well as between the expected and actual behavior of the characters: between Phyllis the femme fatale and Lola, as well as between the male characters. of Keyes and Walter Neff, who form an “existential partnership.” Mallon argues that double indemnity represents the male gender as having a dark side. Using the tool of cinematic form, it establishes the role of the 'male gaze' and accentuates the male figure by drawing on Walter's voice-over in the narrative, while Phyllis is seen through his eyes as a seductress. It explains gender roles through “body language and character positioning” defined to be determined by power dynamics and the “collapse of familial, socio-economic and cultural roles as normatively accepted”; focusing specifically on the male character moving away from the heroic stereotype to a man trapped by "criminality". Mallon Supplements; understanding this by recognizing the contribution of mis-en-scene in Double Indemnity. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Doane sees the femme fatale as “the anti-thesis of maternal”; she does not produce life, but rather becomes a fetishistic object of another man. She adds: “she is not the subject of feminism, but a symptom of male fears of feminism", as if Phyllis' brazen sexuality were a danger to Walter and his virility. She uses psychoanalysis to understand the film form, providing a new approach to the topic, and proposes the idea that the woman finds herself in a field of differentiation, from which she herself has been excluded. It offers a preview of the mentality and examines the.