Gender Differences in Film Noir, U.S. Film, and Gender Schema Theory

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to inspect gender punishments and representations in three types of Hollywood and American films. First, characters from a classical era are closely examined because it is at this point in filmic history that gender disparities emerge strongest. Next, Mothers and Fathers in film are considered as they represent major gender roles among many societies. Third, the final girl/slasher film genre is briefly included as a final example of on onscreen gender depictions. Finally, it is worthy to examine the stereotypes which arise from these disparities – and what those effects are on humanity. To begin, although the Declaration of Independence declared in 1776 that “all ‘men’ are created equal” gender equality in film is noticeably absent. However, gender differences are not always obvious to a viewer. To explain, archetypes (i.e. stereotypes) often include one set of behaviors and punishments assigned to females, and a separate set of behaviors and punishments assigned to males. These pairs plainly hold women as inferior to men in accordance with a Freudian perspective on sex (Brannon, 2011, 105-6) to be followed up by another masculine school of psychology called behaviorism. Among these scholars B.F. Skinner introduced operate conditioning in 1938 − a successful technique using any stimuli as a punishment to decrease the likelihood of a repeated behavior. Later, behaviorism laid the framework for social learning theory which acknowledged the effectiveness of vicarious punishments, film, and prestigious models among social learning tools (Bandura, 1971). Looking back, it is conspicuous that with the rise of patriarchal ideologies in the early twentieth century a social learning system was invoked to reduce matriarchal figures. Therefore, since media is a reflection of societal norms which can transform reality (Ben-Zeev et al., 2012) the powers of social learning theory are herein not contented – its motives and outcomes are.

Film Noir

From about the 1940s thru the 1950s Hollywood produced a string of movies which followed a strict recipe of a male protagonist levied by a female antagonist. The moods of film noir are familiar to many with their low-key lighting, hard boiled language, and detective-like storytelling. While the intentions of film noir remain unclear, one theme was apparent to this researcher; women lose their souls. To prove this argument, two lead characters from four classic noir movies are deconstructed to partition the male’s behaviors and punishments from the female’s behaviors and punishments.

The Fool

The The Fool is good so he must save the Femme Fatale. These four noir movies are all narrated by a male protagonist – The Fool − as both a cautionary and confessionary tale. He is single, and met the attached femme fatale through an employment opportunity. Next, establishing the male protagonists’ ‘goodness’ prior to crossing paths with the female antagonist is crucial and serves many purposes. It signals his moral high ground, establishes the conscience and good intentions which plague him, and is a defense against bad decisions to save. To illustrate every component of this opening formula a brief synopsis of each film is hereby offered. In Double Indemnity (1944) Walter (Fred MacMurray) confesses into a Dictaphone how he became a “sucker” after meeting Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck); the wife of a client. This was an honest insurance salesman prized by his boss and company. So, when Phyllis asked to secure a life insurance policy on her husband without his knowledge, Walter tried to forget about its implications and her. Later, he further tried to convince Phyllis that her plans to stage a murder will not go undetected by his boss. Nevertheless, after Phyllis offers her laundry list of domestic miseries Walter is swayed from his better judgement into helping her. In The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Frank (John Garfield) signs a confession against his married boss Cora (Lana Turner). Frank is not a respected businessman, but he is a subordinate and naive drifter who “tried every other way” before needing to save Cora from suicide over her marital woes. In Out of the Past (OOTP) (1947) ex-gumshoe Jeff (Robert Mitchum) confesses to his new girlfriend what a “chump” he once was for Kathie (Jane Greer); a girl he was hired to locate by her boyfriend. Jeff is revered for his honesty, and tried to send a wire and return Kathie, but when the telegraph office was closed he helped her hide instead. Lastly, Michael (Orson Welles) narrates how he was played the “fool” by his married boss Elsa (Rita Hayworth) in The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Michael is a wandering sea man with almost unimpeachable morals who tried to turn down a job on Elsa’s yacht numerous times, and even slapped her for flirting. Ultimately however Michael could not resist saving Elsa from a love-less marriage, threats of suicide, and fears she would need to “take to wash’in”. To further reinforce the fool’s goodness the camera almost refuses to capture his association with guns or murder. For example, in Double the camera uses pleasure on Phyllis’s face to inform the audience Walter is strangling her husband, and during the climax just shots ring out when she dies by her own gun. In a similar fashion, only a thud signifies the fact that Frank killed Cora’s husband in The Postman, whereas Jeff in OOTP and Michael in The Lady never kill anyone.

The Femme Fatale

Film noir persists on revolving storylines around one theme − the femme fatale will do and say anything to have it all. Since the fools character and agenda is established we can best know the femme fatale by examining her values and goals. First, she feels suffocated making her first objective freedom. Second, she wants security so she covets money and property. Third, one man does not satisfy her so she seeks out others. These aims are not sufficient to label any woman ‘bad’. However, the lengths in which she goes to achieve them certainly are. Let us begin with Phyllis in Double. She whines she is trapped “on a leash so tight” she cannot breathe, yet she murdered the first wife for money and home. Next, she gripes that her husband’s life insurance goes to “that Lola” − as if her step-daughter were an obstacle, or object instead of a person. So, she cheats with Walter and helps kill her husband for a $50,000 life insurance policy. Later, she double-crosses Walter with another in an attempt to kill him. But, when Walter catches onto the plot, she offers him a murderous exit strategy instead. Cora in The Postman will not “rot” her life away on her “half dead sister (in-law)”. So, she cheats, helps kill her husband with her lover, and then has “ideas” for her inherited restaurant and a family. Kathie in OOTP runs to not only liberate herself from her boyfriend, but his $40,000 as well. Later, when located by Jeff she seduces him, murders his partner, and then abandons Jeff with the body. Next, Kathie slips back to her boyfriend, murders a man with a thug, and then tries to frame it on Jeff. Incredibly, Kathie ultimately kills her boyfriend, and then tries blackmailing Jeff into running away with her over it. But, when the scheme does not work she kills Jeff too. Finally, there is Elsa in The Lady. She cheats with Michael, murders her husband’s partner, lets Michael take the blame for it, and then kills her husband. As a final note, unlike the good and honest fool who needs to save, sufficient evidence is never presented to support the many claims of domestic abuse made by the femme fatales. This fact leaves every one of her self-possessed and maleficent acts to be understood only by means of psychopathy or pure evil.

The Soul’s of Film Noir

The fool preserves his soul and the femme fatale loses everything. All fools and femme fatale’s suffer punishments for their acts at the end of each movie yet they are vastly different. In Double, Walter faced a kill-or-be-killed situation where Phyllis had already shot him and then threatened to kill others. So, he was justified in killing her. Although Phyllis shocks herself at the end of the movie that she has feelings, it is a far cry from redemption and she lost everything including her soul when she died. Walter on the other hand, was guiltless of Phyllis’ death, saved Lola’s boyfriend from implication, and requested they both be taken care of. Thus, although Walter faces prison and possibly death – he redeemed his soul with a ‘confession’, maintained his humanity with altruistic acts, and is allowed to live cinematically. In The Postman, after Frank and pregnant Cora finally solidify their love for each other she died and lost everything in a tragic car accident. Since Frank was the one driving he was unjustly convicted of murdering Cora and sent to the gas chamber. However, as Frank awaited execution he confessed to a priest to save his soul, maintained his humanity, and lives cinematically. In OOTP Kathie shot Jeff dead for turning her in moments before being gunned down by police herself. So, Kathie lost everything including her soul for multiple murders including Jeff’s. In this special case Jeff, tried to turn Kathie in twice, attempted to save the life of the man she helped kill, and never killed anyone. Therefore, Jeff is exalted to The Martyr. Finally, at the end of The Lady when Elsa kills her husband, she is wounded in the shootout and then craws and begs to a slow death (no confession). This leaves Michael to walk away with the freedom he deserves, only bad memories, and a full life. In summary, all female’s die and lose everything including her soul (if she had one), all male’s keep their souls (one was martyred), 3 live cinematically (we do not have to see them die), and one ‘wins’. Regardless of film noirs intentions the biased gender scripts and vastly unbalanced punishments are astounding. Moreover, both of these gender stereotypes are inaccurate. For example, men are more likely to perpetrate violent crimes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009a), and the psychopathy implied of femme fatale remains uninvestigated (Elham, 2005). Nevertheless, the femme fatal made reappearances in such films as Fatal Attraction (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), and Body of Evidence (1993) (Sherwin, 2008).

The Terrible Mother

Be a ‘good’ Mother or else. The femme fatale is not the only female punished harsher than a male in movies. When it comes to parents, films more often bank on a Terrible Mother. To be fair, there are bad film fathers. However, this researcher found several marked differences in the prevalence of cinematic parents. One; there are less bad Father’s in film, and two; Mothers are given a wider range of negative attributes. Moreover, in addition to less bad Fathers depicted in less bad ways, Father’s suffer fewer punishments, and/or are more burdened by power or duty. The following samples are offered as examples to demonstrate these points; Noah (John Huston) in Chinatown (1974) is a member a powerful club, but he is also an incestuous rapist who is not only allowed to continue his monstrous acts, but ghoulishly takes away his daughter in the finale. Vito (Marlon Brando) and Michael (Al Pacino) are both heads of powerful families responsible for the endurance of their clans. Yet, they are murdering fathers both allowed to die at old ages in peaceful gardens while playing with grandson and puppy (The Godfather, 1972, The Godfather III, 1990). Jack (Jack Nicholson) is a father driven mad as the caretaker of a massive hotel, but he is offered eternal reincarnation to murder his family, staff, and guests (The Shining, 1980). Darth Vader (Sebastian Shaw) is the evilest Father in the universe burdened with the greatest power in the universe, but redeems his soul in Return of the Jedi (1983). Dwight (Robert De Niro) is a repugnant, abusive step-father who is merely left whining after viciously abusing his step-son for over two years (This Boy’s Life, 1993). Bill (Dylan Baker) is a pedophile who drugs and rapes children, and then breaks the news to his 11 year old son that he would only “jerk off” to him. Finally, Lester (Kevin Spacey) is a dad allowed to die happily and narrate off to heaven right after condonably taking a teenage girl’s virginity in 1999s American Beauty. Based on these samples it becomes clear that films are reluctant to vilify a Father, punish a Father, or show a Father’s acts as totally indefensible. Mother’s on the other hand have been viable characters for evil and punishment since step-mother Queen Brangomar (Marguerite Clark) in Snow White (1916). Then, around the 1930s film began depicting Mothers using a wide range of negative attributes and/or made to suffer either direct or indirect punishments. The following samples are offered to illustrate these points as well. Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) is seen as a self-sacrificing mother as she watches her daughter get married from the street. Yet, it is actually her punishment for social climbing and attempt at jump classes (Stella Dallas, 1937). Scarlett (Vivian Lee) is everything a Mother ought not to be; manipulative, vain, seductive, greedy, controlling, unsatisfied, and more. So, her child dies and her husband leaves her (Gone With the Wind, 1939). Mrs. Bennet (Mary Boland) is a foolish snob, whose only goal in life is to marry off her daughters (Pride and Prejudice, 1940). Mrs. Windle Vale (Gladys Cooper) is a cruel, verbally abusive, aristocratic snob who controls her unwanted daughter. This bad Mother is punished with a heart attack induced by the shock that her daughter talked back (Now, Voyager, 1942). Frances (Bette Davis) is a classic femme fatale turned neglectful mother. Here, Mother is punished for cheating, greed, and narcissism with a case of diphtheria that destroys her beauty and leaves her socially ostracized (Mr. Skeffington, 1944). Finally, Carrie (1976) and Precious (2009) contain Mothers so bad they are “Monsters” (King, 2015; Regester, 2015). These samples of film parents, along with film noir couples support research that shows older men are not portrayed as negatively as older women (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005).

The Final Girl

Be a ‘good girl’ or else. In the 1960s thriller Psycho the femme fatale (Janet Leigh) ends up at the bottom of a river with her stolen $40,000, but her honest sister (Vera Miles) survives to become the first ‘final girl’ of slasher films. First, this is not only a third trend in movies to punish a female more than a male, but it also peddles a sexual double standard which research shows still exists (Bordini & Sperb; 2012, Jonason & Marks; 2009). For example, although both sexes are killed in this genre, a 2010 study found that females are more likely to die if they engage in sexual activity than females who do not (Welsh, 2010). Moreover, females were “punished” with significantly longer death scenes than men and significantly longer deaths scenes if they were sexually active. Obviously, these films communicate the message that females who do not practice chastity are deserving of being tortured to death. Second, women are more likely to be killed by someone they know (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009) not strangers, and third; men are just as likely to be stalked as females (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009).

Gender Scheme Theory

As mentioned earlier, movies might be a reflection of what cultures deem “normal”, which can in turn transform society, but they have not been a reflection of reality. For example, the Intersex Society of North America lists 17 third gender conditions (FAQ, 2008) including Turner Syndrome (Cutter et al., 2006) and Klinefelter syndrome (Wattendorf & Muenke, 2005). Additionally, about 9 million Americans are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), 19 million had same sex-relations, and 25.6 million admit same-sex attraction (Gates, 2011). These individuals are not only largely excluded from cinema, but the three types of movies we examined are generative of false stereotypes having strong, repetitive, unbalanced natures. To understand how this has fared – and more importantly who we truly are − consider Sandra Bem’s expansion on cognitive development theory. According to gender schema theory (Bem, 1985) we first absorb, process, and store information using mental networks called schemas. For example, when you hear the word dog your ‘dog schema’ connects others thoughts to it such as bone, bark, and leash which may differ from someone else’s dog schema. According to Bem children have a readiness to begin their schematic processes with the sorting and encryption of everything that is male and female. Afterwards, the self is integrated into this dichotomy followed by new schemata which will guide our existence amongst them. However, Ben contends that the only reason sex-typing occurs, and is given primacy by a child is when a society holds gender at its core (211). This would explain why indigenous tribes such as the Piraha people have no social hierarchy, and ethnic groups such as the Buginese people have five genders. As a consequence of sex typing, Bem believes that one’s self-esteem is then unnecessarily held hostage (188). Thus, media not only influences vital schematic processing, but it is doing so deeply rooted in divided sex-typing which need not exist at all.

Stereotypes

Negative schemas and stereotypes are detrimental and limit human potential. In the field of social psychology one integration model stresses the equivalence of a stereotype and a schema (Cox, Abramson, Devine & Hollon, 2012). This theory submits how both concepts can be false, and that a stereotype also makes a cognitive connection between two personal or societal features which are separate (e.g. attributes, behaviors, the self, identities, traits, social groups, etc). Furthermore, a stereotype can exist in the mind of one person, target one person, target a group, or be shared. Therefore, a stereotype (i.e. schema) is an activating source of strong negative emotions, behaviors, and judgements not easily broken. Additionally, a stereotype can activate prejudice in a Source (Self or Other) leading to depression in a Target (Self or Other). This comorbid exchange is referred to as deprejudice and takes place internally, interpersonally, or socially. This model is represented by the Deprejudice Quadruplex having four cells; the Beckian Depressive, the Prejudice Victim, the Perpetrator, and the Observer. Hence, each cell has its own distinctive mechanisms explaining why a person may not fit perfectly into one or more cell. For instance, it is not necessary to have negative schemas (i.e. cognitions) about the Self as a Beckian Depressive if the source is an Other. Further studies linking cognition, stereotypes, and gender role identity are extensive. For example, gender role conflict (GRC) is linked to serious psychological problems in boys (Blazina, 2005) and men (O’Neil, 2015, 2013, 2008a, 2008b; Wester, 2007; Lavant et al., 2006). Additionally, gender role orientation is associated with several work-family conflicts for men and women (Livingston & Judge, 2008). Physiological research has used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to prove that when one thinks about sex stereotypes a certain region of the brain is activated (Mitchell, Ames, Jenkins, & Banaji, 2009). A second research team (Knutson, Mah, Manly, & Grafman, 2007) used this same technique to scan the brain after one had been given an Implicit Association Test. Interesting, this study found that one brain region was activated by gender and racial biases, while another by efforts to suppress or inhibit a stereotypical attitude. A third fMRI study (Molo, et al., 2006) reported that the brains of those with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) were more like the sex they identified with rather than their own.

Androgyny

Just as it was noticeable that matriarchal punishments emerged in film with early masculine beliefs − so too was it that the rise of feminism ushered in cinematic androgyny. In the early 1960’s when the second wave of feminism hit America Vera Miles might have survived as the first final girl, but her brave initiative to run through the Bates’ home looking for clues also signaled her destiny with action. After this, a few notable film stepping stones where women begin to shed feminine stereotypes include; 1962s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? where Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) uses profanity never before heard onscreen by a women breaking down amidst her nuclear marriage. In 1976 women begin to fight back when Chris (Margaux Hemingway) blows away a rapist in Lipstick, and in 1979 Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is a first attempt at an androgynous heroine in Aliens. In the early millennium, women begin to star as skilled action figures in franchises of box office hits such as The Matrix (1999), Tomb Raider (2001), X-Men (2000), Resident Evil (2002), Underworld (2003), Kill Bill (2003), and more. Additionally, as gay rights begin to triumph in California a sub-genre of hyper-violent and/or hyper-sexualized females surface in movies such as Sin City (2005), Planet Terror (2007), Death Proof (2007), Machete (2010), Sucker Punch (2011), Baytown Outlaws (2012), Machete Kills (2013), and more. These characters do not debase women; they exemplify and merge the extreme in both sexes and are now androgynous – another concept pioneered by Bem (1971, 1974).

Conclusion

This paper reported on the history film has with assigning the male counterparts of couples (i.e. husbands, lovers, fathers, sexually active teens) less negative traits, less negative versatilities, and lesser punishments. Since the U.S. and its film industry are patriarchal-run capitalist systems, the only conclusion that can be drawn from these facts is that movies are typically employed to shape society in ways to benifit both. First, these synergetic efforts start with the perpetuation of two popular sex types. These not only needlessly divide humans into two groups with assigned roles, but they inadequately represented the true diversity of humankind. Next, males in film were exalted and excused consecutive to females being reduced and punished. This resulted in the spread of false stereotypes encapsulating both sexes. Today, the multi-dimensional effects of this socially learned pseudo-world are evident in the gender role and identity conflicts which clearly plague humanity. Nevertheless, female characters in movies refuse to be contained. The nuclear housewife and the femme fatale waned while the female protagonist arose. Now, she is allowed to tote both her hyper-masculine sexuality and aggression while the archetypes of slasher films are exposed and parodied. Therefore, if the characters in movies are ultimately escaping the gender constructs of the human mind – we must be too.

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