Sexuality In The L. A Noire Genre

Each character in the Noir genre has their own story; secrets and ambitions they are willing to fight for or die protecting. The protagonist of a hardboiled detective novel is no exception to that rule, hiding and nursing his damaged past and secrets through bottles of hard liquor. Complementing the his state of perpetual pain is the femme fatale, whose destructive tendencies exacerbate the woes of those around her. More often than not, the femme fatale serves a dual purpose of catalyzing the devastating events of the plot while providing a source of sexualized excitement for the audience. She is beautiful, but deadly, yet damaged in her own right and motivated by a selfish desire to protect herself and/or those she loves from ruin. This trope, as crucial as it may be to the L.A Noire genre, reflects the social norms of a time when the treatment of women by
The Femme does not assert her dominance in a traditional sense, using her cunning wit and beauty instead to ensnare her prey. The danger she poses to others is not due to her ability to fire a gun or to brawl but because of “her control over her own sexuality outside of marriage” (Blaser, The Femme Fatale). Her sensuality is a weapon and a means to survive in the hostile world that she has no say in. As exemplified in Double Indemnity, Phyllis cajoled both Neff and Nino into acting against their self-interest for her own. She did not kill her husband directly, merely using what she had at her disposal to achieve her goal with the least amount of damage to herself. The same concept applies to her mental reconditioning of Nino, whom she had hoped to use to take care of a loose end that could be used to incriminate her. The Femme Fatale’s unabashed exploitation of her sexuality is like a double-edged sword. She is able to better protect herself with it, but at the same time, it opens her up to vulnerabilities that may end up killing