In the years surrounding World War II, American society went through a gender role crisis. Men went off to war and women were asked to take on the traditionally male roles in the work force. Somewhat surprisingly, Rosie the Riveter was generally accepted and women experienced a surge of independence and personal freedom. When the men came back from war, however, Rosie was asked to turn in her rivets, don her apron, and head back to the kitchen. This was a turning point in American culture, the first time on such a broad scale when gender roles were seriously questioned and did not slip back into familiar old patterns. “Arguably, World War II altered gender relations in the United States more than any other event of the twentieth century” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 267). And it should come as no surprise, after a semester’s worth of studies, that Hollywood reflected this questioning of gender roles in its own way.
The film noir genre of movie making developed in Hollywood during and after World War II in response to the shifting gender roles. This entry will define a few concepts in film noir and look first at how the genre’s form and content reflect the unease of the times. The entry will conclude with a brief look at gender roles presented in film noir, including an apparent example of homosexuality, all while using John Huston’s classic The Maltese Falcon as the backdrop for discussion.
Film Noir: Content
“Nowhere are the worries about postwar gender relations more overtly expressed that in a spate of films that would become known as film noir, so named because of their dark stories and even darker settings (‘noir’ is French for black)” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 270). Film noir presented stories of underhanded schemes, gritty urban life, living outside the law, and taking justice into your own hands. A classic example of film noir is John Huston’s 1941 film The Maltese Falcon.
The form – “how the content is expressed” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 3) – of the film is very evident from the trailer. The opening seconds of the trailer are of Sydney Greenstreet giving a brief intro of the story, but all the audience can see is his head and the visible white shirt he is wearing. The rest of the frame is shrouded in darkness, which is a common technique in film noir. The darkness and shadows reflect the gritty feel of the urban setting, as well as the mystery and uncertainty the audience feels about the characters, both their personalities and their gender roles. Much of the film takes place during nighttime, which lends again to the dark and ominous feel of the film. In addition, the camera angle is often low and looking up, suggesting a feeling of helplessness and inferiority. Americans were struggling to find traditional male and female roles in society post-WWII, and the dark and mysterious happenings in film noir pictures provided the Hollywood counterpoint.
Film Noir: Content
Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade is the male protagonist in The Maltese Falcon, but the audience is never certain if he’s, for lack of better terms, a “good guy” or a “bad guy.” The moral ambiguity shines through in Spade’s choice to look after himself first and foremost, making sure he gets the most money for finding the treasured Maltese falcon and being fairly heavy-handed with Mary Astor’s character of Brigid O’Shaughnessy. This departure from the traditional Hollywood leading man reflected the crisis of masculinity in America, with men struggling to find their place.
O’Shaughnessy also seems to be playing two roles, one as the innocent female trapped in the middle of the hunt for the Maltese falcon, and the other as a major player in the underhanded schemes to gain the wealth of the falcon for herself. These character traits also represent the backlash in America at the time regarding the American Dream of wealth and success. While some films of the era tried to represent the conventional views of capitalism and material wealth a la the Horatio Alger myth as success, film noir presented the counterpoint: underhanded schemes to get wealth. Those schemes would often backfire and leave the characters in ruin, as eventually happens in The Maltese Falcon.
Film Noir: Gender Roles
A quick review of the trailer for The Maltese Falcon shows a departure from traditional male and female gender roles. As has already been mentioned, Sam Spade is a dark character, keeping himself as the constant priority, engaging in underhanded deals, and filling the now stereotypical role of jaded private detective with nothing to lose. Brigid O’Shaughnessy is a progressive role in that she uses her feminine charm to manipulate men. That may not sound progressive, but in terms of 1941 cinema, for a female character to do such things seems ahead of its time cinematically. O’Shaughnessy plays to Spade’s – and the audience’s – sympathy with her emotion, but Spade – and the audience, of course – learn in the end *SPOILER ALERT* that O’Shaughnessy was behind the scheme of the Maltese falcon all along.
One final note on homosexuality in The Maltese Falcon. Peter Lorre’s character of Joel Cairo is an excellent example of the pansy character, “…visual gender code to construct male homosexuals as effeminate (and thus ‘failed’) men, a stereotype that became known as the pansy character” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 312). The following clip illustrates Cairo’s effeminate nature and hints at a relationship between he and Sydney Greenstreet’s character of Casper Gutman.
All in all, The Maltese Falcon is a great representation of how film noir, through form, content, and gender representations, reflected the gender role upheaval of post-World War II America.
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