Similarly, it actively annoys me to see noir singled out as an unusually misogynist genre—usually with reference to the perceived ubiquitous duality of the femme fatale and the good girl—when noir has given female characters some of the most interesting agency and dilemmas I've seen in films of the '40's and '50's. I don't deny that Hollywood was and to far too great a degree remains not just a male-dominated, but a male-controlled environment; I don't deny that women who acted, wrote, produced, directed in the genre had to work within the space they were given or work even harder to make space for themselves. But have you seen some of the things that passed for romantic comedies in the days of the Production Code? Have you seen some of the things that pass for romantic comedies now? When noir did badly by women, it was not alone, and when it didn't, it's one of the reasons this genre so fascinates me.
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//HEART EYES