The main topic of Femme Fatale as a Cultural Construct: The Fatal Womanhood Phenomenon in a Historical and Transcultural Perspective is to describe, compare and interpret "femme fatale" in the context of the belly dancer, geisha and salonnière phenomena. The thesis objective, and subsequently its main research question, is to perform a comparative analysis of femme fatale as a unique cultural construct that is projected into various roles of a woman in an original manner. Special attention is paid to make note of concrete cultural and historical attributes related to the profession, knowledge, skills and social roles of belly dancers, geishas and salonnières. Among secondary objectives, the thesis intends to take an interdisciplinary stance in order to elaborate the problems of emancipation and sexuality in historical attitudes toward women, and to identify fatal womanhood motives in fine arts. Last, but not least, the plan is to study cultural and aesthetic contribution of women regarded as femmes fatales. The thesis consists of four relatively standalone chapters, each of which take different interdisciplinary angles to analyze the fatal womanhood phenomenon. The first chapter, a historical exposé of the thesis, investigates the femme fatale through the eyes of mythology and religion. The second chapter,...

abstract: "Recontextualizing Music for Social Change" proposes alternative ways through which the traditional setup of a vocal recital may be transformed into a multidisciplinary performance with a specific social purpose. This task might be achieved by the conscious use and merging of elements such as innovation, ritualistic significance of music, and hopes for social change. Rather than exclusively analyzing the nature of these three elements, this document seeks to exemplify the artistic use of these tools through the description of two doctoral recitals. These performances focus on the portrayal of two specific social issues concerning gender identity: the femme fatale, and sexual identity. The first performance, "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale: The Voice behind a Stereotype," reflects on the negative connotations of the French femme fatale stereotype. This dangerous image has been perpetuated through popular and mass media since the nineteenth century. The femme fatale has achieved an iconic status thanks to her appealing, damaging, unrealistic, and hypersexualized traits. Nevertheless, this male-constructed stereotype was actually conceived as a parody of female emancipation. "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale" seeks to create awareness of this image through a staged approach of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite, feminist poetry and prose, and euphonium music. The second performance, "Un-Labelling Love: A Scientific Study of Romantic Attachment in Four Seasons," analyses the biological nature of love. According to this perspective, "Un-Labelling Love" transforms a vocal recital into a scientific lecture. This lecture examines four developmental stages of romantic love through the performance of art songs and the inclusion of a narrator, who describes the biological and psychological changes experienced by two research subjects--the performers--during these love stages. Through a plot-twist at the end of the performance, "Un-Labelling Love" also questions the patriarchal assumption that heterosexual kinship represents, by default, the unmarked category of adult pair-bonding. In summary, and based on scientific facts, this vocal performance seeks to encourage social assimilation of non-heterosexual kinship systems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2014

Syftet med min analys är att se via en neoformalistisk stilanalys vilka grepp som filmen Sin City har hämtat från film noir. Jag ser även via intertextuella kopplingar vad Sin City har hämtat från serietidningen som filmen baseras på. Fokus i analysen ligger dock på fyra grepp som jag anser är de mest klassiska film noirgreppen; Ljussättning, Femme fatale, en mörk värld och protagonisten. Jag kommer bl.a. fram till att Sin Citys använder sig av klassiska film noirstilgrepp men drar dem till det extrema, kanske för att passa in på den serievärld som filmen är länkad till. Filmen använder sig även flitigt av hypermarkerade objekt för att leda in åskådaren på mer estetiska tankebanor.

Med Gerda Wegeners (1885–1940) anonymt publicerade homoerotiska illustrationer till Les Délassements de l’Éros (1917–1925) som utgångspunkt undersöker den här uppsatsen hur Wegener leker med föreställningar om kön, maskulinitet och femininitet genom att konsekvent tänja på dessa och på så sätt öppnar upp för alternativa och queera narrativ. Kontexten för dessa illustrationer; hur de publicerades i en tid där lesbisk kärlek var populär att skildra inom litteratur och konst men samtidigt kunde utgöra ett risktagande redovisas för att bättre förstå sammanhanget Wegener skapade sina illustrationer i, samt varför hon valde att signera de homoerotiska med ett sigill i form av en liten svart mask, i stället för med sitt namn som på hennes övriga illustrationer och målningar.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how cultural symbols are influenced during their remediation to social media platforms. As a case to explore this, this study delves into an examination of the remediation of the Femme Fatale archetype from the visual art tradition to the social media platform TikTok. This thesis aims to explore the remediation of the Femme Fatale archetype from the visual arts tradition to the social media platform TikTok. TikTok has rapidly increased in popularity in recent years, boasting over one billion international users. TikTok's short-form video-sharing platform allows users to sample content from various mediums (such as art and film) and adapt it to the platform. This relationship between content curation and user engagement highlights the importance of exploring Femme Fatale's remediation process on TikTok, mainly how content from the visual arts tradition is portrayed on the platform. This will be achieved by utilizing a feminist perspective, exploring how the remediation process impacts gender role stereotypes and power dynamics within the Femme Fatale archetype. The study will employ remediation as a theoretical and analytical framework. Furthermore, to incorporate the feminist perspective, the concepts of male gaze and performativity will be embedded in the analysis. Thirty TikToks were sourced for analysis and explored through the framework of remediation, the concept of male gaze, and the concept of performativity. The study concludes that the remediation of the Femme Fatale results in a loss of original narrative. The research highlights how TikTok’s participatory culture enables the ongoing performance of the Femme Fatale. Moreover, the majority of the content on the platform reveals a narrative of the Femme Fatale through surface-level aesthetics, allowing for its commodification, which emphasizes visual appeal over in-depth narrative, aligning with traditional tropes found in previous mediums. The study contributes to a further understanding of how the remediation process can influence cultural symbols previously embedded in the tradition of visual arts through social media platforms' medium-specific demands on content creation.

This thesis examines how contemporary femme fatales operate under patriarchal notions and expectations of gender and femininity to get away with their crimes. Whereas classic femme fatales were relegated to a tragic fate—either through death, incarceration or other forms of subjugation—contemporary femme fatales now have the narrative possibility of using their sexuality, intellect and agency to get away with their crimes at the expense of the male hero. Breaking with the traditional analysis centering around the femme fatale in her relation to men and male anxieties regarding feminine sexual difference, I propose a queer reading of the contemporary femme fatale that accredits the femme fatale for her active cunning and independence through an examination of her enhanced characteristics which make it possible for her to succeed under the continuous constraints of the patriarchy. The films examined are: The Last Seduction (1994), Gone Girl (2014), Body Heat (1981), Nightmare Alley (2021), Bound (1996) and Basic Instinct (1992). While the popularity of the femme fatale continues, there are still relatively few examples of femme fatales who get away with their crimes as well as a continued lack of scholarship that discusses the intricacies of the femme fatale absent from her theorization as a beacon of male anxieties. However, this project remains hopeful and advocates for a more diverse representation and an in increase scholastic conversation surrounding femme fatales in contemporary cinema.

La investigación presente analiza la caracterización de la protagonista de la novela Travesuras de la niña mala de Mario Vargas Llosa (2006) a través de una crítica falocéntrica para determinar si es una obra feminista o no. Particularmente, el objetivo del trabajo es analizar la descripción del personaje principal en relación con el feminismo y la feminidad, teniendo en cuenta desde cuál punto de vista la presentación está realizado. Las preguntas de investigación son: ¿Podría clasificar Travesuras de la niña mala como una obra feminista? ¿Cómo está descrito el personaje de Otilia en relación con lo femenino? ¿Es un personaje femenino, feminista, ambas al mismo tiempo? El análisis se sostiene en teorías sobre el feminismo (Toril Moi 1989), la crítica falocéntrica (Kate Millet 1969), y en los conceptos de lo femenino, la femme fatale y la mirada masculina (Laura Mulvey 1989). La investigación se realiza con un método hermenéutico donde la lectura del corpus se enfoca en las estructuras de poder de género presentes. Los hallazgos del análisis son que existe tanto una cosificación como una feminización del personaje. La caracterización incluye características apeladas a lo masculino, pero, las cuales están excusadas por el pasado del personaje. Además, el análisis deduce que el personaje está descrito como dependiente de un hombre tanto materialmente como emocionalmente. Consecuentemente, la conclusión de la investigación es que la obra no puede decirse ser una obra feminista. / The present investigation analyses the characterization of the protagonist of the novel Travesuras de la niña mala by Mario Vargas Llosa (2006) through a phallocentric critique to determine if it is a feminist work or not. Particularly, the objective of the work is to analyse the description of the main character in relation to feminism and femininity, considering from which point of view the presentation is made. The research questions are: Could you classify Travesuras de la niña mala as a feminist work? How is Otilia's character described in relation to femininity? Is she a female character, feminist, both at the same time? The analysis is based on theories on feminism (Toril Moi 1989), phallocentric criticism (Kate Millet 1969), and on the concepts of femininity, the femme fatale and the male gaze (Laura Mulvey 1989). The research is carried out with a hermeneutic method where the reading of the corpus focuses on the present gender power structures. The findings of the analysis are that there is both an objectification and a feminization of the character. The characterization includes characteristics appealing to the masculine, but which are excused by the character's past. In addition, the analysis deduces that the character is described as dependent on a man both materially and emotionally. Consequently, the conclusion of the investigation is that the work cannot be said to be a feminist work.

La thèse compare quelques romans suédois et français écrits entre 1884 et 1892 et comment ceux-ci sont imprégnés par les thèmes de la Décadence, et cela à partir de l’implication esthétique des portraits de femmes. Huit textes sont étudiés afin de comparer la littérature suédoise fin-de-siècle – en partie interprétée comme de la littérature de « percée moderne » – à la littérature française et la Décadence. L’étude est divisée en trois parties concernant : 1) la représentation de la femme indépendante ; 2) les nouveaux rôles des sexes ; 3) les rapports à l’esthétique et l’ontologie décadentes. Comme l’époque est concernée par de nouveaux rôles de sexes, l’attention attirée sur les figures féminines est fructueuse et originale, car la plupart des personnages principaux décadents sont masculins, un fait qui imprègne la recherche sur la Décadence littéraire. La première partie analyse aussi bien les apparences et les comportements, que l’approche de « la femme fatale » et le regard des femmes d’elles-mêmes. Dans la deuxième partie, des thèmes comme androgynie, sexualité et érotisme sont étudiés. Finalement, la thèse examine, dans la troisième partie, les relations entre les figures féminines et les idées liées à la sécularisation, à l’artifice et aux maladies fin-de-siècle. Plus les analyses évoluent, plus il devient clair que les œuvres suédoises sont marquées par les mêmes thèmes et idées que les œuvres françaises. Cependant, une différence est que les traits des figures féminines françaises sont plus souvent exagérés que ceux des figures suédoises – une différence que la thèse voit comme une influence du programme littérairement politique de la « percée moderne ». / This thesis compares Swedish and French literary prose fiction written between 1884 and1892 and its approach to Decadent themes, with focus on the female portraits and their aesthetic impact. Eight texts are analyzed in order to explore how the Swedish fin de siècle literature – partly interpreted as belonging to the political literary program of the ”Modern Breakthrough” – relates to the French literature and the Decadence. As the literary Decadence is concerned about the gender roles, the focus on the female characters is profitable and original; most main characters in Decadent literature are male, which has also influenced earlier research on this period’s literature. The study is divided into three major parts: 1) pictures of the independent woman; 2) gender roles and sexuality; 3) female characters and decadent ontology. In the first part, the analyses focus on features and behavior – as well as “la femme fatale” and the women’s look upon themselves. In the second part, themes such as androgyny, sexuality and eroticism are examined. In the third part, the study explores how the female figures relate to the ideas of degeneration and the feelings of loss: secularization, artifice and (non-)health. The more the analyses are developed, the clearer it becomes that the Swedish texts are influenced by the same decadent themes and ideas as the French texts. Nevertheless, a difference is that the French literature’s female characters more often are depicted with exaggerated traits than the Swedish characters, a difference that the thesis points out as connected to the Modern Breakthrough and its political program.

This thesis challenges the traditional view of the 'femme fatale' as merely a dangerous and ravenous sexual predator who leads men into ruination. Critical, especially feminist, scholarship mostly regards the femme fatale as a sexist construction of a male fantasy and treats her as an expression of misogyny that ultimately serves to reaffirm male authority. But this thesis proposes alternative ways of viewing the femme fatale by showing how she can also serve as a figure for imagining female agency. As such, I focus on a particular character type that is distinct from the general archetype of the femme fatale because of the greater degree of agency she demonstrates. This 'criminal femme fatale' uses her sexual appeal and irresistible wiles both to manipulate men and to commit criminal acts, usually murder, in order to advance her goals with deliberate intent and full culpability. This thesis reveals and explains the agency of the criminal femme fatales in American Hardboiled crime fiction between the late 1920s and the end of World War II in the works of three authors: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. The criminal femme fatales in the narratives of these authors show a subversive power and an ability to act - even though, or perhaps only if, this action is a criminal one. I show that these criminal femme fatales exhibit agency through their efforts to challenge not only the 'masculine' genre and the criminal space that this genre represents, but also to undercut the male protagonist's role and prove his failure in asserting control and dominance. Hammett's narratives provide good examples of how the criminal femme fatales function on a par with male gangsters in an underworld of crime and corruption. Chandler's work demonstrates a different case of absent/present criminal women who are set against the detective and ultimately question his power and mastery. Cain's narratives show the agency of the criminal femme fatales in the convergence between their ambition for social mobility and their sexual power over the male characters. To explain how these female characters exhibit agency, I situate this body of literature alongside contemporaneous legal and medical discourses on female criminality. I argue that the literary female criminal is a fundamentally different portrayal because she breaks the 'mad-bad' woman dichotomy that dominates both legal and medical discourses on female criminality. I show that the criminal femme fatales' negotiations of female agency within hardboiled crime fiction fluctuate and shift between the two poles of the criminalized and the medicalized women. These criminal femme fatales exhibit culpability in their actions that bring them into an encounter with the criminal justice system and resist being pathologized as women who suffer from a psychological ailment that affect their control. The thesis concludes that the ways in which the criminal femme fatales trouble normative socio-cultural conceptions relating to docile femininity and passive sexuality, not only destabilize the totality and fixity of the stereotype of the femme fatale in hardboiled crime fiction, but also open up broader debates about the representation of women in popular culture and the intersections between genre and gender.

This thesis argues that Ella Ferris Pell's 1890 painting, Salome, provides a unique interpretation of the ideals of the New Woman, specifically in terms of reclaiming female power through Salome's confidence in her sexuality. By examining the cultural context in which Pell exhibited her painting, as well as her background as an artist, I hope bring to the light the significant ways in which Pell's Salome participates in the construction of the New Woman in late nineteenth-century culture. Since Pell was an American woman who trained and exhibited in both the United States and France, this paper explores the significance of the New Woman in both countries. Through the examination of these ideas, we can better appreciate the way in which Pell approached her painting and why it was not well received in Paris—despite its popular subject matter, technical execution, and relevance to the popular topic of the women's movement. Drawing upon the rich visual culture of this era, I offer a comparative study of how both images of women and actual women embraced sexuality and femininity as a means of exerting influence over men, and by so doing, carved out a sphere of influence in a male-dominated society.