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I, Anna (2012) and the Femme Fatale: Neo-Noir and Representations of Female Old Age

Abstract

Through textual analysis this paper explores neo-noir film I, Anna (Southcombe, 2012). This paper promotes the concept of the femme fatale in modern film noir as having much to offer women and ageing studies. Older women on screen have commonly been theorised within two opposing paradigms: ageing as decline, and ageing successfully. This paper argues that through a specific representation of the aged femme fatale body I, Anna offers a destabilisation of the common femme fatale stereotype. This contributes a more nuanced understanding of women and ageing on screen than the representations that are usually discussed in film and/or ageing studies. This paper also marks out this neo-noir British film as an interesting avenue from which to explore the representation of ageing women in film, as existing research has so far focussed on romantic comedy and bio-pic. This paper therefore seeks to add to the growing body of new work on female ageing and representations in the media

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