Bordun, Troy Michael
2025.
'You're a triple imposter, I've never seen anything like it': Scarlett Johansson's femme fatales.
Intersectional Perspectives: Identity, Culture, and Society
4
(1)
, pp. 1-31.
10.18573/ipics.144
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Abstract
Researchers investigating Scarlett Johansson’s films and image have neglected an essential strand of the star’s career. Scholars have mostly demonstrated no interest in Johansson’s film noirs. In this article, I offer one step forward in correcting this oversight. Johansson’s four noir roles point to a larger tendency in her film output: the noirs firmly position Johansson as an A-list actress with a specific type of star vehicle. In her noirs and many of her films in other genres, Johansson plays a role in which the character must also play a role, wear a mask, or hide her identity (or identities). I name this type of role performing performing. Film noir is well suited for this type. The femme fatale often hides her agenda, identity, or motive behind the feminine masquerade. With the assistance of star studies theories and Mary Ann Doane’s observations on the feminine masquerade in twentieth century cinema, this article turns to Johansson’s four noir roles and offers two theses. First, while Johansson acts across genres and styles, she nevertheless possesses a specific trait, performing performing, that cuts across her work and thus establishes her films as star vehicles. Second, analysing her performances in film noirs demonstrates how her twenty-first century films diverge from Doane’s accounts of the twentieth century’s femme fatales. This article intervenes in ongoing debates about gender representation, stardom, and performance in contemporary cinema.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Publisher: | Cardiff University Press |
| ISSN: | 2752-3497 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 13 October 2025 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 8 April 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Oct 2025 16:57 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181632 |
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