Week 3 was an interesting week as far as content, with the idea of how stars become stars further explored, as well as entering into star “types.” The content about Marlene Dietrich was quite fascinating as we were comparing her to the type “femme fatale.” I had personally never heard of this sort of phrase, but it really made sense after it was explained. The idea of a “dangerous” woman is quite interesting as it really goes on to explain how men feel that they are always in control, but a woman who has the ability to take away that sense of control via beauty or being mischievous is “dangerous.” Some stars, like Marlene Dietrich, embraced the concept of femme fatale and used it to develop their image, and full embodied it as themselves. Prior to the 60s, it was highly frowned upon for women to openly discuss or be seen as sexual beings, and the women who did were quite “dangerous.” Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich were both examples of women who took advantage of these societal standards and used them to gain major popularity. “Star images function crucially in relation to contradictions within and between ideologies, which they seek variously to ‘manage’ or resolve.” (Dyer). The ideologies the two of them fought were primarily the sexist societal rules placed on women to keep them as mere objects whose whole point in life was to please men.
Fast forward to the year 2020 and quite a bit has changed. While women are still victims of sexism every day in a variety of forms, the idea of the “femme fatale” can quite honestly be seen in many of today’s biggest stars. Women are now aware of the power or “danger” they have over men. On the app Tik Tok, there are thousands of videos of women singing along to the words “make his pockets hurt” while typically dressed in cute clothing. Using a casual sense of humor, women bring up how easy it is to get money out of men. Singers like Jhené Aiko and Summer Walker are known for their songs about men treating them badly and how they get back at them. Some of Jhené Aiko’s music encourages cheating on men, which is something that back in the day would have caused quite a bit of outrage. These singers dress provocatively, are quite successful, and use their music to show off their attitudes towards men and holding themselves to a better standard. It is incredible to look at how women used to be victimized by the stereotype of “femme fatale” and now take full advantage of it to advance in their careers and be in more equalized relationships with men.
Jhené Aiko (pictured above) typically focuses her music on her self confidence, and how she does not allow men to take advantage of her, and she will treat them how they treat her. One of her most popular songs of 2020 is named “P*$$Y Fairy” which mostly is about her ability to seduce men. The concept of a song like this would have been unacceptable 50 years ago, and even today is looked at poorly. However, Aiko uses the idea of “femme fatale” to feed into the persona that Hollywood and the music industry has created for her, which I find quite powerful. Artists like Jhené Aiko and Summer Walker are examples of what I would call a modern-day Marlene Dietrich. They are not afraid to break the rules, and act in a way that society does not want them to.