https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i4.112
Gender in Disguise: Ideological Containment and Representation of Femme Fatale Gaze in Malayalam Cinema
ASHIMA THODENGAL
Assistant Professor
Department of English Language and Literature
GEMS Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Ramapuram, Kerala
Email: ashima97anu@gmail.com
Abstract: The paper pursues a critical analysis of the stereotyping of the femme fatale trope in Malayalam cinema, particularly inspecting how their representation functions within the broader framework of cultural production in Kerala. The cinematic representation is a cultural power, asserting that the femme fatale in Malayalam cinema disciplines female identity within regional spectatorship. The transition of the archetype into regional cinema marks a shift from a figure of complex moral ambiguity to a structurally contained and morally condemned character, configured to neutralize her potential, significantly tied to the conservative values or social expectations in Kerala. At the intersection of Gender Studies and Media Critique, the study employs a dual theoretical framework utilising Mulvey’s concept of Male Gaze to analyse the visual politics of objectification and the notion of Narrative Agency to analyse the structural denial of her subjectivity. Drawing references from myth, literature and movies the paper critically traces the emergence and evolving of the archetype that directly resonates with regional spectatorship.
The core argument postulates the femme fatale serves a critical ideological function: the surveillance and containment of female autonomy thereby reinforcing conservative gender essentialism and patriarchal power. The paper analyses the marginalization that represents the femme fatale reducing to the constraints of the Madonna/Whore dichotomy. Consequently, the narrative complexity and moral ambiguity are foreclosed, denying the femme fatale any sustained narrative agency or textual subjectivity.
The analysis concludes that the predictable and recurring depiction of the femme fatale in Malayalam cinema is not merely a genre convention, instead a reflection of the patriarchal control on female independence. By repeatedly framing the femme fatale as a cautionary figure, these films diminish the potential of female autonomy and reinforce normative gender hierarchies. This patriarchal narrative that subjects this figure to moral retributions, necessitates a critical opposition to these restrictive and ideologically loaded modes of representation.
Keywords: Ideological Containment, Gender Essentialism, Male Gaze, Narrative Agency, Femme Fatale Trope
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