Abstract：Postmodern philosopher Judith Butler views identity as a signifying practice rather than an ontological being and thinks that identity construction is closely related to social cultural discourse. In the film noir which is characterized by claustrophobia and destabalized morality, the suspension of existing values provides various possibilities for identity construction of “Femme Fatale”. A comparative analysis of the femme fatale in Double Indemnity and Basic Instinct, in terms of themes, plot and visual representation, reveals that in the shift from implicit representation of sex to explicit one, the fatal figure in postmodern films has unwittingly been “objectified” as the sexual performer under the male gaze and been assimilated by the patriarchal social discourse, thus losing her original subversive power.
张强1,2. 性别表演视域下“蛇蝎美人”的“堕落”[J]. 江苏大学学报（社会科学版）, 2015, 17(1): 64-68.
Zhang Qiang1，2. Performativity and the “Degeneration” of the “Femme Fatale” in Film Noir. Journal of Jiangsu University（Social Science Editi, 2015, 17(1): 64-68.
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2015, Vol. 17 
