Genre Studies: Bad Girls

by Clay Stafford,
Founder Killer Nashville,
Publisher Killer Nashville Magazine

In the genre sense, “Bad Girls” is a psychological subgenre of the larger “Crime” masthead, which we discussed in the last issue.

BREAKING DOWN THE BAD GIRL STORY

I am writing my opinion here and it is not my objective to emasculate the guys, but if you feel that way, it could be that you especially should be en garde: there are women out there who are intent on doing you serious hurt!

Here’s the bottom line: men have been scared of seductive women since the beginning of time. Why? Because they recognize – even if only subconsciously – the ultimate power that can lead to their downfall. It is the weakness of the men who give women this power, not necessarily the strength of the women themselves. So you have two things going on here as a writer: the flawed male character with a weakness (usually the protagonist) and the opportunistic wiliness of the woman (maybe the antagonist – or this is how these roles are normally portrayed). Of course, to have a strong hero, you must have an equally – or more so – strong villain and, in fiction as in life, why not hit the man where he is most weak? Religion has ineffectively rallied against her since the beginning of time. Politics have tried to keep her down. Misogynist males have been no match. These women – and here I go maybe offending the women – are female vampires, whether or not the actual association is made. In the end, these girls are bloodsuckers of men. They are sensual, sexy, dangerous, manipulative, near unstoppable, and even cursed.

Now here’s the good part. Most of the time, the female trickery is directed towards a man, but sometimes in the telling, another woman takes the fall. Psychological catfight! And don’t think the sensuality that leads to a man’s fall does not also work on a woman, though not to the physically sexual degree. For woman-to-woman, it is intimidation. It’s also interesting that, in the tragedy of these characters destroying each other’s lives, that some of these stories are designated as comedies rather than tragedies, because the truth of it outside the comedic element would be too much to bear.

There is a subgroup in “Bad Girls” known as “Femme Fatale.” I’m putting both of these in the same category because the femme fatale is just a certain – and certainly very popular for a time – version of the same thing. The motive is the same for each of these ladies, though the targets might be different. In the end, as your mother told you, there are the girls you marry, and then there are the girls you don’t bring home to meet the family (because you might be dead, for one).

Looking at femme fatales before we move on, a femme fatale is a (usually) attractive woman, especially one who will bring disaster upon any man who becomes involved with her. Femme fatale is a French phrase meaning, literally, “fatal woman.” In truth, haven’t we all dated a few of these?  In America since the late 1800’s, we’ve called them vamps, interestingly short for vampire. Here we go back to the bloodsucking motif. These women – though not always of horror – are a succubus in their own ways. But no different than the men who are portrayed in other stories. These women, call them “Bad Girls” or “Femme Fatales,” will seek to win at all costs with morals ranging from villainous to simple ambivalence. In observing this type of woman, some have even gone so far as to call her “a monstrous Beast of the Apocalypse” (Joris-Karl Huysmans).

I love Gothic as my readers know and there is a definite Gothic influence in the character, whether in the whole work or not. There may not be a castle, but many times the portrayal of the lass is one of foreign origin, if not physically, then psychologically. It’s an exotic temptation as though, if American, one might need to take a trip to England or Europe. The different culture, in this case mental culture, is a thematic temptation. And, of course, there are always the eyes, those windows of those evil seeking souls.

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Marquis de Sade felt that it wasn’t evil that occupied these women, but the best that women had to offer. That’s an interesting thought. Even today, there is a whole trash market with Girls Gone Wild; unfortunately for me, I guess I prefer my “Bad Girls” more in the form of Dolores Umbridge, which leads me to this: purists would probably like to keep the genre in the stereotype of a seductress in a trench coat (probably also in black-and-white), but women come in all shapes, sizes, and modes of criminality. To the purists, I’d have to say, watch noir to see your femme fatale; to the academic studying “Bad Girls,” a kaleidoscope of color is available as you’ll see in the lists of “Bad Girls” below.

For me, though, I’m going to take a risk and jump out of the stereotype. To write a “Bad Girl,” you don’t have to have a gun or murder; you have to have intent and great characterization. She doesn’t have to be an evil twin, or Humphrey Bogart’s ultimate undoing, or even a high-powered corporate bitch. All she needs is attitude. Writers need to know that. So bear with me as I’m going to diverge from the 1950’s noir bad girl and simply look at character. These women are strong and they are formidable in numerous settings. Put a gun in their hand and you have Mickey Spillane; put a box of baking soda in their hand, and you have Mommie Dearest. In the end, it is the same woman, different time, different channel. Regardless, we are mesmerized. We love to watch these women, for the same reason we like horror movies. We love to be seduced by these women because we are foolish enough to think that – while others have failed – we can control them. But how much of their actions or successes are our own hedonistic fault? Are they all not like poor Jessica Rabbit: “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.”

CASE HISTORY: FIRST BAD GIRL OR FEMME FATALE STORIES

The “Bad Girl” is an archetype in worldwide literature. I first met the “Bad Girl” in the most likely place: church. For children who go to Sunday School – of which I am a proponent – they know the stories of the bad girls: Eve, Potiphar’s wife, Lot’s wife, the woman at the well, Delilah, Sapphira, Rahab, Michal, and – of course – Jezebel. But they also know of Solomon’s frisky young lady whose breasts are like young fawns. As a young boy, no one had to force me to read scripture.

From the first woman (Eve) forward, being a “Bad Girl” has been one of the oldest ways to get ahead. Following Eve came a whole slew of ambitious females: Sphinx (Greek, not Egyptian, 1600 BC), Delilah (Hebrew, 1075 BC), Daji (Chinese, brought down an empire, 1047 BC), Jezebel (Hebrew, 858 BC), the Homer’s Sirens, Scylla, Circe, Aphrodite, Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra (Greek, 850 BC Homer), Lilith (Hebrew, 600 BC), Mohini (Hindu, 450 BC), Euripides’ Medea (Greek, 440 BC), Cleopatra (Egypt, 45 BC), Salome (Hebrew, 26 AD), and Messalina (Roman, 35 AD). And they were not all fictional. Sappho (7th Century BC) was not only a poet, but a pretty bad girl herself. Needless to say, the “Bad Girl” is a classic.

When the Middle Ages came, they piously or comically focused on seductive women of ill-intent. By focusing, they did little to quell the personality type; in fact, like modern-day condemnations, it only added to the allure of the femme fatale. In the 1600s, Shakespeare (as did most of the poets) loved the duplicitous woman, but then, even now, who doesn’t? English literature began using the femme fatale to make social statements in the 1800s. And, of course, the femme fatale reigned as Queen in American hardboiled stories and noir films of the 1900s. All through time, it was the sexual attractiveness paired with the mental ingenuity that created the allure.

THE FUTURE OF BAD GIRL FICTION

“Bad Girl” fiction dominates film much more than it does literature. Why? Not sure. I would speculate it is because of the visual element and the demographic targets are usually male audiences. In literature, one needs to mentally create, to provide one’s own pictures. Visually, one just has to sit back and enjoy. This is why I personally think the subgenre rules more in film than it does in literature…but it doesn’t have to be that way.

A distinction between the femme fatale and the vamp is that the vamp goes straight for sexual advances while the femme fatale is more catlike using sensuality as the means to the end, not necessarily sex (or some symbolic metaphor). There is a hybrid forming in many YA films and stories of the two intermingling: female vampires who are, at the same time, femme fatales.

But in many ways because of the evolutionary view of women in the Western world, the “Bad Girl” is becoming more subtle on some sides and more bold on others. She is changing form, from sensuality of the body and cunning of the mind and expanding to a bit of male kick-ass never before allowed because – I think – society itself could not have previously endured it. By doing so, these “Bad Girls” are in ways becoming sexually homogeneous and embracing crimes normally committed by men in the past and this is possibly why we also see a greater plethora of them as protagonists (rather than antagonists or supportive roles) in the visual arts than we do in literature. Movies traditionally are made for young adult men. Explosions, pretty girls, wild women; all of these fit into that fractured male demographic. Part of the allure, too, is that the “Bad Girls” of today are not just directing their wiles against men, but also other women, society, and social issues. And they are not always working alone. Sometimes they move in packs like jackals.

EXAMPLES FOR EXPLORING THE BAD GIRL GENRE ON YOUR OWN

My objective is to look at works driven by the “Bad Girl” archetype. Sometimes I blur the lines between “Bad Girl” protagonists and plots dependent upon the “Bad Girl” character. I realize this, but I also know that these characters are a driving force within each of the stories listed and, if removed, the story would not be what it is. I often wonder, too, if in a different time and a different reader/viewer mindset would these “Bad Girls” not have taken a larger role.

I haven’t identified the “Bad Girl” in any of the below. I’m taking it as a given that you’ll figure that one out.

In the list of films, I have to say that these are not all necessarily good movies as a whole, but they are great movies for “Bad Girls” and many of the bad ones are even downright disturbing. In movies, sometimes even if there is a remake, I may include the older version (God forbid, even if in black-and-white) because it is – frankly – better acted, directed, and/or written. Caution: because we are looking at “Bad Girls,” it is inevitable that some of the women portrayed here are very bad; in the case of some of the movies, I wouldn’t look at the trailers unless you are alone, and certainly not at work.

I’ve expanded from my first column last month. I’ve included titles of books and films in a variety of settings because, as we know, quality is a subjective term and one may like their nasty sultry and sensual, while another might like it comedic because, in the spirit of Elmore Leonard, nothing says that crime cannot be funny. So I’ve included quite a few comedies for those of like mind. From your comments, too, and from previewing the excellent column written by teacher Tracy Spruce in this month’s Killer Nashville Magazine, I understand some of you are classical readers and viewers and some more contemporary, so I have included the dates for all (literature and film) so you can explore this subgenre within your own area of comfort and reference, finding books and films that work for you in the way that you easily think. Education should be enjoyable; I’ve tried to make it so. And, for further study for those writers who want to explore the genre in detail, I’ve included books I think might help you understand the progression of literary “Bad Girls” and femme fatales. Wade through. I’ve included something for everyone, regardless of your personal standards. But remember this: The “Bad Girl” does not have to be over-the-top. She can be subtle, as in many of the examples below. In fact, subtlety seems to have a way of destroying drop-by-drop hard, impenetrable surfaces that over-the-top does not.

All of these are here for us to read and study to make us better writers. From stealing puppies to seducing cops, here are my favorite “Bad Girls” in Literature, Film, Television, and Nonfiction Writer Studies:

  • A Touch of Death / Charles Williams, 1953

    Beowulf / Anonymous, 700

    The Bible / Various

    The Big Sleep / Raymond Chandler, 1988

    The Bride Wore Black / Cornell Woolrich, 1957

    Carmilla / Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 1871

    Casino Royale / Ian Fleming, 1953

    Cat’s Eye / Margaret Atwood, 1988

    Christabel / Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1816

    The Cocktail Waitress / James M. Cain, 2012

    The Crucible / Arthur Miller, 1953

    The Custom of the Country / Edith Wharton, 1910

    The Day of the Locust / Nathanael West, 1939

    Dolores Claiborne / Stephen King, 1992

    Double Indemnity / James M. Cain, 1936

    Dracula / Bram Stoker, 1897

    Earth Spirit / Frank Wedekind, 1895

    Earth’s Children Series / Jean M. Auel, 1980

    Emma / Jane Austen, 1815

    The Faerie Queene / Edmund Spenser, 1590

    Farewell, My Lovely / Raymond Chandler, 1940

    For Your Eyes Only / Ian Fleming, 1960

    Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang / Joyce Carol Oates, 1993

    The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams, 1945

    Goldeneye / John Gardner, 1995

    Gone Girl / Gillian Flynn, 2012

    Gone with the Wind / Margaret Mitchell, 1936

    Great Expectations / Charles Dickens, 1861

    The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix / J. K. Rowling, 2003

    His Dark Materials Series / Philip Pullman, 1995

    The House of Mirth / Edith Wharton, 1905

    I, the Jury / Mickey Spillane, 1947

    Icebreaker / John Gardner, 1983

    Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte, 1847

    Juliette / Marquis de Sade, 1797

    King Lear / William Shakespeare, 1605

    Kiss Me Deadly / Mickey Spillane, 1952

    La Belle Dame Sans Merci / John Keats, 1819

    Lady Audley’s Secret / Mary Elizabeth Braddon, 1862

    Lady Susan / Jane Austen, 1871

    Les Liaisons Dangereuses / Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, 1782

    Licence to Kill / John Gardner, 1989

    The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe / C. S. Lewis, 1950

    Little House on the Prairie Series / Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1932

    Macbeth (The Tragedy of Macbeth) / William Shakespeare, 1606

    Madame Bovary / Gustave Flaubert, 1856

    The Maltese Falcon / Dashiell Hammett, 1930

    Mildred Pierce / James M. Cain, 1941

    Misery / Stephen King, 1987

    The Monk / Matthew Gregory Lewis, 1795

    Nana / Emile Zola, 1880

    Nobody Lives Forever / John Gardner, 1986

    The Odyssey / Homer, 800 BC

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest / Ken Kesey, 1962

    Pandora’s Box / Frank Wedekind, 1904

    The Postman Always Rings Twice / James M. Cain, 1934

    Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen, 1813

    Queenpin / Megan Abbott, 2007

    Rebecca / Daphne du Maurier, 1938

    Robbie’s Wife / Russell Hill, 2007

    Salome / Oscar Wilde, 1891

    Sense and Sensibility / Jane Austen, 1811

    Single White Female / John Lutz, 1990

    A Tale of Two Cities / Charles Dickens, 1859

    Thunderball / Ian Fleming, 1961

    You Only Live Twice / Ian Fleming, 1964

    The Vampire Diaries Series / L. J. Smith, 2010

    Vampire Hunter Series (early Anita Blake) / Laurell K. Hamilton, 1993

    Vanity Fair / William Makepeace Thackeray, 1847

    Who Will Run the Frog Hospital / Lorrie Moore, 1994

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz / L. Frank Baum, 1900

    Wuthering Heights / Emily Bronte, 1847

  • 101 Dalmatians / Stephen Herek, 1996

    9 To 5 / Colin Higgins, 1980

    A Blueprint for Murder / Andrew Stone, 1953

    A Fool There Was / Frank Powell, 1915

    A Private Affair / Guillaume Nicloux, 2002

    A Very Long Engagement / Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2004

    A Woman’s Face / George Cukor, 1941

    Accomplice / Walter Colmes, 1946

    Ace in the Hole / Billy Wilder, 1951

    Addams Family Values / Barry Sonnenfeld, 1993

    Allotment Wives / William Nigh, 1945

    All About Eve / Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950

    Angel Face / Otto Preminger, 1952

    Another Man’s Poison / Irving Rapper, 1951

    Apology for Murder / Sam Newfield, 1945

    Bachelorette / Leslye Headland, 2012

    Bad Teacher / Jake Kasdan, 2011

    Basic Instinct / Paul Verhoeven, 1992

    Bedevilled / Mitchell Leisen and Richard Thorpe, 1955

    Beyond the Forest / King Vidor, 1949

    The Big Heat / Fritz Lang, 1953

    The Big Sleep / Howard Hawks, 1946

    Black Widow / Vernon Sewell, 1951

    Blade Runner / Ridley Scott, 1982

    Blonde Ice / Jack Bernhard, 1948

    Blood Money / Rowland Brown, 1933

    Blue Velvet / David Lynch, 1986

    Blues in the Night / Anatole Litvak, 1941

    Body Heat / Lawrence Kasdan, 1981

    Born to Be Bad / Lowell Sherman, 1934

    Born to Be Bad / Nicholas Ray, 1950

    Born to Kill / Robert Wise, 1947

    Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion / Arthur Dreifuss, 1945

    Bound / The Wachowski Brothers, 1996

    The Bribe / Robert Z. Leonard, 1949

    The Bride Wore Black / Francois Truffaut, 1968

    Bridesmaids / Paul Feig, 2011

    The Burglar / Paul Wendkos, 1957

    Calling Dr. Death / Reginald Le Borg, 1943

    The Come On / Russell Birdwell, 1956

    Crack in the Mirror / Richard Fleischer, 1960

    Crime of Passion / Gerd Oswald, 1957

    The Crush / Alan Shapiro, 1993

    D.O.A. / Rudolph Mate, 1950

    Damage / Louis Malle, 1992

    Dangerous Liaisons / Stephen Frears, 1988

    Dead Reckoning / John Cromwell, 1947

    Death Becomes Her / Robert Zemeckis, 1992

    Decoy / Jack Bernhard, 1946

    Delores Claiborne / Taylor Hackford, 1995

    Detour / Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945

    Devil in the Flesh / Steve Cohen, 1998

    The Devil Wears Prada / David Frankel, 2006

    Diabolique / H. G. Clouzot, 1955

    Don’t Bother to Knock / Roy Baker, 1952

    Double Cross / Albert Kelley, 1941

    Double Indemnity / Billy Wilder, 1944

    Dressed to Kill / Roy William Neill, 1946

    Drop Dead Gorgeous / Michael Patrick Jann, 1999

    Elevator to the Gallows / Louis Malle, 1958

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! / Russ Meyer, 1965

    Female on the Beach / Joseph Pevney, 1955

    Femme Fatale / Brian De Palma, 2002

    Flaxy Martin / Richard Bare, 1949

    Framed / Richard Wallace, 1947

    For a Good Time, Call… / Jamie Travis, 2012

    Foxes / Adrian Lyne, 1980

    Foxfire / Annette Haywood-Carter, 1996

    Gia / Michael Cristofer, 1998

    Gilda / Charles Vidor, 1946

    The Grifters / Stephen Frears, 1990

    Gun Crazy / Joseph H. Lewis, 1950

    Heathers / Michael Lehmann, 1988

    High School Confidential! / Jack Arnold, 1958

    The House of Yes / Mark Waters, 1997

    The House on 56th Street / Robert Florey, 1933

    The Houston Story / William Castle, 1956

    Human Desire / Fritz Lang, 1954

    I, the Jury / Harry Essex, 1953

    The Ice Harvest / Harold Ramis, 2005

    Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS / Don Edmonds, 1975

    Jackie Brown / Quentin Tarantino, 1997

    Jawbreaker / Darren Stein, 1999

    Jennifer’s Body / Karyn Kusama, 2009

    Kill Bill / Quentin Tarantino, 2003

    The Killers / Robert Siodmak, 1946

    The Killing / Stanley Kubrick, 1956

    Kind Lady / John Sturges, 1951

    Kiss Me Deadly / Robert Aldrich, 1955

    Ladies They Talk About / Howard Bretherton and William Keighley, 1933

    The Lady from Shanghai / Orson Welles, 1948

    Lady Gangster / Florian Roberts (Robert Florey), 1942

    Lady in the Lake / Robert Montgomery, 1947

    The Last Seduction / John Dahl, 1994

    Leave Her to Heaven / John M. Stahl, 1945

    The Letter / William Wyler, 1940

    Lust for Gold / S. Sylvan Simon and George Marshall, 1949

    Macbeth / Justin Kurzel, 2015

    Malice / Harold Becker, 1993

    The Maltese Falcon / John Huston, 1941

    The Man Who Cheated Himself / Felix E. Feist, 1950

    Mean Girls / Mark Waters, 2004

    Midnight in Paris / Woody Allen, 2011

    Mildred Pierce / Michael Curtiz, 1945

    Mini’s First Time / Nick Guthe, 2006

    Misery / Rob Reiner, 1990

    Mommie Dearest / Frank Perry, 1981

    Moulin Rouge! / Baz Luhrmann, 2001

    Murder, My Sweet / Edward Dmytryk, 1944

    My Forbidden Past / Robert Stevenson, 1951

    My Son Is Guilty / Charles Barton, 1939

    Niagara / Henry Hathaway, 1953

    Notes on a Scandal / Richard Eyre, 2006

    Of Human Bondage / John Cromwell, 1934

    On Dangerous Ground / Nicholas Ray and Ida Lupino, 1951

    One Girl’s Confession / Hugo Haas, 1953

    The Opposite of Sex / Don Roos, 1998

    Original Sin / Michael Cristofer, 2001

    Out of the Past / Jacques Tourneur, 1947

    The Paperboy / Lee Daniels, 2012

    The Paradine Case / Alfred Hitchcock, 1947

    Pickup / Hugo Haas, 1951

    Please Murder Me / Peter Godfrey, 1956

    The Postman Always Rings Twice / Bob Rafelson, 1981

    The Postman Always Rings Twice / Tay Garnett, 1946

    Private Benjamin / Howard Zieff, 1980

    Prizzi’s Honor / John Huston, 1985

    Rebecca / Alfred Hitchcock, 1940

    Red-Headed Woman / Jack Conway, 1932

    The Revolt of Mamie Stover / Raoul Walsh, 1956

    Romeo Is Bleeding / Peter Medak, 1993

    Ruthless People / Jim Abrahams, et. al., 1986

    The Saint Takes Over / Jack Hively, 1940

    Scarlet Street / Fritz Lang, 1945

    Serial Mom / John Waters, 1994

    Set It Off / F. Gary Gray, 1996

    She-Devil / Susan Seidelman, 1989

    Shed No Tears / Jean Yarbrough, 1948

    Showgirls / Paul Verhoeven, 1995

    Sin City: A Dame to Kill For / Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, 2014

    Single White Female / Barbet Schroeder, 1992

    Song of the Thin Man / Edward Buzzell, 1947

    Station West / Sidney Lanfield, 1948

    Sudden Fear / David Miller, 1952

    Tank Girl / Rachel Talalay, 1995

    Tension / John Berry, 1949

    Thelma & Louise / Ridley Scott, 1991

    They Drive by Night / Raoul Walsh, 1940

    Thirteen Women / George Archainbaud, 1932

    To Die For / Gus Van Sant, 1995

    Too Late for Tears / Byron Haskin, 1949

    The Truth / Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960

    Undertow / William Castle, 1949

    The Unholy Wife / John Farrow, 1957

    The Uninvited / Lewis Allen, 1944

    Where Danger Lives / John Farrow, 1950

    The Witches of Eastwick / George Miller, 1987

    Working Girl / Mike Nichols, 1988

    Young Adult / Jason Reitman, 2011

    Young Man with a Horn / Michael Curtiz (1950)

  • American Gothic / Shaun Cassidy, CBS, 1995

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Joss Whedon, WB, 1997

    Desperate Housewives / Marc Cherry, ABC, 2004

    Dollhouse / Joss Whedon, Fox, 2009

    Farscape / Rockne S. O’Bannon, Nine Network, 1999

    Las Vegas / Gary Scott Thompson, NBC, 2003

    Orange is the New Black / Jenji Kohan, Netflix, 2013

    The Pretender / Steven Long Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle, NBC, 1996

    The Sarah Connor Chronicles / Josh Friedman, Fox, 2008

    The Shadow Line / Hugo Blick, BBC Two, 2011

    The Vampire Diaries / Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, The CW, 2009

    Veronica Mars / Rob Thomas, UPN, 2004

    Weeds / Jenji Kohan, Showtime, 2005

  • Dangerous Women: The Perils of Muses and Femmes Fatales / Laura Adler, Elisa Lecosse, 2010

    Femme Fatale: Cinema’s Most Unforgettable Lethal Ladies / Dominique Mainon, James Ursini, 2009

    The Femme Fatale in Victorian Literature: The Danger and the Sexual Threat / Jennifer Hedgecock, 2008

    Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis / Mary Ann Doane, 1991

    The Myth of Morgan la Fey / Kristina Perez, 2014

    The Romantic Agony / Mario Praz, 1930

What titles did I miss? Let me know in the comments below so we can grow the reference material.

Stick with me on this series and explore these genres and subgenres with me each month and I guarantee you will find new and exciting elements to incorporate into your own writing.

Previous
Previous

Take a Writing Turn: Be Yourself, Then Maybe Look West / Vonn McKee

Next
Next

Louisiana History as Backdrop for Debut Novel