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The treatment and reception of female characters in mid-century American cinema has undergone significant scholarly review in previous decades; yet the existence of disabled female characters within film noir remains unacknowledged. Taking The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) as its case study, this essay unravels the construction, fault lines, function, and symbolism of impairment in the history of early cinema and postwar America. It focuses in on the peculiar positioning of Zofia Machine as a disabled femme fatale—an inherent contradiction within the universe of noir cinema. By reconstructing the historic meanings, ideas, and assumptions, embodied in the imagery of disabled womanhood, the present work introduces the novel archetype and narrative of the crip fatale, occupying a space between existing conceptions of hegemonic femininity and corporeal normalcy.
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https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00334_1 Published content will be available immediately after check-out or when it is released in case of a pre-order. Please make sure to be logged in to see all available purchase options.