After the horrors and atrocities of World War II, many returned stateside with a profound sense of cynicism. Witnessing the the death camps and having to now live with the Bomb changed the way people thought. It becomes much harder for people appreciate sunny optimism after all of that. This change in attitude changed the way that people saw their films. Happy endings became rare as more “real” unresolved endings took their place. Robin Wood speaks of creating a synthetic theory that combines Auteur theory, genre studies, and ideology. Perhaps one of the most interesting ideologies is how the motif of gender roles supports capitalist ideology. The gender roles she identified are the Virile Man and his shadow the Settled Husband and the Ideal Woman and her shadow the Erotic Woman. The happy ending (another element that supports ideology) often involves Virile and the Ideal ending up together. The cynicism that came back with the men of the war effected the portrayal of these motifs in films that contributed to Noir Film.
Jon Huston’s Maltese Falcon is indicative of the influence of this cynicism on those two motifs. Both the Ideal Woman and The Settled Husband do not exist in the context of the film. All men are some version on the Virile Man and the women the Erotic Woman. Both have similar qualities: action oriented, adventuresome, wanderers, sexual. I will focus on the protagonist Sam Spade and the Femme Fatale Brigid O’Shaughnessy and how their portrayal exemplifies the cynicism indicative of Film Noir.
There are a few moments that exemplify Sam’s role as the Virile man. The first occurs soon after his partner is murdered. His partner’s wife comes to see him and kisses him immediately. She begs that they can be together and refuses her. This early event in the film sets up his sex appeal. We also see him shamelessly flirt with his secretary and establish a romantic relationship with Brigid. The three women of the film all are romantically interested in Sam. Also, we see him fulfill the requirement of a man of action. When Sam is confronted by Cairo he quickly and easily disarms him, and laughs. Not only does he solve his problems through violence but he seems to enjoy it. When he meets with Gutman he throws a fit. He violently throws a glass and breaks it making clear his masculine dominance over Gutman and Wilmer. Afterwards, we see him laugh to himself as he walks down the hall. His violent power is a source of enjoyment for himself and the audience.
Equally Brigid represents the Erotic Woman. When Brigid first enters the film she is an object of desire for the two detectives. I clear component of the Erotic Woman is that she is adventuresome. Brigid is involved in an international caper which is far removed from the steady woman who stays home and serves. She is a liar and violent, she commits murder after all. This woman is willing to do things that the ideal woman is never allowed to do. Exemplary is her inviting Sam into her apartment while only wearing a robe. This impropriety is only allowable for the Erotic Woman. She is transgressive and more likely to comply with the inappropriate romantic overtures of the Virile Man.
These two roles intersect with the happy ending motif (a subset of the America is the land of Happiness) in the film. Traditionally the Virile Man would end up with the Ideal Woman and convert himself into the Settled Husband. This would fulfill the expectation and square with the ideology. This film has an incompatibility in which there are no Ideal Women to settle the Virile Man. It is clear that it is impossible for Brigid and Sam to remain in a relationship as the compatible relationship is that of the Virile man and the Ideal woman, but since this relationship is mismatched the “Happy Ending” is a myth. The Erotic Woman is sent to jail and Sam is left alone, but he is content with that. This unresolved ending, as the antithesis of the happy ending, and represents the cynicism that is indicative in Noir.
Men came back from World War II ready to set aside the “Happy Ending”. Sure the enemy was defeated and the world was made safe for democracy, but at what cost? This mounting cynicism was reflected in the film of the noir period and is seen clearly in The Maltese Falcon. By its representation of the gender roles of the Virile Man and the Erotic Woman to the exclusion of the other two modes, it shows that the clear cut definitions of the cultural ideology are ineffectual in the real world.
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