Femme Fatale/Headscratchers

• What's the name of that veil thing that a lot of these characters, especially in Film Noir, wear?
  • I believe it's called a veil.
    • Possibly intended to indicate widowhood (ie. suckering guys into believing that she's emotionally vulnerable and currently unattached), in which case, it would come under the heading of widow's weeds.
    • This troper has a small black hat with a veil like that. I also have blue eyes, dark hair, and a tendency to carry around roses. I'm also coy, vindictive, and bitter. Does this mean I'm in danger of joining the Femme Fatale ranks?
    • Yes. Also, hot.
    • Seconded.
  • It, appropriately enough, is called a "fascinator". Yeah.
    • The "fascinator" is very closely related to the "cocktail hat" (worn during the evening) and the "pillbox hat" (worn during the daytime). Both styles also often come with partial- or full-face veils. Hmmmm...maybe this is a trope, or sub-trope, in itself?
• Why is it that so many people get confused of the difference the definitions of Femme Fatale and Dark Action Girl? I seriously thought it isn't that hard to discern.
  • Probably because they tend to overlap a bit.
    • Femme Fatale MO: seduce people. Dark Action Girl MO: beat the shit out of people. Not hard to differentiate.
    • Because sometimes, especially in modern media, the Femme Fatale MO can also be: seduce people, then beat them up. Or perhaps the other way round.
    • Also, because even dark, tough females who like to beat people up are supposed to be sexy seductresses in the minds of writers. Also, Evil Is Sexy.
      • It's not just girls who can be attracted to 'bad' people.
• Comment-appellons-nous un Homme Fatal? 'Cause that's essentially what Sideshow Bob is in the episode where he marries Selma.
  • A Bluebeard.
  • Ou simplement un homme fatal.
• What, precisely, makes this type attractive to so many people? It probably isn't the personality per se—we'd all want to strangle any guy who acted like this. Are there different personality standards for girls like this? Is it just so rare for a likeable girl to fit the standard Femme Fatale physical type that people who're attracted to that physical type take what they can get? Is it some sort of masochism thing?
  • A Femme Fatale does not need to be evil, necessarily. As stated on the article, she's more likely to be a Broken Bird. And how I see it is that she's True Neutral in the, "I don't care," sense. Also: Evil Is Sexy, Manipulative Bastard, Magnificent Bastard. A man following Evil Is Sexy and either/both of those other two is going to get some interest. And if the attracted is the type who acts like this, well...
  • Putting aside the fact that you're basically asking a combination of "why do people have different tastes than I do?" and "why is evil sexy?", bear in mind that many of the original film noir femmes fatales weren't dangerous so much because they planned to do bad things to the hero, but because getting involved in their lives meant having to take on whatever shady figures were out to get them. They're the kind of woman you should know better than to get involved with because they have so much baggage, not someone who's actively out to get you.
• Who's in the page image? Can't recognise the movie, and I haven't found any clues in the article (or maybe I'm not paying attention? Hard to read while headbanging)...
  • This bugged me too, until I did an image search. It's not from a movie or tv show, it's from a Vanity Fair photo spread on Film Noir, a photo shoot by Annie Leibowitz. The actress is Jennifer Connelly. I found it here.