My research project this semester is titled the Classical Divinity of the 1940’s Femmes Fatales where I compared a few ancient Greek goddesses to a few “killer” leading ladies in the postwar era United States. I compare the goddess Aphrodite to Lilly Powers of Baby Face, who is gorgeously powerful, Hera to Brigid O’Shaughnessy of The Maltese Falcon, practically perfect and cunning, and lastly Thetis to Gilda of Gilda with untamable ambition. There was so many comparisons that I did not think of when starting this project, but the more I worked on it, I began to even surprise myself with how similar the two pieces were to each other.
This project was super fun for me because it combines some of my interests from a young age and how my thoughts have developed over time. I remember calling my mom early in the semester, panicked about not knowing what to do. She told me to explore something new, but something I already loved so it didn’t feel like work. Taking her advice, I started piecing ideas together. I started with a timeframe and some general interests. I’ve always really loved the American 1920s through the 1950s. Freshman year I took a class with Dr. Deno called Reel America where we analyzed American history through film, so when I started thinking about this timeframe, I thought why not attach the film aspect to it and explore women’s roles. I was also really attached to the idea doing something with mythology, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do since it was so broad. After working through a variety of ideas, the project before you is what came to light.
I would love to turn this into thesis and expand into the modern era, looking into different genres and touch on a few other films from this era that I wanted to incorporate, but did not get a chance to include this time around.