English 295-001
Women and Film: The Historical Creation of the Femme Fatale during World War II
Instr: Fey, Julie
Office: CRT 568; 229-5043
e-mail: jfey@uwm.edu
Office hours: TBA
Course Information: MW; 11:00am-12:50pm; PHY 142
Course Description
During World War 2, there was a desperate need for workers in the factories to keep the war machine working. Propaganda from the U.S. government created a series of public service announcements to encourage women into the workplace. While the men were at war and women too, those women who stayed behind worked in the airplane factories, munitions factories, assembly lines and so on. This work was taxing and dangerous for these women, but through all this they were expected to keep their femininity intact. As men returned from war they wanted the jobs they left behind, much to the detriment of women who wages were high and some did not want to leave work. Once again propaganda encouraged women out of the workplace and back into the homes. Those who did not buy into this coercion were seen as too independent and deviant, thus the creation of the ultimate "bad girl" the femme fatale.
