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Femme Fatale: Difference between revisions
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Unlike the virginal and sweet [[Damsel in Distress]] (or [[Action Girl]] with a similarly gentle attitude), the Femme Fatale exploits with everything she's got to wrap men around her finger. However, [[Status Quo Is God]], so by the end of the story, the Femme Fatale must either be reformed by the hero to the side of good and [[Good Is Dumb|lose much of her appeal in the process]], or be outwitted by him to her doom.
If the Femme Fatale is vying for the hero's romantic attentions, she will almost never win because of her illegal and low means of beating out her [[Betty and Veronica|sweeter and purer rival]], and the hero will decide that she's not worth the trouble she causes. This remains true even if she becomes a reformed character.
What separates the Femme Fatale from [[The Vamp]] is that the Femme Fatale uses femininity and sensuality instead of upfront sexual advances. Her wiles include apparent helplessness and distress, and appeals to the man's greed, desire for revenge, or gullibility, as well as the implication of possible romance or just sexual rewards, compared to The Vamp's reliance on raunchy sex or the promise of it and utter amorality otherwise. As a possible result of this, she is more likely to be [[Anti-Villain|portrayed sympathetically]] than the average vamp.
While the '''Femme Fatale''' is generally evil, or at least morally conflicted, there are occasional exceptions, most notably, the leading ladies of ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' or ''[[Charlie's Angels]].'' They are [[Show Some Leg|using their feminine wiles]] in an artificial context to snare the bad guy...all for the greater good, of course.
Often the [[Lady in Red]], and even more often the [[Woman in Black]], but possibly dressed like [[Naive Everygirl|everyone else]] so as to not be [[
If [[Dark Action Girl|she can fight, too,]] then she's ''really'' going to be trouble.
The younger version of this is the [[Fille Fatale]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* One of the undeniable masters of the femme fatale role and [[Trope Codifier]] is Fujiko Mine of ''[[Lupin III]]'' fame. When she's not using her body to get what she wants, she falls back on her knowledge of weaponry, battle strategy, and disguising. She uses this against anyone and everyone, especially her male counterpart and [[Foil|rival Arsene Lupin III]].
** Fujiko's fame reached a climax in 2012, when after forty years and much egging by the fans, she received a spin-off series that featured her and the rest of the Lupin gang during the Monkey Punch era before the first TV series. Titled ''[[Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine|Lupin III the Woman Called Fujiko Mine]]'', it was praised for its distinct approach to the Lupin III universe.
* Nao Yuuki from ''[[
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** A contemporary but classic example is Alicia Baker from season three's "Obsession", who decides she's going to have Clark no matter what it takes.
* Lady Christina de Souza from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' seemed to want to be one.
** The younger River Song was clearly intended to be something like this. Not only does she show up in a long black dress, dark glasses, and stiletto heels, but she wears ''hallucinogenic lipstick''.
* [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] of ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' has more than once used her physical body's attractiveness to coldly manipulate people, up to and including John Connor himself. It is implied that this was, in fact, the entire reason she was built. {{spoiler|Her external appearance was based on a girl named Allison Young, who was implied to be either a close friend or lover of the future John Connor, and Cameron interrogated Allison to learn her mannerisms before attempting to take her place.}}
** Weaver has a significant femme fatale streak as well.
* A villanous example is Commandant Mele-On Grayza from ''[[Farscape]]''. In addition to being very attractive with well-displayed breasts, she also secretes a chemical from a gland between her breasts that literally hypnotized men into doing her bidding.
* On ''Weeds'', Nancy may not seem like it at first, but she has this effect on men. They seem to be attracted to her despite the fact that she brings chaos to everything she touches.
* ''[[The Shadow Line]]'' has Petra Nayler, girlfriend of the missing Glickman. She seduces the married Joseph Bede using her apparent helplessness, {{spoiler|and is later revealed to have done this to Glickman too, under the orders of Counterpoint. Not only that, she only went to Bede to look for leads on Glickman's location, so she could kill him for trying to expose the conspiracy.}}
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