Directors Rob Marshall and Roman Polanski both use femininity in their respective films: Chicago and Chinatown, to portray various visual fascinations which come with classically styled female characters. With the aid of cinematography and musical acts Marshall conveys how the focus is drawn to the magnetism of violence and murder when the crime is committed by a sexually alluring female character. Subsequently, Polanski works to develop a story also about crime and murder while his female lead strays on and off camera, generally being used to essentially heighten the suspense within the story through the aid of her costuming and mise-en-scène. Both films portray femininity in ways which are dangerously appealing and devastating in their lack …show more content…
Here, Polanski uses Evelyn’s femininity not only as a key selling point but also as a means to simultaneously help and misdirect her leading man. The fascination of her character lies within the scarcity of her screen time; she becomes the mysterious, beautiful woman who is hard to understand and easy to fall in love with. Her makeup and dress are constantly feminine and upper-class, presenting her as a fragile character through her quiet disposition and the tragic circumstances she finds herself. Yet, like Roxie, her character lacks depth even with the reveal of the horrific events of her abuse in her past. This coupled with the ease she submits herself to J.J. in order to distract him, makes it abundantly clear that not only is the film intended for a male audience but her character is used mostly for her appearance. Her murder at the finale of the film shows how disposable her character actually is, because although the reveal of her death is shocking (which is heightened by the smoky and dark mise-en-scène within the scene), to the viewer, there is no real sympathy for her despite the misfortune of her circumstances and the goodness of her intentions. Rather, the audience remains sympathetic for J.J. despite his volatile character. It appears that Evelyn could have been killed multiple times throughout the film yet the sympathy would always steer towards J.J. simply because Evelyn remained only for visual fascination; the pretty distraction for men, hence why her allure is so powerful: she is crafted only for people to appreciate her for her beauty rather than character. Chinatown remains a classic suspense thriller which has no lack of depth or skill within its storytelling, however, such as with Chicago (though in this case far more obvious), the feminine fascination remains so potent only because of its lack of substance and