On each episode of Unlikeable Female Characters, feminist thriller writers Kristen Lepionka, Layne Fargo, and Wendy Heard talk about female characters who don’t give a damn if you like them.
This week, Kristen, Layne, and Wendy fangirl about one of their all-time favorite unlikeable archetypes: the Femme Fatale. From Lady Macbeth to Megan Thee Stallion, these dangerous ladies break hearts, ruin lives, and shamelessly seize the narrative for their own nefarious purposes. We have no choice but to stan.
From the episode:
WENDY: Let’s talk about sexy ladies.
LAYNE: Let’s talk about sexy ladies! Our topic this week is the femme fatale.
KRISTEN: I feel like this is the ultimate female archetype, like if you said to some person on the street, name a female character archetype, they would be able to produce this one.
LAYNE: Let’s talk about how we define a femme fatale. What do you guys think of when you think of this archetype?
WENDY: Lauren Bacall.
KRISTEN: Barbara Stanwyck, yeah. That kind of old-school glamour, with evilness.
WENDY: What about the “WAP” video?
LAYNE: Ohhhhhhh!
WENDY: I thought of that archetype so hard, especially when Russell Brand started having a hysterical panic attack in his low V-neck shirt on Twitter.
LAYNE: About how it was bad for feminism or something?
WENDY: Yes, about how it was bad for feminism, and he explained it to us so helpfully.
LAYNE: We are experts here, and I think we can all agree it was great for feminism.
KRISTEN: Yes.
LAYNE: Seal of approval. They’re very much playing up that archetype, that they’re sexy and using their sexiness to get what they want, and they don’t care if they hurt people. It’s so hot.
WENDY: Well, they have a lair.
LAYNE: They do!
WENDY: They have a sexy femme fatale actual evil villain lair.
LAYNE: Yeah, that’s like some evil Bond girl shit in that video. The jaguars and stuff?
WENDY: They have whole rooms for different types of femme fatales.
LAYNE: You’re really revealing how many times you’ve seen this video.
WENDY: I’ve watched it a few times. They’re very talented young ladies.
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You can find titles discussed in this episode on the Unlikeable Female Characters bookshop page.
