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Copyright of AugenBlick is the property of Schueren Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of AugenBlick is the property of Schueren Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent research has shown that film noir's ambiguous atmosphere, narrative structures and formal devices provide a nutrient media for (connoted) homosexual characters. While the iconography of homosexual characters in film noir as well as the corresponding socio-political and film historical conditions are well researched, the narrative and narratological consequences of homosexuality in film noir are rarely addressed. Thus, the chapter offers an analysis of John Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941) in terms of the relations of the homosexual characters to the protagonist Sam Spade. The analysis is based on a description of the 'gay gangsters' Joel Cairo and Wilmer Cook which figure in place of the 'femme fatal' in this film and can be identified as homosexuals by relating to Richard Dyer's "gay iconography". I will then argue that the homosexual characters' femininity is presented as a threat to Spade's masculinity, which results in physical and verbal violence against them. With regard to Robin Wood's model of the "repressed other", my thesis is therefore that Spade's violent outbursts can be considered homophobic actions, which enables a reading of the film as a 'narrative of homophobia'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]