Sexualisation & the Violent Death of Isabel Aretas in Bad Boys for Life

by: Enakshi Samarawickrama & Bushra Naqashbandi , March 26, 2026

This article examines the characterisation and death of Isabel Aretas in the 2020 action/buddy cop film Bad Boys for Life, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Consciously framed and frequently referred to as a witch or a bruja, Isabel is simultaneously villainised for being a drug kingpin and a bad mother while being sexualised as a seductive, albeit dangerous, Mexican woman, essentially, a femme fatale. The film’s climax sees Isabel being punished by an extremely violent death as she is shot multiple times in the heart and falls off a balcony onto a broken helicopter amid a raging inferno, where she finally lies dead. Using a combination of Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze (2006), Jacque Lynn Foltyn’s concept of ‘corpse porn’ (2008) and Mimi Schippers’ theory of gender hegemony and multiple masculinities and femininities (2007), this paper analyses Isabel’s characterisation as an Othered femme fatale, which is sustained in the film after her violent death through the eroticisation of her corpse.

Sexualising the Female Body in Life and Death

Hollywood cinema has not only shaped the mind of its audience but also dictated the acceptable ways for bodies to be depicted and consumed by the public (Todd 2013: 419; Mulvey 1993: 5). Scheibel observes that Hollywood traditionally presents woman as ‘the Other who must be disavowed’ (2013: 10). There is a ‘cult of female sexuality in Hollywood cinema and the female star’s apotheosis as cinematic spectacle’ is expected as well as accepted (Mulvey 2001: 7). Woman’s presence on-screen is designed in a manner to ‘freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation’ (Mulvey 1975: 442). The most startling examples of this objectification of the female body can be found in the portrayal of women’s sexual climaxes in pornography, violence and terror in horror movies and crying in melodramas (Williams 1991: 4). Female sexuality is increasingly being seen as synonymous with objectification (Penny 2010: 24). Women, in visual media, have primarily been reduced to their bodies, which, in turn has been associated with monstrosity ranging from depictions of gorgon and vampire to succubus, harpy and witch (Mulvey-Roberts 2016: 106). As film noir is not only a portrayal of men’s fantasies but also their fears (Bogoevici 2023: 5), it is to be expected that women will be both eroticised and vilified in films from the genre.

The eroticisation coupled with the demonisation of women on screen has led to the widespread depiction of the “beautiful female murder victim” which, according to Cohen, is ‘a complex cultural motif’, characterised by ‘the strong implication that the woman’s death was the direct or indirect result of a sexual “fall”’ and contains ‘graphic (and occasionally erotic or pornographic) descriptions of the victim’s corpse’ (1997: 278). Death becomes ‘more interesting’ when the dead person is a beautiful woman (Tait 2006: 59). While a dead body may have several different meanings attached to it, it will necessarily be ‘linked to sex’ and the gaze of the audience in the case of a female corpse (Åström 2013: 8). The female corpse is seen as the greatest specimen of female passivity and has been ‘fetishised and commodified […] in everything from fashion photography to advertising to film’ (Miller 2018: 90). According to Rice, ‘The current popularity of the corpse in horror movies and crime shows such as CSI, Criminal Minds, Dexter, Walking Dead, and True Blood suggests a cultural preoccupation with images of death and dying’ (2014: 32). In the words of Foltyn, this is the ‘cultural moment’ of the corpse which has been turned into ‘the star of the show’ (2008: 153).

Foltyn employs the term ‘corpse porn’ or ‘corpse chic’ to refer to the eroticised portrayal of the corpse (2008: 164). Similar to the dynamic in sex porn, the star in corpse porn is usually a female, both due to patriarchal control of media and the biological differences of women, which render them closer to ‘birth, sex, death, depravity, and dirt’ (166) in the eyes of men. Subjecting women to an eroticised ‘death at its most ghastly’ is the aim of ‘the twenty-first-century pornography of death’ (164). This is in stark contrast to earlier depictions of beautiful female corpses looking merely like they were sleeping to create an image of ‘glamour, beauty, and sex appeal’ (160). While the corpses of women are sexualised in both scenarios, the former technique (more popularly used these days) appears equally focused on subjecting them to violence. This might be because corpse porn is employed ‘to highlight the body’s sexuality as well as its decomposition’ (165). Women, whether dead or living, are treated ‘as disposable, anonymous sex toys, only different from blow-up dolls in that they decompose’ (Åström 2013: 99).

The combination of violence and objectification characterising the portrayal of women, especially their corpses in cinema, may be better understood by referring to Laura Mulvey’s concept of the ‘male gaze’. According to Mulvey, the male gaze is the deciding factor for the appropriate way to cast women on screen. Cinema, moreover, does not stop at ‘highlighting a woman’s to-be-looked-at-ness’ but also ‘builds the way that she is to be looked at’ (Mulvey 1975: 447). Mulvey further argues that a woman’s lack of a penis differentiates her at the very first glance from a man, and her presence on the screen would evoke castration anxiety. She is, therefore, blatantly objectified through ‘fetishistic scopophilia’ which turns her into ‘a fetish so that […] [she] becomes reassuring rather than dangerous’ (444) to the male viewer. Women in cinema are, therefore, ‘isolated, glamorous, on display, sexualised’ (ibid). Dolling the face of a dead woman to make her look attractive to the viewer may also be viewed as erotic in this sense (Foltyn 2008: 164).

While the phenomenon of ‘fetishistic scopophilia’ provides a possible reason for the eroticisation of women on screen, it does not explain violence against women in films. ‘Fetishistic scopophilia’ is, however, only one of the ways the male gaze casts women in films, according to Mulvey. The female is alternately subjected to voyeurism to ‘demystify her mystery’ so that men may ascertain whether to devalue, punish or save ‘the guilty object’ (Mulvey 1975: 444). Voyeurism is associated with sadism, which suits the narrative style of cinema as it requires a story set in a linear time frame and a battle of wills or power, followed by victory or defeat. To satisfy the male viewer, the female body is presented ‘as the site of violence and desire’ through ‘a necrophilic imaginary’ (Tait 2006: 57). The employment of a voyeuristic male gaze, then, both sexualises the female and subjects her to violence.

Analysing images of female sexuality considered ideologically acceptable, McCann comments that it is usually presented on screen in three ways: ‘coping with the threat of sex by displacing it (glamour), excusing it (the “dumb blonde” syndrome), or punishing it (the femme fatale image, the suffering motif)’ (1988: 93). According to Bogoevici, the figure of the Femme Fatale has existed since times immemorial, changing its definition based on society’s standards of acceptable femininity (2023: 4). A conformity to society’s standards of acceptable femininity leads to what Schippers terms ‘hegemonic femininity’. Hegemonic femininity is comprised of qualities deemed feminine that complement hegemonic masculinity in a manner as to promote the view of men as the superior sex and perpetuate women’s domination by men (Schippers 2007: 94). Any other femininities that challenge the existing patriarchal structure and gender relations are termed ‘pariah femininities’ by Schippers (2007: 95).

Hegemonic femininity is constructed as an acceptance of men’s power and emphasises ‘compliance, nurturance, and empathy as womanly virtues’ (Connell 1987: 188). Pariah femininities, in comparison, are characterised by features of hegemonic masculinity (like sexual attraction towards women or being dominant and/or physically violent) which, because women are enacting them, are ridiculed and ‘compulsively constructed as feminine’ (Schippers 2007: 95). The commonly used derogatory terms for women exhibiting pariah femininities include, ‘lesbian’, ‘slut’, ‘shrew or cock-teaser’ and ‘bitch’ (ibid.) with femme fatale being one of the less commonly used terms but no less representative of the idea of pariah femininity. Where women practicing hegemonic femininity are controlled by their husbands in terms of movement, employment and sexuality (Schippers 2007: 92), femmes fatale ‘cannot be bound by marriage, […] [or] exist or prosper in the warmth of a household’ (Bogoevici 2023: 6). Femmes fatales are, moreover, the ‘antithesis of the maternal’ (Doane 1991: 2). This paper will analyse how Isabel, constructed by the male gaze, is cast as a femme fatale exhibiting deviant or pariah femininity and is eroticised (in her life and death), demonised and subjected to violence for not upholding conventional notions of gender as well as belonging to a different race.

The Sexualisation, Othering and Violent Death of Isabel Aretas

Isabel Aretas’ death is exceedingly violent and can even be termed overkill, as she dies in at least three different ways, namely, being shot multiple times through the chest and potentially the heart, after which she falls backwards down one floor onto a grounded broken helicopter, where Isabel’s corpse becomes engulfed in flames. In passing, it could even appear as if she is impaled upon the helicopter. The way her body is positioned is interesting as she falls backwards onto the top of the helicopter, landing with her back arched. Captured from a lateral angle, the framing emphasises her curved posture. This arrangement is significant as this is a common position that women and female corpses are placed in when they are being sexualised (Foltyn, 2008; Penfold-Mounce 2016). The pose is reminiscent of the act of sexual intercourse and the female orgasm, and the mimicry of this position in Isabel’s death functions as sexual imagery. Even in her death, she is sexualised and treated as an Other.

To understand Isabel’s violent death, it is important first to explore her portrayal in the film. From the beginning, Isabel is consciously framed as a villainess and a femme fatale, owing to multiple factors that the film and the other characters then use as justification for her sexualisation and her subsequent violent death. However, the male protagonists’ and the film’s denunciation of Isabel as the antagonist is not only based on her role as a criminal, the kingpin of a major drug cartel, and a murderer, but also due to other factors that pertain to her identity as an Other. The Othering of Isabel’s character is done in two ways: by portraying her as embodying negative stereotypes associated with being Mexican and being a woman.

Unlike the male protagonists and the other heroic characters (the other police officers and detectives), Isabel is Mexican. Her Mexican nationality is a core part of her identity, and the film consciously presents her Mexicanness as an exotic and inherently dangerous Other and, therefore, as diametrically opposed to the Americanness and inherent heroism of the protagonists. This contrast is achieved through a negative portrayal steeped in limited and offensive stereotypes of Mexicans and Mexican women (Schubert 2018). This is primarily achieved through the film’s conscious framing of Isabel as a witch, and is later proven by Mike’s comment about her: ‘They call her La Bruja. The Witch. She is into some dark shit. Santa Muerte. That woman… was a stone-cold killer. So I had to put the woman I love behind bars for the rest of her life.’ (Bad Boys for Life 2020: 1:27:25-1:27:54).

The viewer is frequently presented with the image of Isabel as a witch who worships Santa Muerte and ominously chants curses, which allows the film to frame her as a believable villain and therefore deserving of violent punishment. When the audience first encounters her, she is in a women’s prison and chanting ominously in Spanish, after which she brutally stabs a female prison officer, which then leads other female prisoners also to assault the injured officer. Isabel perpetrates further acts of brutal violence upon other police officers in the next steps of her escape. Therefore, the start of the film successfully cements Isabel as a violent and dangerous criminal.

Her portrayal as a witch is highlighted by the emphasis on her Santa Muerte statue, the accompanying black decorations, and her black clothing with floral or animal-print motifs when she prays to Santa Muerte. These details establish her status as a villainess, since black is typically associated with villainy and danger (Pastoureau 2023), and women who wear animal-print clothing are perceived as dangerous, sexual, and exotic (Kurutz 2020). The film also takes advantage of non-Mexican audiences’ limited knowledge of the true meaning behind Santa Muerte (short for Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte, translated to Our Lady of Holy Death), an occult and female deity in Mexico. The word muerte, meaning death, combined with the imagery of a skull and the use of copious black in Isabel’s clothing and the statue’s decorations, all succeed in evoking the idea of Isabel as a stereotypical villainess in the style of film noir (Menon 1998; Tasker 2013). Due to the witch or bruja imagery surrounding Isabel, it becomes normalised for the audience to perceive her as a witch, further cemented when Marcus constantly refers to her as a witch or bruja. In addition, the use of Santa Muerte in the film furthers the narrative of Isabel as a drug criminal, as the deity is widely associated with Mexico’s drug wars (Kingsbury and Chestnut 2020). This portrayal featuring negative stereotypes of Mexican culture and religion is specifically designed to villainise Isabel as a Mexican, therefore Othering her for her national and cultural identities.

The second way in which Isabel is portrayed as an Other is through the villainisation of her womanhood. The film, through its storyline, framing and characters, critiques how she has chosen to play certain roles associated with femininity, specifically those of mother and lover. The audience is first made aware of Isabel’s role as a mother to Armando, whom she orders to assassinate certain people in revenge for destroying the family business (the drug cartel). Isabel is framed as a bad mother for two main reasons: she is a criminal, she ordered her son to murder people (including his own father and primary protagonist, Mike) in revenge and for not revealing the truth about Armando’s true parentage to him. As playing the role of mother compels women to be nurturing and caring (Arendell 2000; Di Battista 2023), Isabel’s alternative, vengeful approach to mothering, including her propensity to hide the truth from her son, further vilifies her character (Schippers 2007). However, the violence she had encouraged Armando to engage in was considered in the film to be less egregious than her consistently lying to him about his true parentage and the fact that she had cultivated an attitude of hatred in Armando towards his own father. Even when she is insulted and punished at the end of the film by both Armando and Mike, their anger and other strong feelings are a direct result of Isabel’s decision to lie about Mike being Armando’s biological father. After this final confrontation with both Mike and Armando, Isabel falls to her death, which strongly suggests that lying to her son and teaching him to hate his biological father were justification enough for Isabel’s violent death.

When it is revealed that Isabel had been in a secret relationship with Mike years ago and that he had also contributed to her long prison sentence, another role is added to Isabel’s portrayal: that of the vengeful and scorned woman. Strife with negative stereotypes of women, the film and its protagonists view Isabel as a resentful ex-lover who is seeking revenge in the form of a murder spree for Mike’s betrayal. Isabel’s role as the woman who sought revenge from the man who had wronged her demonstrates the limited and two-dimensional portrayal of her character that relies entirely on tired stereotypes to portray her and, therefore, justify her comeuppance at the end of the film (her violent death). This characterisation is strongly reminiscent of the portrayals and punishments meted out to femmes fatales in film noir and noir fiction (Waldman 1984; Hillier and Phillips 2009; Joyce 2018).

Although it can be said that, through her attempts to punish the men who killed her husband, Isabel proves herself to be a wife devoted to salvaging the legacy of her dead husband, thereby being a good wife (in terms of loyalty), the film does not applaud her for this. Instead, the focus steadfastly remains on the perceived failure of her roles as a woman, mother and ex-lover or on her status as a bad woman and a bad mother, potentially due to Isabel engaging in an extra-marital affair that resulted in a pregnancy.

The perceived failure of Isabel’s femininity is further exemplified by the use of a good woman, Rita Secada, Mike’s former romantic partner, to contrast with the bad woman presented by Isabel. By placing these two female characters side by side, the film employs the dichotomy of the angel and the whore (Simkin 2014) to denounce Isabel as the bad woman or the whore and put Rita on a pedestal as the good woman and the virgin. While this dichotomy is a limited way to portray and perceive womanhood, it accomplishes its purpose of signalling which ideals of femininity are valued and which are not. By punishing Isabel as the bad woman with a violent death and rewarding Rita as the good woman by promoting her to the position of Captain of AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations), the film sends a message that Rita’s embodiment of femininity is idealised. At the same time, Isabel’s actions are dangerous to society, and therefore, she is deserving of punishment.

In crime fiction and film, specifically in traditional crime fiction and film, the plot centres around male protagonists (often White) and includes a femme fatale who is a bad woman (Scaggs 2005; Hillier and Phillips 2009; Simkin 2014) and the male protagonist’s eventual romantic partner who is a good woman (Waldman 1984; Valdrè 2017). This dichotomy is a tool used to distinguish between socially accepted and non-conforming femininities. Clearly, it frames what is valued by rewarding the good woman with marriage and financial security while punishing the bad woman through death or prison. In particular, the bad woman is villainised and punished so severely because, in her non-conformity to gender roles, she not only fails to adhere to ideals of femininity, but she also refuses to be subjugated and oppressed by masculinity and the patriarchy, and for this reason, she poses a challenge and a threat to masculinity and the patriarchy (Waldman 1984; Abbott 2002; Rzepka, 2005; Hillier and Phillips 2009; Joyce 2018). Therefore, by casting non-conforming women into the category of the whore in this limited dichotomy, punishing them, and then labelling other women as the angel and thereby as being ‘good’ for conforming to gender norms, both masculinity and the patriarchy can be protected from the deviant femininities of bad women (Abbott 2002; Schippers 2007; Simkin 2014; Orman 2016; Redhead, 2018). As a part of the crime film genre, Bad Boys for Life also follows this simple formula to signal to its audience that Isabel is the bad woman and deserves punishment for the many ‘bad’ roles she plays in the film. This dichotomy is extremely effective as Isabel’s portrayal as the whore/bad woman results in the perception that she poses a threat to masculinity, and this is deemed sufficient reason to punish Isabel. Combined with the nationalist and xenophobic tone of this film, this racist portrayal has an added sexist/misogynistic element.

The Angel-whore complex is connected to the concept of the male gaze introduced by Laura Mulvey (2006). According to Freud, this dichotomy originates from male desire, specifically from both Oedipal and castration anxiety (2011 [1949]). Undoubtedly, the complex is the result of misogyny. In line with the Angel-whore complex and the male gaze, the reasons for the portrayals of Isabel in Bad Boys for Life as a femme fatale and Rita as the good woman become clearer, as this allows the film to present its male protagonists and audience with a bad woman on whom they can project their sexual fantasies onto and provides a good woman that the men can respect and be protective over, thereby asserting their masculinity and dominance. Therefore, Isabel becomes a character placed solely for men to be sexually attracted to, someone they can later punish for her non-conformity to gender norms and the challenges she poses to masculinity. In contrast, Rita is the character that they can love and respect as she conforms to gender norms and aids the male protagonists in upholding the status quo. Essentially, Isabel, through being beautiful and mysterious, becomes the object of men’s sexualisation and objectification, eventually becoming the object of hatred that the male protagonists must destroy. In contrast, Rita becomes an object of admiration.

Isabel’s status as the de facto bad woman in the film squarely labels her as a deviant femininity, or a pariah femininity, as Mimi Schippers puts it (2007). Constantly marginalised and Othered for unconventional and non-conforming expressions of femininity, Isabel poses a serious threat to Mike’s masculinity. In many ways, Isabel threatens Mike’s masculinity because she herself engages in more stereotypically masculine behaviour as opposed to more stereotypically feminine behaviour. The primary example of this is her drive to punish and murder others to seek vengeance. In engaging in violence, Isabel takes on a more proactive and leading role and does not hesitate to hurt others herself. In this way, it can be said that Isabel embodies certain masculine characteristics of toxic masculinity, such as aggression and propensity for violence (Schippers 2007). Exhibiting masculine traits, along with being reluctant to play the roles of woman, wife, mother and lover in the ways that society expects women to be, further pushes her into this label as embodying a pariah femininity. Isabel’s status as a deviant/pariah femininity includes more parallels to femmes fatales who are always portrayed as bad women and whores who must be severely punished for moving beyond gender norms and for threatening men and the social order (Waldman 1984; Schippers 2007; Hillier and Phillips 2009; Joyce 2018).

Rita’s character is included as a contrast to Isabel to exemplify the good woman as espoused by the film and its value system. Therefore, it is important to discuss how Rita is portrayed and how the film engages in constant comparisons between the two, both overtly and covertly, through the speech of other characters (specifically the film’s male protagonists, Mike and his best friend, Marcus) and through other choices such as their storylines and clothing.

Isabel’s clothing marks her as a villainess and serves to function in her Othering. She is constantly dressed in black, red, or leopard-print clothing, denoting her role as a sex object, a villainess, a femme fatale, and a predatory character (Menon 1998; Elliot, Greitemeyer and Pazda 2013; Tasker 2013; Kurutz 2020; Pastoureau 2023). In the scenes where she is seen worshipping Santa Muerte or when she is engaging in other aspects of her plan to murder Mike and other law enforcement officers, she is almost always dressed in sleek black clothing. In other scenes where she prays to Santa Muerte, Isabel can be seen wearing her dirty prison garb and later a leopard-print dress. This is a clear framing of Isabel as the witch or bruja, relying on a negative stereotype of Mexican women as being superstitious and dangerous, specifically to men (Thompson 1998; Maclin and Herrera 2006; Kingsbury and Chestnut 2020). At other times, Isabel is dressed in brighter colours, more often than not in red dresses that signal her sexuality (Bryant 2013; Elliot, Greitemeyer and Pazda 2013). Her clothing, whether black, red or animal print, but especially so when it is red, is usually accompanied by sensual makeup and accessories that emphasise and highlight her sexuality and her role as a femme fatale (Simkin 2014; Smith 2019). Furthermore, her nationality and ethnicity are also included in her objectification, fetishising her as an exotic Other (Berg 2002). Through these various methods, Isabel is framed as a sex object by the film’s male directors to serve as the femme fatale to its primary male protagonist, Mike.

Her framing as a sex object through her clothing and her sexual desirability visibly demonstrate how her character is written through the male gaze and is intended for male audiences. This is largely evident from the way in which Isabel is depicted as being highly sensual and sexual. The focus on Isabel’s body proportions and features is demonstrative of the film’s attempt to highlight Isabel’s sexual attractiveness. According to Mulvey, this level of emphasis on the sexuality and the body of a female character is indicative of the male gaze, where the woman is treated as a sexual object. The use of the male gaze is most common in genres targeted at a male audience, such as action/adventure films, such as this one (Mulvey 2006).

Furthermore, the writers, directors, and most of the film’s crew were men, with an overwhelming number of White men involved (Internet Movie Database n.d.), which demonstrates a lack of opportunity for there to be a less sexualised version of a woman of colour. In presenting Isabel as a sexual object, the film caters to the heteronormative desires of their male audience (Mulvey 2006). However, as Isabel challenges patriarchal gender norms, she becomes a threat to the extant social order, therefore warranting her portrayal as a dangerous, rule-breaking femme fatale. Thus, the reasoning for Isabel’s portrayal as a pariah femininity becomes evident: she poses too much of a threat to the men around her.

In comparison, Rita is often seen wearing white or blue clothing, generally mixed with black, in a professional setting. Even her official uniform is a practical outfit consisting of a form-fitting shirt and blue trousers, with a significant portion of light blue. It is only when she is on a police assignment, such as the one where she kills Isabel, that she is dressed in black. The use of lighter colours such as white and blue in combination with black for most of Rita’s clothing is significant as white is considered a sign of purity and innocence, and blue is associated with calmness and rationality, resulting in this combination denoting her as a pure yet strong woman (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2002). While the film does not portray Rita as an innocent damsel-in-distress but instead as a strong, independent law enforcement officer who still deeply cares for Mike, the choice of clothing colours is meant to compare Rita and Isabel. The latter, being a sensual criminal and witch/bruja, is featured in black and red clothing that evokes danger and sexual attractiveness, respectively (Kurutz 2020; Pastoureau 2023), and therefore, the use of predominantly light colours for Rita’s clothing demonstrates how the film perceives these women and casts them in the dichotomy of the whore and the ange,l respectively. Therefore, Rita’s use of a fully black outfit when she murdered Isabel, the villain, demonstrates that she momentarily assumes a villainous role to punish her. To ensure that Isabel no longer poses any danger or challenge to others and the patriarchal system, Rita must don the colour of the villain and eradicate the threat herself. By wearing black instead of her usual white and blue to confront the threat, Rita does not sacrifice her purity and innocence and therefore retains her position as the ‘good’ woman. This is further demonstrative of how Isabel is sexually objectified and fetishised as an exotic Other, proving that she is crafted specifically through the male gaze as a sex object. In contrast, Rita is the foil to Isabel, offering the perfect alternative of the ‘good’ woman to Isabel’s femme fatale.

The comparisons between Isabel and Rita are not limited to these. The film makes a point of highlighting Rita’s status as the angel as opposed to Isabel’s status as the whore in many other ways. As both women are Mike’s ex-lovers, the comparison comes naturally. While Isabel and Mike were secretly romantic partners while she was already married (and infidelity is a clear violation of gender norms, Schippers, 2007), they became parents of Armando. Rita and Mike had dated and then parted ways before the events of Bad Boys for Life. The film makes it clear that Rita and Mike still have chemistry and even a potential future together, and this is hinted at throughout by the framing and comments from Marcus, who insists that Mike should make another attempt at a relationship with Rita. This is also because Rita still cares deeply about Mike, despite their no longer being romantically involved, in contrast to Isabel, who is presented as no more than a scorned woman seeking revenge on Mike for his perceived betrayal. In addition, an important element of the women’s portrayals is their occupations. Isabel, as the murderous leader of a cartel, is perceived as a criminal and a drug kingpin. Further contributing to this negative portrayal is her framing as a witch.

In contrast, Rita is an incredibly accomplished law enforcement officer, the Head of Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO). In contrast to Isabel, who is portrayed as angry and vengeful, Rita is portrayed as a caring and nurturing woman. Despite both women being leaders, Isabel’s leadership is perceived negatively. At the same time, Rita’s is framed positively, not only because she is the good woman/the Angel, but also because she leads an elite police unit. Bad Boys for Life is cop propaganda or copaganda that glorifies those in law enforcement, from police officers to lawyers and judges.

The element of race is also significant in the portrayals. Though both characters are played by Mexican/Mexican American female actors (Internet Movie Database n.d.), Isabel’s Hispanic and Latino-American identity is more foregrounded. At the same time, Rita’s White-presenting aspect is more foregrounded (Berg 2002). In addition, Isabel is noticeably darker-skinned than the White-presenting Rita, which highlights Isabel’s position as the villain, as darker skin tones are generally associated with evil and criminals (Maclin and Herrera 2006; Alter, Stern, Granot, and Balcetis 2016). These factors further contribute to the racist portrayal of Isabel despite both characters being of Mexican or Hispanic and Latino-American heritage.

However, the comparisons between Isabel and Rita are not limited to their performance of femininity but extend to the intersections of gender with race and even class. As Schippers puts it:

‘race and class differences in gender performance or social organisation, not embodied and institutionalised gender differences between women and men, provide the rationale for placing upper- and middle-class, white men and women higher in social status than others and rendering the gender practices of others as illegitimate. As gender meanings cross-cut other systems of inequality, they are folded into and support race and class hegemony.’ (2007: 99). Essentially, the comparison between the two female characters is a discourse of gender, [but] the hierarchies themselves are [more] about race and class difference, not gender’ (Schippers 2006: 99).

As a result of these portrayals, the film makes it clear that Isabel is meant to be seen as a vengeful and dangerous criminal, while Rita is to be seen as an accomplished career woman who is both the heroine and the love interest of the film. Although both characters are introduced at some point as Mike’s ‘ex-girlfriend’, the film frames the two women in very different ways. Concrete proof of this appears in the form of Marcus, Mike’s best friend, who verbalises what the film attempts to frame through its storyline and filming. Marcus constantly refers to Isabel as a witch or a bruja, and even uses extremely sexual language when discussing her. In conversations with Mike, Marcus makes a point of sexualising Isabel, especially in referring to her past relationship with Mike, making comments such as ‘Mike, you fucked a married witch?’ and ‘Mike, she’s a Bruja. She’ll make your eyes melt into your stupid-ass head. She’ll make your dick fall off.’ (Bad Boys for Life 2020: 1:31:02-1:31:09). This demonstrates that Isabel’s portrayal as a witch and a criminal is also used for comedic effect in the film to make jokes at her expense by mocking her culture and religious beliefs in a way that is simultaneously misogynistic and racist. In stark contrast, Marcus is completely supportive of Mike becoming romantically involved with Rita again. He believes that Mike should attempt to lead a more traditional lifestyle with a partner and that Rita would be ideal for him: ‘She is perfect for you. Smart as hell. Confident. Ambitious.’ (Bad Boys for Life 2020: 13:48-13:56). Based on these aspects, it is evident that the portrayals of Isabel and Rita are meant to evoke certain impressions of them, resulting in Isabel being characterised as the whore while Rita is perceived as the Angel.

Apart from being a bad woman and a bad mother, Isabel is also portrayed negatively for seeking revenge on the film’s hero and for being a criminal. Her life as a criminal is considered especially egregious as this film is essentially copaganda. In the glorification of members of law enforcement, those labelled as criminals are automatically vilified and are often portrayed using negative and harmful stereotypes (Baker 2021). The villains in this film are primarily the members of the Mexican drug cartels, of whom Isabel and Armando are featured more prominently. The framing of these villains in the film engages in the use of Othering, treating the Mexican drug cartel members as criminals as a whole, even using aspects of Mexican culture such as being Spanish-speaking, Mexican slang and the veneration of Santa Muerte to highlight their criminality and their subsequent punishments in the form of death and prison. This is also evident in the prequels to this film, where Mike, Marcus, and their fellow police officers treat criminals poorly, sometimes committing crimes against them, such as kidnapping (Bad Boys 1995; Bad Boys II 2003; Baker 2021). This demonstrates a callous disregard towards those they deem to be criminals, which in turn justifies their poor and often violent treatment of them. Furthermore, the film’s tacit acceptance of the villains’ criminality is perceived as justification to punish them in increasingly violent ways. This is yet another factor that contributes to the racist and overly sexualised portrayal of Isabel and her violent death.

Similar films in this genre also engage in Othering to portray their protagonists as heroes, making this a common feature of cop films (Ames 1992; Brown 1993; Baker 2021). However, unlike most films of this type, Bad Boys for Life features two African American male protagonists, rather than White American men (Ames 1992; Brown 1993; Baker 2021). This choice is likely the result of the directors, Adil El Arbi & Bilal Fallah, being of Moroccan descent and prioritising non-White men in their films (Dempsey 2018).      Unfortunately, this has only resulted in shifting the role of the marginalised and the Othered to Mexican people. From the discussions of Aretas’ portrayal, it is evident that Mexicans and Mexican Americans are treated as the Other in this film, and the primary reason for this is an attempt by the two male protagonists to assert dominance as African American men. In the United States, African Americans are the second largest minority group (U.S. Census Bureau 2021), and they are generally heavily discriminated against, which in itself is directly related to the long history of slavery of African ancestry (Lee, Perez, Boykin and Mendoza-Denton 2019). In the racial hierarchy of the United States, those who are Hispanic and Latino (with heritage from Mexico, Central & South America) face significant racism and xenophobia (Lee, Perez, Boykin and Mendoza-Denton 2019). By Othering a group that is similarly racially discriminated against within the country, the African American male protagonists can assert their masculinities and, through that, regain some measure of power and dominance. This is especially significant as African Americans experience overwhelming amounts of racial violence, and by engaging in this power play within the film, both Mike and Marcus can reclaim some of their lost power.

As mentioned above, the roles of hero cops 0who can get away with anything in movies such as these, are usually awarded to White American men. These movies are often directed by White American men (Ames 1992; Brown 1993; Baker 2021). By casting African American men in these roles and having directors who are also People of Colour, this film challenges how the role of the ‘hero cop’ is usually afforded to White Americans in storylines where African American men are portrayed as violent criminals (Baker 2021). Therefore, in a limited capacity, Bad Boys for Life engages in a subversion of the trope by casting African American male actors in a stereotypically White male role. However, the effect of this is highly limited, since the film does not actually challenge the inherent racism, xenophobia and American nationalism of this genre, but instead turns the African American characters into the oppressors and chooses yet another marginalised group to be treated as the Other. Therefore, while this film is a result of African American men attempting to regain some measure of power in response to racism and the challenges posed to their masculinities by White American men, it ultimately borrows from and perpetuates harmful negative stereotypes of races and nationalities who are also frequently marginalised. Essentially, by casting African American men in the role of the police and the ‘good guys’ and by casting Hispanic and non-Black Latino Americans as the criminals and the ‘bad guys’, the film only contributes to the narrative of non-White people as villains and a threat to the nation.

In considering all these aspects, it becomes clear that Isabel is specifically set up to be the irredeemable villain, setting the stage for her ‘unmourned, unnatural, violent death’ (Foltyn 2008: 165) to occur. As described earlier, Isabel’s death appears to be overkill as she is shot in the chest multiple times by Rita and then falls backwards onto a grounded helicopter in flames, resulting in Isabel also becoming engulfed in the flames. Her death is foreshadowed in a sense by the film’s climax, which is very sinister and cloaked in darkness. When Isabel descends the Gothic-looking mansion’s staircase to the ground floor, where she later dies, the scene is dark, with sudden rain and thunder in the background, which complements her character portrayal. In this scene, she is also wearing a leopard print dress, different from her usual black or red clothing. Not only does this dress sexualise Isabel, but the leopard print also mirrors how the film perceives her: as a predator. It is revealed that Isabel had lured Mike to the mansion with the intent of murdering him, which further contributes to her being viewed as predatory.

When Isabel falls backwards onto the burning helicopter, the camera lingers for a few seconds on a side view of her corpse that clearly shows her breasts prominently displayed (Bad Boys for Life 2020: 1:51:43-1:51:46). As she has landed on a slant on the helicopter, this makes it possible for Isabel’s corpse to have an arched back, therefore, the placement of her corpse appears in this position with her head pulled back. This position is highly reminiscent of a woman having an orgasm, a position that is often used when posing women as corpses (Penfold-Mounce 2016, Miller 2018). This can be seen in multiple advertisements for perfumes (‘YSL Opium’ 2000) and clothing (‘Marc Jacobs Fashion’ 2014), where models are posed as corpses (America’s Next Top Model 2007; Bryant 2013) or as women in the throes of orgasm (Steenberg 2013). In placing Isabel in this position during her dying moments and including lingering shots of her corpse, the film employs inherently sexual imagery that serves to sexualise Isabel’s corpse and treat her as an Other. The fact that Isabel is wearing the leopard print dress that already sexualises her as an object and treats her as an exotic Other further contributes to the sexual imagery that is evoked in the positioning of her corpse. As Mulvey states regarding the male gaze, ‘One of the techniques used to present women as eroticised objects is the use of close-ups of their body parts like legs, face, etc.’ (2006: 443). These factors demonstrate how the film treats Isabel’s death and her corpse as extensions of her sexual attractiveness and uses almost pornographic imagery to achieve this, which proves that Isabel is consciously framed as corpse porn in the film (Foltyn 2008).

Furthermore, the position of Isabel’s corpse itself is a mimicry of women in moments of sexual pleasure (Penfold-Mounce 2016; Miller 2018), but in the film, it is used to signify her death. This makes this type of sexual imagery ironic and further demonstrates how the film showcases women primarily as sex objects. The sexualised positioning of Isabel’s corpse also signals a level of domination that can be linked to the idea of male victory over the bad woman/whore who is ultimately defeated. This also signifies the police’s victory over criminals, further supporting the film’s agenda. It is also important to note that it is Rita who kills Isabel by shooting her multiple times in the torso, thereby forcing her to fall back into the helicopter on fire on the floor below. This is connected to the film’s portrayal of the women in terms of the whore-angel dichotomy, where, through murdering Isabel to protect Mike from her, Rita is portrayed as the ultimate ‘good’ woman and therefore the perfect romantic partner for Mike. While it is likely that the film avoids Mike killing Isabel to avoid allegations of misogyny through femicide, having Rita as Isabel’s killer puts further emphasis on the whore-angel dichotomy by presenting Isabel as the femme fatale and Rita as the ideal female partner for the hero. This is a common pattern in films with male protagonists dating back to the early 1900s (Hillier and Phillips, 2009).

It is also important to consider the use of the image of Isabel being engulfed in fire. This can be interpreted as a reference to her portrayal as a witch, an archetype closely associated with the femme fatale (Sternbach 1984; Simkin 2014; Ho 2021), thereby framing Isabel’s violent death as a witch-burning as well. Yet again, this is reminiscent of the punishments meted out to the femmes fatales of noir fiction, film noir (Simkin 2014) and the modernista novels of Latin America (Sternbach 1984). Approaching Isabel’s death in this way is further evidence that even in her final moments, she is eroticised due to her status as the exotic whore who challenged masculinity and Americanness.

Isabel’s corpse is not the only female corpse in this film. In an early sequence when Isabel is executing her plan to escape from the women’s prison she is in, a female corpse can be seen in a washing machine (Bad Boys for Life 2020: 06:41-06:43). When a male prison officer opens the door of the washing machine that is in the middle of a wash cycle, the corpse of a woman with many knife injuries partially falls out. The dead woman is dressed only in a wet tank top that sticks to her body, and the film slightly lingers on this view where her cleavage can be seen, and the wet clothes outline her breasts. This demonstrates a level of sexualisation of this female corpse through her positioning and the way this scene is filmed.

The eroticisation of the female corpse can also be found in Bad Boys II. In a series of incidents framed as comedy, Mike and Marcus are investigating whether drugs are being transported in corpses by examining two corpses in a morgue. While the corpse of an overweight man is mocked for his size, the scenes in the morgue are primarily focused on making jokes and comments sexualising the corpse of a young woman. The physical comedy is intensified when Marcus is forced to hide from approaching criminals by placing himself on top of the female corpse and hiding under the sheet, with his face very close to that of the female corpse. Apart from the numerous crude jokes Mike and Marcus make at the expense of the female corpse by commenting on her beauty, her sexual attractiveness and her breasts, there are multiple lingering shots of the female corpse’s breasts from various angles. The framing of these shots, combined with the lingering nature, exemplifies the male gaze through which this scene has been constructed. This misogynistic scene demonstrates a tendency in this series to sexualise female corpses by eroticising female body parts such as breasts for comedic or dramatic effect, using corpse porn to attract and titillate the male audience.

Isabel Aretas is sexualised while she is alive as well as in her death. While she is alive, Isabel is frequently sexualised and Othered for her femininity as well as her national and racial identities. Due to these factors, the film makes a conscious effort to portray her as a sex object. Furthermore, Isabel’s position as a criminal means that she is automatically categorised as a bad woman, making her a deviant or pariah femininity. In addition, by casting her opposite Rita Secada, the pure, good-hearted police hero who is also the good woman/Angel, the film noticeably casts Isabel as a whore. This portrayal of Isabel as an irredeemably villainous sex object and as a femme fatale makes it easy for the film to justify her violent death at the end, and justifies sexualising her corpse as she is a villain/ criminal/ bad woman/ whore.

Both female corpses in Bad Boys for Life (Isabel and the woman in the prison washing machine) and the female corpse from Bad Boys II are positioned in such a way as to sexualise them by highlighting their breasts to the audience. In calling special attention to these highly sexualised body parts (the breasts), the female corpses are objectified, as they are presented using sexual and even pornographic imagery. By using such imagery to present female corpses, the film engages in corpse porn to exploit women even in their violent deaths.