Killing the Vamp

The cinematic vamp presents a fascinating archetypal character functioningoutside the bounds of normative societal and gender constructions.This filmic icon motivated the plot yet was often killed by thenarrative end. Therefore this book attempts to resolve the implicationsof the primary research question: Why did the vamp die? To answer thisquery the text follows two theoretical paths. First this book uses MichelFoucault's theories to ask: Is the vamp's death punishment for herlocation as a gendered other? Secondly the text uses psychoanalyticapproaches and specifically the Freudian death drive to ask: Does thevamp's death represent and embody the bondage between sex anddeath? These theoretical possibilities are applied in the analysis of the1927 Clarence Brown film Flesh and the Devil. In addition this textexpands the typology of the vamp freeing her from her archetypal rootsand proving her existence throughout cinematic history. This book isdirected towards researchers in Communications Media Studies andFilm and Gender Theory. This text is also addressed to those interested inaspects of psychoanalysis and social construction and representation.