Killing the Vamp

ISBN-13: 9783836426381 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 196 str.

Carly Gieseler

Opis

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 MichelFoucaults theories to ask: Is the vamps death punishment for herlocation as a gendered "other"? Secondly, the text uses psychoanalyticapproaches, and specifically the Freudian death drive, to ask: Does thevamps 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.