Vamp
Related: vampire - femme fatale
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth (1948) - Robert Graves
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Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale (1997) - Pam Keesey [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Grace Jones in Vamp (1986) - Richard Wenk
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Disambiguation
Definition
A woman who uses her sex appeal to entrap and exploit men. [Short for vampire.] --The American HeritageŽ DictionaryVamp is a colloquial term applied to describe a particular type of femme fatale, popular in silent films. The term is a shortening of the word vampire, and is used to describe a woman who is glamorous in an exotic, stylised and usually overstated manner. She is usually noted for her striking features, dark clothing and hair, and cosmetics which darken and accentuate the eyes and lips. Her character is a heartless seductress, and the men she seduces are usually shown as helpless victims unable to resist her. From the perspective of American film audiences, she is often seen as foreign, usually of undetermined Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She was designed as the sexual counterpoint of the wholesome actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford. Among the notable vamps of the silent screen were Theda Bara, Pola Negri, and in her earliest film appearances, Myrna Loy. Television star Jackée Harry was popularly classified as a vamp, many years after the age of the vamp was supposed to have ended. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamp_%28woman%29 [Apr 2005]
Vamp (1986) - Richard Wenk
Vamp (1986) - Richard Wenk [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Campy, trampy and vampy, July 12, 2002
I will admit that this is not the best movie ever made, but it certainly is my favorite. Grace Jones always looks like she would rip your skin off with her teeth, bit by bit.
The first thing you notice is how surreal the background gets after dark. I love the humor in this movie. I think this movie should be rated as the best cult film ever. The lines are delivered with comic expertise. For anyone who loves vampire movies as much as I do, you will love this movie. Not a scary movie for the squeemish, but extremely entertaining. Once it gets dark, beware. Snow and his followers will get you, if the vampires in the club don't.
My favorite line in the movie (it was hard to choose) is the one that A. J. delivers when he says, "formica, go figure". If you see the movie, then you will understand the meaning of that line. Another great line was when the little rich friend asks one of the waitresses what time she gets off. She states in a very husky voice, "3:30". He then says, "can I watch?"
Lots of tongue in cheek, and even a bit of romance towards the end. This is a fun movie for people who don't take vampires seriously. --Mickey Buell via amazon.com
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays - Camille Paglia
Either you like the polysexual, pagan Paglia, or you don't-and this collection by the author of Sexual Personae isn't going to change that. Perfectly aware of her image, Paglia early on compares herself to Ross Perot, Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, in her "raging egomania and volatile comic personae tending toward the loopy." On this outing, Paglia revisits the same fire hydrants, sniffs the competition and then marks them once more as her own. Pornography continues to be great; Lacanians, bad; Freud, underrated; feminists, undersexed. Although her main essay "No Law in the Arena," is not as solid as "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders," the analysis of academe that anchored Sex, Art, and American Culture, many of her essays expand on her gritty common-sense understanding of the nasty realities of sex. Particularly good are "Rebel Love: Homosexuality"; "Lolita Unclothed" and "Woody Allen Agonistes." Paglia is at her bilious ad feminem best skewering one-time idol Susan Sontag in "Sontag, Bloody Sontag," or Catharine MacKinnon ("the dull instincts and tastes of a bureaucrat") and Andrea Dworkin ("The Girl with the Eternal Cold") in "The Return of Carry Nation." As usual, there's much about tabloid icons-Amy Fisher, Lorena Bobbit, Jackie O-but Paglia herself has become just such an icon, appearing in movies and TV specials whose transcripts she rather tediously includes. Still, when Paglia is good, she is palatable; when Paglia is bad, she's terrific.
Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale (1997) - Pam Keesey
Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale (1997) - Pam Keesey [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
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Books about goddesses, books about vampires, and books about film stars are common, but Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale is a rare treat: it combines all those topics and more within a historical context for understanding our long-time fascination with the dangerous, alluring female. The story starts in prehistory with the worship of a mother goddess who was also the Lady of the Beasts, and spans the centuries from ancient Greek and medieval views of harmful women through the hysterics of the romantic period. The history of film vamps goes from Theda Bara in A Fool There Was (1915) to Natasha Henstridge in the Species movies (1990s), and includes beautiful photographs of all the usual suspects--Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Tallulah Bankhead, Louise Brooks, Maila Nurmi (a.k.a. Vampira), the two Morticias, and many others.
A coffee-table-size paperback, Vamps is also an eye-catching blend of well-researched (but lighthearted) writing and dramatic black-and-white illustrations on every page. Author Pam Keesey is already known for her knowledge of dark female characters, having edited other Cleis publications such as Women Who Run with the Werewolves: Tales of Blood, Lust and Metamorphosis and Dark Angels: Lesbian Vampire Stories. She draws on an impressive range of sources, including The Malleus Maleficarum, Robert Graves's The White Goddess, 1950s fetish magazines, and even Pat Robertson on the subject of feminism. The artwork samples ancient stone carvings, medieval engravings, and portraits of dangerous women by John Singer Sargeant and Edvard Munch, among others. Included are a bibliography, a filmography of stars, a videography of titles, and an index.
The only thing that seems off-base about this book is that a whole chapter is devoted to Sharon Stone. Maybe Keesey is a big fan. --Fiona Webster, Amazon.com
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