The vamp, or the femme fatale (from the French la femme fatale) – an epithet with which award the most seductive and artful ladies in many works of literary and motion picture art.
The image of the vamp has ancient history. Salome – the Judaic tsarevna, Irodiada and Herod Boet's daughter, Halkida's queen and Small Armenia became a prototype of the femme fatale in motion picture art. Salome's image is in the center of movies of Gordon Edwards (1918), Charlz Bryant (1923), Carmelo Ben (1972), William Diterle (1953), Pedro Almodovar (1978), Ken Russell (1998), Karsol Saura (2002). The image of the femme fatale was sung in Oscar Wilde and Edward Munch, Goethe, Coleridge, Keats's works.
In silent cinema the femme fatale acted in an image of the insatiable sexy vampire, from here and American synonym of the French term "vamp". The image of the vamp was an integral part the film noir, a genre of the American cinema the 40-50th years which is characterized by the atmosphere of mistrust, cynicism, disappointment which was characteristic of the American society during this historical period. In these movies the vamp – a classical image of the such predator who sets a trap for the lie for the main character. Often communication with such character comes to an end for the hero is very deplorable.
The fatal love of the vamp is a trap for the man; seductive, insatiable in a bed and by all means double-faced – the image of the fatal beauty was so traditionally created. She throws down a challenge to traditional, patriarchal way of society, using the mind, courage and resourcefulness, cunning and insidiousness. Communication with it is pernicious for the representatives of an opposite sex not capable to resist fatal sexuality. By the way, often the classical fatal lady becomes that after the deadly offense caused by the former love. The classical image of the predator is presented by Barbara Stenvik in movies of the 40th years of the last century, for example, "A double insurance" (1944). Ann Sedvidzh played at the same time the predator and the victim in one person in the picture "Detour" (1945). Rita Hayworth embodied an image of fatal beauties in movies "The Lady From Shanghai" and "Gilda", and the heroine of the movie "Street of a Sin" (1945) played by Joanne Bennet safely pulls down to a pit of the gifted artist.
Now the image of the vamp is already not so unambiguous. The femme fatale can call the woman having mind, a grasp, beauty and an internal core, that for the sake of which the man is ready, figuratively speaking to pull up trees and to put the whole world to her legs. But absolutely optional the vamp will be double-faced and will ruin blessed, dexterously manipulating it for achievement of the purposes. As for shape, many consider that indispensable external attributes of the vamp are a bright make-up, red lips and the long pointed nails, a peculiar symbol of the predatory lady.