Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
out if a Shapeshifting man is worthy of her trust.
A common type of Shapeshifter is called the femme fatale, the woman as
temptress or destroyer. T h e idea is as old as the Bible, with its stories of Eve in the
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T H E W R I T E R ' S JOURNEY ~ T H I R D EDITION
Christopher Vogler
Garden of Eden, the scheming Jezebel, and Delilah cutting off Samson's hair to rob
him of his strength. T h e femme fatale finds expression today in stories of cops and
detectives betrayed by killer women, such as Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct
or Kathleen Turner's in Body Heat. Black Widow and Single White Female are interesting
variants in which a female hero confronts a deadly, Shapeshifting femme fatale.
T h e Shapeshifter, like the other archetypes, can be manifested by male or
female characters
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