I love vampires. Vampire movies, vampire books, vampire TV shows. If it has vampires I’ve probably seen/read it. I don’t love them because I secretly wish I were a blood-sucking creature or because I want to fall in love with one. What interests me about vampires is the whole history of vampires and how their image has changed since the release of Dracula, especially in the last 10 years or so. Vampires were almost always portrayed as these beautiful people, but also dangerous because they couldn’t control their bloodlust. Anne rice, one of the most famous authors of vampire books, is probably the beginning of this. Most of her books have been turned into movies with the lead vampire being very handsome men. Interview With A Vampire had Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise playing the lead roles. Most recently there’s Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight trilogy, where she changes all stereotypical characteristics of vampires, i.e. they don’t burn in the sun, they sparkle and the main character, Edward doesn’t drink human blood.
These books/movies/TV shows raise some questions. First dealing with pop culture, why are vampires so interesting? Why are there so many different kinds of vampire movies made? How have they changed from these scary figures, to sparkly pretty boys/girls? Other questions that can be brought up are: are vampires as popular in other parts of the world as they are in the U.S? Who can relate to vampires?
What interests me about vampires is what they represent. They represent the outsiders in the world. People who are never accepted and feel alone or left out, which may be the reason why vampires are so popular because so many people can relate to them in a sense. I can certainly say that I have identified with a vampire at one point in my life. Not the bloodsucking part of course, but the being ostracized by society for who they are part.
Over the course of this class I’ll keep exploring how vampires are relevant in popular culture and I’ll use the readings from the book to help me do this.
