The living dead continue to take a bite into society.’ The obsession with vampires continues to escalate into full-blown hysteria. The media has revamped the classical myth and gothic folklore from which vampires were born.
The movie villain Count Dracula, from the 1931 classic Dracula, has transformed into a 104-year-old vampire with feelings – Edward Cullen, from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga.
The shift from classic to modern-day has influenced the meaning of vampirism. But many believe this change has fallen flat.
Media vamps take a bite out of teenage girls
Movie adaptations of vampires started with the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. The film features Count Orlok, a rodent-like, villainous bloodsucker who resembled a living corpse with killer instincts.
Book adaptations of the vampire myth have transformed the classic cannibals into lustful creatures who reject their roots. Anne Rice, a powerful voice in the horror literary world, began the idea of vampires as vain and conniving with Lestat de Lioncourt in The Vampire Chronicles.
Stefan Salvatore, The Vampire Diaries’ leading bloodsucker, rejects the brutality of vampire life like Cullen. Education major Bonnie Irwin said it’s interesting that the show focuses on new aspects of vampirism, such as special rings that let them go out in the sunlight.
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This concept of special sunlight rings appeared in the WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off show, Angel. Angel was a brooding vampire cursed by gypsies to live with a soul.
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‘God hates fangs’
HBO’s True Blood, based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris, also shows vampires in a different light. In the backwoods town of Bon Temps, La., vampires live amongst humans.’ ‘ ‘True Blood is very interesting because the vampire world and human world coexist knowingly,’ Irwin said.
True Blood also offers a look into the hierarchy of the vampire world with queens and kings who set rules. Religious undertones play a vital role in the vampire versus human battle as the church says, ‘God hates fangs.’
The raunchy sex scenes are nothing short of dismantling to the classics, but it shows the sexual tension lacking in the teenage version of modern vampires.
Criticism aside, as long as vampires stay mysterious, they will reign over the media and present new alterations to fit the growing decades.
