Thursday, December 31, 2009

Vampire Frenzy



The last post I wrote was dedicated to the debate surrounding the books and movie adaptions of Harry Potter and Twilight, this theme will be continued to further discuss the phenomenon surrounding the intrigue and unmistakable likeness for creatures of the dark. Twilight which is the biggest franchise containing vampires since the 90's release of Buffy the Vampire slayer and the spin off Angel. All of which follow a long history of displacement of vampires being either banished or welcomed into society.

Lets start at the beginning shall we?

The first identifiable vampire is the legendary, Dracula which before being adapted to the movie screen was a literary creation. Despite their being over 200 movie adaptions that have either been inspired by or use the character of Dracula, Nosferatu remains as the original. Nosferatu was released in 1922 as a completely silent movie which added darkness, mystery and intrigue creating dimensions of vampires other than what had already been written or assumed. However consumerism and advertising has added to the overwhelming consumption of books, movies and television series that use vampires as either main characters or reference to another plot.


The most popular television show using vampires was the 90's series Buffy which starred Sarah Michelle Galler as the slayer, a person or persons destined to hunt creatures that are harmful to the human existance and in this case, Vampires. The show indulges in the life of  a teenage girl who is to fulfil her destiny as those who came before her, but her life is turned upside down when by surprise she falls for Angel who unknown to her, Giles and her friends is a Vampire formely know as Angelius. As the series continues it becomes apparent that through past events Angel has a soul and can feel remorse and pain which in effect causes him to be a positive for the hunters instead of the hunted. Although paradoxically this seems to be ok it convolutes the original expressions of vampires who in most depictions before Buffy which of course was censored, had a relationship of love and commitment not just SEX or the idea that death was Angels only intention towards Buffy.



However, television shows containing Vampires have since changed with the 2009 releases of True Blood and The Vampire Diaries which are both adaptions from successful book series. True Blood concedes to the idea that vampires are an accepted part of society and they can walk into a bar and order artificial blood as a surrogate for your average beer or alcoholic beverage. The setting advocates that in the Western states of America, normality is a word that can be associated to Vampires and their existance and lifestyle which has continued throughout centuries. Like Buffy there is a romance between Bill (Vampire) and Sookie (mortal) which is drastic and distorted and contains a physicality which was previously unshown in Buffy or Angel as the censoring provisions have now been changed and True Blood has marketing value on the sexuality and roughness of love that it displays.


The most recent television show to be marketed to vampire loving audiences is The Vampire Diaries.

The plot revolves around two brothers, Stefan and Damon and their shared love for Elena a reincarnation or so they think of the woman they once loved and the one who delivered the fate of them being vampires. Like Buffy their home is a small town with no knowledge of the existence of vampires and are frightened when Damon becomes the source of attacks on townsfolk but the twist comes when like Angel and Edward, Stefan does not feed on humans which weakens him but to betray his soul in that way is not an outs for him, the only object he has to live for is Elena. Despite these three television series being different they share a commonality in that all three women overcome the boundaries, that the men they love are vampires but to "have loved and lost is better than to never loved at all".


Beyond television shows dedicated to having vampires as either recurring or permanent roles there are paranormal shows such as the X Files and Supernatural. The X Files which was the original paranormal exploration show used Vampires in all their glory including melting techniques, the thirst for human blood and the exceptional sex drive which Agent Moulder succumbs to. Whereas in Supernatural the myths surrounding vampires are dispelled, those portraying the vampires claim that sunlight does them no harm and the only form of destruction they can face is by the colt. A revolver which Sam and Dean must find in order to kill and defeat them. There is no one television show that has continuous line of thought when it comes to vampires and in particular their manifestations.


However, there are more movies containing Vampires then television shows made. The character of Dracula spawned many movies devoted to him specifically and then others who took inspiration from the morbid, drab and hollow existence he inhabited. In recent years there have been films that have looked at the specific tales of vampires which includes the underworld trilogy, pitching werewolves against vampires in what has a been a never ending war.The Twilight saga following a similar route but detours leaving readers to wonder about the relationship between what have traditionally been enemies.



Those franchises are considered to be more of a conventional plot of vampires compared to the recent release of Lesbian Vampire Killers which plays on the sex appeal of not only women together but the sexuality that Vampires resinate as seen by others. These films were all made in America but there is one pre teen Vampire film which is Swedish called let the right one in. This film follows a young girl and boy and although you might consider it to be innocent and playful despite what its about, it contains darkness and a very bleak outlook on their lives compared to Twilight or Underworld were there is some hope but this establishes none of those elements.



Vampiristic themes (that even a word, lol), are broad with the exploration beginning with the Vamp which is a term used to describe women and not men. In the 1920's the term Vamp was used when describing aggressive young sexual women who was classified as being unsettling for society. Although in cinema the Vamp type is rare it can be considered to appear in the femmefatale era where women are in control and the domineering sex compared the meek men who fall into their traps. Quite different compared to Bella, Buffy, Sookie and Elena.



No comments:

Post a Comment