Modern American Culture

Vampires in Contemporary Culture Vampires originally arose when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was expanding in the eighteenth century. They came from Slavic folklore to help with anxiety. Vampires change throughout cultures, but have been used in many top-selling or top-viewed books, movies, and television shows. (Bradshaw, Lindsay) The authors and directors portray these vampires very differently. Have you ever thought about which belief is correct? Vampires tend to reflect on the values and social structures of the culture. Concepts of gender and sexuality also changed the vampire. (Fountain, Jennifer) For example, Erin Collopy, teacher at Texas Tech University, believed that men and women looked at the vampires differently. The women
were attracted to the dark, seductive vampires, although men thought of vampires as monsters and believed that they should be killed. This way of thinking would change of writing about a vampire depending on if the author was male or female. The book The Vampyre, written by John William Poliduri, would most likely be at a different view compared to Vampire Lestat, written by Anne Rice. When the World hit the Romantic era, authors picked up on the concept of a vampire. One of those authors was Bram Stoker, writer of Dracula. Bram proved Erin’s theory about men and women. Dracula was killed by men, but the women who were bitten seemed not to fear him. When Dracula was published, the fascination with vampires was at an all time high. The last big hit of vampires was the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, until the book Twilight was published. (Bradshaw, Lindsay) A new generation of vampires consists of vampire gentlemen having the same eerie, old-fashioned, bloodsucking ways, but they have more control now.
Most movies are made based on a book. For example, Dracula and Twilight both have movies made to follow along with the book. In the book and movie, of Twilight, the Cullen’s(vampires of the story) have no similar characteristics with Dracula. The reason these two stories are compared, is because Dracula was publish in May of 1897 and Twilight was published in October of 2005. These are generations apart and the uniqueness of Dracula is not a part of Twilight. Dracula drank human blood and his mannerisms towards life were completely different than Edward Cullen. Edward wouldn’t dare drink the blood of a human being, nor did he let the people around him be scared of him. Stephenie Meyers, author of Twilight, said “These are vampires. They are these creatures who exist to hunt humans. They are evil and they choose something different. They find another way. And I think kids respond to the idea that it doesn’t matter where I am in life, I always have a choice.” Although other people have different opinions and express them in other ways like television shows, Stephenie makes a great point. (Neary and
Nuzum) A new television show about vampires is called True Blood. This is a show where vampires travel through a small town in America, campaigning for their civil rights. In the eighteenth century, vampires would have never dreamed of this. With our societal views in the twenty-first century, the way vampires are portrayed is socially acceptable. This show is of course based off of a book called the Southern Vampire. Another author who had a different view then Stephenie Meyers was Nina Averbach. She was the author of Our Vampires, Ourselves. Nina said, “Vampires aren’t supposed to be restrained. They’re all our hungers. That’s why they are vampires.” In the 1960’s and 70’s, she believed vampires took young women away from their narrow lives and transformed them. (Neary and Nuzum) There are many television shows that have to do with vampires. They aren’t very similar to how Bram Stoker or Anne Rice would describe them. In Anne Rice’s words, “If [the vampire] wields any lovely power upon the minds of men, it is only because the human imagination is a secret place of primitive memories and unconfessed desires. The mind of each is a Savage Garden… In which all manner of creatures rise and fall, and anthems are sung and things imagined that must finally be condemned and disavowed.”(Fountain, Jennifer)
Overall, vampires have made a drastic change from the eighteenth century to present time. Obviously there were all just stories, being that vampires aren’t real. Vampires were used to explain people and situations that did not comply with social expectations. (Fountain, Jennifer) In the Salvic culture they used vampirism as a method of social control. For example, there was an epidemic going around and the Salvic people believed that the first ones to die were vampires, because they caused death to others. (Bradshaw, Lindsay) To wrap it up, vampires were created in order to allow people to blame all the bad stuff that happened to them on the vampires. This was then transferred into stories told by books, movies, and television shows. As we get further into this world, the vampire stories change with us. A quote by Erin Collopy completely sums it up, “I think the reason vampires are so popular is because they are such an effective metaphor for our own anxieties and desires. We often try to work things out about ourselves through them.”

Works Cited
Bradshaw, Lindsay. "Blood Thirsty: Why Are Vampires Ruling Pop Culture?" Texas Tech Today RSS. Texas Tech University, 2 July 2012. Web. 08 Sept. 2013. <http://today.ttu.edu/2012/07/blood-thirsty-why-are-vampires-ruling-pop-culture/>.
Fountain, Jennifer A. "The Vampire in Modern American Media." The Vampire in Modern American Media. Dartmouth, 2000. Web. 08 Sept. 2013. <http://www.dartmouth.edu/~elektra/thesis.html>.
Neary, Lynn, and Eric Nuzum. "The Modern Vampire: Bloodthirsty, But Chivalrous." Web. 06 Sept. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96356392>.