The Cultural Significance of the Vampire

Here's my first paper for Lit Class:

Meredith Hershey

Professor Herndon

Literature 3312.S001

31 August 2010

The Cultural Significance of the Vampire

Vampires are some of the most recognized and loved cultural symbols in the world. Described as bloodsucking creatures of the night, these fictional beings have experienced a huge surge in popularity, with everything from books to television focusing on them. Though they’ve been talked about for hundreds of years, it’s only now that they’ve become widely accepted as a significant part of today’s society.

            The legend of a being that sucks the life force out of a person is as old as man itself, but the term vampire didn’t crop up until the 18^th century. At the time, Gothic literature was on the rise and during a particularly long winter, a man named John Polidori wrote the first vampire novel, aptly titled The Vampyre. It was the dawning of a long history of vampire literature, influencing famous titles such as Brom Stoker’s Dracula, the most famous vampire novel of all time.

The vampire seems to have at first been created from fear. They were described as evil heartless creatures that stalked helpless women and drained them of their blood. Often a shadowy figure, the vampire seemed to be a personification of disease, misfortune and death. Today’s vampire however seems to have become more developed. Beginning with Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire, authors and filmmakers have begun to show a more human side to vampires. The modern vampire is a victim of tragic circumstances, a Byronic hero who longs for a way to be free of their nightmarish curse. Often they fall in love with a human and must face the challenges of age, mortality and the overwhelming desire to drink their beloved’s blood.

It’s this type of vampire that has become the subject of a recent phenomenon. Though they’d always been popular is some circles, the vampire craze has taken off since the release of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer in 2005. The troubled Edward Cullen spoke to many an adolescent girl, as well as a surprising number of middle aged women. In today’s mainstream, he seems to have been accepted as the “perfect man”, a sure sign of what society values in a potential mate today. The vampires is Twilight have been “de-fanged” or toned down in terms of violence in order to appeal to a wide variety of people.  Other media such as the Southern Vampire Novel series by Charlaine Harris and its corresponding TV program True Blood glorify the vampire, blood and all, often showcasing the main character Sookie having relationships with several of them, with varying results. Society today seems to have accepted the vampire as a hero or romantic interest rather than the villain of yesterday, having gone so far as to trivialize their murderous tendencies. This raises a number of questions. Why has a previously evil bloodsucking fiend evolved into a heroic character archetype? Why has such a trend started? How does the change reflect our desires? The idea of vampirism is not a pretty one, and yet they are so beloved that it seems every new piece of media involves them in some way. It’s a reflection of who we are now as a civilization, but what does it mean? These are questions one must look into when they consider the vampire.  

The vampire has evolved with the times, but the recent craze has been the first time they’ve reached such a level of popularity. Studies will have to be conducted to fully understand why they’ve become so loved and what it means.