A ‘New’ look at vampires in culture

Anthony Capps
November 19, 2009

Have vampires gone from ugly, bloodsucking killers to attractive lovers even the audience desires?

Many would say yes. But it wasn’t a sudden switch from horror to desire; rather, it was culture.

When vampires first arrived in literature — and to the masses — during the Victorian era, they were killers that sucked the soul from a person.

Books such as “Dracula” and “Carmilla” created the vampires that attacked people and sucked their blood.

Nowadays, there are plenty of books, movies, music and television programs that portray vampires as lovers, such as the “Twilight” series — the second movie, “New Moon,” opens at midnight, and all three midnight showings have sold out at Movies 12, 1317 Buckeye Ave.

But there are still vampire movies and shows that portray the evil side, such as “30 Days of Night,” “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” “Blade,” and “Underworld.”

Dometa Wiegand, assistant professor of English, said a key difference between the two types of vampire media is a religious or spiritual view.

Vampires of the Victorian era, and into the 20th century, were about being without a religion, and because the blood was where the soul of a person was, the vampire was viewed as sucking the souls out of people.

“In ‘New Moon,’ and others like it, the spirituality is out,” Wiegand said. “The vampire is essentially a lifestyle, a choice. Someone can choose to be a good vampire or an evil vampire.”

In the “Twilight” series, vampires who don’t drink human blood are referred to as vegetarians. Wiegand said the vampire life presented in “Twilight” shows their entire way of life can be a choice. A vampire can choose, which is opposite from older media that viewed all vampires as evil — like “Nosferatu” or “Dracula.”

The cause of this transition, Wiegand said, came from American society and particularly Hollywood. Hollywood began using attractive leading men in the vampire role because “sex sells.”

Hollywood helped bring about a change from the monstrous vampire to a more attractive vampire after which the human lusts, Wiegand said. But there has always been a sexual undertone to vampire films.

“The idea of biting a woman’s neck is simply a substitute of a sexual act,” said Tom Beell, professor of journalism and mass communication.

Beell said the vampire is becoming more of a sex object.

He said the genre has been clashing with other genres over the past couple decades.

“New Moon” and its predecessor combine the vampire genre with romance. Other mixes include Mel Brooks’ “Dracula: Dead and Loving It,” which combined it with comedy, and “30 Days of Night,” which merged it with the slasher genre.

The original vampire novels placed the fear of the supernatural and the fear of the scientific world beside one another. Culture has eroded that away.

“Vampires, like people, will be reinvented with time,” she said.

Wiegand said she is not a fan of the “Twilight” series. She calls the first movie a “dreadful piece of cinema” and the novel, while better than the film adaptation, has “middle of the road writing.”

However, the books, movies and other materials that accompany the “Twilight” craze have a strong place in culture that makes it important to recognize.

Beell said he prefers the classic vampire films of Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”

Wiegand prefers the “Dracula” novel and “would take the worst ‘Buffy’ episode over ‘Twilight.’”

“I prefer the action-adventure vampire,” she said.

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon”

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 130 min. The movie is showing on 3 screens

Showtimes: 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 p.m. and at 12:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights

Midnight showtimes: 12:01, 12:02 and 12:03 a.m. (all are sold out), 3 and 3:05 a.m. (still tickets available)

Upon recovering from a vampire attack, Bella (Kristen Stewart) prepares to celebrate her 18th birthday with Edward (Robert Pattinson) and his family. But when a party accident results in Bella’s finger being sliced. The sight of blood proves too intense for the vampire Cullen family, and they leave town for Bella and Edward’s sake. After initially closing herself from social activities, Bella begins a friendship with friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) that blossoms. But Jacob changes as their relationship deteriorates. When someone from Bella’s past comes back, everything will change.

Notable movies about vampires:

“Blade” (1998)

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992)

“Dracula” (1931)

“Dracula: Dead and Loving It” (1995)

“Interview with the Vampire” (1994)

“Nosferatu” (1922)

“Nosferatu the Vampyre” (1979)

“Martin” (1977)

“Salem’s Lot” (1979)

“Underworld” (2003)

“The Vampire” (1913)