A friend of mine told me recently that all she wants to hear from a boy are three simple words: "I'm a vampire." She adores the Twilight book series.
I was surprised to see the uproar against Zoe Daniel's hilarious, insightful, and über-articulate article ("Abusive vampires are not model boyfriends," 16.09.08). For the most part, her argument stands: vampires in modern fiction are typically dangerous and violent. But they're still so gosh-darn attractive. Perhaps the lure of these stories is that they're vamped up versions of Romeo and Juliet with star-crossed lovers from different worlds. But, there is a palpable undercurrent of savagery and sadism in vampire lore that can't be overlooked.
Vampire stories are so popular that they make up more than 20 per cent of the romance novel market. In November, the first of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books is being released as a movie, and Charlaine Harris's novels have been adapted for television as True Blood. Why are vampires so hot? They're erotic, plain and simple. Vampires are tall, brooding, and lustful creatures. Granted, it's a lust for blood that drives them, but they still want to ravage women. And what imaginative reader of romance novels doesn't want to be ravaged by some alpha male misfit who could perhaps be saved through an impractical yet passionate affair?
Bram Stoker's dangerous, aristocratic Count Dracula is the most iconic image of the vampire. But Dracula also brought to the fore a critical and enduring twist to the vampire tale: sex. Stoker's novel showcases his ability to sustain suspense and inspire horror, but an overarching theme of the novel is Dracula's fatalistic love.
According to critic Leonard Wolf, "[Dracula's] power has its source in the sexual implications of the blood exchange between the vampire and his victims." Vampirism is a disturbing psychosexual allegory: "there is a demonic force at work in the world whose intent is to eroticize women. In Dracula we see how that force transforms Lucy Westenra, a beautiful 19-year-old virgin, into a shameless slut."
Vampire fiction's cocktail of sex and horror is enticing. Sucking on necks (and other areas) is intensely intimate, but it's also fundamentally domineering: a powerful man seduces and overpowers a woman, who willingly submits to his authority, to be used for his gratification. The woman is typically mystified by the vampire's otherworldliness and his freedom from the norms that constrict women like Stoker's Lucy, Harris's Sookie, or Meyer's famously weak-willed Bella. These master-slave relationships imply that women need a strong man to be the anchor in their lives. Perhaps this belief is inescapable for, or desirable to, many women. After all, it's the basis for both contemporary vampire fiction and for much of romance fiction in general, which is by far the best-selling genre of novels.
Or perhaps the appeal of vampires is more subtle. Coming back from death night after night, lashing out at all those around you, striving to drink the blood of the beloved, and being consumed by futile love is a terrible fate. Perhaps, then, readers are drawn to the tragedy of vampirism, and the horror of eternally unrequited love.
Mohammad Miraly is a second year PhD religious studies student.
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samad
posted 10/10/08 @ 12:37 PM EST
HAHA, you did NOT say 'gosh-darn!'
My theory is that some women just like older men--all that 'experience'. And vampires--being immortal--are THE older man. (Continued…)
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