I’ve always loved horror and since my Grandma let me borrow Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, I have held a place for the fictional vampire in my heart. From King’s sinister Barlow to Anne Rice’s sensitive Louis, I have always taken interest in vampires – and I am still shipping the Spike and Buffy romance to this day.
Monsters are the physical representations of both our fears and desires in modern film and literature. Many guffaw at the societal and political moulds that we squeeze these fictional creatures into, but when you stop and pick them apart, it makes sense – especially if you look at what was occurring in the world at the time they were unleashed upon it.
For example, the recent barrage of zombie themed graphic novels, television series and films are no mere coincidence but are there to comment upon our current and constant fear of a serious epidemic – and there are a shocking amount of people in the world who believe one might happen soon and have cupboards full of tinned goods.
Although zombies are currently ruling the scene, the vampire is the most dominant and long-running fictional monster to act as a representation of our fears and desires. Let’s start with a lesser known novel; written in the 1950s I am Legend is better known as a film featuring Will Smith in the starring role. The author, Richard Matheson, wrote the novel at a time of racial conflict in America, when the brave Rosa Parks was refusing to give up her seat on a bus to the growing occurrence of sit-ins that ran up to the 1960s. Matheson’s vampire in I am Legend is a representation of this new changing world and its social "other", gaining power and rising up against the original system.
In Matheson’s novel, the spread of vampirism is represented as a biological disease that has removed the human species and converted it into something perceived as abnormal and evil. Robert Neville is the only remaining human and is desperately trying to survive. The novel is a perfect illustration of how the fictional vampire is used to represent societal fears of a particular time; the vampire disease is representative of black society attempting to coincide in the United States, a concept feared by the white majority at the time.
Was Matheson presenting his fears concerning this new multi-cultural society? Or promoting change? Was he even suggesting that a crisis event such as nuclear war or a life-threatening epidemic is needed in order for the two societies to work together?
But this usage of the vampire did not begin in the 1950s; we have been utilising the monster long before and another novel that comments on issues of its time in society is Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. Written in the 1800s, it mainly details Laura’s experience of the vampire Carmilla and explores the subject of homosexuality. Laura is so naïve in Le Fanu’s novel that she makes excuses for Carmilla’s lesbian advances – that she is mentally ill or a boy pretending to be a girl. To be homosexual in the time of Le Fanu’s novel was to commit a crime and to be considered mentally ill. Oscar Wilde was trialled for his sexuality in 1895, as an example.
The most renowned of vampire tales, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, also features the theme of homosexuality. The Count’s advances towards Jonathan Harker and his outburst after finding his brides seducing Jonathon proves that he wishes to keep him for himself: “How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? This man belongs to me!”
A well as depicting societal fears, vampires are also used to convey our love for the "other"; that mysterious figure from far, far away that you don't understand but are naturally drawn to. Consider them much like the bad boy at school. The vampire is the rock star, the mean yet sexy character who you know isn’t good for you but you have a soft spot for. Good modern day examples of this include Damien from The Vampire Diaries or Lestat of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. The modern vampire embodies all that we desire: immortality, beauty and power – the remedy to our fears and insecurities. Therefore, we pursue it as a source of entertainment because we wish to study how its life is constructed and can be obtained.
When it comes to analysing media and literature, many people roll their eyes and claim you are clutching at straws and that the writer never intended you to analyse their work that much. However, no matter how much an author attempts to simply pen a novel, they will always be influenced by events and feelings of that era and any societal traits or attitudes will be reflected throughout. The vampire, therefore, is the perfect tool for conveying negative values but to also reflect our love for them – I’m surprised 50 Shade’s Christian Grey didn’t turn out to be a brooding, blood sucking fiend in the end!
Monsters are the physical representations of both our fears and desires in modern film and literature. Many guffaw at the societal and political moulds that we squeeze these fictional creatures into, but when you stop and pick them apart, it makes sense – especially if you look at what was occurring in the world at the time they were unleashed upon it.
For example, the recent barrage of zombie themed graphic novels, television series and films are no mere coincidence but are there to comment upon our current and constant fear of a serious epidemic – and there are a shocking amount of people in the world who believe one might happen soon and have cupboards full of tinned goods.
Although zombies are currently ruling the scene, the vampire is the most dominant and long-running fictional monster to act as a representation of our fears and desires. Let’s start with a lesser known novel; written in the 1950s I am Legend is better known as a film featuring Will Smith in the starring role. The author, Richard Matheson, wrote the novel at a time of racial conflict in America, when the brave Rosa Parks was refusing to give up her seat on a bus to the growing occurrence of sit-ins that ran up to the 1960s. Matheson’s vampire in I am Legend is a representation of this new changing world and its social "other", gaining power and rising up against the original system.
In Matheson’s novel, the spread of vampirism is represented as a biological disease that has removed the human species and converted it into something perceived as abnormal and evil. Robert Neville is the only remaining human and is desperately trying to survive. The novel is a perfect illustration of how the fictional vampire is used to represent societal fears of a particular time; the vampire disease is representative of black society attempting to coincide in the United States, a concept feared by the white majority at the time.
Was Matheson presenting his fears concerning this new multi-cultural society? Or promoting change? Was he even suggesting that a crisis event such as nuclear war or a life-threatening epidemic is needed in order for the two societies to work together?
But this usage of the vampire did not begin in the 1950s; we have been utilising the monster long before and another novel that comments on issues of its time in society is Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. Written in the 1800s, it mainly details Laura’s experience of the vampire Carmilla and explores the subject of homosexuality. Laura is so naïve in Le Fanu’s novel that she makes excuses for Carmilla’s lesbian advances – that she is mentally ill or a boy pretending to be a girl. To be homosexual in the time of Le Fanu’s novel was to commit a crime and to be considered mentally ill. Oscar Wilde was trialled for his sexuality in 1895, as an example.
The most renowned of vampire tales, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, also features the theme of homosexuality. The Count’s advances towards Jonathan Harker and his outburst after finding his brides seducing Jonathon proves that he wishes to keep him for himself: “How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? This man belongs to me!”
A well as depicting societal fears, vampires are also used to convey our love for the "other"; that mysterious figure from far, far away that you don't understand but are naturally drawn to. Consider them much like the bad boy at school. The vampire is the rock star, the mean yet sexy character who you know isn’t good for you but you have a soft spot for. Good modern day examples of this include Damien from The Vampire Diaries or Lestat of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. The modern vampire embodies all that we desire: immortality, beauty and power – the remedy to our fears and insecurities. Therefore, we pursue it as a source of entertainment because we wish to study how its life is constructed and can be obtained.
When it comes to analysing media and literature, many people roll their eyes and claim you are clutching at straws and that the writer never intended you to analyse their work that much. However, no matter how much an author attempts to simply pen a novel, they will always be influenced by events and feelings of that era and any societal traits or attitudes will be reflected throughout. The vampire, therefore, is the perfect tool for conveying negative values but to also reflect our love for them – I’m surprised 50 Shade’s Christian Grey didn’t turn out to be a brooding, blood sucking fiend in the end!
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