Vampires and Their History in Media
Monsters have existed in society for years, tracing back further than we can count. For generations, through ancient literature and folklore, people have told stories of demons and creatures alike that walk the night seeking to harm the careful "peace" humans have created. One of the monsters that can commonly be found in these stories is the vampire. Unlike most other monsters, the vampire resembled a human rather than something alien or animal-like in these stories. However, these creatures weren't entirely human (at least anymore); they were instead monsters who desired human blood. While different stories follow different narratives of what a vampire truly is, they have continued to be a popular monster in modern movies and even novels. To grasp the true story of this creature, we must start at the beginning of its known history, to properly define the vampire.
Dating back centuries, from ancient cities such as Pre-1800s China, Greece, and Malaysia, stories of vampire-like spirits began to appear in myths. Instead of the bloodthirsty creatures we expect from a vampire story, these myths portrayed the vampire as an unrest soul who dwells in the world between hell and heaven, that "haunts" earth. Often, in these cultures, the vampire was used to explain phenomena such as disease or other unexplainable occurrences among the people. But vampire myths were also used to represent the fear humans ultimately had of death and acceptance of this endpoint. As time passed and people spread across the world, their stories spread as well. It was only a matter of time before vampire myths made their way to Western culture.
Around the 19th century, vampires became a quintessential figure in many literary pieces. In 1819, The Vampyre was published by John Polidori, one of the first English authors to publish a vampire story. The story follows Lord Ruthven, a vampire disguised as an aristocrat, whom the narrator (Aubrey) finds to be
mysterious and fascinating. Ultimately, Aubrey soon finds out the truth when Ruthven begins to court his sister, paving the way for the common doomed-romance archetype we find in many vampire stories. Not only does this story include a vampire for the first time in English literature, but it also establishes many common components of vampires and how we can describe such a creature. Aspects of the vampire, like their seductive abilities, pale/cold appearance, predatory urges, and longevity in life, were just some of the descriptions given in this short story that we see still in many vampire renditions. Following this iconic release, notable works such as Carmilla and Varney the Vampire drew inspiration from the fascinating concept of the vampire. It seemed as if the vampire craze was just beginning to unfold.
In 1897, one of the most famous vampire stories to this day was published: Dracula. If it wasn't already evident, gothic literature had fully embraced the vampire as its muse, and Dracula solidified this due to its overwhelming popularity in its time. Even to this day, if you know nothing about vampires, you still likely know Count Dracula as the "classic" example of this monster. With this literary release, more traits were added to classify the vampire, such as the ability to transform into a bat or werewolf, ways to kill it (garlic, stake through the heart, etc.), daylight vulnerability, and superhuman capabilities. The definitive elements of this novel are still to this day used in modern media, such as its narrative and core tropes. Following its success a few decades later, in 1931, a film adaptation was released for this novel, along with more successive adaptations for novels like Nosferatu. Evolving alongside media distributions, vampires continued to populate theatres, stores, and shelves.
From the 1970's to the present day, the popularity of vampires has never seemed to dissipate, and even our definition of the vampire itself has changed. While in the 1800's-1950's the vampire was portrayed as this pale, deeply tormented creature, films such as Blade in 1998 reinvented the vampire into something like a superhero in an action movie. As well, popular TV series
like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries in the 2000's made their vampires be brooding, iconic leads to romance-oriented plots. Even just last year, the award-winning picture Sinners used vampires as a way to explain religious and racial trauma. Alas, a once seemingly "simple" creature to many has become an entity used to embed thematic ideas in media.
But with these different interpretations of the vampire, have we ultimately lost the plot? It is a difficult idea to wrap our heads around; however, the vampire has never really been that simple of a creature. The vampire has always been the ultimate example of "the other" threatening the average human population. In fact, early literary vampires were inherently queer, identifying creatures that explored desire that was not acceptable for ordinary humans to have. Their whole purpose as transcendental creatures is that they can take on the roles of those with no boundaries, compared to humans, who live in a society with expectations and rules. Even the inability to die lets vampires be a figure that withstands time, and does not hold the same fascination with death that humans have. Ultimately, vampires are more similar to humans than we really think because they represent something humans will never be able to realistically have: complete freedom.
With never-ending existing fears, whatever they may be, vampires will continue to exist. The monster category itself will always be a use for us to push our culturally bound fears onto, and is why we see these figureheads in our media throughout centuries. Fictional things they may be, yes, but not
necessarily too different from suppressed ideals. Perhaps that is why we choose to call them monsters: we cannot accept what they do in terms of our expectations. Or maybe they are just hot... I guess we will never know.
Until next time,
Between Scenes (Cassidy)
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