A meme is derivative of the Greek mimema, meaning “something imitated”. Existing as a cultural entity, memes are particular elements that are transmitted through society from one mind to another. They are an immense technological phenomenon that many theorists debate over. Continuing with my preexisting topic of vampires, I thought I would share a few vampire-related memes I’ve come across lately.
Vampires provided a perfect mirror of the worst fears of the pious and perfect. Vampires were dangerous, sexually rampant, enormously powerful, absolutely unconcerned about human dignity and preservation of the soul, and finally…dead. And it was this last aspect of their nature that made them the most fascinating to legend-makers. -Dunn Mascetti, Manuela. Vampires: The Complete Guide to the World of the Undead
So we’ve established that vampires are bloodsucking, undead creatures. Not only are they immensely powerful and fast, they exhibit extraordinary attractive physical traits (from pale skin to beyond beautiful eyes) as well. As if all these traits combined weren’t enough, most portrayals of vampires show them with a pair of sharp, seething fangs. One thing I haven’t brought to the table of discussion is a vampire’s strengths and weaknesses. What extra “powers” does a vamp have to further their lethality? What are the loopholes in the vampire’s strengths; can you kill something that’s already dead?
Vampires are immortal beings; upon completing the transformation required to become vampire, one will discover the ability to live forever young. There are, however, a few aspects that can halt a vampire’s immortality sooner than expected. For example, in typical representations of vampires, the sunlight is a big no-no. In Interview with the Vampire, Louis’ daughter for all intensive purposes is assassinated in an open chamber by mere sunlight alone.
Claudia, a vampire from Interview with the Vampire, is literally turned to ash and soot by the sun's rays.
In Twilight, however, the sun doesn’t have a such a detrimental impact on the vampires. It exists solely as something that can reveal their identity because instead of bursting into flames, they sparkle as if they have millions of diamonds embedded in their pores. On the other hand, True Blood shares the negative view of the sun. The biggest contrast between Interview and True Blood is the fact that the sun instantly kills Claudia, while Bill Compton regenerates from his run-in with the sun. This is why vamps in these stories either sleep in sealed coffins or underground during the day to prevent all interaction with the sun.
Chargrilled vampire Bill.
Another weakness of the vampires in Anne Rice and HBO’s versions is a stake to the heart. The effect varies from one vamp to the next, but the outcome is the same: eternal rest. The vampires in Twilight only have one true weakness: other supernatural beings. Not many things can break the marble skin of Meyer’s vamps—only other vampire teeth or shape-shifter teeth.
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As a side note, here are some special powers specific vampires exhibit:
“Everything about me draws in you in. My voice, my face, even my smell.” -Edward Cullen, Twilight
Vampires are predators by nature. Every single one of the vampires in my three mediums of comparison exhibit some form of special influence via their appearance. Different uses of these forms of control will result in a myriad of human emotions; the person they’re using these “powers” on will either feel overwhelmed, in total compliance, fearful, or sexually aroused. This is another feature of the vampire’s genetic makeup that makes them brilliantly beautiful, frightening, and intriguing all once.
The above trailer from the film version of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire provides a glimpse into the physical appearance of a vampire. Existing as the oldest of my three cultural mediums of depicting vampires, Anne Rice remains “traditional” in her molding of the story. Vampires are literally seen as the walking dead in many ways, thus the cold, pale-white skin (that is also mentioned in the Twilight section below). Although the vamps look human in many aspects (similar to True Blood), they appear to have this bewitching sixth-sense that lures an unsuspecting neck to their fangs. Speaking of teeth, the undead characters from Rice’s story have retractable fangs that they employ to suck the blood from their victims (extremely different from Twilight, very alike with True Blood). Even though their eyes remain the same color they were in their human life, they take on a new, unfathomable quality–as if the sunlight they can no longer walk in goes into their eyes, placing a brighter, more inviting characteristic into their irises.
The above clip is from the movie-version of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and does a fantastic job exhibiting the story’s take on the appearance of a vampire. Continuing with the myth that all vamps in “existence” are drop dead gorgeous (pun intended…haha), Edward Cullen explains to his human love interest, Bella Swan, that it’s all part of luring in prey. The pale and cold skin, sultry features, and extraordinary eye colors all play their role in capturing food. Some major physical features that may coincide or depart from other representations of vampires include eye color and fangs. In the Twilight oeuvre, the vamps either have 1) red eyes (the most common, derivative of consuming human blood to survive) 2) golden eyes (much less common, associated with only living off the blood of animals) or 3) black eyes (a sign of lack of feeding and moodiness to say the least). Oddly enough, as far as fangs go, the vampires of Twilight have none to speak of. Their teeth are described (and portrayed in the movie) as normal-looking; the aspect that makes their teeth so deadly is the rock-hard, unbreakable quality they have–their teeth are said to be able to bite through anything.
After viewing the fan-made True Blood video above, one thing is obvious: vampires look just like us until you see their fangs come out or they cry (tears of blood). As mentioned in my previous blog, this is a positive feature in my point of view. Hypothetically, if vampires have been around for many centuries on end, either living amongst us at nighttime or dwelling in the shadows, they couldn’t look too terribly different from a human without getting publicly outed sooner. Thus, I find this portrayal of vampires to be grotesquely realistic. Most bloodsuckers in the story look the same as they did in their human form, and the quality of paleness isn’t as forthcoming as other vampire stories may reflect. Unlike Twilight’s take on eyecolor and fangs, the creatures of the night in this series have the same eyes they came into the world with; additionally, the vamps look much more frightening because of their razor-sharp retractable fangs that can either 1)come out on command or 2) come out when the vamp is aroused, extremely angered, or in pain.
So we all know that one of the biggest factors that makes a vampire so incredibly dangerous (yet intriguing) is the issue of diet. Vampires consume blood to survive. Yes, it’s a demented form of the circle of life, putting subhumans at the top of the foodchain. Let’s examine the different mediums discussed in my previous blog and see what each specific depiction of vamp consumes to stay alive.
The oldest (media wise) of the three of my examples is Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. Interview with the Vampire remains one of the most popular vampire stories; it was published in 1976 and was later adapted to film in 1994. As far as the appetite of the vamps in the story–well, it’s insatiable to say the least. Running with the traditional myth of the damned creatures, Rice continues with the human = food equation. Although the protagonist of the story (Louis) loathes what he is, he is required to feed off of humans to stay alive (okay, sort of alive). As far as the plot goes, the characters travel the world throughout the story. Similar to another part of my blogging theme , True Blood, the main characters remain in Louisiana near New Orleans for the majority of the tale. However, Louis and his “daughter” Claudia abandon their maker Lestat for several hundred years exploring the corners of the world to find other vampires, but their attempts fail and prove to be either fatal or devastating.
The next on the list is the OUTRAGEOUSLY popular Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer. Writing a few decades after Rice, Meyer decided to portray a different vampire world. In some ways it is a little more “PG 13″, but in other aspects, it is more humanistic. Unlike Rice’s vampire-characters, Meyer creates a dichotomy between the vampire race. The typical Good vs. Evil theme. Basically, the good vampires (ie, the Cullens) only drink the blood of animals. The bad vampires (ie, nomads / Volturi) take stride with living the old-fashioned way and slaughter humans for each meal. The Cullens and other vampires that live an alternative lifestyle compare themselves to vegetarians. They get what they need to survive by feeding off of the animals, but aren’t exactly satisfied.
Lastly is the HBO’s hit series True Blood. Personally, I’m quite fond of this representation of vampires because the storyline follows a realistic trend. Put forth as a glimpse in the day of everyday residents of a small town in Louisiana, the show is extremely colloquial. With a Cajun flair, the characters portray an array of personalities, from traditional Civil-War Era (William Compton) vampires to southern belles (Sookie Stackhouse) with shape-shifters as bosses (Sam Merlotte). The biggest aspect of the show is centered around the new-wave synthetic blood drink created by the Japanese (Tru Blood) that allowed vamps to “come out of the coffin”. Aside from the obvious political and religious upheaval this action causes, this is similar to Louis’ torment in Interview with the Vampire and the Cullen’s struggle to remain as vegetarians, many of the vampires in True Blood are forced to choose between a “mainstream” form of life which involves living solely off the generic Tru Blood or living “old-fashioned” and using humans as bloodbags.
Hello WordPress world. Instead of blogging about my listless personal life, I figured I’d post discussions about something a little more undead. Vampires have been a cultural phenomenon here recently, coming out of the coffin with entertainment catalysts such as HBO series True Blood and Stephanie Meyers’ book series Twilight.
My blog will serve as an inquiry into this supernatural plague. I plan on comparing different realms of bloodsucking representations, with special attention to those that draw mass attention. With a keen focus on Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyer, and HBO’s versions of vampires, I aim to come to a common consensus about the vamps.
