VAMPIRES ARE SEXY

Vampires are sexy.

If you want proof, that vampires are sexy, there's True Blood, the Twilight books, the Twilight movies, the Vampire Diaries and more coming. Teens and horror aficionados love those outcasts. They suck our blood and make their victims undead. Yet the vampires allure has always been not about the undead. It is  about sex, either repressed or blatant. Yes, vampires are sexy and that's why we love them.

Before Edward Cullen took a fancy to Bella Swan, vampire roots went back at least 2000 years ago. Legends of blood sucking and the 'undead' walking the earth were ingrained myths. Some historians are convinced tuberculosis, where the dying cough up blood, is at the very core of the myths. As the world became civilized, the myths were written down. The term vampire solidified in popular culture. It is from the Old Slavic "to fly”, but even that derivation is shrouded in early morning mists. What is not disputed is that there is a similar word in all the Slavic languages - Russian, Ukrainian,  Polish, German, Czech and others. The vampire’s blood ran deep in these cultures.

Two books took the vampire from grim folklore into popular culture. The first was VAMPYR published in 1819 by John Polidori and then in 1897 Bram Stoker's DRACULA. The blood suckers of ancient myth were thrust into the modern genre known today. The question remains why is such myth enduring and how has the vampire changed? It is enduring because  vampires represent tow of the most basic human imperatives - sex and fear of death. Vampires change as we do. We change, they change.

Originally the popularity of the modern vampire film came out of the Victorian period. This was a period of repressed sexuality. The vampire offered a brief exhumation of buried sexuality. The fantasy of the victim, usually a beautiful young woman, being changed from a proper lady, into a night creature having an unholy alliance with a powerful male tapped into sexuality unfulfilled. Dracula was urbane, educated and knew things not discussed, sex. 

With the coming of film, these fantasies went from page to screen. Early versions of vampires were more Gothic than sexual. The 30s saw the emergence of many of popular cultures lasting impressions of vampires. Dracula was a sexual creature. He feed on them and he seduced them.

In late 50s, this sexuality became more overt. It coincided with the culture’s sexual revolution. Movies needed the titillation to sell tickets, but it could not be sustained if there wasn’t a corresponding dynamic. The overt sex mirrored the overt sex in society.

The latest stage of vampires is teenage. Vampires are outcasts, something teenagers relish. Twilight is Romeo & Juliet as envisioned in a post-AIDS world. Sex can literally mean death. Outcasts and unrequited sex, no wonder teens love this stuff.

There’s more. Vampires gain ascendancy during societal upheavals. In the 30s the Great Depression and industrialization were reshaping society. Immigration was threatened many. Dracula was a foreigner taking what was held most dear and undermining male dominance.

The 50s/60s brought mores, sexual and others, into the open. Atomic annihilation loomed and the very roots of traditional communities were displaced by the car driven suburbs. The vampire’s image went from a usurping foreigner to a creature in conflict, not unlike the conflicts resonating in the society as a whole.

Now in the new millennium, there are new life unchecked diseases, the environment is slipping, terrorists kill randomly and there is easily defined morality. Ambiguity reigns. Is it any wonder vampires have risen? The culture, the society is confused. Vampires represent that confusion. They represent how we see ourselves. In Twilight, we see vampires as beautiful, sexy creatures. Ironically, sexy they maybe, but Bella and Edward don't have sex. They both fear sex will consume them. We want it, but can't have it. That’s the essence of why vampires are sexy.

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Garen has been in the dark for years. As a film exhibitor, programmer and reviewer, he has seen thousands of films.  He is a regular commentator on NE Cable News & NH Public Radio. These day he produces the Horror 'Thon '09 a 12 hour vampire film festival showing this October 24. Besides film, he has a passion for being a Frugal Yankee.