Well, I've written about dystopias and zombies, so I thought it's time I wrote about vampires, which I'm sure you've all been waiting for.
I've read a lot of books involving them in some way from the oldest novels, like 'Dracula' to some of the newest ones; which are most often now in some form of fantasy rather than horror. Which is why, some years back, there was something of an outcry about the new way they were/are depicted.
About the time 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' was at its height, there were Christians (mainly in the States, I think) who were complaining of the dangers of vampires no longer being depicted as evil, but rather sexy. I think there is something to be wary of; but that this idea pretty much completely misses the point. The problem, as I see it, isn't so much that they are depicted as being sexy (in some ways, they were always alluring); but rather, that instead of being depicted as monsters, they are shown to be people - though a bit different.
For hundreds of years, there have been legends of various kinds of 'walking dead' that are close to what we think of as vampires; though the word itself is relatively modern, probably originating in central Europe somewhere. And for most of that time, they have been regarded as 'evil' or 'demonic' in some way. Even in non-Christian countries like China and Japan, they were regarded as having something to do with evil spirits of some kind. Pretty much culminating in 'Dracula', published in 1897.
The reason I think this is that, although the book is fairly clearly about good v evil, God v the Devil (at least it's clear if you read an abridged version); it wasn't long before that started to change. At first, it was in the films; though Dracula was still clearly shown as evil, the link between him and the Devil was toned down, and then ignored completely. Which is probably also why and how the 'rules' of what strengths and weaknesses they have started to get a bit hazy. After all, if you don't have a clear source for where vampires come from, why should they have any limitations - they don't make sense anyway. And then, about 30 years or so ago, things started to get even stranger.
First, they had changed from 'spiritual' beings of some kind to just beings - immensely powerful ones with less and less limitations; but still more or less 'evil', and then that changed. They still preyed on humans, that couldn't really change; but, they weren't necessarily evil. After all, everything has to eat, right? And, because of that, it was now possible to have vampires as heroes: to have 'good' vampires, who sometimes protected humans, and sometimes even fell in love-something which would have been unthinkable in earlier decades.
And if they can fall in love, then they can have sex. Which holds true just as much for the ones that aren't heroes. And all of this led inevitably to a confusion of morality. Because, obviously, although vampires look a bit like us, they're not us - but how like us are they?
And in certain stories/series, the 'bad guys' are the slayers i.e. humans. The vampires are just, you know, going about their business, trying to live and love as best they can; and intolerant humans just won't let them alone. How different this is from 'Dracula', or earlier stories.
And I haven't even talked about the role that magic plays in these stories...
What I Learned From Books :0.5
1: Dystopias, Then And Now
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