Daniel Masri
Caroline Cully
HUM 2234
April 21, 2011
Blood, Sex, and Tearsâ¦.. and Bloodâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦ and More Tears
Since 2005, after the first installment of the Twilight Saga was released, it has been impossible to escape the omnipresence of vampire mayhem. Once these books hit the big screen transforming this neo-cult classic to main-stream mania, every form of medium, from books, to films, to television has been turned. Many faux versions of the series have been created, as well as original works that used Twilight as a spring board, but all are primarily based on the elements that made Stephanie Myer a bestselling author. The popularity of Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries, to name a few, are all rooted in the romancing of the gothic vampire figure and aimed at women. This obsession with narratives surrounding elements of forbidden, tragic love, and the preoccupation with supernatural and the grotesque is reflective of how Romanticism still exists and influences contemporary, main stream culture.
While Twilight and True Blood have sparked a surge in interest around vampires, this is not a new phenomenon but a renewal of interest in these dark characters. Vampires have been a popular subject of fear and intrigue, from Bram Stoker's Dracula, to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, to today's Edward Cullen of Twilight. In fact, their creative potential seems endless. Rather than going out of style, these timeless (literally) characters have adapted to successfully meet the psychological, emotional, and carnal desires of the public, now taking the form of hyper-sexualized, proto-gothic romance.
Vampires are transformed ex-mortals living in limbo on earth, wandering near the edge of death yet cursed with immortality. These nocturnal monsters that drain humans of blood, put their victims under hypnotic trances, and attack through...