Is the Popularity of Vampires A Cause for Concern?

There have been several articles lately about how a certain segment of our society is worried that the rising popularity of vampires has gone too far. Some stories of teenagers having satanic rituals where they drink blood and claim to be reborn as vampires or werewolves have started showing up in a wide variety of publications. But what is really going on with this new popularity of vampires?

The truth is that the concept of vampires have been around for ages and there always seems to be some sort of connection between what we need in our world and what kind of monster our current vampires seem to be.

Laura Enright is the author of Vampires Most Wanted a title that looks at the most popular incarnations of vampires throughout time. She has seen a pretty wide range and finds it fascinating that this is one creature that we almost seem to need to have around. She talks about it in a recent interview.

“But it was during the researching that I discovered the variety of vampires out there,” she said. “The legend, movies, novels. I found it fascinating how many forms this creature had taken. Brutal, dangerous, hideous, sexy, romantic, heroic. It’s really cool that this character can be retooled so often.”

And retooled it has been indeed. If we are now fascinated and at the same time repelled by the romanticized but also violent and highly sexual vampire that could be walking down the street or attend our local high school, what does that say about us? Are we a culture that is afraid of viral young men and so must demonize them to make them something we can accept?

This isn’t the first time that Hollywood brought us a vampire to know and remember. Many of us can recall Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, and yet he only made two films with that character. If you read the books the character is based on, Legosi’s interpretation is far more personally sinister than in the original books. That he was able to turn his portrayal of the Vampire Count Dracula into a calling card for the rest of his life is a testament to the staying power of the image of the vampire. The era of the films of Lugosi were hard, as Count Dracula was made in 1931 during the height of the depression. Vampires at the time were royalty and their isolation was a symbol of the nation’s struggle to regain its lost power. In one of the classic biographies of Legosi, The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi author Arthur Lennig describes the character as “a harbinger of evil from a world of shadows.” For those of us who remember the films, they were our introduction to the concept of a vampire as the undead who drink blood and live forever.

It wasn’t until Anne Rice brought back vampires into a whole new light with her Vampire Chronicles series that the modern version of vampires was born. This new vampire had a sexual nature that others had barely touched, and for many young women (including myself!) it was hypnotic. Interview with the Vampire was read and discussed at length, with many midnight sessions of college girls in dorm rooms talking in hushed voices as Lestat was dissected. But it was the ability of the narrator to discuss the nature of evil, and the perception of death that truly changed the way we were to look on vampires and make them the more sympathetic creatures they have become.

Is it any wonder that this first step towards building the rebirth of the enduring character from its 18^th Century beginnings to its 21^st century starring roles in several television shows should have its roots in the questions of faith and death? Perhaps that is the reason we turn again to vampires to be our symbols as we live in a society that needs symbols and has lost the old ones it once relied upon. Can the turning away from old beliefs and the embracing of a new more vibrant symbol of rebirth be the very thing that is bothering these tale bearers of teenage witch covens and hidden powers amongst us?

What do you think? Are you bothered by the sudden popularity of all things supernatural? Or is it just that we now have the technology to make a witch do more than wiggle her nose on TV? I for one find this fascination with the living dead simply an extension of what most women yearn for – the unattainable man who needs us in the most elemental of ways, to sustain his life. It is not a relationship we actually want, but it has a certain allure that seems to be timeless.