Analysing the cultural shape shifting of the vampire, past to present.

Emma Foster The Time Machine CG Arts & Animation Year 1

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Introduction
This assignment will analyse critically the importance and popularity that shadows the mythological being of the vampire in that it is a cultural shape shifter from past to present. Bram Stokers Dracula (1897) will be treated as the basis of the vampire profile and used to help discuss the change of the vampire through history. Other sources of importance are Carol Margaret Davisons Bram Stokers Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997 (1997) which will seek to aid the exploration of Dracula in relation to the culture it was written during, Michael Ferbers Romanticism: a very short introduction (2010) to define the art movement of Romanticism and Kathrin Fllers And Its All There- Intertextual Structures, Themes and Characters in Stephenie Meyers Twilight Series (2011) to examine how far the cultural change of society has impacted on the view of vampires. The assignment will begin by defining the point in history that vampire popularity kicked off, it will then go on to examine how vampirism came to be so popular in this time as well as considering past cultural and art movements that may have impacted on the change. A more contemporary change in vampire perception will then be regarded, finally leading on to how vampires have become to be postmodern in our culture. To conclude, the assignment will strive to show just how much impact society and culture has on the receiving of the vampire myth and as such why this has made them cultural shape shifters.

Key Ideas
On the topic of Dracula and its blend with culture. Dracula is a pure product of its time, a perfectly adapted series. The traits of its principal characters almost constitute a caricature of Victorian ideals In this respect, Dracula is a book which reinforces Victorian values. But values change while writings, once published, do not. All through the twentieth century, new interpretations of Dracula have appeared in literature and on screen. (Davison: 1997) What defines the idea of Romanticism. Romanticism was a European cultural movementwhich found in a symbolic and internalized romance plot a vehicle for exploring ones self and its relationship to others and to nature detranscendentalized religion by taking God or the divine as inherent in nature or in soul and replaced theological doctrine with metaphor and feeling and which rebelled against the established canons of neoclassical aesthetics and against both aristocratic and bourgeois social and political norms in favor of values more individual, inward, and emotional. (Ferber:2010) Classicisms effects on perception. There is classicism when a society has taken on a relatively stable form and when it has been permeated with the myth of its perpetuity, that is, when it confounds the present with the eternal and historicity with traditionalism, when the hierarchy of classes is such that the virtual public never exceeds the real public when the power of the religious and political ideology is so strong and the prohibitions so rigorous that in no case is there any question of discovering new countries of the mind, but only of putting into shape the commonplaces adopted by the elite. (Sartre:1988) Twilight and the postmodern vampire Meyer positions her series in the tradition and progression of contemporary vampire fiction by adopting a perspective that does not regard the vampire as a mere outsider to what is familiar and known. She also aspires to modernize the concept of the other perspective by bestowing a voice to a human girl who feels not associated with other humans but would rather become a vampire herself. With the help of Bella Swans narrative voice the world is still seen through human eyes but is close enough to the other to achieve a perspective that presents the unknown as uniquely sympathetic. (Fller:2011)

Key Ideas continued

Societys socially accepted and more humane vampire. As in other vampire fiction like Laurell K. Hamiltons Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, vampires and other supernatural creatures coexist as part of human culture in Harriss novels. But in the Southern Vampire Mysteries, this is a new development. No longer lurking in the shadows, vampires in Harriss novels have come out of the coffin, have declared themselves in the world and have become a legally recognized minority. By understanding vampires in the way contemporary culture understands racial or physical different, Harris has reenvisioned the place and nature of vampires in her fictional world, placing them in social terms rather than in theological terms. (Clements: 2011) Romanticisms Byronic Hero affect on contemporary society and its media of vampires. Angel has the Byronic look and demeanor par excellence He is beset by melancholy, guilt, and what the other characters tend to refer to as brooding. Angel has not only superhuman abilities to fight injustice but also the angst and long-suffering of Rices vampires Louis and Lestat, as well as Gaimans Dream. He also has the Byronic isolation of being an anomaly, a vampire with a soul, unable to fit into the human or vampire worlds. The restoration of his soul occurred as a result of a gypsy curse, which left him doomed to feel guilt and anguish and remorse over the crimes he committed as a vampire. He works towards his own redemption by fighting evil, but at the same time he has to combat his own dark side, which lies precariously close to the surface. (Stein:2009)

Cultural Context
The vampire is a mythological/ folklore being which exists through the feeding on living creatures normally through consuming their blood. It is unknown how far back the mythology of the vampire goes but it was during the 18th century that the vampire began to be popularised with superstitions such as those in Transylvania. This lead to the vampire being seen as a threat and similarly to the witch trails people being accused of vampirism. The 19th century lead to an influx of vampire literature where John Polidoris The Vampyre (1819) started off the tradition of the sophisticated vampire appearance. It is however, Bram Stokers Dracula (1897) which is the foundation and inspiration for modern vampire works even leading to the vampires genre of its own. Since then the vampire genre has grown and grown taking adapted and new stances on the archetypal vampire figure Stoker had created.

Key Figures
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Lord Byron (1788-1824)- British poet and an important character in the movement of Romanticism. He came up with the idea of the Byronic Hero Bram Stoker (1847-1912)- Most well known for his novel 1897 gothic novel Dracula which ignited a worldwide fantasy in the form of the vampire and is still impacting on the myth of the vampire today. Stephenie Meyer (1973-present)- Creator of the Twilight Saga which has brought the mythological being of the vampire into contemporary society.

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Hammer films (1934-present)- Known for its series of Gothic Horror films between the 1950s-70s which were highly successful due to the cultural society they were produced under.

Historical Examples of Vampirism

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Cain and Abel. The biblical tale following two brothers in which Cain is viewed as sinful when he commits the first murder and is then rejected by God.

Vlad the Impaler. Ruler of Wallachia, known for his efforts against the Ottoman Empire and for impaling enemies of which he has tens of thousands of victims.

Dracula. The archetypal basis for the vampire. Inspired by the historical figure Vlad the Impaler.

Contemporary Examples of Vampirism

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer. War against vampires, countertype of traditional human vs. vampire.

True Blood (The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries). Co existence of humans and vampires in harmony yet traditionalist view on vampires.

Twilight. Teen romance with a twist, vampires are more humane yet still unwanted.

Conclusion
Victorian society was the main thing that shaped and constructed Stokers Dracula. If it hadnt been constructed in this way, not received as well. Cain and Abel- Biblical times, moral of tale. The way the tale is fits with the times therefore, this idea of vampirism is fitting. True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse- political, racial dilemmas in current time make it suitable. Postmodernism today- We seek to reinvent things, we are after what is no longer available or what seems too difficult. The vampire has come to embody us throughout time. They are undead /immortal and have to change to fit their new homes, they shift to fit in now they are more human than ever because the idea of humanity is at its strongest.

Bibliography
Clements, Susannah. (2011) The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero. U.S.A. Brazos Press. (Accessed 19/03/2012) Davison, Carol Margaret. (1997) Bram Stokers Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 18971997. Canada. Dundurn Press Ltd. (Accessed 19/03/2012) Fller, Kathrin. (2011) And Its All There- Intertextual Structures, Themes and Characters in Stephenie Meyers Twilight Series. Germany. GRIN Verlag. (Accessed 19/03/2012) Ferber, Michael. (2010) Romanticism: a very short introduction. U.K. Oxford University Press. (Accessed 19/03/2012) Sartre, Jean-Paul. (1988) What is literature? and other essays. U.S.A. Harvard University Press. (Accessed 19/03/2012) Stein, Atara. (2009) The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television. U.S.A. SIU Press. (Accessed 19/03/2012)

Illustrations List

Figure 1. Adaptation of Dracula (1992) [Online image]. At: http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/15900000/Draculadracula-15999855-962-1331.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 2. Painting of Lord Byron [Online image]. At: http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/getty/2/5/2634125.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 3. Author Bram Stoker [Online image]. At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bram_Stoker_1906.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 4. Writer Stephenie Meyer [Online image]. At: http://prenerk.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/stephaniemeyer.jpg?w=497 (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 5. Hammer Films Logo [Online image]. At: http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/imagecache/feature_img/promos/logo2006c.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 6. Painting of Tale of Cane and Abel[Online image]. At: http://ericcsmith.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/cain-andabel.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 7.Painting of Vlad the Impaler. [Online image]. At: http://www.allartclassic.com/img/Vlad-the-Impaler_LLD050.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 8. First cover edition of Dracula (1819). [Online image]. At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dracula1st.jpeg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Poster (1997). [Online image]. At: http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Poster-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-46857_298_425.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 10. HBOs True Blood Poster (2008). [Online image]. At: http://movieopinion.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/trueblood.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012) Figure 11. Stephenie Meyers Twilight Book Cover (2005). [Online image]. At: http://cdn2.team-twilight.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/04/Twilight-cover.jpg (Accessed 19/03/2012)