1897 - Irish Bram Stoker published his masterpiece "Dracula." First of all, I never knew he was Irish. Thanks, Wikipedia. Anywho, this book single-handedly brought vampires to Western culture. Stoker had to go deep in Eastern Russia and Transylvania where he recorded all the superstitions surrounding these creatures: crosses, garlic, shape-shifting, blood-drinking, transformation, holy water, etc. The book is what I like to call "pure horror." The main characters live in terror of Dracula, a demonic force with powers seemingly impossible to curb except by Christian symbols such as holding a cross before him or splashing him with holy water. There is nothing forgivable about Dracula, he is 100% whole-wheat evil. At first glance, it's really hard to see how we could go from the green-faced, elf-eared demon Dracula to the sparkly, wild-haired Edward from the extremely popular "Twilight" series.
I think it all begins with the girls. Who doesn't love a little danger in a relationship? From just reading "Dracula," the danger is so extreme there's no way a woman could be attracted to the classic vampire. However, what with "Twilight" and the legendary vampire novelist Anne Rice (who recently hung up the stake and is now Catholic writer), the vampire has been redefined from a insatiable monster to a highly sexualized, restrained figure of immortality and adventure. These characteristics feed into an ancient desire for women. I found an article online:
“Women are attracted to the unknown. The man who is not normal — who needs our blood to survive. There is no deeper intimacy than that. Many women long for an extraordinary romance rather than the normal one they might have in their real lives,” she says.
Ok...this is where it gets disturbing. It seems to be this attraction is the same for a man who is violent and beats his girlfriends. Sure, that's dangerous, too, but society is horrified by this. Maybe if he was immortal, had fangs, and was buff that would make him forgivable. It sounds absurd. Because it is.
And THEN it encourages the boys to try to be like these quiet blood-thirsty creatures. They could kill you with one swipe, but they won't. Because they're RESTRAINED. Oh, goodie. Girls go nuts over what they can't have, apparently, so keep your sexual tensions tense and don't give into the call of the vammmmmmpire. Pathetic. I'm sorry. But it really is.
What happened to the classic love story? A prince with strong morals like honor, goodness and patience who would come and respect a girl, respect her family, and who could always be trusted to do the right thing? Apparently we've traded him in for this:
Images: Cartoon
Hugh Jackman in "Kate & Leopold"
Don Henri "The Emperor" - real modern vampire
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