Deliah Pemberton
Professor Weaver
English 1500-06
04/30/2019
Vampires: The Everchanging Face of Fear and Desire
Vampires have been around since the 18th century in folklore, widely reported from Eastern Europe. These tales formed the basis if the vampire’s that later spread its way into Germany and England where it was subsequently embellished and popularized. Since then, it seems as though the world has not lost a brink of interest. In fact, as time goes on, both literature and media have made it a duty to consistently make changes to the characteristics of the vampire. The father of all vampires is count Dracula; he made his first appearance in the classic novel and play Dracula. The world has been obsessed since. We simply cannot get enough of the one thing that has not changed, the vampire’s unique combination of heart racing fear and heartwarming desire; which perfectly explains why, even though the character of a vampire has been through many alterations, their captivating structure has remained consistent. The most obvious change of them all is the physical appearance of the vampire.
Back in 1922, when the first vampire movie titled Nosferatu aired. The depiction of the first vampire was far different from what we are used to seeing today. The lead vampire in that German silent film had the looks of an unattractive, old, tall, skinny, pale, bushy-browed, pointy-eared, monster-like, man. Over the years their image has evolved into something a lot more approachable. The vampire we are familiar with today are a lot more attractive, young, moderately tall, built, well kept, and a whole lot more human-like This new, and improved version of the vampire makes it hard to resist their welcoming appearance; therefore feeding into the desire of this fear and desire combination. The creators of these vampire characters have taken it an extra step by not only reassessing the presentation of but also reassessing character traits.
Key characters from the novel and play, Dracula by Bram Stoker serves well in displaying how little human life mattered to the vampires back then. In a scene from the play, there was a bag, and from that bag was a noise that sounds like the cries of a baby. This bag was then thrown to the hungry ravage vampires. Displaying very little care for the well-being or preservation of human life. Whereas in today’s literature and media, vampires are much more considerate, caring and respectful to human life even if by nature they should not be. In the 2008 movie, Twilight, one of the leading characters Edward, who is a vampire, is taking his time to explain to the human girl he craves to be with, that he's no good. Essentially throwing himself under the bus in order to protect her from any dangers may come her way when she is around him. He later explains that his family practices only drinking the blood of animals instead of humans, yet again proving that the level of concern and respect has jumped very high from what it used to...
