Vampires. Just the mere mention of the word these days has the power to send the masses into a rampant mania. With the recent explosion of the Twilight franchise on pop culture, there’s no denying that such media has spawned a new generation of hyper-fanatical blood-sucking fans, with countless vampire books, shows and movies to boot.
With such hysteria overpowering our culture, it may seem hopeless for anyone to make sense of this bloody good phenomenon. Luckily, Ohio University has its own vampire historian in the midst, and she’s ready to explain the vampire craze.
Amanda Hobson, a residential coordinator for the Atkinson Complex on South Green, has been studying vampires since the young age of 15. A former undergraduate and graduate student of OU, Hobson has given numerous presentations on her research both on campus and nationally at conferences for the Pop Culture Association, American Historical Association and Columbus Ballet Met. She is even working on writing a book, which she hopes will be published in 2012, under the working title of “Romancing the Vampire.”
Hobson originally became attracted to the study of vampire history for its power to deal with the taboo issues most people choose to ignore.
“I began to realize that they [vampires] were really good vehicles to talk about things that we don’t really talk about like fear, death, sex, sexuality and gender issues,” Hobson said. “They became a really interesting lens to look at stuff and take a different perspective on it.”
Indeed, the entertainment industry today has begun to portray vampires using more controversial story plots and characters. Just watch one episode of the HBO staple True Blood, which follows a mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse in her dealings with vampires in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, and you’ll see such themes arise, including homosexuality, brutal violence and death and graphic love scenes galore.
For Hobson, this new image of vampires in the media has become acceptable because we learn to separate the monster from ourselves.
“Most of us see [vampires] as fantasy,” Hobson said. “They’re just one step away from us in a way that we can still see those images and see ourselves within them but say, ‘Oh, it’s not us.’”
The real question remains though of why vampires have become so popular as of late in our society. Vampire stories have always been a major part of our culture, but now, more than ever, they have hit the mainstream in a huge way. Hobson’s research argues that the vampire craze comes in waves from distressing moments in history.
“If you follow the patterns, where you see vampires the most prominent at each point in history, there’s some traumatic thing that’s happening as a culture,” Hobson said.
Take the popularity of the vampire from the 1950s to the 1960s as example. At this time, the famous Hammer horror films, such as Draculaand the film’s numerous sequels made well into the ‘70s, were quite prominent during a time when the Cold War was raging between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Look next to the early 1980s when AIDS emerges as the world’s next great urgency. Only 10 years after this discovery would vampires again be an even greater force in the media, with blockbuster movies like Interview with the Vampire andBladetaking hold of the masses in the early 1990sin turn withthecult show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
So what world problem of today is bringing on the vampire phenomenon? Hobson believes the issue at hand to be terrorism post 9/11, which may explain why the vampire hysteria has grown so violently in recent years.
“I think that we became far more afraid of the terrorist next door, and the vampire is a very good analogy for that,” Hobson said. “This turn towards the sort of cuddly vampire I think is about that need to feel safe.”
Despite the origins of the recent vampire mania, there’s no denying the power it holds for millions of fans across the country, especially women. Women seem to identify more strongly with the vampire movement, an aspect that might be related to the portrayal of various types of female characters through vampire books, shows and movies.
There’s Bella Swan, the Twilightheroine willing to give up her human life to be with her vampire soul mate forever. We also have Sookie, who’s determined to fight any creature for herself despite being heavily sexualized and subjected to violence by the males around her. Buffy, though, stands supreme as the ultimate superhero whose robust confidence and fighting ability pays homage to the image of a strong female fighter.
It’s clear that vampire heroines today cover a wide spectrum of ideals, from the stereotypical weak female to the strong, confident woman anyone could look up to. But can the poor characterization of female characters in vampire culture hurt how women are viewed in modern day society?
Hobson doesn’t believe such portrayal of women through vampire media is a problem. It’s just a matter of offering more of a variety of characters to admire.
“I think having that representation of womanhood out there, all of them, is great,” Hobson said. “My concern is that we’re not offering young women alternatives.”
With the height of vampire hysteria what it is today, there’s no telling what new depths the monsters will reach in our society in the future. While Hobson hopes to see the mass proliferation of vampires in our culture continue, even she admits she’s expecting to see vampire admiration drop in the years to come.
“I foresee sometime in the near future maybe for it [vampire craze] to die out a bit,” Hobson said. “Cycles have to end, and the tide has to go out at some point.” Sorry Edward Cullen. Looks like your sparkle can’t outshine this expert.