Ok so I have a confession. It’s something I have had to recently come to terms with. Here it goes: I am OBSESSED with vampires. After I first realized this I honestly had no idea why. But what makes me feel better is that apparently a lot of people feel the same way, even if they don’t know it. There has been no shortage of vampire movies/TV shows/books over the past couple of years. But contrary to what some of you may believe this trend most definitely did not start with Edward Cullen’s sullen glares and extremely unwashed hair. We have been enamored by the supernatural for a long time before we were graced with Kristen Stewart’s emotionless face. But we have also come a long way from Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula and Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. Our generation understands and interprets the vampire very differently. It’s as if we’re being compelled to love them. Where’s the vervain (a vampire’s kryptonite) when we need it? Here are the reasons that we love vampire shows/movies and the best one’s reflecting these themes in the 21st century. Starting as far back as The Little Vampire all the way to Vampire Academy, which just came out in theaters on Friday.
The outsider is accepted:
I think that this is predominantly what makes us all love vampires despite the fact that they want to suck our blood and you know maybe also kill us. We keep giving them a chance time and time again to prove that they can be better. And sometimes they rise up to this occasion and sometimes they don’t. Sounds a lot like all of humankind… doesn’t it?
Everlasting Love:
This is a big reason we can’t get enough of the vampires. Because with vampires we get the ability to live forever and with the ability to live forever we get everlasting love. Maybe I’m being a little mushy because Valentine’s Day is coming up but come on, what is better than the idea of having someone who can and will love you until the end of time? “If you wanna be with someone forever, you have to live forever” (The Vampire Diaries).
Empowerment:
This is shown so much in vampire shows. People who didn’t have power in their lives, by becoming vampires are able to take control of their lives and have the upper hand. This power is very seductive. The idea of gaining power by magically becoming a vampire entices many people.
· Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003): This iconic show brought in the turn of the century. This show literally paved the way for every vampire show/book/movie that came after it. This show is richly complex and insists from the beginning that vampires are inherently bad. However, this notion is challenged throughout the series and we are left wondering just how different vampires are from us. Do they have the capacity to be good, to love? This show made us wonder if it is wrong for us to judge someone simply based on this (or any other) label. Buffy also uses the theme of empowerment throughout the series. Buffy proves that women can be just as powerful as men and use their empowerment for the greater good, if not the fate of the entire universe. And Buffy’s complicated and heartbreaking relationship with the gorgeous Angel didn’t hurt the show either…
· The Little Vampire (2000): We were in love with this movie because our hearts were warmed by the unconditional acceptance of a vampire family by a little boy who knew nothing about vampires. He fits in with them because he was an outcast in his society and so were the vampires. They came to respect one another and form a bond despite their differences and the evil vampire hunter trying to kill their entire family. Now isn’t that heartwarming?
· Twilight (2008-2012): This is often seen by our generation as what started it all. But fun fact: The Vampire Diaries was out as a book series wayyyyy before Stephanie Meyer even had the idea for twilight. Not gonna lie, I used to be a diehard Twilight fan (twihard?). But with age comes wisdom and I realized there are much better vampire tales out there, ones that aren’t so extremely sexist. But to be fair I will concede that this series thrust vampires into the spotlight making other (better) vampire related things better known and the public more willing to embrace them. And ok, I will admit Jacob was pretty hot. We loved vampires in this because we love the idea that someone so dangerous could make us feel so safe, and that love (no matter how messed up) can last forever.
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· True Blood (2008-now): This is just one of HBO’s many masterpieces. For those of you who don’t watch (what have you been doing with you life?), True Blood is set sometime in the near future in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Vampires have just “come out of the coffin” and the invention of synthetic blood (True Blood) makes it unnecessary for vamps to feed on humans anymore. In this show Vampires aren’t fully accepted by everyone in their community, they are even hated and feared by most. But they are also portrayed as a group of “people” that just want equal rights. And the audience is left wondering throughout the show if vampires actually deserve to be fully integrated into society, or if they are inherently evil. But some acts by humans as this show can be seen as just as evil if not more evil than what the vampires do.
· The Vampire Diaries (2009-now): Ok so I’m a little biased but The Vampire diaries is amazinggg. I love it mostly because of Damon Salvatore. But if we dig a little deeper we realize that we love Damon and this show because without us realizing it, this show forces us to root for the underdog. Even though Damon did and continues to do terrible things (most of us) want him to get Elena and for him to be happy despite ourselves. Maybe we do this because of our innate desire to see the good in people, or maybe it’s just because of that puppy dog face and heart stopping lopsided smirk.
· Vampire Academy (2014): I haven’t seen this yet, but I looked it up and it got pretty bad reviews. I think this is because it doesn’t really focus on any of the themes that entice us into loving vampires. It instead focuses on petty high school drama and played out stereotypes, which we can all agree we are so over. Nothing like a played out theme to make a vampire movie suck. But the release of this movie shows that we are still just as interested in vampires as ever.
And last but not least: Let’s be honest, they are simply gorgeous.
All of these themes draw us into the mysterious, bloody, and sometimes (literally) heartwrenching world of vampires, but I think this is the real reason we can’t get enough of them. Has there ever been even one ugly vampire yet in The Vampire Diaries? Idts. I’m pretty sure they have all been absolutely beautiful. Here’s some proof if you don’t believe me.
Oh, was that just Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore) with a puppy? My bad. I mean YOU’RE WELCOME.