Twilight and the
By Tery Sawyers_
new-Vampire aesthetic_
T
rue to their namesake vampires have Wheadon’s tour de force Buffy: The This all leads us to now; vampires are
defied the laws of nature and yet Vampire Slayer positions vampirism as a again growing in popularity and we are
again risen from the proverbial dead. social problem and borrows a great deal presented with a new way of relating to
The irreligious group of miscreants are from 50s’ teen-movies. Vampires form and understanding these demons of the
once again dominating the book charts, gangs and thus provide a metaphor for night. Meyer’s vampires have retained
have orchestrated a coup on television juvenile delinquency, most of the vampires the teen relationship angle of Buffy and
and will shortly turn the nation’s cinemas are young with the odd older character the brooding neurosis of Interview With
into sites of vampiric worship. Like all there to lead them astray (Fagin with the Vampire. However, her novels are
genres or ‘big topics’ vampire popularity fangs!). If vampires represent wayward neither about teenage rebellion nor deep
comes in cycles - underpinned by a cult adolescents then the Watchers are the psychological motivations - her writing
audience of devout followers. With the voice of patriarchy. A council of, mostly, is primarily concerned with reasserting
power-house that is Stephanie Meyer’s men they are the authority that comes to Christian norms of sexual behaviour.
Twilight series film due out in December, call the vampires into check - the fact that Stoker shared a similar concern, having
it is again cool to admit a weakness they use a seductive female to achieve the Count ravage the sexually active
for vampy types whilst shopping in this I am sure has deep significance. Lucy early in Dracula.
River Island. However, the themes and
motifs at play in the latest incarnation of The show combines the religious rhetoric For Meyer the danger is not supernatural,
Dracula and co. are quite different from of Stoker and the analytical aspect of vampirism is shown to be viral, but rather
their progenitors and belies a worrying Rice. Thus Wheadon’s vampires are sexual. The first novel dedicates itself to
philosophical direction. drawn to evil, and easily fitted out for a will they/won’t they story arch where
that purpose, but have more depth than accenting to physical desire will result
The disparate tales and legends of simply being evil because they are. This in a desecration of physical sanctity, or
vampires were coalesced in the 19
th
is examined clumsily in the Angel story worse still, death. I agree that teens (the
century, consequently modern vampires line which dominates the second season primary audience) should be discouraged
are both continuations and subversions and more convincingly in the Spike story from becoming sexually active too young
of the Victorian mould. Lord Ruthven is line which concludes the final season. but I worry that these stories may give a
perhaps the first fully formed vampire in warped idea of the consequences of sex.
literature but it is Bram Stokers Dracula Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is a good Victoria, one of the ‘baddies’ is presented
that really captured peoples imagination. example of post-modernity in TV. The as a highly sexual character who moves
Developed at a time of social and show is inter-textual, self-reflexive and from partner to partner; and poor Rosalie
technological upheaval Count Dracula uses humour as a plot device. It combines becomes a vampire as a result of a horrific
is the antithesis of moral ‘goodness’. and subverts genre expectations with a rape, spiritually
He is a bold challenge to tradition, cavalier grace; primarily the heroine is damned as a
especially religious tradition. He rejects a blonde cheerleader who is sexually result of even
everything in pursuit of his own goal active. US genres conventions demand un-consensual
and can easily be read as a metaphor that she be killed off, instead she is the sex is too
for the consequences of the industrial central protagonist and even ‘recovers’ close to the an
revolution which provides backdrop for from death at least twice (Buffy fans can honour killing
the story. He is a moral challenge and let me know exactly how many times). for my taste.
one that all the trappings of modern life
(or rather Modern life) are incapable of
overcoming. Only by replacing scientific
certainty with religious uncertainty can
Dracula be defeated.
Fast-forward to the 1970s and Anne
Rice’s Interview With The Vampire (first
of a trilogy) has very different points to
make. In Stoker’s novel there is no clear
motivation outside of self-preservation.
Rice, however, is all about analysis.
Louis, a guilt-ridden vampire, tells his
story to a third party. The story telling is
often broken to offer Louis a chance to
elaborate and sometimes even change
his mind - it is clear, we are discussing
motivation. If Dracula provides the
archetype for how a vampire should be
outwardly, Louis lets us know what is
going on inside.

Essentially Rice’s work is an extended
foray into Nietzsche’s philosophy. Her
vampires are ‘super-men’ who are above
the petty laws and morals of mankind,
not as a result of satanic interference
but rather due to a ‘will to power’. Louis’
mentor, Lestat, scoffs frequently at
notions of good and evil, Rice’s vampires
exist ‘beyond good and evil’.
_www.scotcampus.com
_35_Substance
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