Vampires!

Introducing people of all ages to mythology... in pre-college educational curricula, youth orgs, the media, etc. Share your knowledge, stories, unit and lesson plans, techniques, and more.

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Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Isn't that the definition of civilization? A system of control? And to what degree is civilization a reflection of the conflicts within us, of certain aspects of ourselves wanting control over other parts? It is organized or orderly neuroticism.
Only if we agree that's what it means, Anteros. It's a system of control for those catering to juvenile impulses. It can be a system of cooperation, and I, for one, believe that is worth striving for and is, indeed, what many are striving for.

As far as i'm concerned, it's the difference between hopeless cynicism and hopeful societal evolution based on the growth of the individual.
Individualism and spontaneous pluralism—the free association of men and women of like spirit, under protection of a secular, rational state with no pretensions to divinity—are in the modern world the only honest possibilities: each the creative center of authority for himself, in Cusanus's circle without circumference whose center is everywhere, and where each is the- focus of God's gaze. ~Joseph Campbell, Creative Mythology
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

nandu
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Re: Vampires!

Post by nandu »

Vetericus wrote:I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Why are our youth so interested in Vampires? Is this a modern day Myth? I can say it's not just the teenagers, but also adults as many of the novels these days are of a more mature/erotic nature. The story has been around a long time, but it seems to me that lately this has become quite the sensation.

Talk about the denial of death (on another forum), how about immortality through blood-sucking murder! When I was young, Vampires were very scary and you did NOT want to be one. Today, they are sexy and vibrant...heck, some can even withstand the sunlight! Sacrilege!

Where is the mythos in this? Or, "what" is the mythos in this. What do we know of Vampires? Why are they such a big hit with the kids? The abilities change depending on the author, but a few aspects remain the same from story to story:

The body is dead (but the “soul” remains?)
No sunlight
Live on the blood of others
Have no reflection
They can change into bats
They sleep in coffins

This would be a great conversation to have with a classroom of students. My teenage daughter went to see the Twilight movie and when she came back to tell me about it, she said “Dad, I wish you were a vampire so I could be one too”. I know a lot of it is fantasy, but geesh!
The vampire is an extremely sexual being. The drinking of blood is as erotic as copulation. Anne Rice has brought out this aspect of vampires very well.

Since the "original" star vampire was a male, I think females find the vampire more sexy than males... and there is always that "bad boy'thing.

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

Anteros
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Post by Anteros »

Clemsy wrote:
As far as i'm concerned, it's the difference between hopeless cynicism and hopeful societal evolution based on the growth of the individual.
Individualism and spontaneous pluralism—the free association of men and women of like spirit, under protection of a secular, rational state with no pretensions to divinity—are in the modern world the only honest possibilities: each the creative center of authority for himself, in Cusanus's circle without circumference whose center is everywhere, and where each is the- focus of God's gaze. ~Joseph Campbell, Creative Mythology
Maybe spontaneity is the key word here. It is beyond the reach of rational thinking or organization, which is control according to certain principles.

Weren't the 10 commandments the first (in the western tradition) attempt at a system of cooperation? And then we have the Jesus figure come along and try to realign the perception of people, to turn them inward but they would have none of it.

I like the idea of societal evolution but I haven't seen much evolving yet. Maybe I'm too cynical and short-sighted. The only way, in my opinion, that would work is for each individual to face his/her demons. Right now, we're being overshadowed (and sometimes enslaved) by others' demons.... which sort of ties into the whole vampire idea.
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Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Compare society today to that of the past. There is evolution, but you have to look at the larger picture. There are lots of examples today of how the individual is more valued...

I believe is the The Code of Hammurabi. predates the Ten Commandments. Probably lots more. The Old Testament comes from around the same period as the works of Homer. So you have Crete, Egypt, Sumer...

But we've come quite a long way since Hammurabi or Moses... even though there are still those, and probably always will be, who would have us go back.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

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