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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Vetericus
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Vampires!

Post by Vetericus »

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!
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Post by Neoplato »

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!
Well, I for one do not side with the vampires. Souless undead manifestations that consume innocent life without regard. The romanticism of vampires just doesn't do it for me.
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Post by creekmary »

I will have to watch that movie. The younger women here are all hot for the star.

Bela Legosi was supposed to be hot in his day too as Dracula. I think it is something akin to the "bad boy" attraction, only multiplied.

There is power outside of authority....sexual attractiveness....surrender? No telling what kind of attraction. I know the books are supposed to be popular also.

Personally, I have trouble with a raw steak, much less buckets of blood.

Susan

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Post by lancimouspitt »

When I saw the first Twilight movie,to me it seemed like your classic example of why the good girl likes the bad boy. Only the bad boy was amplified with the vampire mytho's behind him.

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Post by creekmary »

I think it might have something to do with that, "bad boy" amplified. There's sexuality in there somewhere too, betcha.

Susan

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Post by Cindy B. »

No doubt there are other conversations on the board as well, but I just recalled this thread from a few months ago on vampires: http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic. ... re&start=0

This post by Clemsy is particularly interesting, I think: http://www.jcf.org/new/forum/viewtopic. ... 3648#53648

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

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Post by Andreas »

Thanks for for the reminder Cindy. The article that Clemsy posted is indeed an amazing read. Just to quote something I like.
Despite our obsessive harnessing of information, we are still ultimately vulnerable to our fates and our nightmares. We enthrone the deadly virus in the very same way that “Dracula” allowed the British public to believe in monsters: through science. Science becomes the modern man’s superstition. It allows him to experience fear and awe again, and to believe in the things he cannot see.

And through awe, we once again regain spiritual humility.
Campbell said somewhere something similar. I think it was in POM something along the lines "fear and aspiration is what glues a society together". Awe is definitely the key.
“To live is enough.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

Vetericus
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Post by Vetericus »

I think the concept of immortality plays a big part in the attraction with vampires. With the lacking belief in the “vengeful old man”, the outlook on our presence within the realm of eternity being extended in this way is giving something for the kids to grasp on to. Oblivion or eternal life no matter what form that may be. The symbol for eternal life in this myth is the vampire, or bite of the vampire. The vampire itself being the murderer of the vessel but in turn gives eternal consciousness in this realm of time/space to his victim. Once you have been “turned”, you too now have the…let’s call it “god power” to grant eternal consciousness within this existence.

It could be a fear of the unknown beyond the death of the vessel as a mere mortal. In this myth, the vessel dies yet the conscience remains. You die a mortal death…who’s to say. Maybe the message is simply that even after death, there can be life of some sort. Another interesting thing is that the transition from death to life in this myth is shown in graphic detail on the silver screen. That is the wonder of movies. They talk and show emotion…they can even explain the myth in great detail. It’s harder to get away with miracles these days with the existence of live recording devices. “So…you say you parted the red sea eh, now do it again on Camera”! The sad thing is if you did actually film some great event, it could easily be written off as video editing. I guess miracles are for the eyes of the beholder.
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Post by tbeusse »

Vampires embody the concept of fearlessness. They do not fear anything: death, hunger, mutilation, they are immortal and immune. Yet with all their power, they are vulnerable to some very mundane things.

In the old stories, this was intended to convey a classic trope of human experience; even the most overwhelming and terrifying of obstacles has a simple solution. Pierce the eye of a cyclops, stab a vampire in the heart, cauterize the hydra's head so it can't grow back, etc.

The subtext of power mixed with the illusion of vulnerability is supremely attractive to the opposite sex. The "bad boy" character and the "warrior princess" character are two of the most sexually charged archetypes in storytelling.

The fact that they cast supermodels to play them doesn't hurt, either.

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Post by Anteros »

I think we are always subconsciously drawn to symbols that are active in our lives. Our psyche wants to be close to anything that utters or represents its trauma or plight. It wants to give form to it; hence myths, for me, are in some way representative of that.

One could make the argument that the whole economic paradigm today is built on a vampiric system. More and more, we are all affected by it and forced to play into it. The vampire lurks in the shadows just as we hide behind "freedom", "justice", "democracy", etc. But in the darkness, we partake in something quite sinister. We are enslaved by our need to kill, to corrupt, to justify and to rule. We feed on the innocent and the poor in secret to sustain the powerful and the rich.

A gloomy vision I know... but it is quite dreary outside.
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Post by Neoplato »

A gloomy vision I know... but it is quite dreary outside.
It always is.
Infinite moment, grants freedom of winter death, allows life to dawn.

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Post by Ercan2121 »

Life in death and death in life!
Blood as metaphor with other thriling
details and taboos. That's my answer
to initial question. Thanks.

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Post by Matt_McCovann »

Great post.... I've secretly been having fun watching the "Vampire Diaries" series and wondering myself what it is that's so attractive about the subject of vampires...

:idea: I can see that there are many aspects of life that we are attracted to because it reminds us (in some odd way) of our true nature...

Now, the matter of vampires is a bit twisted because they're blood-suckers!! HOWEVER, there's a part of ourselves that is [a] eternal (like vampires), and [b] powerful/strong (like vampires) and [c] mystical (like vampires)....

And even the part of vampires that is considered "wrong"/"bad"/"evil" (the blood-sucking bit) could be seen as a reminder that everyone has their own perspective (their own version of right and wrong), and that everyone also has the choice to live a certain way, no matter what the circumstances are.

Seeing people die can often remind us of the transience of this life, which is a good thing -- so we remember to let go of the past and future and instead just live each present moment more fully.

Also, there's a part of us that, seeing the violence and death creates a "contrast" against our life -- reminding us that our own lives are (for the most part) rather happy and peaceful.
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Post by Neoplato »

and [c] mystical (like vampires).... -Matt
MYSTICAL VAMPIRES? :shock:

Uh....No, I think not. :x
and that everyone also has the choice to live a certain way, no matter what the circumstances are.
Does that include the sensless killing of others because they are not like "us"? :shock:
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Post by Matt_McCovann »

Neoplato wrote:
and [c] mystical (like vampires).... -Matt
MYSTICAL VAMPIRES? :shock:

Uh....No, I think not. :x
and that everyone also has the choice to live a certain way, no matter what the circumstances are.
Does that include the sensless killing of others because they are not like "us"? :shock:
Umm.... I think you might be taking this a little too seriously perhaps? I'm just inferring that there are aspects that remind us of our true nature... including our "deathless" self and our free will... it's all pretty light-hearted and certainly not a discussion of morals.
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