Vampire Stories - Just a Passing Phase?

by Kevin
(CA)

Vampires are mythical characters that I had heard of only as a kid, and it inevitably frightened me. But that was till I started watching TV shows that talked of them as actual people with emotions.

Vampires are usually traced to Dracula, who, historians say, was nothing more than a cruel tyrant. But as legends grew to monolithic heights, so did the fear and belief in his existence.

Most vampires are pictured to have retractable teeth that grow to disproportionate lengths while feeding on their innocent prey. They have always been attributed with inhuman strength and agility which makes humans the inferior race.

Drinking blood not only adds to the longevity of their life but also gives them additional powers like the ability to control human actions. What is most disturbing, though, is their complete disconnect from emotions and attachment, historically.

With the ability to do acts that most cannot do without feeling remorse or guilt, they come dangerously close to their fabled “father”. What makes the vampires so appealing is the mysticism surrounding their existence, the procedure to be followed to become one and the ways and means to kill them.

The dark merger of strength and recklessness makes their stories reek with thoughts of living impulsively. Their characteristics have remained the same through the years, but what has changed is the way they were portrayed.

From savage beasts of the dark, they have metamorphosized into beings with emotions and the ability to feel love. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Twilight to Vampire Diaries: they are the heart-throb of the protagonist, and the inevitability of the romance adds to the spice of the drama. Actors such as Ian Sommerhalder who depict these new-age vampires in such fantasy stories, add to the appeal to most teenage girls world over.

The growing popularity of “vampire stories” is just a passing phase, a resurrection of the past glories of film-makers, a creation so far from the truth that reality will eventually overpower . Nevertheless, they have left their mark on Hollywood history. Not to be disheartened though, for the legend of the vampire will forever remain.