Classic Vampirism and Recent Changes Essay -- Mythology

CLASSIC VAMPIRISM AND RECENT CHANGESChange often occurs due to the truthful nature of time. What once stood as a finite and steadfast explanation will shift and evolve. Genres bleed into one another and mix mythologies. The kingdom of the supernatural in literature does not lie outside this trend. Wizards no longer call themselves Merlin and spend their days under the financial backing of a heroic king the average wizard now goes by common names like Harry or Ron and attends school, saving the institution on the side. Cyclops presently means a man with laser eyes who wears leather and fights crime, not a one-eyed island beast. Vampirism does not endure such change. No longer can one consistently nonplus a vampire to be the bloodthirsty life-sucking demon of a story. upstart popular fiction humanizes vampires, embodies them with the common individual struggles of humans, and twists the vampire ethos to suit such reformation. This trend exists outside of works traditionally cl assified as lamia Literature and spans the breadth of fiction. Samples from across the spectrum of vampires in literature, Stephenie Meyers popular teenage romance series Twilight and Christopher Moores absurd humor novels epenthetic Fiends and You Suck, demonstrate the common humanized portrayal of vampires and its effects. To understand the evolved nature and image of vampirism in recent popular fiction, one must first know of the foregoing representations and assumed standards. Vampires, and all monsters for that matter, typically exist to represent one of the superlative fears of humankind fear of the unknown. Vampires embody this through many facets, namely shoemakers last and the dark world of the night. Rosemary Ellen Guilley, Ph. D. and vampire scholar, succinctly summarizes th... ...ated with their kind. They technically go down from deceased humans and thereby have no body lovingness or need to eat, breathe, or go to the bathroom. As soon as the sun peaks over the horizon, Moores vampires automatically collapse and enter the slumber of the dead and survive only by drinking blood (Fiends 28). The vampires too possess heightened senses and immense strength, capable of completing impossible feats such as running up the side of a building and hearing the heartbeats of those somewhat them (Fiends 24). Unable to be harmed by traditional means, Moores creatures experience small-scale pain and heal at a rapid rate. The vampires possess the cleverness to shape shift from human form into mist. Moore bestows his vampires with the unique ability to test the auras of the humans around them. Healthy humans radiate a quick-witted pink glow the sickly emit a dim colour light.