The World is a Vampire

So… as I like to tell it, I decided to write a vampire novel last year. It’s not a genre that I ever thought would hold appeal for me, much less attract my commitment of mind and discipline… and let’s admit it, a little bit of soul. I mean, yeah, I had that Stephen King phase in 8th grade. But I outgrew it when my sensitive imagination couldn’t deal with the gore or heartless monstrosity. I did lose myself in Anne Rice for… a month or two. And the Coppola film… well, mostly that I liked because of the soundtrack and cinematography. I didn’t dislike vampires. But it certainly wasn’t… well, you know me, Shakespeare.

Or so I thought. Maybe this is one of those moments when the sheep is following the worn path. Only I got on it and decided instead to be like one of the sheep that startled my sister and me in Ireland when they went off on their own and defied gravity by grazing on a cliff. Except… I need to go back to that herd. Because, I want them to follow me.

So, I’m trying to understand this herd a little bit. Not that it is completely possible. I mean, understanding the reason behind pop trends… well, that’s as easy for me as determining the reason behind Scott Brown. There is not just one specific reason or motivation. We all have our hurt, our joy, our fear, our ecstasy. And we see this thing that is front and center because everyone else is looking at it and decide that it will soothe our pain and delight our fancy.

But… vampires? Why… why now?

Well, really, the more I read and delve into observations of the market, this isn’t just a sudden trend. They never really went underground. There has always been some supernatural bloodsucker in the mainstream. Only something about the sparkly ones makes them seem so much more… conversational.

I’m not going to write a dissertation on my observations. Except for one. I did read somewhere … and wish I could find the article to quote it… a theory about the parallels between current society and where the world was at in the day of Bram Stoker. Course, the thing I’ve learned about history is that you can draw a parallel to any point in the past to your current decade. It just depends what lens you look through. The lens here is economic. The late 19th century had some pretty ugly financial woes. Our short term memory doesn’t often go beyond the GREAT depression. But, you know, it’s called great because it wasn’t the only one. We just … forget. Anyway, this is about vampires. Not economics. Sorta.

I do think it is curious that Dracula’s myth gained such popularity against the backdrop of monetary crisis. Was it subconscious? Or was it a way to personify the beast of struggle? Of heartless corporate giants? Of the rape of the helpless victims? The book is a lot different from the movies. Dracula is an ugly beast. Even in his human form, he isn’t… he isn’t Bela Lugosi or Gary Oldman. The vampire is not sexy or seductive in any way.

But… over the course of the last century, we have made this bloodsucker – be it Dracula or Lestat or the sparkly set – more… appealing. More human. More emotional. Definitely more sexy. And the heroes of our stories don’t always want to kill the monster. They want to sleep with the monster… or worse yet, they want to become one.

Search this topic and you will encounter thousands of theories about why this is. From eternal youth to power over disease to straight women who get to have the gay man to a distortion of Christ’s resurrection to … well, some of them are just sick and twisted. Everyone has a theory. Everyone has a reason. But… in light of my recent political rants and the Supreme Court decision this week… I’m mulling over the economic theory.

Why have we stopped trying to kill the monster?

Anyway… back to my coffee and my edits. I’ll let Meg work this one out in her thesis. ;)