Morgan BellVampires mirror fears about sexuality
March 20th 2008 13:58
The vampire in film history directly represents society's fears about sexuality. The vampire is characterized as the deviant who thrives on close personal contact and the exchanging of bodily fluids. The vampire is the predator who corrupts innocents, luring and seducing victims, once bitten they are infected and become vampires themselves. This mirrors the idea of sexually active people in the real world coercing the virgin into engaging in sex and becoming part of the deviant or undesirable section of society.
In the 1920s German expressionist silent film "Nosferatu" (which was an unauthorized adaptation on Bram Stokers novel Dracula) presented us with our first film vampire Count Orlock. This film portrays the vampire as a grotesque outsider who is feared by the townsfolk and whose dirty practices lead to the spreading of disease (the plague). Orlock's freakish night-time escapades cause rumours in the community and he is ostracized. This is much the same way that promiscuous, adulterous, homosexual or otherwise sexually immoral people were considered in a time of ignorance and supersticion.
In the 1930s Bela Lugosi starred as a comical Count Dracula in the official US film adaptation of the Stoker novel simply titled "Dracula". The film-makers utilized a non-english-speaking star as his accent was considered frightening and eerie to audiences at the time. This took advantage of the common fear of the sexuality of foreigners and the common mistrust of people with ways different to our own. Lugosi's slow speaking did make him appear corpse-like also mimics the conduct of an alcoholic or someone with a mental disability, people with challenges that were misunderstood.
In the 1950s Christopher Lee starred as Count Dracula in the UK film version of "Dracula". Lee plays Dracula like a gentleman, stiff and brutal, an eccentric from the upper-class, a man with two different personalities. Culturally the times were changing in the west post-war and this film marks a shift in trust of authorities, wealth and power. Dracula looks more like a regular handsome white man but with motivations that are suspicious rather than solely outward appearances.
In the 1990s films like Buffy The Vampire Slayer portrayed vampires more like drug-addicts, they are driven to recruit and feed but they are more of a marginalized pack of pests than a solitary outsider. Culturally this is post-sexual revolution and women's-lib and the implications of STDs are beginning to permeate the social psyche. In Buffy the vampires are useless lowlifes and criminals who have gotten caught up in the wrong crowd led by Rutger Hauer's Lothos and the hero is a sexually empowered and outgoing young woman. The film-makers reflect ideas from safe sex marketing campaigns by telling us: you can have fun, just make it the right kind of clean fun.
An alternate take on the modern vampire is the direct and specific link to homosexuality as seen with Tom Cruise's Lestat in "Interview With a Vampire" or Stephen Dorf's Deacon Frost in "Blade". These vampires look and act stereotypically gay. In society at this time homosexuals are viewed as sexual deviants and there is a misconception that the queer community "recruits" as there became increased queer visibility and pride and more gay men coming out of the closet. They also look sick, reminiscent of the prominent media images we saw of gay men suffering from AIDS (the modern day plague) in the 90s.
For nearly a century film-makers have recognized that vampires epitomize "the outsider" and have allowed their vampires to encompass taboo traits in order to most frighten their audiences. As social values have progressed the vampire has morphed from being an inhuman monster to the being an attractive but unconventional person we can relate to, more kinky than depraved.
It is ironic that the vampire, the character supposedly unable to have their reflection seen in a mirror, has been such an important tool for film-makers in mirroring the change of values and fears in our society.
In the 1930s Bela Lugosi starred as a comical Count Dracula in the official US film adaptation of the Stoker novel simply titled "Dracula". The film-makers utilized a non-english-speaking star as his accent was considered frightening and eerie to audiences at the time. This took advantage of the common fear of the sexuality of foreigners and the common mistrust of people with ways different to our own. Lugosi's slow speaking did make him appear corpse-like also mimics the conduct of an alcoholic or someone with a mental disability, people with challenges that were misunderstood.
In the 1990s films like Buffy The Vampire Slayer portrayed vampires more like drug-addicts, they are driven to recruit and feed but they are more of a marginalized pack of pests than a solitary outsider. Culturally this is post-sexual revolution and women's-lib and the implications of STDs are beginning to permeate the social psyche. In Buffy the vampires are useless lowlifes and criminals who have gotten caught up in the wrong crowd led by Rutger Hauer's Lothos and the hero is a sexually empowered and outgoing young woman. The film-makers reflect ideas from safe sex marketing campaigns by telling us: you can have fun, just make it the right kind of clean fun.
For nearly a century film-makers have recognized that vampires epitomize "the outsider" and have allowed their vampires to encompass taboo traits in order to most frighten their audiences. As social values have progressed the vampire has morphed from being an inhuman monster to the being an attractive but unconventional person we can relate to, more kinky than depraved.
It is ironic that the vampire, the character supposedly unable to have their reflection seen in a mirror, has been such an important tool for film-makers in mirroring the change of values and fears in our society.
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Twilight sounds good, vampires are interesting creatures!