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draculas perversion of christian ideals
christian perversion in dracula
christian perversion in dracula
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You’d have to be living under a rock not to have noticed the prevalence of vampires in today’s culture. One of the most popular television shows in recent years was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer;” Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles continue to be widely read; HBO is currently running a series about vampires called “True Blood;” Wesley Snipes starred in a trilogy of vampire films called Blade; and one of the most successful movies of late is “Twilight,” the story of teen mortals and teen vampires in love. How do we explain the seemingly endless fascination with the undead?
Obviously, clever marketing has a good deal to do with it, but I think there are deeper reasons as well. There is, in the spiritual order, a law analogous to the law of the conservation of energy, which I would express as follows: when the supernatural is suppressed, it necessarily finds expression in indirect and distorted form. What we have witnessed in the last fifty years or so is the attenuating, and in some circles, complete disappearance of the biblical worldview. I’ve complained in the past about a bland, bored secularism that simply sets aside questions of the spiritual, the supernatural, and the transcendent. And this widespread bracketing of the religious dimension is abetted by a consumerist culture that teaches us in a thousand ways that sensual pleasure and wealth are the keys to happiness. For the secularist mind, God is, at best, a distant, indifferent force; Jesus is a guru of self-affirmation; and eternal life is a childish fantasy.
But in accord with the above-mentioned law, the supernatural will not be denied. The instinct for God and for a world that transcends the realm of ordinary experience is hard-wired into us and thus our desire, thwarted...
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Anne Rice’s Catholicism brings to mind the Catholicism that played a central role in the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. Stoker, a nineteenth century Irishman, placed the vampire legend within the overarching biblical narrative of sin, grace, and redemption. In Stoker’s telling, Dracula had cursed God and hence fallen into a hellish state (which helps to explain his aversion to the crucifix). Professor Van Helsing, a scientist and a devout believer (yes, the two can co-exist!), brought the tortured vampire to salvation. Throughout the novel, Catholic themes abound: the Eucharist, the Mass, eternal life, etc. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was still possible to situate the vampire story within the far greater story of Christianity. What we witness today is a sad declension, whereby vampire tales are a bloodless substitute for robust Christianity.
Max Brooks explains in his article ‘’The Movies That Rose From The Grave’’ [2006], that zombies and the supernatural forces have impacted and have become popular in the world today. The first main idea that Brooks points out is the way society has changed the meaning and glimpse for the supernatural creatures like zombies causing them to become increasingly popular. To support this zombie movies have changed from darkness and mystery to violent and bloodier scenes therefore making them more prevailing. The second main idea that is discussed by Brooks is how the media has helped to increase the popularity of zombies, vampires, ghosts. Highlighted by the author particularity both ‘’resident evil,
J. Gordon Melton, in the excerpt “Sexuality and the Vampire” published in his The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead (1998), explains that vampires have a sexual appearance that started from their origin in Dracula. Melton supports his statement by analyzing the monsters' transition to sexual beings through the stories of Dracula’s desires, multiple countries’ erotic tales revolving around vampire-like beings, the manifestation of sensual themes in literary, stage, and screen works, and their current evolution of the once terrified immortals to loved heroes. The purpose of this essay was to outline the seductiveness of the written immortal creatures in order to explain the fanged-mammals’ appeal beyond their terrifying monster abilities.
Vampires have been a successful and popular form of superstition and entertainment for centuries. The vampire legend began in Eastern Europe, although many forms have existed in several cultures all over the world. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was the first
Klosterman, does in fact, attempt to respond to a counterargument, mentioning the vampire craze that was brought about from the Twilight franchise. However, instead of using it to consider other views, Klosterman uses it to dismiss any other perspective. He emphasizes that the reason why vampires are popular is completely different from the reason why zombies are popular. In his article, Klosterman says, “Vampire love can be singular. Zombie love, however, is always communal.” He mentions that it is possible for people to like vampires as individuals because they have the ability to be multidimensional characters. Zombies, on the other hand, do not possess the ability. Klosterman continues to say, “If you dig zombies, you dig the entire zombie concept,” and he does not even attempt to bother with finding any similarities between the
All fiction requires a reader to buy in to the world and characters that have been created, but sometimes stories can either be too unbelievable for the reader to relate to or they lean too much towards reality to be classified as fantasy. Karen Russell constructed a novel of exemplary short stories under the title Vampires In The Lemon Grove. Her stories are said to “vibrate with originality and life” with “imaginative reach and moral weight of works of much greater length.” The praise received for this collection of short stories is much deserved, and being her second novel after her award winning Swamplandia!, the author from Miami, Florida, has a bright future in short stories.
In a world with ghosts, monsters, demons, and ghouls, there is one being that resonates in everyone’s mind. The idea of these creatures can be found in almost every culture on the planet in one form or another. They prey on the weak and they feast on the blood of their victims. They are compared to a fox for being quick and cunning, but also rather seductive in their nature. With their unholy existence one can only describe them as almost demonic. So what is this horrid creature? Well it is none other than the vampire, a creature as old as time itself. Throughout history there have been many different variations of the vampire, each with their own unique abilities. But one cannot help but mention
Carmilla is an example of a woman who loves her food far too much. Carmilla is consumed entirely by her food, even sleeping in a coffin of blood: “The limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic; and the leaden coffin floated with blood, in which to a depth of seven inches, the body lay immersed” (Le Fanu 102). There exists a unique relationship between the vampire and their victims. Food becomes defined in terms of victimhood, distinctly separated from humanity’s general consumption of meat. The need for human victims makes hunting synonymous with courtship, as intense emotional connections are established between the vampiress and her food. As seen in the intense relationship developed between Laura and Carmilla, the vampire is “prone to be fascinated with an engrossing vehemence, resembling the passion of love, by particular persons” (105). For Carmilla, cruelty and love are inseparable (33). The taking of the victims’ blood for sustenance is a highly sexualized exchange of fluids from one body to another. The act of consumption is transformed into an illicit carnal exchange between the hunter and the hunted.
Vampires have been viewed with fear and fascination for centuries. Of all the vampires in literature, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is probably the most prominent vampire. Recently, there has been an upsurge of public interest in socially acceptable vampires, like the Cullens in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This essay will contrast Stoker’s Dracula with Carlisle Cullen, one of the newer vampires from the Twilight series. They will be examined in terms of their origins and how they dealt with immortality.
When the vampire came about the thought of the monsters themselves were terrifying, and to view one they were ghostly pale with dark sunken eyes, large nose similar to that of the stereotypical witch, pointed ears like an elf and dark hair usually dark brown if not black. The original folklore on vampires showed a terrifying creature that you would know if you would see it out and about during the night. Today’s films and novels want to present you with an attractive vampire, like dying and becoming an immortal being is something a human would want to do because they would become more attractive. But also in today’s depiction of the vampire they have no obvious tells that a person is a vampire until they get angry and the fangs elongate. The idea of the vampire has shifted so drastically over the course of time, from fear to an admiration of a creature that could kill you in seconds. In the popular culture of today, the vampire is something attractive that girls pine after and want to be since there are a multitude of romance novels printed today with the male leads being portrayed as a
The legend of the vampire has emerged countless times within human imagination over the past few centuries. The first available representation of the mythical creature in prose fiction can be found in John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1810). It was not until eight decades later that Bram Stoker popularized the existence of this figure with the publication of “Dracula” in 1897. The folklore of the vampire has come a long way since and can be found in today’s popular media more frequently than ever before. However, with due course of time, the representation of the creature has taken alternate routes and today’s vampires are noticeable different – socially and physically – from their predecessors. One effective path to trace this transformation is to compare arguably modern day’s most famous representation of the vampire, Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” with “Dracula”, the foundation from which a large number of modern works draw inspiration. Examining this comparison closely, one finds that a new socially acceptable, sexually abstinent and desirable creature is fast replacing the fearsome and sexually voracious monster, as depicted in early tales of the vampire.
Simply searching through articles, databases, and other resources, vampires are depicted as malicious and monstrous creatures. First off, the vampire is famous for its dark and mysterious image affiliated with fear and death. In many ways, “the vampire can be seen through its most basic characterization as the bringer of death”(Stevens par. 3) and evokes a “marginal world of darkness, secrecy, vulnerability, excess, and horror” (Stevens par. 6). Obviously, the vampire has adopted a dark, fearful, and mysterious image. Next, vampires are famous for their unique characteristics. Dictionary.com defines the vampire as “a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night”(dictionary.com). Vampires are also known for their distinct weakness suck as “various tailsmans and herbs”(Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia) but the only way to kill a vampire is “only by cremation or if a stake is driven through their hearts”(Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). Another distinct and commonly known characteristic of the vampire is their fear of the light as it could potentially kill them. Emotionally, the vampires are almost viewed as sex symbols as they “indulge in their desires ...
This piece of poetry was very intriguing to me. I’ve always been interested in vampires and other “fictional” monsters. My very first impression came from the first thing I read, the title. “The Metamorphoses of the Vampire” is a title that makes readers use the gears in their brains right away. I had to recall that metamorphoses, by definition, is a change completely in form or nature. Therefore, I assumed this was a story of someone turning into a vampire. I purely picked this poem based off of the title. It is hard to say if I like or dislike this piece. There are some parts that I yet do not understand. Hopefully, going in deeper will help me put this poem together.
Vampire films are gaining popularity in many countries. The majority of these vampire films portray one-dimensional love or horror stories. Unlike other vampire films, Let the Right One In is a complex film and novel that can be interpreted to reflect social problems in Sweden. The film and novel illustrates a divide between young people and adults in Swedish society. These different age groups are represented by different characters. The Swedish vampire, Eli, is not simply a monster, but she is a complex character with which the audience can sympathize as she appears to be a twelve year old girl. Although Eli is not a human child, Eli represents youth fighting against the dangers of Swedish society.
The author’s op-ed piece was published in 2009, the very peak of the vampire contagion, where one could find these creatures wherever they looked. This pandemonium that arose from vampires is what drove del Toro and Hogan to pen “Why Vampires Never Die.” Furthermore, the purpose behind this essay is to give an abridged description of the past of vampires for the people who had become fanatics of the creatures. Also, this essay showed how vampires have persisted in pop culture. They suggest that vampires have been remade by diverse cultures at different times, and this change echoes that society's angst and concerns. The novelist’s imply that Stroker’s Dracula may mirror an exaggerated human on a prim...
there is no longer either need or room for the supernatural. The earth was not created, it evolved” (Kautz, 2008).