October - Wingspan

October 12, 2009lccc.wy.edu/wingspan16 WingspanWingspan17Blood pulses through veins of historySome who havetaken the vampireobsession too farRichard Chase (1978)Murdered six peoplebefore he was caught.He drank and bathedin their blood, andcannibalized some ofthe victims.Daniel and ManuelaRuda (2002)Murdered a man todrink his blood. Manuelafiled down her teeth tobite/drink better. Theyboth slept in coffins.Roderick Justin Ferrell(1996)He belonged to avampire clan andmurdered two people.Roderick had a “V”burned into his flesh.Mathew Hardman (2002)He removed the heartfrom an elderly victimand drank the blood.He believed if he killedsomeone he wouldbecome immortal.Tiffany Sutton(2003)Was a self-declaredvampire and tied upa man and cut him todrink his blood. The manbarely escaped.By Seneca FlowersGraphics EditorGrab your wooden stakes and silver crucifixes.Vampires are lurking around every corner. You seethem at the supermarket checkout lanes. You’ve spottedthem in the darkness of movie theaters. They hideon bookstore and library shelves.These vampires do not want your blood though—no—they want your money.Vampire media is repopulating the Earth in everyform of entertainment imaginable. Present-dayvampires have shape-shifted into forms that includesocial Web sites, video games, role-playing games,comic books, movies and even breakfast cereals.It seems just a few years ago no one cared aboutvampires anymore. Now we cannot escape their glamourand fangs. Internet Movie Database (IMDB) listsmore than 31 vampire movies released in 2009. Evenwith all this, the market is hungry for more.So, how did the current vampire phenomenonemerge so strongly and from what did it emerge? Toanswer that, one must take a quick journey throughthe dark and twisted history of humankind.Vampires as they are portrayed today can be anyone.They are attractive, young, often kind, but alwaysmisunderstood. However, the origins of vampirespaint quite a different picture. It’s a very dark and inglorioushistory that leaves room for many questions.Vampires, go Homer!Patrica Landy, Laramie County Community CollegeEnglish/Latin instructor, explained the earlybeginnings. “Homer is the earliest I can tell you. They[ancient Greeks] would have their sacrifices to thegods on the beach,” Landy said.“They would sacrifice several oxen at a time. Theidea was that the blood would go down through thesand to the underworld. The ghosts that were in theunderworld could have flesh and life for a moment[after getting the blood]. They were always hoveringright there waiting for the blood to fall,” she said.Michelle Carroll, Latin, Greek, “Harry Potter Mythology”instructor, added: “Homer is ancient myth. Itdates to 1200 BCE, some scholars say.”Why do people like being scared? Dr. John Sanford,LCCC psychology instructor, attempted to explainwhy people like to be scared. He said fear stimulatesus.“We have, as a species, been altering our states ofconsciousness. We like being stimulated,” Sanford said.“We don’t function at a maximum level all the time.”He gave an example: “So if I can stimulate myself by aroller coaster, scary movie or a story around a campfire,I’m going to because I to be stimulated to a higherlevel of functioning at a brief period of time.”Human kebabMany modern vampire tales stem from horrifictrue stories. Vlad the Impaler was a prince who stakedhis enemies through their bodily orifices while theywere still alive. Vlad decorated roadsides with theirrotting corpses to scare enemies.Another historic and noble figure, Lady ElizabethBathory, was known for capturing nearly 650 girlservants. She mutilated and tortured them to deathin various ways. Some even claim she bathed in theirblood to maintain her beauty.In the Victorian era of literature, vampires beganto be romanticized. “The neoclassicism revival in theVictorian era made those old ideas [vampires] popularagain,” LCCC instructor Carroll said.Stories like “The Vampyre,” “Carmilla” and “Dracula”showed the seductive side of vampires whilemaintaining a frightening edge. These stories beganto touch on sexiness and eternal life.Psychology instructor Sanford said: “Vampireshave evolved. Initially, they were this dead, disgustingthing that came back to life that would feed on livingbeings. They weren’t sexy. They were old dudes—nowa days they are young kids. They represent an embodimentof what we want but don’t have in propersociety—sex, living forever.”“I want to suck your blood”In the 1920s, Hollywood and the world explodedwith horror movies, and the masses loved them. Modernidealism of vampire myth really started to takeshape. Carroll said Hollywood began to add to thevampire myth foundation and repackaged it to profitfrom movie fans.After the golden age of movies, the vampire genrelost some power. It became a kitsch genre in the 1960swith shows like “The Munsters” and “The Addams Family.”However, “Dark Shadows” in 1966 did gain a cultfollowing from high school girls running home afterschool to catch episodes.According to Landy, in the late 1970s, author AnneRice took the whole world by storm.Bringin’ sexy back“Interview with the Vampire” came out in 1976.It instantly claimed cult status, and the “VampireChronicles” were pretty much deemed the status quofor the vampire genre to come. The film adaptation of“Interview with the Vampire” was released in 1994.Around this time, a teen-targeted series “The VampireDiaries” began. During this period, a fascinationwith vampires and the occult arose from the dead.Wanted…attractive blonde girl,must kill vampiresIn 1997, the “Buffy the Vampire” series began. Basedon a 1992 film of the same name, it showed a younger,hipper protagonist facing supernatural challenges thatsymbolized daily adolescent problems.“Angel,” Buffy’s spinoff, also appealed to the youngerviewing market. Using vampire-chic sexiness andwell-received story arcs, vampires developed into a newromantic genre.Day walkers emerge after Twilight“Twilight”—It is everywhere and inescapable. “Twilight”author Stephanie Meyer claimed to have awakenedfrom a dream and was compelled to write a love story.This tale involved attractive young adults facing usualyouth problems, but there was a twist: Some of theseteens happened to be vampires. The story compelledpeople because it was a love story in which the love interesthappened to have fangs.The fangs were not the main focus though—love was.Using “less Noserferatu, and more ‘GQ,’” as instructorCarroll explained, teen vampire romance sells and sellssome more.The new moonHave we all been bitten by the new vampire phenomenon?Shows like “True Blood” and “The VampireDiaries” lure fans in with sex and hook audiences withsoap-opera like plots. Books and films are cashing inon society’s thirst for the forbidden. Horror has taken abackseat to love and romance.We’re unsure where the next vampire incarnation willgo, but perhaps the horror purists will revolt and reclaimtheir once proud mascots of fright. Wherever there ismoney, the vampires will follow.Vampire history spansmost of recorded time.Originally seen asblood-cravingmonsters,now they’reromanticcreaturesof thenight.