In early vampire stories, such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the vampire is exclusively
depicted as a solitary monster. However, in recent vampire fiction, such as Interview with a Vampire (which I read
this week), or YA novels like Twilight or
Vampire Academy, the vampire is
defined by his or her relationships. When this shift happened, I have no idea,
but it seems to me to be the natural course for vampire canon to take. The
entire concept of a vampire is based
on acts of intimacy – drinking blood, taking “life,” and oftentimes seduction –
so it is no surprise that vampires have been adapted in modern stories to
function as commentaries on relationship dynamics.
For example, a relationship between a human and a vampire
will often be some sort of commentary on power imbalance. In Interview with a Vampire, Louis has a
brief “relationship” with Babette in which he heavily influences her life.
Despite Louis’ good intentions, he only manages to completely destroy Babette’s
life – in addition, it was his vampire nature itself that caused her ultimate
downfall. Louis and Babette’s relationship was doomed to fail not only because
Louis was a vampire, but because he held too much power over her.
A relationship between two or more vampires is slightly
different. Since all parties involved are (assumedly) equally powerful, the
relationships between vampires are based on power struggles as opposed to power imbalances. For example, the relationship
between the trio of Louis, Lestat, and Claudia at first reflects a (slightly dysfunctional)
family. However, as the years go by, issues of immortality and commitment begin
to arise and the trio begin to fight amongst themselves for control – over each
other, but also over their own selves. Who will come out on top in the end is
not always clear. Interview with a
Vampire was interesting to me in that it showed Louis, who essentially
represents humanity and is the most human-like out of all the vampires, having
his own sort of unique skill set that allowed him to hold his own in these
power struggle situations.
The lone vampire is still used, but always as a villain character.
The scariness of the lone vampire character comes from the fact that they don’t have any relationships – no one to
teach them right from wrong, no one to show them the rules, and no one to stop
them if they go too far. The lone vampire threatens the safety of grouped
vampires and brings chaos where there once was order. In this way, themes from
the original vampire novels continue to persevere, even while the vampire genre
as a whole has changed drastically.
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