Vampire Film Genre
The essay examines and compares three films provided specifically; Modern day vampires in the twilight, Bram Stokers Dracula and the Interview with a vampire. After a careful analysis, it was realized that the last two films have the three basic conventions of sexuality, religion, and materialism. The essay, therefore, analyses the conventions in each of the three films and clearly argues that the Twilight breaks from these conventions.
The fact that vampires drink human blood from the neck is not new to people across the globe. In addition, people believe that cannibalism is also prevalent in some groups of individuals in the world. In this case, individuals are not astonished to watch the films directly connected to such acts. Vampires are creatures, who in most cases take up the form of human beings and maintain their immortality by obtaining blood from human beings. Most individuals believe that the creatures are stupendous and, therefore, have exceptional powers over the human beings.
The vampires are believed to remain in coffins and tombs and the fact that they are highly sexual. However, they do feed on both sexes. In today’s world, there exist various cults, and, in fact, these are people who take blood out of the human bodies in the view that such acts will generate power in the life of such people.
The Dracula by Bram Stokers is still celebrated over the recent decades. The film revolves around a cruel vampire that hides during the day but emerges at night in search for blood. This makes the viewer understand evil as so strange in nature and, in fact, very charming in nature. In line with this, the audience comes to understand how the horrors can be evil and powerful. This is clearly depicted when the phantom beings, are blood thirsty, and just appear in the night in the hunt to kill yet another, ordinary human being, to quench their thirst for blood.
The three conventions as outlined above have been used end to end in the film. The Dracula repeatedly shows the convention of sexuality. In order to justify this, women are seen with blood stained night dresses thereby depicting loss of virginity. In the film, some characters represent sexuality including Mina and Lucy. In line with this, old men are seen attracted to the females including Van who has love to Lucy but not sexual love for her. In fact, the theme of sexuality is shown throughout the film by all the female characters. To top it all, the Dracula portrays a supernatural power towards women, with an attraction towards women he comes across (Dev).
Secondly, the convention of religion is depicted in the film to a considerable extent. The theme of anti-Christianity is used over and over in the Bram Stoker’s Dracula. To validate this statement, the Dracula, the main character in the film, depicts anti- Christ behavior. In the film, Bram uses various behaviors that are against the Christian beliefs and values. This is seen as so, by the way, the Dracula abuses Christian beliefs and values (Stoker).
The film also portrays the theme of materialism. This is after being produced in the Victorian age back in the year 1897 when the rich or the elites felt better off in comparison to the poor people. Besides, the film portrays a society that draws a clear line between the rich and the poor where the poor continue with their daily miseries.
The interview with a vampire is about Louis who ends up being a vampire and starts off vampire like life. He makes Claudia a vampire by trapping her inside the body of a small child. Both Claudia and Louis travel to Europe where they meet Armand who introduces them into a large group of vampires. Later on the film introduces Lestat who depicts the theme of attraction but not sex. However, the film portrays various themes including that for immortality, passion and power.
Louis narrates how he unwillingly makes Claudia a vampire. Unlike other films on vampires, Ann Rice does not include the theme of passion to a greater extent as portrayed in the Bram’s Dracula, but only depicts how the vampires are wrong in depriving off the blood from human beings. As Louis narrates, he drinks blood from no any other part of the body but the neck. In line with this, theme of sexuality has not been portrayed in the film, The Interview with a Vampire (Flick).
Just like the Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the theme of religion is used by the protagonist in the film, Louis. The protagonist’s reconstruction shows that there is a relationship between God and vampires. However, there are no anti-Christ behaviors in the film as compared to Stoker’s Dracula (Flick).
The theme of materialism is depicted in the film when one of the vampires by the name, Lestat wants Louis’s property. In virtually all walks of life, anxious individuals are present in the society, and this is exactly in the vampires’ film by Ann (Flick).
Indeed, up to date vampires are well renowned by almost everyone in the modern society. In fact, modern day vampires are just ordinary people who believe that they have non- human spirit in their body. The vampire culture comprises of a large variety of beings, but most of these beings do drink blood from the human body.
In the modern day vampires, in the twilight, the three basic conventions are not as rampant as in the two films discussed above. However, in some vampires’ films, they are still used end to end. In line with this, most of today’s vampires’ films do portray the theme of death. It is known that the other two films do instill fear into people. However, the modern day vampires in twilight are used as a form of teaching to the people. To endorse the statement, the theme of death is used to elucidate the history of vampires. In line with this, death could be used to demonstrate the importance of change in human beings. In fact, in most cultures, people believe that it is possible for people to change into other forms after their deaths.
Besides, there are other themes largely portrayed in today’s twilight including moral problems, friendship and love. In line with this, theme of sexuality is almost in twilight films. This is brought about due to the presence of women who are always seductive in nature. In the twilight, the vampires do not necessarily hunt individuals but rather, vampires are just normal individuals even in marriages who conduct their daily routines in extra ordinary ways. However, these relationships eventually cause death.
In fact, it would be fair to suggest that modern day vampires’ films do not bring about the three basic conventions directly. In line with this, these films are meant to inform the various communities across the globe instead of instilling fear. Further, the themes in the films are used to convey the message that, in fact, human beings are capable of transforming to supernatural beings that are eternal and possess vast power over the human beings. As a result of this, the vampires have the capacity to deprive off blood unknowingly from the human beings.
In conclusion, it would be fair to suggest that the first two vampire’s films share virtually all elements. In the Bram’s Dracula, the three basic conventions of sexuality, religion and materialism are depicted. This is in line with the conventions found in the film, Interview with a Vampire, by Ann. However, the twilight breaks from these basic conventions. From the above deliberations, it would be reasonable to consider that all vampires’ films are horrific and do instill fear to the audience. However, the modern films have a different approach since they are educative to the audience. The similarity among the three films is that the theme of death is used end to end where the vampires suck blood from human beings. It is also crystal clear that they do suck the blood from the neck and rarely from other parts of the body.
Works Cited
Dev. Bram Stoker Dracula and Sexuality. 02 07 2010. Web. 02 07 2012.
Flick. Twilighter’s thoughts on Interview with a vampire. 29 07 2010. Web. 02 07 2012.
Stoker, Bram. The Original Number One Horror Classic. USA: SoHo Publishers, 2010. Print.
