Tuesday, August 30, 2016

How has vampirism changed?

Your mention of Bram Stoker and vampirism lead me to conclude that you are looking for changes in the depiction of vampires since the publication of Dracula.
Perhaps the greatest degree of change that occurred in the history of the depiction of vampires came in the form of Bram Stoker’s 1897 work, Dracula. Up until that point, vampires were regarded as repulsive undead monsters. Conversely, Stoker depicted the vampire Dracula as a suave aristocrat. The subsequent Universal films further solidified this sultry yet dangerous demeanor. Vampires thus began to be largely defined by film, with their various powers and weaknesses being adjusted from movie to movie. But what is perhaps most surprising is how the core elements remain the same—fangs, the sucking of blood, aversion to daylight, and so on.
When one or more of these elements is adjusted, however, the author or filmmaker seems obligated to make a justification for it; we can see this with the “sparkly” quality of vampires in sunlight according to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Vampires since Dracula have been consistently depicted as generally charismatic, with some minor yet significant changing of their abilities.

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