Vampire: Human or Creature?

In our seminar following the Intertextuality lecture we discussed early vampire films Nosferatu (1922), Nosferatu:The Vampyre (1979) and Dracula (1993). Now, personally I could sit and discuss this topic all day. I love the vampire subculture and having always wanting to see Nosferatu but having never got round to it (I know, I know, shocker), getting to watch a clip, if only for 5 minutes was a real treat. (I will now be buying the film!)
Seeing how a vampire was portrayed in the '20's compared to the recent more modern vampires, the look has changed drastically but the story still the same.
In the '20's vampires were made to look like what they are, a monster - scary, creepy, disgusting etc, someone you would want nothing to do with and avoid like the plague. But as the years have gone on film makers have been able to take the fact that this 'creature' is dangerous and evolve it into a type of danger that draws you in. (Of course casting handsome, young actors and making the vampire look more human plays a big part in this!) By making them attractive and human-like you can relate to them a lot more, but theres still that part of them that sets them apart from the rest of us, which is very intriguing and mysterious. This can be seen from the releases of 'The Twilight Saga', 'The Vampire Diaries' and 'True Blood'. All three shows doing very well and being extremely popular over the past couple of years. I think this transformation has been possible as ideas have changed over the years, people becoming a lot more relaxed about certain types of context not only on t.v but in life in general. For anyone who has seen True Blood will know how sexy the programme is - compare this to the bedroom scene in Nosferatu where he takes her heart, no physical contact, the action being carried out to the viewer by his shadow. 

Nosferatu (1922)



The Twilight Saga (2008)

True Blood (2008)



The Vampire Diaries (2009)

As you can see Nosferatu is someone you would cross the road to avoid: scary eyes, sharp teeth, pointy bat ears and long fingernails - an all-round nasty creature, whereas the others are all pleasing to the eye. And going by these pictures alone you can't tell them apart from a normal person. The same can't be said for Nosferatu!

However, srcatch beneath the surface and you find they are all the same, blood drinkers, shy away from human contact (for the most part!) and where ever they go death surely follows.

By changing the look to appeal to a younger audience the subject has gained a cult following, the world currently going vampire crazy!