The idea of vampires has been changed dramatically over time. The vampires of folk history were considered as repughtent creatures, something to be feared. The were seen as cruel creatures or corpses they only had one motive; blood. They are never seen in their vampire state and are typically killed by 'holy water', 'sunlight' and 'a stake to the heart'. They are typically called 'Night walkers' due to the fact that sunlight is their biggest weakness.
In 1987 Bram Stoker with the publishing of his hit novel Dracula completely transformed the typical view of Vampires. The image that he invented completely contrasted the original view, and turned the conventions of a vampire to a lowly sub-human parasite. The new image of the vampire is a fantastically established image of seduction and is almost omnipotent in his knowlege and power over humans. He is also vulnerable to the beauty and innocence of attractive mortal women, who he must pursue, corrupt and discard.The new literary vampire is incredibly popular, as the attractive, evil protagonist of the new Victorian Gothic novel. He becomes an enduring symbol of the anti hero.Some writers have suggested that the Dracula novel represents the underlying sexual repression of Victorian society and the desire for male domination and the subjugation of women.
Todays Vision of Vampires
From films and TV Programmes such as Twilight and Vampire Diaries people nowadays seem to adore vampires rather than be afraid of them. There is a big contrast of how they are presented now compared to how they were presented when they first became popular. For example, now instead of Vampires seeming maniulative towards women, they are falling in love with them. This is causing a great amount of fan population, by the way that the media is attracting towards the teenage audience. They are also changing the typical weaknesses that a vampire would have, for example, in Twilight, go against the typical approach to vampires burning in the sun, but they turn...glittery. Which completely contrasts the typical 'Night walker' approach to the genre. Vampire Diaries sticks to the original approach in a way, they still burn in the daylight, but they use "day rings" which protect them from the sun.
When Vampires originated they were aimed towards the older audience, which the creators of Twilight and Vampire Diaries completely went against. Another TV company stuck to the original audience and created a view of Vampires with more of a vicious approach. The vampires in Twilight and Vampire Diaires, are more toned down. They don't tend to eat humans and are considered 'vegetarians' in a way by only drinking from animals, where as in True Blood you see the nitty gritty approach to vampires, which is that they are cold blooded killers.
Books about Vampires
Because of the wide amount of popularity for vampires there has been a large amount of different books that have been created towards vampires, but they all tend to follow a similar storyline. The Twilight films first originated as books, and this is where the popularity first grew greatly for this kind of genre. After all of this, more and more books about vampires started popping up around the globe.
