Reader Response

Nadine Pryor

Reader response—Week 8

Vampires are now shown as romantic heroes in the media because humans are drawn into the mystery and how vampires are ever changing.

Today, vampires are beings of attractiveness, emotions, and romance.  When you see vampires in movies or television shows nowadays, they are now cast in romantic roles such as Twilight or True Blood.  What is it about vampire’s now that shows them as romantic or sexual?  How does this reversal differ from previous vampire media in the 20th century and earlier?  Sexual tension is a frequent theme that captures and absorbs the hearts of vampire fans.  The romance connected with these TV shows, novels, and films lure people in.  I got hooked on the series of Twilight and True Blood.  These types of television shows and movies may have misinformed some people about the way romance is supposed to be.  Some people get so engrossed in these types of shows and movies that they may forget what true love is supposed to be like and we all know it’s not like that in real life.  Vampires are now shown as romantic heroes in the media because humans are drawn into the mystery and how vampires are ever changing.

I believe the vampire romance novels have created the vampire as this beautiful yet dark being that will sneak into our existence and lure you in and bite you, offering you all the aspects of what the vampire has such as glamour, admiration, and eternal life.  Who wouldn’t be attracted to that?  

In the show True Blood, (2008) the romance between Sookie and Bill is strong.  Bill claims Sookie as his own so no other vampire will touch her.  He’s her protector.  The television show of True Blood is luring. It’s engaging.  I have yet to see the other seasons but I see in season 1 something will evolve with Sookie and Bill.  When you have two main characters, their romance doesn’t just go away completely.

Vampires long before Twilight and True Blood were different.  They have changed over each generation.  In Twilight (2008), According to Boulder Weekly, it breaks it down of which vampire we’ve had over the years.  “We always have a period of continual interest in the vampire character.  In the 1950s, you can have Christopher Lee becoming a star in Hammer Horror films. In the 1960s you can have Dark Shadows as a pop culture phenomenon... leading into this decade, where we now have the emergence of the ‘chick-lit vampires’ on True Blood and Vampire Diaries and Twilight.   The current version of the vampire mythos, as evidenced by the enormous popularity of the movie Twilight and the HBO series True Blood, presents vampires as ideal romantic heroes — bad-boy outsiders, tough enough to protect the girl from evil, yet sensitive enough to introduce to the parents.  The vampire, once one-dimensionally evil, has evolved into a complicated, brooding pretty boy.” (Accomazzo, 2009)