Will someone please explain to me what's so alluring about vampires?
If you have a kid sister, or if you secretly are a kid sister, the next two weeks may stretch much longer than the days on the calendar indicate. Because on midnight, Nov. 20, the next Twilight movie will be released, and millions of people, from tweens to adolescents to a large portion of interested adults, will follow in droves to see Edward and Bella gallivant around a world where young lovers face the additional challenges of working vampires and werewolves into their relationships, on top of the mundane awkwardness and confusion that trifles the rest of us. It is a highly anticipated movie, the subject of much discussion fluttering through high school hallways, and it has become difficult to decide whether its love story has struck such a resonant chord with our culture in spite of the fact that it involves cross-species love with a blood-sucking vampire - or because of it. The Twilight phenomenon, just like those that accompanied Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, and so much popular fiction before it, has coincided with other popular new fiction of the same genre, such as HBO's popular True Blood and MaryJanice Dickenson's Undead series. It seems that falling in love with a dashing vampire is much more exciting than falling in love with a dashing person. The vampire character has always been an outcast, a scourge, an unfortunate, universal annoyance ... not the exactly the heartthrob type. Yet parts of our society are quietly obsessed with them, and I think that belies something very sophisticated about our collective tastes. The fact that a significant percentage of American girls can fall in love with a figure so tragically dangerous and alone as a vampire suggests that we have learned to accept a new cultural peculiarity - perhaps open homosexuality in young men - that was once taboo.
If you dismiss the series' popularity as a function of our culture's hunger for fantasy and Robert Pattinson's facial structure, you may be only partially right. Vampire fiction has resonated with the public in very curious ways throughout its entire history. Bram Stoker's Dracula was a landmark work in horror literature and its burgeoning subset of vampire fiction. But unlike the horror genre in general, which rarely characterizes its antagonist in a very attractive light, vampire stories have diverged since 1897 to give their creatures a tragic element, one that gives birth to sympathy for the one who may need to devour you in order to continue to live. Why is this? One guess: vampires give a convenient medium to showcase social problems inside of an entertaining storyline. They are forbidden, shunned, often innocent and contagious victims of an unintentional condition - a position that will find a relatable niche within any stratified culture. For instance, vampire fiction became very popular in Victorian Europe, when infectious diseases like tuberculosis and syphilis turned ordinary humans into isolated vampires, cut off at a time of quiet sexual revolution and increasing personal liberty. The vampire character was able to reflect this tragic social state in that culture, and it continues in 21st-century America. It might not be a coincidence that vampire fiction began its resurgence as LGBT movements picked up and the AIDS epidemic accelerated, nor might it be unreasonable to suggest that some, maybe many, of Twilight's adolescent female fans lust after its vampire protagonist in the same way they lust after gay men, men who are wanted but unobtainable, like a man with a venereal disease could have been in 1897 London. Any partitioned culture needs an empathetic monster to jump on the grenade that is social division, someone or something to represent an unpopular or ostracized segment of humanity. Edward Cullen is desired, yet forbidden, and it is possible that he represents gay men and his popularity stems from the increasing acceptance of homosexuality in high schools and colleges across the country.
That obvious paradox, between what is available and what is wanted, connects the vampire to every love story we have ever read or watched. The vampire is dangerous, and every lover lusts for that element of danger in his or her relationships. He represents torture on multiple levels: he will suck your blood, yes, but he is irrationally attractive nonetheless. This attraction derives not only from his unobtainable status, but also from his familiarity. A few decades ago, openly gay students were rare in high school and many colleges, but now, increasing acceptance of homosexuality in our culture has allowed many to feel comfortable coming out at younger and younger ages. Now that more gay young men inhabit the same social circles as straight young women, conflicts of sexual interest are bound to happen. Perhaps Twilight's success reflects the frustration of straight women who desire gay men. It may be a stretch to argue that vampires represent gay men, but it's not a new idea. For instance, in the opening credits of True Blood, a popular show on HBO, vampire protestors display signs with a familiar message: "God Hates Fangs." This is only one possible explanation, though, and in any case, whether it be the risk of a one night stand or the tenuous trust issues inherent in long-term, long-distance relationships, we are never satisfied with total security, because it simply isn't exciting enough. The vampire can capture that excitement without running the risk of being too realistic, too obtainable, connected to our own feelings without being too common. In doing so, vampire stories reflect our country's love affair with social challenges. We can elect a black president and legislate gay marriage, but we may never, or never try to, eliminate the problems of racism and bigotry altogether. In the same way, Stephenie Meyer could have written a story about how a nice high-school girl named Bella falls in love with a handsome, gifted, well-rounded boy name Edward, but no one would have read it. Happiness is no fun.
So if you are one of Twilight's millions of fans, enjoy November's trip into the world of vampire love and know that it is more than a box office event. Over the past century, the popularity of vampire fiction and film may have become a trailing indicator of social strife, because it features a main character that can either be a protagonist or antagonist, evil or empathetic. This decade's could represent any number of issues, and really, it's up to the audience to decide which fits best. I wonder what our kids will think when the vampire returns, next generation through.
Tyler Slack is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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