Weekender Feature | Bloodsuckers rule in the land of pop culture

        Pale skin, red eyes, sharp teeth, nefarious schemes: While this could easily lead-in to any number of jokes about several college stereotypes (Daily editors, engineers, Tisch Library residents during finals, etc.), it's actually a description of a vampire, the biggest thing to hit pop culture since Miley Cyrus, Beanie Babies, Pokemon, the Spice Girls, Pogs or Hula Hoops.
    When Bram Stoker sat down to write "Dracula" (1897) at the end of the 19th century, he could not have imagined gangs of tween girls shopping at Hot Topic for "Twilight" T-shirts or teenage boys fantasizing about Kate Beckinsale's character in "Underworld" (2003). Regardless of what Mr. Stoker may or may not have been able to foresee, vampires are all the rage. From books to movies to video games to TV shows and everything in between, what was once simply the domain of horror buffs and fans of Victorian literature has become mainstream.

The OVs (Original Vampires)
    The bloodsucker that started it all, Count Dracula, was nothing like the vampires that are so popular today. The count was a big, hairy fellow (hair sprouted, according to Stoker, from his palms, and he had an interesting moustache). He was old (but not in a "silver fox" sort of way), and his breath was consistently terrible. In short, he was just a real sketchy creeper.
    "Dracula" wasn't a huge when it was first published, but eventually its mythos caught on in a big way. Two decades later, F.W. Murnau adapted the story in his film "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens" (1922), better known to English-speaking audiences as "Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror." While Max Schreck's portrayal of the bat-like protagonists isn't likely to strike too much terror in the hearts of modern audiences, his gruesome demeanor provides a fascinating contrast to the sexy vampires of today.

The Birth of the Sexy Vampire
    Edward Cullen, for the uninitiated few, is the heartthrob vampire from Stephenie Meyer's smash-hit novel "Twilight" (2005). Cullen is everything that Dracula isn't: young, handsome to a ridiculous extent (he's described as "an Adonis"), alluring and not even remotely scary. Edward Cullen is a pinup.
    A quick search on Amazon.com brings up hundreds of "Twilight"-branded products: a collector's edition DVD that retails for $89.99, hats and T-shirts, backpacks, action figures, jewelry and even a duvet cover.
    Theoretically, a "Twilight" fan could get home, take off his or her "Twilight" T-shirt, put on another one to sleep in, take off an abundance of "Twilight" jewelry, take a copy of the "Twilight" book out of a "Twilight" backpack and get into a "Twilight"-themed bed underneath a "Twilight" poster to read it. Some people live "Twilight" from sunup to sundown.
    And it isn't just "Twilight" that makes bank on the myth of the sexy vampire. HBO's massively popular "True Blood" centers on a group of hot, young vampires in New Orleans, while the CW's "The Vampire Diaries" is about teenage vampires and their love triangles.
    Most, if not all, of the recent quick-cash in books, movies and television shows has been made through young, sexy vampires instead of the old-world killers.

"It's about sex."
    How, over the course of the 20th century, did vampires go from the stuff of nightmares to the stuff of fantasy? Professor of English Joseph Litvak, who is currently teaching an English class entitled "Horror Stories," has a few ideas of his own about how this happened.
    "The vampire fixation that we're seeing is a fantasy of sex without genitalia ... [It is] a form of safe sex," Litvak said.
    Dracula himself, Professor Litvak proposes, is much more sexually threatening than the vampires of today's fad. This seems to be at odds with most of our current beliefs about the Victorians, namely that they had conservative views towards sex. But it makes sense: Dracula and his modern incarnations enact a passionate penetration removed from sexual intercourse. So readers or viewers can fantasize all they want about being bitten without worrying about the dangers of real-world sex. Litvak suggested that now, with the fear of AIDS looming over all sexual activity, the vampire's version of sexuality is relatively clean.
    Litvak doesn't see tweens lusting after Edward Cullen as an issue.
    "The current vampires are much less sexual," he suggests, "[It's] a teen friendly, sanitized version ... You wouldn't want Max Schreck [from "Nosferatu"] as your boyfriend, but you would [want] Robert Pattinson."
    Dracula was a predator. Edward Cullen is a lover.
    According to one "Twilight" fan who wished to remain anonymous because he/she worries about being judged by other students, the appeal of "Twilight" is that it only teases: "There is something addictive in there that makes me never want to put it down ... I think it's because I am waiting for something actually juicy and mature to happen, but it never does."
    The closeted "Twilight" fan said: "The level of sexuality in Edward and [female protagonist] Bella's romance is very tempting — they can only kiss, and only for a few seconds, because Edward is scared that if he lets himself carry on, he will bite her. It leaves the reader, embarrassingly, wanting more."
    After a thoughtful pause, the source added, "Do you want me to talk about ‘True Blood'? I'm less embarrassed about that."

More Like "Why?-light"
    The anonymous source's embarrassment raises a question: Why would a fan be a fan, but not admit it? Why should this obvious expert refuse to allow his or her name to be printed here?
    "I hate admitting to actually liking ‘Twilight,' because the quality of the writing is so, so poor, and the intentions of the books are clearly aimed at pre-teen girls," said the "Twilight" fan. "I insist on buying the books on my dad's Kindle [e-book reader] so that no one in public will be able to tell what I am reading."
    A return to the so-bad-it's-good excuse always wins, but according to Rotten Tomatoes, the online review aggregator, the "Twilight" movie (2008) didn't hit that sweet spot. With a 49 percent "fresh" rating — only 94 positive reviews out of 192 total registered — it was deemed just mediocre.
    It wasn't scary, either. "I wasn't particularly horrified by the first ["Twilight"] film," Litvak said.
    While many do love the movie and the book, the general consensus seems to be that they are just fun and entertaining — nothing deeper.
    It's quite possible that vampires have always been popular and the current trend is merely intensification due to increased demand after the lightning in a bottle that was "Twilight," as Professor Litvak suggests, but it could be something more.
    Horror has always been cyclical. When the Bush administration was deep in prison abuse scandals, so-called "torture porn" movies like "Saw" (2004) and "Hostel" (2005) were popular. When the economy was in a major decline, zombies, which were famously framed as mindless consumers by zombie guru George A. Romero, were the big thing. Maybe there's something in the air that vampires are capitalizing on, something not quite clear yet.

The Future of Vampires and Beyond
    If parents were to stop for a moment and really think about just what their kids enjoy, they might have serious objections. The blatant violence and the underlying sex in the vampire genre make it clear that kids these days don't just play violent video games and watch brain-rotting cartoons.
    Despite parents' worries over vampire-centric entertainment, it doesn't look like the fad will die anytime soon. In the coming months, a whole slew of vampire-related media will vie to suck dry superfans' bank accounts.
    Released earlier this month, "Dracula the Un-Dead" picks up the story of the granddaddy of all vampires 25 years after the end of the original novel in a Stoker family-authorized sequel. "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," a film based on the novel of the same name, was released last week. "Thirst," an artful Korean vampire drama by auteur extraordinaire Chan-wook Park, is currently playing in limited release across the United States.
    Future releases include "Daybreakers," a vampire action movie staring Ethan Hawke that hits theaters in January. "Blood: The Last Vampire" is an anime-inspired vampire movie out of Japan that should hit the States shortly. "Transylmania," a teen-comedy spoof of vampires, will be out in December.
    If the fad does die down, horror fans can expect something else to pop right up and fill the gaping void. Most signs point to werewolves as the next big thing, especially since a werewolf factors heavily in the upcoming "Twilight" movie, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," and Benicio Del Toro's "The Wolfman," coming out next year, is drumming up so much buzz.
    Regardless of what actually happens, whether an influx of werewolves or golems or aliens, few will soon forget the time that vampires took over everything. There doesn't seem to be one clear answer to the questions of "Why vampires? Why now?" but for many fans, life would suck and existence would be a pain in the neck without them. Readers and viewers across America would like to say a big "fang you" to these creatures of the night.