Blog Post #5 Research Abstract

Vampires as Feared Mythological Creatures to Erotic Fiction Bestsellers; From Myth to Pop Culture

For my research assignment, I will be completing a podcast or a research paper on how the vampire has changed throughout history. Specifically, I want to research how the vampire has transitioned from mesopotamian folklore and myth as a creature to fear and be wary of, to the heavily sexualized and eroticized creatures that they are in pop culture today. My research materials will consist of myths and folklore from world cultures in the forms of books, reliable internet sources, and popular fiction materials. How did different world myth and folklore describe vampires, and have these myths been carried into modern culture. It was at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that the transition occurred, with Dracula serving as one of the cornerstones for change. There has been some research into specific shows, such as True Blood, Twilight, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but many of these franchises focused on different aspects of the vampire. For example, Buffy is often used to show sexual tension between vampire hunters and vampires. What I would like to focus on is the myth, and then track the vampire through literature using works like The Vampyre by Dr. Polidori, Bram Stokers Dracula, Anne Rices Interview with the Vampire, Stephanie Meyers Twilight, and Laurell K. Hamiltons Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. With Dracula serving as the first novel with sexualized vampires, looking at the literature immediately prior, and post will be important to discerning if Dracula was indeed a transitioning point for vampires.

My goal is to identify where the transition from fearful creatures of myth to pop culture sex and erotic fiction icons occured, and what novels may have served as a turning point. This is important because it shows how society has pulled away from classical myth and legends as we move into a more modern era.