Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Vampires

I have been interested in supernatural mythology for as long as I can remember, but I'm not sure if it was my own interested that sparked my love or if it was because of my sister's interest. I used to check books out in elementary school with subject matter like ghosts and vampires and conspiracies. While I've stayed interesting in all of the above, and have grown to enjoy werewolves and zombies, vampires are my favorite.

I guess that when my fascination started it revolved a little bit around the sexy appeal that vamps have, or the actors that portrayed the vamps but it's all the same. (No, I'm not goth.) I liked the stories, they sort of scared me, but it wasn't as if I wanted to be a part of the faux vamp world. It wasn't until I was in college that my interest became focused on the mythology surrounding vampires. I won't go too into my love of the different mythologies, because I want to use my knowledge for some form of creativity, but I will elaborate.

During my senior semester of UT I took a vampire class, Vampires in Slavic Cultures, and little did I know that this class would be one of my Top 5 favorite classes of my college years. It was so much more about just vampires in Slavic countries, and talked a lot about the different myths throughout the area. We covered how the mythology shifted from the Incubi and Succubi to the modern day vampires. Of course I still have all my notes and books, and reference them from time to time. I'm just a nerd.

The influence from this class is what made my love of vampires grow. I love how every vampire show or movie will alter the mythologies. This aspect has caused quite an uproar in the zombie community in regards to walking or running zombies, but I haven't noticed it in the vamp world. Maybe there is, maybe there is this community of people who are freaking out with the changes in show to show and I'm just not apart of it. I'm not, I'm not all crazy vampire lady, and I like the difference.

Take for example Being Human. (Yes, I'm going to talk about this amazing show again.) In BHUK Mitchell can't see his reflection and he can't show on film, but on BHUS Aidan can be seen on film and has a reflection. Or how in BHUK and US they are able to go out in the sunlight, but in Buffy they burst into flames.

I like that with each new vampire show they have their own mythology, this makes each show unique. I also don't mind this because historically vampire mythologies change from area to area. They change drastically from neighboring countries, could you imagine how they change from continent to continent. I especially like it when the shows have invented their own mythologies and historical lineage. It's all about the character. And let's face it, vampires are just cool.

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