The Fang Fetish: Our Obsession with Vampires

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Promo

NBC's Dracula set to premiere this Fall

       Ever since the  Twilight Phenomenon vampires have been popping up everywhere. FALSE! We have forgotten the vampire stories of the talented author Anne Rice (who wrote the novel turned film, Interview With A Vampire), and from the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it's spin off Angel. Also Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. And before that vampires have featured in myth and legends: the Greek Lamia (a female race of vampires) and the Indian goddess Kali who looks pretty vamp-like with her large protruding fangs and thirst for blood shed; the vampires of Eastern Europe and Asia and all the way to South America. We not just as Americans, but as humans, are obsessed with the cult of vampires.

Angel Promo Picture

    Why? A few reasons. The first being we as a species that fears death are obsessed with immortality. There are so many things that can kill us and we can die at any time from disease, war, or by chance. We love the idea of being young, beautiful, invincible, and free from the restrictions of morality. We want super powers: the power of compulsion (making people do whatever we want) and having super speed and agility, never in fear of anyone or anything. Not even Death could scare us. There's some pleasure in being the predator and not the prey, which leads us into the next reason: Vampires as Sex Symbols.

     In the Victorian Era where everyone was sexually repressed, the idea of having one's blood sucked from one's neck would sound sensually exciting; the fangs were phallic symbols and "piercing" the woman's neck was a euphemism for "penetration" and then draining them of life is similar to how a man or woman feel after climaxing. Dracula was the first vampire to be viewed as a sex symbol. He was the first "Lady-Killer" you might say. He was a predator who stalked and attacked women. He was a creature of darkness who kept to the shadows but maybe that's one of the reasons we find him sexually alluring. He was a man's primal instinct that lusted after our flesh, not just our blood. In the book, Dracula builds a psychic connection with Mina in order to spy on his enemies but by consequence she could see where he was. This to us can come off as a soulful connection, a soul mate as it shows in later reproductions of Bram Stoker's novel. Mina becomes Dracula's true love; even more so in the recent show Dracula on NBC, where Mina is a reincarnation of Dracula's murdered wife, Ilona, and Mina cannot deny that she feels they have a connection as well. 

        Today, most of tragic romances between vampires and humans is still felt by audiences today who read romantic trashy novels that feature undead bloodsuckers. As a woman myself, I have a hard time resisting a man with fangs. It's felt on a primal level to throw caution to the wind and give in to pleasure like animals do everyday. The romance of eternal love is also exciting (mostly to women). A Romeo+Juliet story between a human and a supernatural being is a romance novelist's bread and butter. It's a couple we cheer for to succeed and prove that love can conquer all boundaries such as race, religion, and class.

    My final theory may be shaky: Blood. It's less the fluid and more the color: RED. Red represents love, passion, anger, and desire. Studies show that a man or woman wearing red is seen as more attractive to others. A woman with red lips or a little rouge on her cheeks is irresistible or even wearing a red shirt; men or women who wear red are seen as ready for sex or more open to a sexual relationship (that prospect decreases with age; only the young up to 40 can apparently pull off red). That being said: blood=life. A Vampire's hunger for blood could be our psychological lust for life; to live life without fear of consequences.

The Vampire Diaries Season 1 Promo

    Twilight for me destroyed the Vampire-ideal and although I appreciate Stephanie Meyer's trying to be creative (VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE! EDWARD'S A FAIRY!). Yet The Vampire Diaries (soon to be followed by a spin-off The Originals) has reawakened my passion for the sexy blood suckers. The show on the CW goes into the vampire genre with some of the old traditions but adding some new twists: vampires aren't always weepy and brooding but also enjoy life and all it has to offer; but they also act human at times without getting too cliche.

     Vampires are a part of our alter egos: they are our primal instincts, our darkest desires and fantasies, as well as embody our deepest fears. No matter how many times people tire of seeing vampires on screen, we will never be sick of them.