The Undead Among Us The Figure Of The Vampire As The Unknown Other And Its Representation In True Blood

Drakul. Nosferatu. Upyr. Vampyre. There have been many names for what we know today as the vampire. For over a century, literature, television, cinema and many other areas in our daily lives cannot be imagined without the appearance of this fictional character. Almost everyone is familiar with the image of the walking undead that creeps out of its coffin at night and sucks the blood out of humans. The undead has always been appealing to its audience. It is the ‘otherness’ of such monsters, their frightful darkness and exoticism that makes them so interesting. This book deals with the figure of the vampire regarded as the ‘unknown other’ and how it is fictionally represented in the American TV series True Blood (2008 - ). Considering both psychoanalytical concepts as well identity theory, the author depicts the literary and cinematographic development of the fictional figure of the vampire since the late nineteenth century, and analyzes different representations of the vampire and its “otherness” as well as their appeal to the audience in the True Blood.

Initial point and working hypothesis Drakul. Nosferatu. Upyr. Vampyre. There have been many names for what we know today as the vampire. It is believed that the existence of the vampires goes back in time for almost one thousand years. At least since Bram Stoker’s successful novel Dracula from 1897, almost everyone is familiar with the image of the walking undead that creeps out of its coffin at night and sucks the blood out of humans. Today’s American popular culture makes it even inevitable to not be faced with vampires on television, in advertisement, on cereal boxes, or even in educational programs for children. The undead has always been appealing to viewers especially of the horror and fantasy genre. Zombies, ghosts, demons, mummies, and vampires have been present in movies and on television ever since the invention of the motion picture at the turn of the twentieth century. It is the “otherness” of such monsters, their frightful darkness and exoticism that makes them so interesting. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a striking popularity of the undead figure of the vampire in American popular culture is particularly notable. Since F.W. Murnau’s masterpiece Nosferatu in 1922, it is not possible anymore to imagine cinema and television without these nocturnal creatures. The vampire has always been serving as a metaphor for something strange, for anxieties and hidden desires in society. What it has in common with other undead figures in American popular culture is its representation as a monster. The vampires’ “otherness”, their mystical darkness, hypnotizing men, seducing women, longing for life and its taste in human blood – that is what makes the figure of the vampire so extraordinary fascinating and engaging to today’s movie and television audience. This thesis deals with the figure of the vampire regarded as the “unknown other” and how it is fictionally represented in the American TV series True Blood (2008 - ). The thesis argues that the figure of the vampire in postmodern American popular culture lost some of its “otherness” to a certain extent and cannot be regarded as a “monster” per se anymore.

Examines the enormous popular appeal of vampires from early Greek and Slavic folklore to present-day popular culture.

Do you love vampires? Then you’ll love this book. Here you will find topics like: Are you a vampire? What’s the difference between real living vampires and the vampires of legend? Psychic feeding for vampires, vampire quotes, vampire cults, online vampire groups and much more. There is a heavy focus on RLVs or Real Living Vampires, but the content here should be both entertaining and educational to any vampire fan. I have enjoyed both the myth and reality of vampires for most of my life, so now I’m sharing that with you. These articles were originally written for Associated Content or my vampire fan site The Vampire’s Lair. I have compiled these articles within this book as a companion to the original We Are the Undead book, but it works well as a stand-alone volume. I hope you enjoy the articles and that you learn something new.

The media vampire has roots throughout the world, far beyond the shores of the usual Dracula-inspired Anglo-American archetypes. Depending on text and context, the vampire is a figure of anxiety and comfort, humor and fear, desire and revulsion. These dichotomies gesture the enduring prevalence of the vampire in mass culture; it can no longer articulate a single feeling or response, bound by time and geography, but is many things to many people. With a global perspective, this collection of essays offers something new and different: a much needed counter-narrative of the vampire's evolution in popular culture. Divided by geography, this text emphasizes the vampiric as a globetrotting citizen du monde rather than an isolated monster.

The world of the supernatural is full of mysteries. Readers will explore the world of the undead and discover the origin of vampires and why people fear them so much. Topics such as how to kill a vampire, how to keep vampires away, and more are brought to light. In this interesting exploration of the undead, reader’s gain knowledge that will keep them safe—even on the darkest of nights.

Explores the intersection of the vampire and zombie with 21st Century dystopian and post-apocalyptic cinemaTwenty-first century film and television is overwhelmed with images of the undead. Vampires and zombies have often been seen as oppositional: one alluring, the other repellant; one seductive, the other infectious. With case studies of films like I Am Legend and 28 Days Later, as well as TV programmes like Angel and The Walking Dead, this book challenges these popular assumptions and reveals the increasing interconnection of undead genres. Exploring how the figure of the vampire has been infused with the language of science, disease and apocalypse, while the zombie text has increasingly been influenced by the trope of the areluctant vampire, Stacey Abbott shows how both archetypes are actually two sides of the same undead coin. When considered together they present a dystopian, sometimes apocalyptic, vision of twenty-first century existence.Key featuresRather than seeing them as separate or oppositional, this book explores the intersection and dialogue between the vampire and zombie across film and televisionMuch contemporary scholarship on the vampire focuses on Dark Romance, while this book explores the more horror-based end of the genreOffers a detailed discussion of the development of zombie televisionProvides a detailed examination of Richard Mathesons I Am Legend, including the novel, the script, the adaptations and the BBFCs response to Mathesons script

The academy and pop culture alike recognize the great symbolic and teaching value of the undead, whether vampires, zombies, or other undead or living-dead creatures. This has been explored variously from critiques of consumerism and racism, through explorations of gender and sexuality, to consideration of the breakdown of the nuclear family. Most academic examinations of the undead have been undertaken from the perspectives of philosophy and political theory, but another important avenue of exploration comes through theology. Through the vampire, the zombie, the Golem, and Cenobites, contributors address a variety of theological issues by way of critical reflection on the divine and the sacred in popular culture through film, television, graphic novels, and literature.