History of Vampirism
During the 18th century, people believed that vampires or “demons of the night” existed. There were many superstitions about the topic that lead to some people in Europe being accused of vampirism (the act of feeding on human blood). However, the idea of “good” vampires feeding on animal blood that had been introduced in the contemporary movies, books or series like the Twilight Saga and The Vampire Diaries is often questioned.
The first popular book that revolved around vampires was Dracula written by Bram Stoker in 1897. This classic tale shed light on the horror of vampires and consequently werewolves, which have been known to be their enemies.
Based on these works, vampires can include common characteristics such as being soulless, dead or immortal. They often look like humans and can be fierce, strong, incredibly fast, fearless until it comes to sunlight and even romantic.
Werewolves
What is also essential in all vampire stories are werewolves. They hate vampires and want to rid the world of these demons. They always appear under a full moon, turn into vicious wolves and seek vampires to kill them. According to Vampire Diaries author, L.J. Smith, a werewolf’s bite is fatal for a vampire. The connection between werewolves and vampires, which had also been discussed in adapted TV series, is that each of those creatures are somehow connected to the sun or the moon. Werewolves only turn under a full moon and they don’t have a choice about it, whereas vampires can only come out at night and are crippled but the sun.
Twilight and The Vampire Diaries Shed Light on Vampires
What makes the topic of vampires widely popular these days are the two very popular works, The Twilight Saga written by Stephenie Meyer and the popular CW series Vampire Diaries. What is rather confusing, however, is that in both works the vampires tend to have different characteristics. Yes they drink blood and seem to want to fall in love, but there are too many differences at bay here to know what a real vampire is like ... if they exist.
Here are some of the differences I noticed
Twilight: (Edward Cullen and his family)
- Vampires sparkle in the sun.
- Vampires cannot stop if they start feeding on a human.
- Vampires cannot die unless put on fire.
- There is an organization that is responsible for vampires everywhere.
- For a human to change, he/she only has to be bitten by a vampire.
- Vampires are porcelain.
- Vampires are excessively, noticeably cold.
- Some vampires have super powers (Edward can read minds, Alice can see into the future)
Vampire Diaries: (Damon, Stefan Salvatore)
- Vampires are burnt by the sun.
- Vampires can stop whenever they want when feeding on a human, sometimes they just bite them and run.
- Vampires can be killed by a stake to the heart or by the herb called “vervain."
- Vampires can do whatever they want, if they are implicated it’s their business.
- For a human to change, he has to have a vampire’s blood in his system, die and when he/she wakes up, they need to start feeding on a human to complete the transition.
- Vampires have skin just like humans.
- Vampires are cold but they can do something about it so humans won’t notice.
- Vampires can ‘switch off’ their humanity. (They can make themselves not feel pain, guilt, love, etc.)
What I have concluded after watching the movies and reading about vampires is that they all seem to be frightened by the sun, they all can blend in very well among us humans, they feed on human blood, they are dead and are our enemies. So, if you happen to encounter someone as gorgeous as Edward Cullen or Stephan Salvatore, DO NOT fall in love with them because your story will surely not be made into a movie!
Mai Newaishy - null
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