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Table of contents
appendix Introduction Body Conclusion Citations
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Who would ever think that being a vampire or knowing a vampire would be such a good thing. In todays society people, in particular girls are obsessed with anything to do with vampires. There are books, movies and tv shows, ads, basically everywhere you look. But how did we go from seeing vampires as a fictional character only seen in horror films to vampires seen in love stories . Through history vampires have appeared as dark creatures who drink blood and have pointy fangs. But vampires really began from Greek mythology. According to the myth, Apollo (the sun god) in rage cursed Ambogio, an italian man. So that his skin would burn when it touched sunlight. Ambrogio then sold his soul to hadis (god of the underworld) in hopes of fixing the curse. It doesnt worl hades cursed him even more; he made it so that Ambrogios skin would burn whenever he would touch silver. Then a blessing came from Artemis (Apollos sister) she felt pity for poor Ambogio and she gave him the gift of immortality, he would have to stay witht eh curses but she gave him the strength to hunt and gave him incredible speed. Due to this blessing Ambrogio was able to hunt and would eat animals and humans at night so he had to be fast therefore he had no time to cook his meals and that is where the blood sucking (hematophagy) came from. There have been countless stories in myths and even the bible of vampire like creatures. But one most close to our time era is the story of Vlad the Impaler. (also known as Dracula, ) yes, some people that he was the real Dracula [figure 1]. He was born in 1431 in transilvania. He became ruler during the 15th century; he would live isolated form society in his castle. He is best known for his cruel punishments such as having sticks around his castle. And after decapitating a prisoner he would place the head on one of these sticks.
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Figure 1
Although a real vampire who sucks blood and kills people and animals doesnt
exist that hasnt stopped Hollywood from creating numerous horror stories. Contrary to popular believe Nosferatu [figure2] is not the first vampire movie ever made, the first movie was actually a silent film by the name of Vampire of the Coast which dated back to 1909, which was way bore nosferatu which was released in 1922. All though history vampires where views as horrifying creatures but that all Changed in 2005. That was the year Stephanie mayer Released twilight. A fictional love story between a human Girl who is in love with a vampire and vise versa. He has Incredible speed and sparkles when he is in the light. What happened to his skin burning in the light? No that as Figure2
All changed. The vampire (Edward Cullen) is completely in love with a girl named bella Swan. Mosrt girls who have read this story would think its adorable but in reality it seems slightly creepy. I mean the boy sneaks in to her house and watches her sleep, and she has no idea he is there. And to top it all off he is incredibly attracted to her blood. Yes, he
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wants to drink her blood. Now isnt that love? The book was turned into a series with the release three more books (new moon, eclipse, and breaking dawn) [figure3] by the time the last book was released in 2008, girls and even some boys where vampire crazy. With all the hype that surfaced from the series. It was inevitable that the books would be turned into movies. When the first movies twilght came out in 2008 vampires where everywhere. Shirts with vampire quotes appeared such as I only date vampires or if you dont sparkle we cant hang out or will you be my Edward? the movie brought three individuals to stardom (who we seem to see wheverwhere) Robert pattinson (Edward cullen), Kristen stuart (bella swan) and taylor lautner (Jacob black). Girls not only follow the movies but also follow the lives of the three individuals who play the roles in the movie who seem to have the same love triangle than the do in the movie. The movies raised such a huge vampire craze that new vampire shows emerged such as true blood vampire diaries. These shows do not deal with regular vampires such as shows like buffy the vampire slayer, modern vampire tv shows deal with love stories and the struggles they face.
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The twilight saga and the new vampire shows have surprisingly forced girls to have different standards for boys. A lot of vampire obsessed girls expect their boyfriends to be like a fictional character who will never exist. Since when is a boy who sparkles and stalks you for your window the ideal boyfriend? What happened to chivalry and kindness? Although we might not like to think so girls are gulable enough to change their male standards as well as their love standars to that I cant live withought you it hurts when the person I love isnt there standards that are put in place in the twilight movies. Although no real harm is being done with the vampire craze, the only potential harm is the over emphasis of romantic love and how they only live for each other, and would die without each other . After these movies vampires will never be viewed as horrifying characters in scary movies so future movie produced will be forced to alternate characters and plits n horror movies. There will mostly likely be an increase in ghost and haunting movies. As well as low budget true story films such as paranormal activity and the last exorcism. [figure 4 and 5]
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Figure 5
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At this point in time we should just accept that vampires will be in the media as characters in love stories, even if we wish they would of stayed in the horror genre. As a society we could try to boycott them but that will just lead to a lot of unhappy teen girls.
Citations 1. The History of Vampires - The Untold Story." Ancient to Modern Mythology - Gods And Monsters. Royal Mint Publishing, 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. 2. Geringer, Joseph. "VLAD THE IMPALER Man More Than Myth Crime Library on TruTV.com. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. 3. Greydanus, Steven D. "Twilight Appeal: The Cult of Edward Cullen and Vampire Love." Decent Films Guide. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. 4.
