Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Why Vampires?
I’m not sure why, but of all the supernatural creatures, witches and vampires have held their greatest appeal.
My fascination with witches stretches so far backward in time that it's almost subliminal. I have no idea where or how it began. I only remember wanting to dress up as a witch every Halloween, but my mother preferred less gory attire. I was a cowgirl in kindergarten and a drum majorette for the next couple years, followed by a cleaning lady.
My official introduction to vampires is easier to pinpoint. A neighbor boy was obsessed with monsters and knew all the old movies that had been made about them; he got us hooked. Each summer, one television stationed offered a morning movie series called, “Creature Features,” where, for a week or two, five days a week, it broadcasted those old favorites.
Somewhere, along the way, I decided vampires held an appeal mystique than werewolves (a close second), to Frankenstein, mummies, or Godzilla. I’ve not outgrown that attraction.
My fascination with witches stretches so far backward in time that it's almost subliminal. I have no idea where or how it began. I only remember wanting to dress up as a witch every Halloween, but my mother preferred less gory attire. I was a cowgirl in kindergarten and a drum majorette for the next couple years, followed by a cleaning lady.
My official introduction to vampires is easier to pinpoint. A neighbor boy was obsessed with monsters and knew all the old movies that had been made about them; he got us hooked. Each summer, one television stationed offered a morning movie series called, “Creature Features,” where, for a week or two, five days a week, it broadcasted those old favorites.
Somewhere, along the way, I decided vampires held an appeal mystique than werewolves (a close second), to Frankenstein, mummies, or Godzilla. I’ve not outgrown that attraction.
2 comments:
Interesting! I have written about vampires because in my work they represent the "shadow" side (in its Jungian sense) of the consciousness of the society of the setting. In "Karasevdah" the 'vulkodlak' (not exactly a vampire, but nearly) represents the survival of repressed pre-Industrial Age psychology into the twentieth century. In "Queen City," the vampires represent the repressed forces of 20th/21st century society and culture which are unleashed by the resurrection of the ancient gods following the demise of the Judaeo-Christian God and the deterioration of the Judaeo-Christian spiritual and cultural heritage.
Interesting. One reviewer liked the "Jungian psychology hidden between the lines that transform a seemingly simple story into something dangerously deep" and the "myriad psychological twists and turns that ultimately make the utmost sense." Have you published any of your vampire stories? I should like to read them.
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