The Twilight Saga Redefining the Vampire Essay - 837 Words

When the word â€Å"vampire† comes to mind, people think of the traditional pale-faced, malicious bloodsuckers, sporting a cape and killing people when they’re sleeping. Wrong! Nowadays, the image of a vampire is a handsome, polite, and loving person who protects humans. The new cultural phenomenon Twilight is building a new degrading image for vampires that slaps the face of all previous authors, directors, writers, etc. who contributed to giving the monster its unique image in the past. Simply searching through articles, databases, and other resources, vampires are depicted as malicious and monstrous creatures. First off, the vampire is famous for its dark and mysterious image affiliated with fear and death. In many ways, â€Å"the vampire can†¦show more content†¦Vampires unique characteristics represent the â€Å"fears of the cultures which produce them†(Stevens par.2). An example of a societal vampire could be Adolph Hitler and the Nazis during World War 2. People viewed Germany as a war machine that spread fear and sucked the life out of Europe with propaganda, concentration camps, and savage war tactics. During World War 2, Hitler had â€Å"come to embody the oblique fear of death and those who bring it, but also a variety of behaviors, conditions, and associations which are deemed outside or unacceptable to the society,†(Stevens par. 4) exactly like monstrous and horrific actions viewed normal in a vampires behavior. Metaphorically spea king, a vampires could be corporate monopolies preying on small businesses or drugs and alcohol reaping havoc on the health and well-being of others. As you can see, a metaphoric vampire carries a negative and savage image like the fictional monster. Furthermore, vampires are depicted as evil and frightening monsters because of the contributions from folklore and fiction. The new cultural phenomenon â€Å"Twilight† has given the vampire a new image. The storyline consists of a girl named Bella who moves to a new town in Washington, and eventually meets a vampire named Edward Cullen, and they fall in love. Jennifer Esposito’s article, â€Å"Vampires, Vixens, and Feminists: An analysis of Twilight† states, rather