Fan Sites

Here is a list of links for some fan sites for some of the movies and television shows I've mentioned throughout my blog. These fan sites are an example of the level of dedication fans feel for the characters. These sites feature any tidbit of information relating to the actors, characters, or authors involved with the movie or television show.

Twilight Fan Sites

• twilighters.org
• bellaandedward.com
• twilightlexicon.com
• twilightersanonymous.com

Vampire Diaries Fan Sites

• vampire-diaries.net
• thevampirediariesfansite.net
• the-vampirediaries.com

True Blood Fan Sites

• true-blood.net 
• truebloodfan.org
•  trueblood-online.com

Another Short Video

Teenage Market

Teenagers provide a large market for vampire media. any bookstore you walk into will have a section for vampire books in the YA area and movies and shows such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, are marketed for teens and young adults. Especially after the release of Twilight, vampire novels for young adults flooded the market and, along with other paranormal fiction, still dominate that market today.  I was 15 when Twilight came out and especially once the movie adaptation was released, it seemed like every YA novel released was about vampires or angels or werewolves.

Teen Vampire Fascination

What I like about this video is that it gives a breakdown of what attracts teenagers to books like Twilight. I do find the idea that parents can really control what their kids are reading, especially when these books are available at the school or local public library, as a bit naive.

Transformation

Another development in the vampire canon has been the issue of being turned into a vampire. Each movie, book, or television show has a different approach. In the Tim Burton film Dark Shadows, all that's required is a bite from a vampire to trigger the transformation. The Vampire Diaries gets a little more involved: a human must die with vampire blood in their system to return as a vampire. In Twilight vampires are venomous and once their venom enters a human's blood stream, 3 days of excruciating pain ensue before the new vampire is "born." In Dark Lover, the first book in the adult paranormal romance series The Black Dagger Brotherhood, we learn that vampires are a separate race and that one is born a vampire rather than being turned into one. In the Underworld universe, vampires can be born or turned. This is just another area of the vampire myth that has been overhauled in the past decade.

Choices

Vampires in pop culture today are not inherently evil. Like humans they can choose their own path. This is prominently seen in vampire romance novels, as discussed in an article by Helen T. Bailie. She references many adult romance novels that portray vampires not as soulless demons created by the devil, but as individuals making their own choices."The evil vampire makes a deliberate choice to embrace his darker nature, while the vampire hero not only struggles against the temptation but will sacrifice himself rather than succumb to it." [Bailie, 143] This allows the vampire to be a hero or a villain, lending the vampire a level of complexity not achieved by the stereotypical vampire of previous decades, and people can easily relate to that internal struggle. Vampires have become more human than monster, with vampirism being viewed and treated more as an addiction or disease.

Everyone Has a Weakness

No longer do traditional means of vampire slaying apply. More often in popular media the stereotypical vampire repellants (i.e. garlic, holy water, crucifixes) have no effect. Many other stereotypes are also discarded, including the absence of a reflection and even the inability to go out in sunlight. The characters in Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' Den of Shadows series can go out in the sunlight and can even go inside churches with no negative side-effects. The vampires on The Vampire Diaries can go out in the sunlight with magically spelled daylight rings. They have reflections and are unaffected by garlic or holy water. However, a wooden stake to the heart, removal of the heart or head, and sunlight when not wearing a daylight ring are all fatal. Also, vampires are severely injured and impaired by an herb called vervain. If a person has vervain in their system or has it on them ( inside of a locket for example), they are safe from a vampire's compulsion. In the book/movie Twilight, vampires have no weakness, save being torn apart by another vampire or werewolf and then the pieces being burned. These changes to the vampire myth have allowed the modern vampire characters to further blend into society.