Grading

When I'm graded for this project, I hope to receive good marks because I've followed all the given requirements for a blog as best as I could, without being provided with an example of a previous blog that received high marks. I've put quite a bit of work into making my blog visually appealing, as well as providing a variety of information and sources.

An Interesting Psychological Viewpoint

This video has an interesting viewpoint about the meaning behind vampires.

What Does It All Mean?

There are a few different theories about what vampires symbolize for society. As a fan myself, I have my own thoughts, but I'll save those for the end.

 In an article in the December 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic, Patrick McCormick draws parallels between the vampires of True Blood and Daybreakers and issues in society today. According to McCormick, the vampires in True Blood represent the "perceived threats posed to traditional values and homeland security by same-sex marriage and illegal aliens," [McCormick, 41], while the unsustainable consumption of their food source in Daybreakers is a reference to mankind's consumption of global resources.  In Rodney Clapp's article "Vampires among us" he compares vampires with terrorists, seemingly normal people living among us with malevolent intent. Jeffrey Weinstock argues that it would much more accurate to say that vampires represent more than just "the metaphorical embodiment of sexual desire, capitalist exploitation, viral contagion, or virulent xenophobia," [Weinstock, 5], but rather a combination of all of them. 

I agree with Weinstock myself. Trying to fit the role vampires play in terms of the psychological representation they provide for society into just one small classification is just inaccurate. Each individual associates vampires differently in their mind, not to mention what they associate each different vampire character with. Vampire symbolism has become much more complex as vampires have moved beyond 2-dimensional monster stereotypes and into the realm of individual characters.

Midnight Hysteria

Here's a news clip from Kansas City covering the midnight opening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 that came out earlier this month. They talk to some of the fans who have been camped out in line hours before the initial screening of the movie.

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.