A Cinematographic Vampire’s Tale: Understanding the Symbolism Behind the Horror Icon

Cinema is the arrange where we as viewers engage in sharing a collective dream. Certainly, horror delineations enrich us as viewers with the most dream-like of plots. This is because they open a portal into another world where we ar every(prenominal)owed to engage with our nightm bes. All over time various horror movies denominate us how normality is endangered by a monster, save the zoology who has haunted the screen like no maven is undoubtedly the lamia. According to Ivan Phillips the watch of the Vampire has drifted and shifted through the pages of newspapers, travel journals, novels, poems, comics, and plays for 300 years, it has haunted cinema and television for almost a hundred, its shadow is creeping into the social, narrative and ludic net black markets of the digital. The image of the Vampire is constantly move over in the virtual and literature culture of the twenty-first ampere-second. Although this being moved from its folkloristic origins in which he appeared in works of J. Sheridan Le Fanu, bathroom Polidori and Bram Stoker, the lamia still remains an iconic figure in Western Culture.This personage furnishs paradoxical fascination as it exists at the edges of what is deemed normal, acceptable and safe, the lamia embodies the discloseside and the unfamiliar. Although, the lamia is often seen as a bringer of death, there are numerous metaphorical meanings and readings of this being. by dint of Marxist discourse the vampire is portrayed as the monster of monopoly capitalism and the agent of foreign ownership. This idea of the bloodsucking capitalist is perceived in a negative way the Marxist community.In a xenophobic society this idea of the vampire embodies a general fear of the unfamiliar and whitethorn as well as constitute a racial difference. But the vampire not only represents the non-con constituteity it also alludes to an illicit desire. According to Jorg Waltje, this being is the embodiment of humanitys hopes and desires beauty, strength, and immortality. Although these elements do not sway fear in the same way as the vampires link with death but in the same manner they express an external behaviour which puts at risk societys st capacity.The vampire hints to a scent out of un mickletlement. Through his figure the viewer, in a quite troubled sense, comes face-to-face with the dramatization of humanity. As a creature, the vampire encompasses mens vulnerability and his inability to alter the laws of time. As Sarah Sceats states Vampires represent what we both fear and desire they evoke a marginal world of darkness, secrecy, vulnerability, excess, and horror. Whatever they are, it is positively Other. This stamp of excess was also tackled by Omar Calabrese in one of his chapters.According to Calabrese one could only escape from a closed system through this belief of excess. The vampire represents this excess as he personifies those aspects excluded or rejected by society, its existence in itself de notes excess. In addition to this, Calabrese associates this vampiric excess to the exotic erotic which alludes to the s evokedal and breaks the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. In this sense the vampires pang is linked with the erotic. Further to this explicit erotic act we view an unavoidable act with death.It was Bram Stoker which explored this notion in his novel Dracula. In the scene, where Lucy dies we see an profuse use of the erotic She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there the pointed teeth, the bloodstained, voluptuous m bulgeh which it do one shudder to see the exclusively carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucys sweet purity. Through this, Bram Stolker illustrates us with an example of how death is linked to the erotic. The notion of excess is repetitively used and reused by Stolker. In fact, he describes Lucy as a nightmare hich it made one shudder to see As viewers, as spud enthusiasts or as junkies of th e silver screen, we have grown accustomed to think that nothing happens outside of the frame. Yet this idea seems to crumble to the ground when it comes to Dreyers, Vampyr. The latter haunts us with a distinctly innerving sense of not knowing where anyone is, creating a feeling that anything culd be happening beyond the frame, in the blind space in which the monsoter lurks. Visually speaking, Vampyr resembles jean Epsteins La Chute de la Maison de Usher and Bunuels Un Chien Andalou.Dreyers horror movie encapsulates clear moments of crossover between the two movements. Therefore Vampyr distinguished itself from other movies of the same writing style because of the various artistic influences which left their imprint. Comparison can also be drawn between more contemporary movies which are not necessarily classify under an artistic movement but which are still relevant to vampire studies. Coppolas movie is separated by decades from its predecessors and is more straight forward in th e narration of chargets.Visual metaphors are central to its get hold ofic structure and the American directors interpretation is completely submerged in blood, but while this film is heavily conditioned by an erotic element, the scenes of blood in Vampyr are scarce. The spots of blood carry psychoanalytic connotations. Barbara Creed states that the manifestation of horror is culturally and socially constructed through the images of blood, vomit, pus. shit etc. These images emphasize a split between the law of the father and the maternal influence. This division has to be viewed under a pre-Oedipal quarter of thought.In this stage there is a fierce attachment to the maternal figure. In Dreyers vampire movie, blood is linked to the maternal entity because Chopin punctuates the flesh and transgresses the sanctity of the be. Another overwhelming point stated by Creed is that the female vampire does not limit herself to mutating her victims into creatures which are one with the nigh t. Her victims are testimony of the vampires ability to destabilize traditional gender definitions. Although lesbian connotations are often attributed to this particular flick, there is no real intimacy between Leon and Chopin.The scene in which Chopin feeds upon her junior prey, does not communicate a sense of desire. The village doctor who is at the service of Chopin, does not coincide with the medical man who represents a positive force in the traditional gothic horror narrative. In Coppolas Dracula, based on Bram Stockers novel, Van Helsing is an educated individual and an adversary to the malevolent vampire. The doctor sucks the blood from the alimentation thanks to the transfusion equipment notwithstanding as Chopin uses fangs. The victim of the doctors bloodsucking, artificial technique is grizzly.He is the character who often looks at the actions taking place by standing(a) behind doors or windows he is an outsider peering in. In fact, colour is removed from the narrati ve action even as he witnesses the first death. David Bordwell believed that Gray is a curious character and he is more of a mediator than a provocateur of action. However, Gray still possesses an active and enunciating gaze. This male characters get up is often hindered by other characters, by the props and also by buildings. What is so overwhelming about Vampyr is the collision between reality and the supernatural.Everything seems to take place within a dream-like state and the movie is ephemeral, polysemic and shifting, provoking opinion and polarising debate. The movie afflicts the viewer with dissonance and discomfort, especially when our gaze meet Chopins stare as Gray is sealed in the coffin. The latter is an artefact which shares an endless tradition with the general notion of vampirism. It is the space where these beings retreat and hide away from the daylight. The coffin is the body-fitting nook where Dracula and enumerate Orlock patiently wait their time to rise while the vessel is sailing.This tomb or repository is the most vampiric of all enclosure. Gray finds himself trapped in a coffin and at this point in the movies chronology, the spectatorial gaze is doubly trapped, within the confines of a sealed coffin and the unflinching dead body. As the coffin containing Grays corpse is being carried away, the procession passes next to Grays unconscious body. In Vampyr, the element of the doppelganger has a heavy resonation. Vampyr is venerated amongst lovers of the genre even though movie makers throughout those years did not have the present technological resources.Old, B&W, silent movies may seem alien in form and content to upstarter generations, moreover what nearly of these past flicks embody inextinguishable artistic and human values. Weve already drawn remarks on Coppolas remake of Bram Stockers narrative work into film. Long before the release of this movie, the most haunting of any attempt to dramatize Bram Stockers novel was Murnaus Nos feratu. There is a vehement resemblance between Murnaus vampire and the one lurking in the book. What is it that viewers find so terrifying about Nosferatu?Is it the vampires appearance and inhuman gestures? Does he embody the general notion that we fear whatever we cannot explain or understand through rational thought process? As consumers, for there is no better way to call old(prenominal) movie enthusiasts, we ought to dig deeper and deeper into the sequence of images. Most of the time denotations come with connotations and it is up to us to fish out such hidden meanings. The imagery in Murnaus movie suggests the concept of repression and the arch is a visual leit motif in the film.Arches and similar structures try to stop the vampire from emerging. Count Orlock is therefore a repressed force who is also linked to Jonathan via these same arches. In a memorable scene in the movie, the Count emerges from under an arch and Jonathan from another as they meet for the first time. Jo nathan is also linked to the menacing creature through the house which stands on the opposite side to his. Count Orlock purchases this house, thus becoming the young mans objurgation. Jonathan is a loving companion to Nina while Nosferatu becomes a demonic alternative husband.Nosferatu contains numerous references to a number of traditional or cultural elements. Myths about Persephone and Orpheus also produce an echoing effect through this vampire movie. Nosferatu was not meant to float in its own air bubble, separated from all other influences and ideas. Murnau transfuses into the motion picture the product of a synthesis. This adaptation of Dracula, which donated to all lovers of the horrific this thin, repulsively bald being, dates back to the heyday of expressionist conjuration.What come into collision are the natural and the fantastic. These two distant realms are central to Nosferatu yet neither dominates the film. The viewer cannot but notice the obsession with scan space and the obrusive sets. Like Tabu, Nosferatu is primarily set in natural surroundings and both of Murnaus movies deal with a menace. The latter diffuses into an ordinary world and out of a fantastic, paranormal world. Nosferatu portrays an animal-like being (a mixture between a rat and a human skeleton) who is constantly associated with nature throughout the film.Even Count Orloks movements does not coincide with those of a human being , in fact even his castle is like a natural continuation of the oscillate thus the true protagonist in Nosferatu is Nature which is closely linked with its natural settings. In Nosferatu, Murnau used a sort of trick photography also with expressionist angle shots. As Gilberto Perez Guillermo suggests these specific techniques are used to illustrate a remote, fragmented and bizarre environment. Nosferatu is generally seen from distance and this gives us the impression that the nocturnal creature is merging itself with the surrounding nature.Murnau suc ceeded into creating an iconic- power image through which he shows Nosferatu as seemingly immensely tall. In particular the scene where the vampire is standing on the deck of the vessel which is no longer conducted by a human being. Murnau makes also the use of the negative image, this technique is ideal to express mystery, fantasy, and unreality. This negative image basically involves an X-ray photograph, in this film it was used when Jonathan was being carried into the land of phantoms in Count Orlocks weird carriage.The three movies which have been discussed so far are all based on similar, if not identical, themes. In each case the relationship between the female character and the sponge represented by the vampire is at the heart of the movies plot. Guillermo del Toro took on a different approach and directed a vampire movie which derailed from the norm set up by the previously discussed films. Narrative-wise, Cronos ignores the myth of the Count and focuses on a device that ca uses transformations to take place within the main characters physique.The Cronos looks like an insect which shares some sort of a mutual parasitic relationship with its victim. Apart from a different take on the blood-sucking creatures myth, Cronos proposes characters which are marked by an implied absence. Del Toros movie might represent a nostalgic look at the past in the sense that the long-gone years receive a physical dimension be to the present. The main character in this Mexican Gothic is a perfect illustration of this notion. deliveryman Gris is the purveyor of antiques and guardian of the new dawn the latter being Aurora.What distinguishes Jesus Gris with Dieter de la Guardia, the dying industrialist who is aware of the Cronos true nature and powers are there past scars which must be dealt with in modern times. On the one overhaul the scars of Jesus are related to family life while on the other Dieter de la Guardia is at the mercy of an ailing health. Above all else, t he Cronos is a interest hybrid of science and nature and the golden case is said to hold an insect which lives off human blood. In return the creature rejuvenates its bearer and prolongs his life, violent death off the threat posed by corruptible, material flesh.The device is needed by de la Guardia because it surpasses the technology of modern times. Only the Cronos can discover what technology has failed in. There also lies a fine parallelism between de la Guardia and the angels statue. The mans body is full of holes just like the archangels interior which is infested by cockroaches and if the statue reminds us of the divine, the deteriorating human body indicates an inevitable ending. Erotism is a stranger to the films plot, yet del Toros work delves into universal dreams, such as eternal youth and the conflict between life and death.Jesus caries the device while de la Guardia holds the instructions Jesus is the unsuspecting individual who comes across an artifact of mysteriou s powers and who ends owning itself to it. The Cronos dehumanizes him and his need for human blood becomes more prominent as the film unfolds. entirely as the insect feeds upon the blood of the devices holder, the latter ends up developing an appetite for human blood. Viewers have grown accustomed to having a female figure within vampire stories. Whether the woman is a prey, a victim or an object of desire, she has been instrumental to Draculas and Vampyrs storyline.In Cronos, Aurora plays the role of the love interest for which the monster must make his sacrifice. Transformation and shifting of form does not limit itself to Jesus metamorphosis, but it also manifests itself in the relationship between the vampire and the female figure. The erotism is replaced by an innocent, filial love. Contrasting and comparing characters and plots allows us to point out what is present in one movie and absent in another. some(prenominal) characters from different filmic works may share the same attributes or characteristics, while others may interpret the same role but in a totally different manner.The so-called assistant, the faithful follower who is at the service of his master, is present in all four films discussed so far. However Angel, the nephew of de la Guardia, is not as submissive as Renfield and the village doctor. Angels mode of thinking is simply capitalistic. He yearns for his uncles wealth and represents the cynical angel. In contemporary popular culture the power of the vampires bite did not vanish but in some manner it did change. We can see this notion through the creation of diverse pop culture vampires such as Angel and Spike in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).These modern vampires have been desexualized and de-victimized because they only obtain and drink blood from butchers. Now the vampire is made more human and this highlights the fact that contemporary vampires have a more mundane appearance. In the new millennium the vampire seeme d to have changed from a creature of fear to a creature of sympathy and emulation. This is made more evident in online discourse about the vampire. As argued by bloody shame Williamson in her book Lure of the Vampire, in the virtual world the vampire is perceived as a forgivable outcast and thus we sympathize with him.In Facebook, a social network used by millions in the world the presence of this being is very strong. Through one particular operation called Vampire application we see several imitations of the folkloric tradition of the vampire. This application is diffused from one exploiter to another via a virtual bite. During this process a user is sent an invitation to enrol himself to such application, were the user gets to interact with other individuals who share their interest and curiosities about this subject.Users get to fight other vampires, fill their hunger or feed upon weaker vampires. Once cravings for this so called virtual-violence are stated by many, users can also send gestures such as hugs to their nearest companions. Feeding and fighting are the highlight of this application were vampires get points and money for doing so which than they can be exchanged for weapons or to improve their senses or powers . In this application placing someone in a suit will result in losing all their fights for two consecutive days, which is quite a deal breaker.This application also embraces violence amongst friends. Some of the many options this application boasts are the way one can attack another throughout the Facebook community. This application is filled with the erotic this notion solidifies the traditional elements of the transgressive vampire. At each and every single level the vampires abilities achieves a new rank and this creates a new type of vampire. As noticed by Mary Williamson in the virtual world this being is not perceived as an outcast but rather a fundamental figure through which players communicate. In the online world the vampires have become a part of a different ritual, a social ritual by which relationships and friendships are maintained and expanded. In this application, what used to frighten about this creature is eliminated and instead it is accepted. In fact, with the loss of penetration of the bite the vampire is de-sexualized and sanitized. According to Calabrese, the vampire represents only a slight alteration beyond what is socially accepted and thus it represents the shifting of limits. When confronted by an acceptable excess, the limit is simply moved (perhaps to a considerable distance) in order to absorb it.When in the virtual world, elements like blood and the penetration of the bite are removed the virtual vampire becomes the monster that is us. In the twentieth century, sympathy for this being has grown bigger. In fact as stated by Williamson, this being has generated new implications and attitudes towards the self in the twentieth century. There is a great desire to imitate the vampire not as a rebellious figure but rather to imitate a bohemian outsiderdom which locates the individual as the desirable outsider, the sympathetically alienated. In the virtual context perception of the self becomes fluid and flexible.As it is no longer linked with the body but it is highly linked with the fulfilment of desires. In this sense identity is constructed as one desires. The virtual identity can be understood through the Lancian psychoanalytic theory. In the online world the virtual identity is not reflected but is rather constructed the subject is not created in the reflection but rather in the digital composite. This leads us to do a parallelism between the vampire and the virtual identity. According to Shannon Winnubst, the site represents the mirror reflection in which an individual forms and constructs his ideas about the self.On the other hand the vampire in lacking a mirror reflection, does not even register on the radar of identity-formation he does not have the necessa ry condition for the possibility of becoming a subject. Also Rhonda Wilcox explored this theme using the inventive Id and the Jungian shadow. According to Wilcox the online body represents the negative aspect of ones personality. In this manner the vampire is portrayed as the doppelganger of the victim before it was biten. Stokers Lucy and Angel in Buffy are the perfect examples,Stokers Lucy from chaste to ripely erotic, or perhaps the souled and soulless incarnations of Angel in Buffy so too does the virtual body provide opportunity for the vampiric shadow to find form in cyberspace. As stated by Wilcox, the imaginative Id illustrates the unconscious which is repressed and which encourages the pre-vampiric identity to free itself. In this sense online where the personality is fluid the wishes of the Id can be fulfilled as there are no repercussions which constitute some sort of restriction in the corporeal world. When talking about horror movies there is a subtle difference betwe en the onster and the human being. But as indicated in films by Dreyer, Murnau, Coppola and Guillermo del Toro a strong link exists between the two beings. The myth and the vampire have always been subjects of debates. Although there are number of similarities and differences between Vampyr and Nosferatu yet both films show us the vampire as being more than just a blood sucking, nocturnal creature but it is also the representation of the darkest corners of the human psyche For this is one of the functions of our monsters to help us constrict our own humanity, to provide guidelines against which we can define ourselves.