One of the ways we learn about custom is through the fairy tales our caregivers tell us. Stories that are carried through the ages have messages in them that are important for our development. Through the lens of depth psychology, we often learn about what is important to a culture by studying the stories that are popular within it. Stories that recycle throughout generations and change relevant to each generation’s uniqueness are particularly of interest.
Vampire Repellent
In Bram Stoker’s original story, Dracula, (released in 1897), the vampires sucked blood to their victim’s ultimate demise, and any victim- human or animal would suffice. However in the latest twist on the theme, Twilight, the vampire legacy is being changed slightly, with some vampires choosing only the blood of animals.
What might the change in story line inform us about this very ancient fear, in depth psychological terms? Depth psychology starts by researching the symbol, and in this case, what does the symbol of a blood-sucking vampire reveal?
Blood represents life, and it can also represent creativity, especially in the sense that creativity is the energy needed to create life. In her book, On the Way to the Wedding, Linda Leonard explains the Dracula myth as revealing the nature of possession (both our human desire to possess and/or to be possessed). In our real lives we can see the myth show up in the form of obsessive jealousy, addiction, and of perpetually offering up one’s creativity (lifeblood) for the benefit of another. We might call the relationship between a vampire and its victim an (extremely unhealthy) co-dependent relationship.
If we’ve had many relationships (romantic or otherwise), we likely have at one point experienced the vampire myth come to life in a personal situation. It may be more subtle, but all of us share the tendency to draw the creativity from another.
In my view, the craze over Twilight, and even more importantly the story’s ability to find fans from many age groups and life situations, suggests a significant cultural change in the way we view relationships. To me, the Twilight vampires seem to be representative of an acknowledgment of our human tendencies to merge into one another (and suck the lifeblood of each other), but of a conscious attempt to restrict that tendency.
Do you think something is changing? Is the Twilight story reflective of a change in our cultural view of relationships? What do you attribute to its popularity?
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Tags: culture, depth psychology, Vampire
I love my regular portion of depth psychology! No need to go to the library and get books I won't understand anyway
Plus the interesting content is way to hidden for me to find it.
I always looked at Vampires from the recipient end. I played the victim role many times at costume parties.
I think it represent my shyness to reach out and take initiative. I used to be more of a reactor – almost in a kind of narcissic way.
I am also having a hard time accepting the young generation as being really into vampires. The whole story has changed quite a bit with the Twilight Series mania. Sucking the blood of animals is definitely less weird and less scary. True vampires wouldn't take these kids serious
Hi Klaus! So interesting that you raise the topic of costume parties, yes those are great venues for bringing out the secret sides of ourselves. My recent Halloween costumes would certainly tell some stories, I'm sure! Funny about vampires not taking this generation seriously, personally I'm relieved the story has taken a bit of milder turn. Thanks for reading!
The history of mankind has been about power – who has it and who is controlled by it. I think another view of this old tale is to view the Vampire through the lens of control. By dominating and controlling its victims not only through the act of blood sucking (sucking the life force out of the victim) but also forever confining the poor soul in the dark underworld of the undead describes an ultimate control scenario for the aggressor and victim – even if the victim is an animal. In which case, might follow the path of man controlling nature theme.
Jim, thanks so much for reading! I agree with you, the relationship to power is extremely important to understand, both at a personal level and from the perspective of our species. I think you're right that it does beg the question to look at how man attempts to control nature. I really appreciate your comment.
I believe Twilight is about taming the sexual force- eg by creating the vampire family overly conservatie (they´re playing baseball…seems to me absurd!) The vampire has always stood for sexual force -wich was in the vicorian age feared and later viewed upon with fascination. The autor of Twilight probably is afraid of that- think alone of the quote from genesis in the beginning- i think she is very conservative and a little afraid of sex and eroticism and tries to subdue it by "vegetarian" vampires. but that´s just my interpretation =)
Hi Rebecca,
GREAT observations! I agree with you on many fronts. Hopefully Twilight becomes a model for how to integrate the sexual force (the eventual union of the two main characters is archetypally representative of this possibility)–albeit they can barely kiss in the first book of the series- which actually further supports your points.
On a personal note, I liked how she wrote about the tension being so strong between the characters even though they barely interacted (especially physically). It was a nice reminder that there is so much going on under the surface of our physical interactions. So, I again I am hopeful that this renewed awareness to the subtleties of relationship brings renewed possibility of further integration of all the parts of our humanness, including our sexuality. But, I agree with you, I'm not sure the author's motivations and my hope for the content's meaning are in alignment.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I had a dream years ago that it was possible for people to suck one's blood over the telephone.