- 上一篇：初中英语教学现状分析与对策
- 下一篇：从中西方文化差异探讨大学英语教学中的文化教育
2.1 The Origin of Vampire Images in Religious Beliefs 3
2.2 The Customs of Vampire Images in Religious Beliefs 5
3 The Development of Vampire Images 8
3.1 Vampire as Horrible Images 8
3.2 Humanized Vampire Images 12
4 Reasons for the Development of Vampire Images 14
4.1 The Changes of Attitude Towards Religion 15
4.2 The Influence of Post-modernism 17
5 Conclusion 19
1 Introduction
There is a soaring interest in vampire-related literatures and movies. The vampire characters have expressed the theme of people’s self-awareness of society and humanity fate and have become a special cultural landscape. The paper will explore how the vampire figure is shaped and developed. Corpus of our analysis includes two of the most popular books and films to date: Dracula and The Twilight. The aim of this study is to interpret and analyze the transformation of vampire cultural backgrounds. It also presents the development of humanism in Western society from the 19th century to 20th century as well.
Exploring people’s obsession with the ancient, dark, dangerous, blood-lusty figure of the vampire, Ken Gelder (1994:24) gives a rather personal answer to the ‘why vampires?’ question: “The answer, for me, lies primarily in their unfailing ability to fascinate. That is, they evoke a response that is not entirely ‘rational’ a response that may sit somewhere in between disbelief and, in fact, a suspension of disbelief.” According to Gelder, the problem of the belief is central to the fiction for ideological reasons, as it is meant to trigger a certain reaction, active force, or emotion. Overall, what Gelder’s book does is to embed vampires in their cultural contexts, proving that such narratives are actually concerned with the anxieties and fascinations of their times: from 19th century investments in travel and tourism, issues of national identity, colonialism and sexuality, to queer identity, rebellious adolescence and family issues.
Dracula, the famous vampire figure in the novel of the same name is based on two famous historical figures, the Romanian figure Vlad Ţepeş and the Hungarian figure Erzsébet Báthory. Vlad Ţepeş was used to be impaled by his enemies, and the notorious Erzsébet Báthory was allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth. Since then the vampire has become a popular mythological figure. Over the past thirty years, the vampire has undergone several reconstructions, while taboos related to it have been challenged and refashioned. Capturing people’s imaginations across time and cultures, the vampire has gained wide appreciation especially among the young generation nowadays. Although vampires were at first depicted as repulsive and rather limited ‘bloodsuckers’, they have become more sociable, attractive and seductive creatures, constantly evolving and adapting to new environments, milieus, cultures and media including cartoons, video games, music and so on. Vampire characters share some common features in various media. They do not age. They have hypnotic powers over their victims. They have enormous strength and speed. Gradually, the vampire becomes “domesticated”, as the focus changes from terror and savagery to be humanlike. The vampire has thus moved away from his traditional role as antagonist and turned into a sexually magnetic “all-American hero, with the added advantages of his super strength, magical talents and utter gorgeousness” (Wright, 2001:56).
This thesis focuses on vampire culture, the origins of the vampire image and different beliefs of vampires in different times. Also it gives some reasons for the popularity of vampire culture in recent times. Contrast demonstrates, verification and literature data collection are the research methods. The thesis compares and analyzes the difference of images and features of vampires in the different periods. And by presenting the evolution of vampire images, the paper illustrates the influence of humanism on vampire culture in the two centuries.