Portrayal of vampires in cult tv - Dissertation Example

End Notes Introduction Vampires have haunted the pages of history since times immemorial; in most cultures around the world, there has been a confluence of these creatures and people have created a sense of fear and associated these mythical wonders with a sense of peril. But what are they? Vampires have been described as “blood sucking ghosts or souls of dead people superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night, sucking the blood of those that sleep and thus, causing their untimely death.

” (Easton, 2009). Many people correlate vampires with bats; they say that during the day bats hang asleep and at night time, they come alive in the form of these blood sucking creatures. People have instilled in themselves a sense of dread and terror because of the idea of a vampire. They have believed that these creatures should not be allowed to live. Most legends suggest killings of vampires to eradicate them from the face of the planet, because they ‘do not belong’. However, in the 21st century, today, people have come to terms with the fact that vampires do not exist (Sklar, Rachel).

Most people do not believe in the supernatural and idea of immortality in this day and age of fast communication, information and technology. Even then, the idea of maybe having such creatures around and existing excites a vast amount of the population of the world. As seen with time, the most popular form of entertainment has usually been in the form of fiction or letting people think about what ‘might’ exist. Thus, much the same way, vampires have been popularised today through television, books and movies.

People crave an understanding of things that have not yet been explained by scientists or do not have reason. Staying alive eternally, having super powers to carry out tasks etc are things that human beings get thrilled with because they are not able to do so. It is because of an endless thirst of curiosity that people want to know more and more and try and delve into the unknown. It is because of the same reason that today, people are eager to know about vampires and whether or not they do exist in real life.

People often wonder, ‘what if there is a vampire amongst me and all the people I interact with?’ Scary and exciting as it may be, all this has led to the creation of very popular vampire cult television; series that depict forms of vampires, interacting with normal human beings on a daily basis, doing everything they do - and a little more. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, these immortal beings have been reflected over the years with dramatic changes in their characteristics and surroundings.

In television most of the current “Vampire Series” have achieved a “cult” status. As Roberta Pearson (2010) explains “As a quick google will show, the term “cult television” flourishes beyond the confines of academia in the virtual world and, by implication, in the “real” world.” The word “cult” depicts a religious group that is devoted to, or even obsessive about what they believe in. The term “Cult Television” is somewhat close to this. It is a term gained for a show that has an obsessive or even extreme following; a show that might not have been appreciated when it was first broadcast and is a step away from the mainstream.

“There is no single quality that characterizes a cult text; rather, cult texts are defined through a process in which shows are positioned