[T]he growing interest in stories like the Twilight saga could see “real”
vampires emerge from the underground and into the daylight.

University of Western Sydney Associate Professor Adam Possamai, who
specialises in sociology of religion, said the growing number of “vampires”
was an example of hyper-real religions – new faiths that draw on religion,
philosophy and popular culture to create their own beliefs.

He said people had been interested in vampires since the 1970s, particularly
the super-human abilities of vampires.

[penrith-press.whereilive.com.au]

That 1970's timeline seems right...it was about then that "Interview with a Vampire" was released by Ann Rice. Then came the vampire board games ("Masquerade", I think it was called, help me out if you know) to try and capitalize on the "Dungeons and Dragons" cult-following phenomenom.

Here is a website that is there for "vampires" and "vampire culture" (I shit you not):

[www.vampire-nation.com]
Click on the bloody title "Vampire Nation" to enter the site.

And if you truly wish to work at a goth-club, goth-clothing store or tattoo parlour for your career and live above your parents garage or in their basement, you may want to stock up on fake fangs, clothing that will guarantee you only make minimum wage and attract all the wrong guys/gals, and other pointless things like useless and ugly jewelry, check out the ultimate "vampire superstore" on-line!

[www.vampfangs.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2010 06:46AM by Sparky.

Oerlikon, I posted your interesting link from your OP over at cult news:
[www.cultnews.net]

It will not be visible to unregistered users until rrmderator approval.

Your links and headlines might be better appreciated at Cult News, which is part of RRI.

Cult News is my go-to daily "newspaper"...my "Drudge Report".

There is a chapter on Goths in a book edited by Jeffrey Kaplan entitled
Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization.

He suggests that in come cases, this interest in vampires can be part of age related rite of passage and an attempt to grapple with the realities of life and death.

If one grows up in nicey-nice suburbia amid American positive thinking, success driven middle class culture, one might indeed find the vampire goth subculture an effective and appealing way to act out and integrate emotions and ideas one cannot fully express.

(When I was a teenager, long, long ago, I remember when the big shows were Night Gallery, Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, The Munsters , and Dark Shadows Vincent Price was on the telly, and we compared notes on whether we dared to go see The Exorcist and, if we saw it, whether we had slept with the lights on afterwards. )

But, making a long term religion out of vampires entails a commitment far beyond the kind of dallying we youngsters did.

This citation via Googlebooks will take you to page 148 in the chapter where some of this can be read.

[books.google.com]

another citation

[books.google.com]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2010 10:52PM by corboy.

Oh dear.

This researcher isn't worth his salt if he thinks people got interested in vampires in the 1970s. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was published in 1897, and it wasn't the first vampire tale (I think Stoker kind of cribbed it from folklore etc). "Nosferatu", one of the first, if not the very first, vampire movies, came out in 1921. Ever since then vampires have been a big part of popular culture.

It's interesting to think about why - we (society) project onto vampires all kinds of stuff from our own psyches having to do with death, sex, power, love. Pretty major themes.

Anyway, I didn't get the impression this researcher was suggesting that vampires are really a new religion. It's more just that they dominate popular culture at the moment. It's on a par with Star Trek and Star Wars devotees (remember them?). Fun, mostly harmless, a few take it too far.

margarets, you are correct about Bram Stoker doing the first popular vampire novel. However, there was nothing remotely attractive about Count Dracula, from his murdering (feeding) on babies to sleeping habits (sleeping in boxes full of the earth he was buried in), etc. He was a monster through and through. The early vampire films hardly make one envious of them.

These new vampire novels/films (Anne Rice, especially) kicked off a new sleek, interesting, beautiful vampire. Then came the copy cats (like the Twilight series introducing vampires that eat only animal blood and sparkle in the daylight).

Both of these novel (and film) treatments focuses on the tale from the vampire's point of view. Both also showcase interesting and different powers from flying (Lestat of Anne Rice fame) to the joyful and playful vampires playing in the sun in Twightlight. The horror/monster is gone.

Now people (albeit younger people) reportably are nipping one another's neck in a non-hicky like way...a true bite. Talk about chance of serious infection!

If you check out the links I provided for the Vampire Nation and Vampire Fangs store in my post above you will find people are wearing this crap in a new sub-culture of goth.

The Vampire Nation goes so far as to identify people who allow "vampires" to actually drink their blood. Lets hope they don't have Hepititis C.

I see what you're saying Sparky. But I don't see it as a real problem. E.g. we've had evil, nasty, destructive space aliens in pop culture and funny, kind, helpful space aliens, and nothing bad came of it, other than maybe some people wasted their time and money.

Acutally, you could pick pretty much any group (gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc) and trace its depiction in popular culture, and see all kinds of real-life cultural stuff getting worked out in it, but often it has a miniscule influence on the real-life culture.

Granted, it's lame to wear plastic fangs over your teeth, but ... whatevs. Women started wearing giant fake flowers and name necklaces for a while because they saw it on 'Sex and the City'. Life goes on.

Oh, re; the blood-drinking, if that's even real... euw. But hey, people are out there having unprotected sex. Bad idea, but not illegal.

This is a new item being hawked at Vampfangs. It seems to be retractable fangs.

I guess all good vampires can wear them unseen at their day job and then go out for an after work "drink".

[www.youtube.com]

Seriously, who buys these things so there is a market for them?

I could see actors or set directors staging the play "Dracula", I could see Halloween parties or even amatuer film makers. Besides that, what is the allure unless you want to keep living in your parents basement?

While aliens have spured the growth of sci-fi cults (Heaven's gate, Scientology, Raelians) vampire cults are also starting. About 15 years ago or so there was vampire "clan" arrested for murder and blood drinking:

[www.trutv.com]

Also see other Vampire inspired idiocy:
(this first link is included only for the photos and story of the "vampires". I didn't find a proper link but remember this arrest. The website so linked seems to be selling crap and preaching a bit further down...be forewarned)
[www.tldm.org]

And then from the BBC:

[news.bbc.co.uk]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2010 11:04PM by Sparky.

OK, so, I'm trying to follow the logic. Is anyone suggesting that the current ubiquity of vampires in pop culture is leading to the formation of true cults (as commonly defined by cult researchers)? I.e. harmful, destructive cults?

A few nutjob serial killers doesn't make a cult. Serial killers are always fascinated by something, usually something related to violence and death. No surprise there. But if it's not vampires it will be something else - Nazis, violent video games, other serial killers.

It's the old chicken-and-egg debate about where violent behaviour comes from. Literally everyone in Western society has been exposed to vampire mythology but clearly most of us are immune to its ill effects. So I don't think the mythology is all that powerful unless it intersects with someone's pre-existing psychological isses, violent tendencies and so on.

On the other hand, there's this:

[www.npr.org]