On Vampirism

We are immortal. And what we have before us are the rich feasts that conscience cannot appreciate and mortal men cannot know without regret. God kills, and so shall we; indiscriminately He takes the richest and the poorest, and so shall we; for no creatures under God are as we are, none so like Him as ourselves, dark angels not confined to the stinking limits of hell but wandering His earth and all its kingdoms.

—Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1)

In our dying world of the 21st century, the once-sacred essence of Vampirism and the Gothic Arts slowly decays. The mainstream media has, I'm afraid, killed them. Movies like Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, have drained every last drop of their poetry, leaving behind only a glittering corpse, fetishized and hollow. Gothic Art, what was once raw, rebellious, and sublime has been reduced to a cheap masquerade, a Halloween costume for the uninvited.

Vampirism:

Vampirism has been scrubbed off of all its raw, horrifying reality and instead primed and polished to fit a Romance troupe. These Vampires they portray aren't monsters but smirking villains their main character, often self insert falls for. They're handsome, have sharp lines, are always smirking and seem to be obsessed with the main character, oftentimes wanting to “own” her. They're always out dressed in black, make a big deal out loud about sunlight, and comment on how the main character’s blood “entices them” and how they are “starved”. In its RAWEST sense, this troupe as a Romance genre isn't really bad, but what's bad is that it has scrubbed off the actual dirt. Vampirism as a Concept isn't pretty or glamourous. For Newborn Vampires, It's dealing with this crippling sickness that after turning swallows you whole. The slow loss of Humanity. The weakness that follows later, because as a newborn vampire you're not yet comfortable with the idea of drinking blood. Then being starved to the point to fire at ANYTHING for a meal. But that's on Turning. Real vampires are bloodsucking monsters. If one tells a story about this creature that sustains itself by drinking blood, it would be horrifying to anyone. Picture a predator with long teeth hunting humans down. If it learnt to shapeshift, to look human, no one would ever be safe. In History, Vampires were feared because they were seen AS. THEY. ARE. as monsters. Thus, people that were suspected to be Vampires were buried with cages making sure they do not rise again.

Vampires were originally thought to be monstrous because humans could not imagine NOT being on the top of the food chain and having a potential predator that sustains itself from blood. Some ACTUAL good examples of vampires, apart from Classics like Dracula & Carmilla, are from Author Anne Rice’s Universe, characters Louis De Point Du Lac, Lestar de Lioncourt, Claudia & Armand. Val Helsing from the 2004 movie, although about a vampire hunter and vampires being portrayed as the antagonists, did a fantastic job at showing the actual reality of how real vampires are. Hungry. Wild. Dangerous.

Hematophagy & Reproduction & Blood:

It is empathy and humanity that poses vampires as bloodthirsty monsters. Which begs the question, “One wouldn't call a tiger monstrous for hunting deers, why vampires?" Vampires in reality could exist. Parasites exist. The Vampire Bat exists. It would be a creature that lives off of drinking blood and can't be killed unless in a very specific manner. Immortal Animals like the the Immortal Jellyfish already exist. This vampire creature however wouldn't live in Castles. It may learn to resemble humans or even shapeshifting to pose as other animals to drink their blood. Or, simply, it could be as tiny as a tick. Back to Parasites.

The Reproduction in Vampires happens through turning. A vampire is dead, has no heartbeat and therefore cannot regulate body temperature enough to reproduce. Thus, depending on which mythology you read into, in some any victim of a vampire turns into a vampire, in others there's a special vampire venom that they insert in humans to turn them. In Interview with the Vampire universe, to turn, a human must drink a vampire's blood. That vampire would be their Maker. Again, this can also be compared to Unicellular animal reproduction methods. For example Amoebas and Bacteria all separate from 1 entity to many. Making a “parent”, and an “offspring.”

However, looking at blood from a romantic perspective, say you have a lover. Blood is the most intimate physical source of a human. It is the only fluid that has kept your lover alive, and has been passed through their heart billions of times, and all throughout their lifetime all throughout their body. And if you get to drink that, It's the closest you would ever get to their actual heart. You'd be drinking their source of Life.

Cannibalism, in love:

Vampires are often talked about alongside topics of Cannibalism which is ironic, Vampires are not humans. Them drinking human blood or eating flesh is no different than a tiger doing the same. Humans however, act LIKE ‘vampires’ when they eat other humans.

Again, Cannibalism can be extremely, extremely romantic. Back to the ‘imagine you have a lover’ example. Love, Hunger, & Starvation are all very connected. Being deprived of your lover for extended periods of time may lead to that starvation. And just being overwhelmed in love may again replicate that exact hunger. So much so a thought may cross in your head saying “God, I could eat you raw. I love you so much. ”This may lead to the thought of Cannibalism, as a metaphor for love so overwhelmingly intense you could devour them. And wouldn't it be nice to devour your sole lover? Have their flesh nourish your body? When Vampires do this, the REAL vampires, there is no love, just a desire to eat. Humans take this and add human feelings to it, like carnal devotion and thus Cannibalism as a Metaphor for Love is born.

Death & Immortality:

In mainstream media the factor of Vampires being immortal & just immortality as a concept is also glorified. Author Anne Rice is one of the only writers to have written immortality as a Curse. Anne portrays how Vampirism destroys lives. How the glamour is all made up. In her universe, the Character Louis had a family that loved him dearly, that he lost. Lestat & Armand both had bright futures ahead of them that slowly rotted away. Claudia turns into a vampire as a child and never gets to grow up. The characters look for human desires like Love, Connection, Recognition & Understanding all throughout the books. All characters are terrified of ending up all alone. It's the one book series that says “Immortality isn't enough. How can I live like a human?”

When it came to loss, Immortality as a concept was created. Every living being clings to life with all their claws. From a human to a tiny cat, Death is imminent. And anything that breathes fear it. With death, comes love & loss, one thing again anything that breathes must go through. Humans however, created Immortality and Heaven, Immortality where they can never die and life goes on, becoming one with Time, never wearing down, never fading. And Heaven, where one would find everything and everyone they lost.

Lastly,

Humans are greedy. Humans grieve. Humans sin. Humans desire. Humans dream, Humans die. Humans are horrified with the permanence of death. They want more. They create religions, some religions create heavens, others create second lives.

"The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.".

— Homer. The Iliad.