Christmas Task 5- Detail Essay Plan

Introduction- Introduce the question

·         Target audience

o   Primary

§  Young teenage girls

§  Age 13-18

§  Social Class

o   Secondary

·         The text

o   Give a brief outline to what the text is about.

Paragraph 1-How the vampire genre has involved over the years.

·         Genre change: The genre itself used to a pure horror and gothic genre however through times it has changed and developed into more of a hybrid genre involving romance and fantasy.

·         Past: Talk about Dracular, Nosferatu, Interview with a vampire.

·         Interview with a vampire:

o   The message behind these vampire films.

o   Scare the audience from unprotected sexual intercourse. To control sexual desires.

o   Give a bit of back history to AIDS.

o   The vampire used to be the “perfect villain” but over the years the vampire has been turn in to “a tragic hero.”

·         Now:

o   Romanticises the vampires and puts them on an unreadable pedestal which creates an image of so called perfection amongst impressionable teens.

o   It has become less violent and gory.

Paragraph 2- How the genre became popular in today’s society?

·         The ideal boyfriend.

·         The chain reaction

o   Twilight

o   Vampires Dairies

o   True Blood

§  How they started to become popular.

§  Why were they more successful than the past vampire genre.

Paragraph 3- The sexual pleasure gained from this genre.

·         Vampires are humans at their worst. When they let their sexual desires take over them. They represent the “bad” males of the world.

·         Therefore Edward Cullen is the ideal man because he is restricting himself.

o   Not drinking human blood.

o   Not sleeping with Bella until after marriage.

·         Twilight promotes abstinence. 

·         Gender roles being switched

o   Bella pressurises for sex.

o   Feminist view, Feminist theories.

·         The characters themselves.

o   Females

§  Bella

§  Esme

§  Rosalie

§  Alice

o   Males

§  Edward

§  Carlise

§  Emmet

§  Jasper

§  Jacob and the wolf pack.

·         Each character appeals to a different audience member and age range.

·         Talk about how the conflict between Edward and Jacob is appealing to the teenage girls.  Sexually aroused.

·         The “female gaze” towards the female characters. Always shown in a long to medium shot to show off their bodies.

Paragraph 4- The institution, Hollywood, and how it has portrayed its values and ideologies in Twilight.

·         Merchandise

·         Back history to the institution.

·          The money making scheme

·         Could mention how Hollywood are trying to portray the messages of science.

Paragraph 5- The false hope the genre gives to it audience.

·         It's detrimental to youth because it gives young girls a false image of real life love and romance and men in general. Lulls them into a false sense of security

Christmas Task 4- Additional Web Research

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2295352

“The main difference in the evolution, is you will, of the characters from the originals, in my opinion, is the addition of an object, of not just desire-for blood or some kind of sexual fulfillment-but love, or at least some kind of emotional attachment(depending on one's own interpretation).”

http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/the-vampire-genre-fangs-aint-what-they-used-to-be/

“vampire in to a tragic hero.”

http://ocs.library.dal.ca/ojs/index.php/YAHS/article/viewFile/181/215

It portrayed vampirism as a disease with its undertones of sex, blood and death.

Vampire fiction is still inspired by the story of Dracula but it has evolved over the years from an embodiment of evil to being portrayed as a more romantic and tragic character. It has become a mixed genre containing elements of romance, parody and in some cases even comedy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_film

Although vampires are generally associated with the horror genre, vampire films may also fall into the science fiction, romance, comedy or fantasy genres, among others.

The Addiction (1995) A philosophical variant on the vampire film, that uses vampirism as a metaphor for AIDS and ends with a notorious and highly sexually charged orgy of blood-sucking.

http://www.cyberpat.com/shirlsite/essays/lestat.html

Lestat, again like all vampire figures, is also symbolic of unlimited desire and he breaks all taboos and blurs boundaries in pursuit of his desires

The making of another vampire also involves the mutual exchange of body fluids but in this case blood. Therefore, vampires represent unlimited sexual freedom, there is no fear of disease or pregnancy since they are dead. They can have safe sex anytime without guilt or repercussions and this is appealing in itself, even more so considering sex can be quite dangerous in a post-AIDS era.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-seltzer/twilight-sexual-longing-i_b_117927.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/apr/06/vampire-conference-literature-hertfordshire

Dr Sam George, a lecturer in English literature at Hertfordshire

George expects the course to become an annual staple that will outlast the current TV craze for all things vamp, because "vampires themselves change so much, and reflect contemporary society". She says today's vampires are glamorous and sexy, and have an emotional side.

"Vampires used to be rooted in the past, representing something primitive; now they are about modern culture, living in cities, listening to punk music, embracing technology. Some are even female, and vegetarian."

George claims that change reflects the fact that vampire stories mirror the anxieties embedded in modern-day culture. "Vampires teach us to come to terms with our desires and the fact we have a darker side," she says. "In the 1980s, a lot of vampire films and books tackled disease and corruption – it was a way of talking about Aids. Vampires are used to bring up things we don't want to talk about."

The topic du jour of our modern vampires, is, George believes, the sexualisation of teens.

New vampire stories represent a sexual awakening. Our modern vampires are a metaphor for teenagers' wider anxieties about their bodies and their first stirrings of desire. They provide a safe way to acknowledge these desires."

George claims that vampire fiction also tackles fears of technology. "Science is starting to let us think seriously about living a lot longer, and that's fascinating in the vampire context, since they obviously live for eternity," she says. "Current vampires – like the eternally teenage Edward of Twilight – reflect the scientific debate about preserving youth and living forever." George adds that it's no surprise that vampires tend to become prominent during times of social change – like last year's recession – because "they are escapist and let you think about society in a very different setting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_%28series%29

The books are based on the vampire myth, but Twilight vampires differ in a number of particulars from the general vampire lore. For instance, Twilight vampires have strong piercing teeth rather than fangs; they glitter in sunlight rather than burn; and they can drink animal as well as human blood

Christmas Task 3- Historical Text Analysis & Research

Dracula

Dracula: The novel written by Bram Stoker in 1897. It was one most popular in its genre and created great moral panic as it touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration, colonialism, and post-colonialism.  Even though it was not the first of its kind via genre wise it defined the vampire form and started a chain reaction.  In today’s society when hear about the ultimate vampire, Count Dracula springs to mind. The image of a vampire portrayed as an aristocratic man.

During the time the book was written it wasn’t popular straight away. On may infer this to be because during the time it was realised, audiences preferred good adventure story. The Daily Mail review of 1 June 1897 proclaimed it a classic of Gothic horror.  Stoker's novel played upon fears of sexuality, blood, and the nebulous period between life and death.

The novel became popular during the 20^th century and directors began to adapt the novel into a moving text. However through each adaptation the genre changed and from classic horror and became a hybrid with a mix of romance and fantasy.

Dracula is different to my text because Dracula is seen to be the perfect villain whereas Edward is the tragic hero. Over time the role of the vampire has changed from bad to good. Vampires like Dracula enjoy being inhuman and causing and inflicting pain onto their pray however in today’s world vampires like Edward are becoming total opposites and having to fight the urge to drink human blood. We are now introduced to vampires that are “vegetarian” meaning the only drink the blood of animals.  

From the image above we can see the true horror of Dracula. The stance that both characters are in connotes to us that Dracula has the most power as the females facial expressions connotes that she is paralysed. His facial expression connotes to us that he is being aggressive and forceful therefore connoting the power he has over her. The picture also gives off a sexual side. The female has one hand on her breast with Draculas on top connoting the sexual frustration between them both, also giving us a hint to how the story was to create a sense of fear of sex in the time the film was created.  The pose itself if a sexual position which is well known in today world and would have been then too, as they are standing up connoting sex could potentially happen anywhere. 

Nosferatu

Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 West German vampire horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog.  It is a stylistic remake of the 1922 German Dracula adaptation. The genre of this is a hybrid between horror and fantasy. Once again the orginal association of vampires being connected with the horror genre has been changed into a hybrid and no longer just a classical horror. This is similar to my text as Twilight is also a hybrid of horror and fantasy. 



Interview with a vampire.
Interview with a vampire shows clear differences between how the vampire genre begun to change. Characters like Louis de Pointe du Lac start to change the vampire representation and start to become the “good guy” thus attracting its female audience. They begin to feel sorry for the character and begin experiencing a sense of sympathy and attractiveness towards them. The film also has the genre of romance within it. Thus creating a hybrid genre and giving the romantic side a more active role.
Conclusion
In the past, most vampire films were based on the novel Dracula. In modern film, more and more changes have been made to the traditional vampire legend until in many films the vampires no longer play by the old rules. In the filmTwilight the vampires break from traditional lore in almost every way possible. Though a romantic movie, these vampires do not play by any of the traditional Dracula-type movie rules. They come out in the daytime, don’t sleep in coffins, have reflections in mirrors, and don’t drink human blood. In the past few decades vampire movies have become more creative, but they have also lost part of the tradition that made them unique. The past vampire genre texts all have deep connotations of sex and sexual intercourse. This was to scare it audience from sexually transmitted diseases. The idea was that the vampire was the disease and that it would kill in the end. In today’s society audiences are more open to sex and are pressured into it because it is “cool”. Films like Twilight help to portray the same message as it did back in its day but also promotes abstinence. By having a vampire who doesn’t drink human blood connotes to its audience that sex isn’t that great and it connotes being in a relationship the odd kiss and cuddle will still be fulfilling. Also it helps to reinforce traditional rules of pre martial sex.