Vampire

The word for the week is: Vampire

Vampire: in European folklore, a dead person believed to rise each night from the grave and suck blood from the living for sustenance.

Yes I know most, well all, of you know what they are. The definition above is pretty basic. However I'm going to write a little more about what they mean to me. For me, and others, vampires are so much more than monstrous creatures who stalk the night drinking blood. They are the embodiment of all of those dark, forbidden pleasures good people are supposed to deny themselves. They represent everything mysterious and sexual. To top it off, they're immortal which is fitting because the things they represent will always be part of living in the flesh. With these wonderful bodies come desires and animal drives that are ever present. The greatest enemy to God is the natural man. Vampires take all those earthly sins and wrap them up into a pretty seductive package. I try to be a good girl but the fact of the matter is, I'm human and have these same animal desires. I read vampire novels as a way of releasing these sinful urges so they don't overtake me. Well, that's the theory.

It all started when I was 16, I was vacuuming the basement when my mother came down stairs, turned the vacuum off, turned the TV on, and told me that I had to watch the movie that was playing on cable. It was weird behavior for her, cleaning is usually priority number one for my mother, but I watched. It was Interview With The Vampire. I loved the movie and when I found out it was based on a novel by Anne Rice I went straight to the library to check it out. From then on, I was hooked. I've read all of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice and her New Tales of the Vampire books. Reading these novels introduced me to my first vampire love: Lestat. I love the conflicted and restless "Brat Prince." Someday I hope to take a little trip to New Orleans to attend his Ball that his fans have in his honor every year.

Then Sarah got me into the Twilight series and I was introduced to a new love, Edward. Anne Rice's style of writing was lush, vibrant, and challenging. Stephanie Meyer's was approachable with quite the knack for writing emotion so well that you felt it. She wrote Bella's love for Edward so well that many of her reader's fell in love with Edward's character because of the way they viewed him through Bella's eyes. Stephanie also made the vampire not so melodramatic. The vampire was no longer a purely evil and tortured character but a creature who was capable of having fun and relaxing a little bit. I really appreciated the new view of the vampire that she brought to her books.

There are several movies out there to be had as well. I know this seems like such a random subject but the vampire myth is definitely a part of who I am, the darker and more secret side of myself, so I wanted to share my views and opinions on the subject.