Journal of Dracula Studies 12 (2010)
[Kristopher Broyles recently graduated from
the University of Arkansas at
Fort Smith with a bachelor's in
English. He intends to pursue
graduate study in the field of Communication,
emphasizing film and television,
at the University of Arkansas in the
fall of 2010.]
The
resurgence of vampirism can be readily viewed within contemporary American
media and culture. From a fanatical teenage obsession with the screen
adaptations of author Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight saga to True Blood,
a television series dealing with vampirism that is aimed at an adult audience,
vampires are seeing a revival. By examining these visual works in combination
with Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a television series which
helped set the stage for the critical analysis of feminism and vampirism within
contemporary popular culture, I suggest that the role of the vampire in the
visual medium is connected with societal views of gender.
Further, I contend that, because
visual media such as film and television often reaches a larger audience than
other forms of media, its impact may be more widespread. Therefore, there is a
distinction made between the written works upon which Twilight and True
Blood are based and their film and television adaptations. Also, the visual
medium facilitates more passive learning than do other forms of media.
Therefore, the impact of ideas about femininity and masculinity may be more
passively learned, accepted, or integrated into society.
Both
femininity and masculinity are explored in each of the aforementioned works.
Female and male characters are presented in a variety of ways; some are true to
life, and some are very much skewed and unrealistic. Regardless of how these
characters and concepts about gender are explored, there are certainly messages
about gender included in or transmitted by the works Twilight, True
Blood, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Each of these texts present
individual and varied views of femininity. While representation of the feminine
seems to be largely positive within True Blood and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, the messages transmitted about femininity within Twilight
seem to be quite narrow and underdeveloped, which can be seen specifically
through an analysis of its main character, Bella Swan. However, Buffy the
Vampire Slayer presents a clearly feminist title character, and “True
Blood” explores femininity in both a compelling and complicated manner through
a supporting female character, Tara Thornton, as well as through Sookie
Stackhouse, its lead female character. While each of these texts present a
different view of femininity, they effectively convey particular messages about
gender, both positive and negative.
