How The Media Changed People’s Perceptions Of Vampires

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Culture usually is affected by the infusion of media and cultural norms. The older generations associate vampires with thoughts of fear, panic, worry and stress. This is in contrast to the younger generation, i.e the children, teenagers and young adults of today, who do not associate vampires with the things the older generation does. They are not feared like before, or at least not as much. There is a huge difference in the mentalities of these two generations regarding vampires, and it is all because of the media.

Traditionally, vampires are known to be evil creatures with no souls. Basically, the undead. They feed off human blood because otherwise their bodies will desiccate and they will no longer be able to ‘live’. This idea, through mass media and pop culture, has changed the idea of vampires in recent years from the idea of them being evil creatures to them being ‘good’ and that they will not harm people.

Scary

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Not so scary

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See the difference? They're both vampires. Except the first image is of a vampire from the movie Dracula from the 1950s, and the second one is of a vampire from the television show The Vampire Diaries which started airing in 2009.

Here's another example:

Scary

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Not so scary

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The first image is of a vampire from a movie called Near Dark from the 1980s, and the second is of a vampire family from the Twilight saga which first appeared in its movie form in 2008.

In sociology, a counterculture is defined as "a culture with lifestyles and values opposed to those of the established culture". Can a counterculture, due to people's perceptions, be transformed into an accepted subculture of a society? There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but because of the favorable portrayal in them media, counterculture manifestations in the form of vampire fetishism is not the rebellious taboo it once was.

Major shifts usually run undetected, however, many people can still remember the times when they would tuck themselves into bed with their blankets wrapped around their necks and a clove of garlic on the bedside table. This change was very sudden, the sudden shift to a favorable opinion of blood-suckers happened with a swift burst of romantic teen novels, movies and television shows. The vampire fetishists now come out from hiding, because using the new looking glass self, they are defined as more 'acceptable' and so take a more prominent and open stance in society. This sub-culture has emerged from hiding with a new confidence.