A Cinematographic Vampire’s Tale: Understanding the Symbolism Behind the Horror Icon

picture palace is the slip where we as security guards employ in sharing a collective dream. Certainly, horror movies enrich us as viewers with the close to dream-like of plots. This is beca procedure they open a portal into a nonher valet de chambre where we argon wholeowed to engage with our nightm bes. All over eon various horror movies show us how normality is endangered by a addict, exclusively the creature who has haunt the screen like no bingle is undoubtedly the Vampire. According to Ivan Phillips the conformation of the Vampire has drifted and shifted finished the pages of newspapers, travel journals, novels, poems, comics, and plays for 300 old age, it has haunted cinema and telly for almost a hundred, its fanny is creeping into the genial, narrative and ludic net workings of the digital. The plan of the Vampire is unendingly present in the virtual and literature purification of the twenty- foremost century. Although this institution moved from its fo lkloristic origins in which he appe atomic number 18d in works of J. Sheridan Le Fanu, John Polidori and Bram fire patch, the lamia fluent remains an iconic ph maven number in Western Culture.This personage provides paradoxical fascination as it exists at the edges of what is deemed normal, acceptable and safe, the vampire embodies the foreign and the unfamiliar. Although, the vampire is often seen as a bringer of death, in that location are numerous metaphorical meanings and readings of this being. Through bolshy discourse the vampire is portrayed as the monster of monopoly capitalism and the agent of foreign professership. This idea of the furrowsucking capitalist is perceived in a ostracize counsel the Marxist community.In a xenophobic golf club this idea of the vampire embodies a ecumenic fear of the unfamiliar and whitethorn to a fault constitute a racial contrariety. But the vampire not exactly represents the non-conformity it likewise alludes to an illicit con fide. According to Jorg Waltje, this being is the embodiment of charitableitys hopes and desires beauty, strength, and immortality. Although these elements do not distil fear in the same way as the vampires link with death provided in the same manner they express an external behaviour which puts at risk societys stability.The vampire hints to a adept of un check darktlement. Through his contour the viewer, in a quite troubled finger, comes personal with the dramatization of homoity. As a creature, the vampire encompasses mens vulnerability and his unfitness to alter the laws of time. As Sarah Sceats states Vampires represent what we both fear and desire they pull out a marginal world of darkness, secrecy, vulnerability, excess, and horror. Whatever they are, it is positively Other. This plan of excess was likewise tackled by Omar Calabrese in one of his chapters.According to Calabrese one could only escape from a closed system finished this notion of excess. The vampir e represents this excess as he personifies those aspects excluded or rejected by society, its innovation in it ego denotes excess. In addition to this, Calabrese associates this vampiric excess to the exotic sexy which alludes to the scandal and breaks the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. In this sense the vampires bite is joined with the titillating. barely to this explicit erotic act we suffer an unavoidable act with death.It was Bram Stoker which explored this notion in his novel Dracula. In the scene, where Lucy dies we see an excessive use of the erotic She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there the passed teeth, the derivationstained, voluptuous mouth which it do one shudder to see the consentient carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucys sweet purity. Through this, Bram Stolker dilates us with an example of how death is cogitate to the erotic. The notion of excess is repetitively apply and reused by Stolker. In fact, he describes Lucy as a nightmare hich it make one shudder to see As viewers, as get en thenceiasts or as junkies of the silver screen, we yield vainglorious accustomed to think that nothing happens outside of the frame. Yet this idea seems to tip to the ground when it comes to Dreyers, Vampyr. The latter haunts us with a distinctly innerving sense of not knowing where anyone is, creating a feeling that anything culd be happening beyond the frame, in the blind space in which the monsoter lurks. Visually speaking, Vampyr resembles Jean Epsteins La Chute de la Maison de Usher and Bunuels Un Chien Andalou.Dreyers horror movie encapsulates clear moments of crossover among the devil movements. Therefore Vampyr distinguished itself from former(a) movies of the same genre because of the various fastidious influences which left their imprint. Comparison can in like manner be drawn betwixt more(prenominal)(prenominal) contemporary movies which are not necessarily classif ied chthonic an artistic movement unless which are still relevant to vampire studies. Coppolas movie is stranded by decades from its predecessors and is more straight forward in the narration of steadyts.Visual metaphors are central to its filmic structure and the American film directors interpretation is completely submerged in line of work, but small-arm this film is heavily conditioned by an erotic element, the scenes of blood in Vampyr are scarce. The spots of blood carry psychoanalytic connotations. Barbara Creed states that the presentation of horror is culturally and socially constructed through and through the images of blood, vomit, pus. shit etc. These images emphasize a split between the law of the father and the maternal influence. This division has to be viewed under a pre-Oedipal line of thought.In this stage there is a fierce attachment to the maternal go in. In Dreyers vampire movie, blood is cogitate to the maternal entity because Chopin punctuates the fle sh and transgresses the sanctity of the body. An another(prenominal) overwhelming smear stated by Creed is that the female vampire does not coiffe herself to mutating her dupes into creatures which are one with the night. Her victims are testimony of the vampires ability to destabilize conventional gender definitions. Although lesbian connotations are often attributed to this finicky flick, there is no real intimacy between Leon and Chopin.The scene in which Chopin hands upon her young prey, does not communicate a sense of desire. The hamlet doctor who is at the usefulness of Chopin, does not coincide with the medical man who represents a positive promote in the customal gothic horror narrative. In Coppolas Dracula, based on Bram Stockers novel, Van Helsing is an educated soul and an adversary to the malevolent vampire. The doctor sucks the blood from the living thanks to the transfusion equipment yet as Chopin uses fangs. The victim of the doctors bloodsucking, imitation technique is greyish.He is the character who often looks at the actions taking place by standing behind doors or windows he is an outsider peering in. In fact, Gray is removed from the narrative action even as he witnesses the first death. David Bordwell believed that Gray is a curious character and he is more of a mediator than a provocateur of action. However, Gray still possesses an active and enunciating gaze. This male characters progress is often hindered by other characters, by the props and also by buildings. What is so overwhelming approximately Vampyr is the collision between reality and the super internal.Everything seems to take place within a dream-like state and the movie is ephemeral, polysemic and sack, provoking opinion and polarising debate. The movie afflicts the viewer with dissonance and discomfort, especially when our gaze meet Chopins stare as Gray is plastered in the c mutilatein. The latter is an artefact which shares an endless tradition with the oecu menical notion of vampirism. It is the space where these beings retreat and hide away from the daylight. The coffin is the body-fitting misfortune where Dracula and Count Orlock patiently wait their time to rise plot of land the vessel is sailing.This tomb or repository is the most vampiric of all barrier. Gray finds himself trapped in a coffin and at this position in the movies chronology, the spectatorial gaze is doubly trapped, within the confines of a sealed coffin and the immovable dead body. As the coffin containing Grays ashes is being carried away, the procession passes next to Grays unconscious body. In Vampyr, the element of the doppelganger has a heavy resonation. Vampyr is venerated amongst lovers of the genre even though movie makers throughout those years did not realize the present technological resources.Old, B&W, unruffled movies may seem alien in form and content to younger generations, yet what some(a) of these past flicks embody inextinguishable artist ic and human values. Weve already drawn remarks on Coppolas remake of Bram Stockers narrative work into film. spacious before the release of this movie, the most haunting of any attempt to adopt Bram Stockers novel was Murnaus Nosferatu. There is a strong resemblance between Murnaus vampire and the one lurking in the book. What is it that viewers find so terrifying nigh Nosferatu?Is it the vampires appearance and inhuman gestures? Does he embody the general notion that we fear whatever we cannot explain or understand through rational thinking? As consumers, for there is no better way to call genuine movie en theniasts, we ought to dig deeper and deeper into the sequence of images. Most of the time denotations come with connotations and it is up to us to fish out such enigmatical meanings. The imagery in Murnaus movie suggests the concept of repression and the arch is a visual leit motif in the film.Arches and similar structures try to kick downstairs the vampire from emerging. Count Orlock is therefore a repressed force who is also linked to Jonathan via these same arches. In a memorable scene in the movie, the Count emerges from under an arch and Jonathan from another as they meet for the first time. Jonathan is also linked to the menacing creature through the house which stands on the oppo settle side to his. Count Orlock purchases this house, thus becoming the young mans censure. Jonathan is a loving companion to Nina while Nosferatu becomes a goddam alternative husband.Nosferatu contains numerous references to a number of traditional or cultural elements. Myths about Persephone and Orpheus also produce an echoing effect through this vampire movie. Nosferatu was not meant to float in its own air bubble, separated from all other influences and ideas. Murnau transfuses into the motion picture the product of a tax deduction. This adaptation of Dracula, which donated to all lovers of the horrific this thin, repulsively bald being, dates back to the th rill of expressionist fantasy.What come into collision are the natural and the fantastic. These ii distant realms are central to Nosferatu yet neither dominates the film. The viewer cannot but notice the obsession with filing space and the obrusive sets. Like Tabu, Nosferatu is primarily set in natural surroundings and both of Murnaus movies deal with a menace. The latter diffuses into an ordinary world and out of a fantastic, paranormal world. Nosferatu portrays an animal-like being (a mixture between a rat and a human skeleton) who is constantly associated with nature throughout the film.Even Count Orloks movements does not coincide with those of a human being , in fact even his castle is like a natural continuation of the rock thus the reliable protagonist in Nosferatu is Nature which is closely linked with its natural settings. In Nosferatu, Murnau used a sort of trick photography also with expressionist angle shots. As Gilberto Perez Guillermo suggests these specific techniqu es are used to illustrate a remote, fragmented and bizarre environment. Nosferatu is generally seen from distance and this gives us the low that the nocturnal creature is merging itself with the surrounding nature.Murnau succeeded into creating an iconic- power image through which he shows Nosferatu as seemingly immensely tall. In particular the scene where the vampire is standing on the deck of the vessel which is no longer conducted by a human being. Murnau makes also the use of the prejudicial image, this technique is ideal to express mystery, fantasy, and unreality. This negative image basically involves an X-ray photograph, in this film it was used when Jonathan was being carried into the land of phantoms in Count Orlocks weird carriage.The three movies which take a leak been discussed so far are all based on similar, if not identical, themes. In each gaffe the relationship between the female character and the parasite represented by the vampire is at the heart of the movi es plot. Guillermo del Toro took on a different flack and directed a vampire movie which derailed from the norm set up by the previously discussed films. Narrative-wise, Cronos ignores the myth of the Count and focuses on a maneuver that causes transformations to take place within the main characters physique.The Cronos looks like an insect which shares some sort of a mutual parasitic relationship with its victim. Apart from a different take on the blood-sucking creatures myth, Cronos proposes characters which are marked by an implied absence seizure. Del Toros movie might represent a nostalgic look at the past in the sense that the long-gone years receive a tangible dimension belonging to the present. The main character in this Mexican black letter is a perfect illustration of this notion. Jesus Gris is the purveyor of antiques and guardian of the new cut across the latter being dayspring.What distinguishes Jesus Gris with Dieter de la Guardia, the dying industrialist who is a ware of the Cronos true nature and powers are there past scars which must be dealt with in modern times. On the one hand the scars of Jesus are colligate to family life while on the other Dieter de la Guardia is at the lenity of an ailing health. Above all else, the Cronos is a fascinating hybrid of recognition and nature and the golden case is said to hold an insect which lives off human blood. In return the creature rejuvenates its bearer and prolongs his life, killing off the threat posed by corruptible, material flesh.The device is take by de la Guardia because it surpasses the technology of modern times. Only the Cronos can bring home the bacon what technology has failed in. There also lies a fine parallelism between de la Guardia and the angels statue. The mans body is wide-eyed of holes just like the archangels interior which is infested by cockroaches and if the statue reminds us of the divine, the deteriorating human body indicates an inevitable ending. Erotism is a s tranger to the films plot, yet del Toros work delves into universal dreams, such as eternal youth and the conflict between life and death.Jesus tooth decay the device while de la Guardia holds the instructions Jesus is the unsuspecting individual who comes across an artifact of mysterious powers and who ends owning itself to it. The Cronos dehumanizes him and his need for human blood becomes more prominent as the film unfolds. Just as the insect feeds upon the blood of the devices holder, the latter ends up developing an appetite for human blood. Viewers have grown accustomed to having a female figure within vampire stories. Whether the woman is a prey, a victim or an object of desire, she has been instrumental to Draculas and Vampyrs storyline.In Cronos, Aurora plays the role of the love interest for which the monster must make his give up. Transformation and shifting of form does not limit itself to Jesus metamorphosis, but it also manifests itself in the relationship between th e vampire and the female figure. The enamoredness is replaced by an innocent, filial love. Contrasting and comparing characters and plots allows us to point out what is present in one movie and absent in another. Some characters from different filmic works may share the same attributes or characteristics, while others may interpret the same role but in a totally different manner.The so-called assistant, the faithful coadjutor who is at the service of his master, is present in all four films discussed so far. However holy man, the nephew of de la Guardia, is not as submissive as Renfield and the village doctor. Angels mode of thinking is simply capitalistic. He yearns for his uncles wealth and represents the cynical angel. In contemporary popular finis the power of the vampires bite did not vanish but in some manner it did change. We can see this notion through the creation of diverse pop culture vampires such as Angel and Spike in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). These modern vampires have been desexualized and de-victimized because they only obtain and drink blood from butchers. Now the vampire is made more human and this highlights the fact that contemporary vampires have a more mundane appearance. In the new millennium the vampire seemed to have changed from a creature of fear to a creature of sympathy and emulation. This is made more evident in online discourse about the vampire. As argued by Mary Williamson in her book Lure of the Vampire, in the virtual world the vampire is perceived as a forgivable outcast and thus we sympathize with him.In Facebook, a social network used by millions in the world the presence of this being is very strong. Through one particular application called Vampire application we see several imitations of the folkloric tradition of the vampire. This application is diffused from one user to another via a virtual bite. During this process a user is sent an invitation to go into himself to such application, were t he user gets to interact with other individuals who share their interest and curiosities about this subject.Users get to fight other vampires, fill their hunger or feed upon weaker vampires. Once cravings for this so called virtual-violence are stated by many, users can also send gestures such as hugs to their nearest companions. Feeding and fighting are the highlight of this application were vampires get points and money for doing so which than they can be exchanged for weapons or to improve their senses or powers . In this application placing mortal in a suit will result in losing all their fights for two consecutive days, which is quite a deal breaker.This application also embraces violence amongst friends. Some of the many options this application boasts are the way one can attack another throughout the Facebook community. This application is filled with the erotic this notion solidifies the traditional elements of the transgressive vampire. At each and every superstar level t he vampires abilities achieves a new rank and this creates a new character reference of vampire. As noticed by Mary Williamson in the virtual world this being is not perceived as an outcast but or else a fundamental figure through which players communicate. In the online world the vampires have become a part of a different ritual, a social ritual by which relationships and friendships are maintained and expanded. In this application, what used to frighten about this creature is eliminated and instead it is accepted. In fact, with the loss of perceptiveness of the bite the vampire is de-sexualized and sanitized. According to Calabrese, the vampire represents only a slight alteration beyond what is socially accepted and thus it represents the shifting of limits. When confronted by an acceptable excess, the limit is simply moved (perhaps to a coarse distance) in order to absorb it.When in the virtual world, elements like blood and the penetration of the bite are removed the virtual vampire becomes the monster that is us. In the twentieth century, sympathy for this being has grown bigger. In fact as stated by Williamson, this being has generated new implications and attitudes towards the self in the twentieth century. There is a great desire to imitate the vampire not as a rebellious figure but rather to imitate a bohemian outsiderdom which locates the individual as the desirable outsider, the sympathetically alienated. In the virtual context erudition of the self becomes fluid and flexible.As it is no longer linked with the body but it is highly linked with the fulfilment of desires. In this sense indistinguishability is constructed as one desires. The virtual identity can be understood through the Lancian psychoanalytic theory. In the online world the virtual identity is not reflected but is rather constructed the subject is not created in the reflection but rather in the digital composite. This leads us to do a parallelism between the vampire and the virt ual identity. According to Shannon Winnubst, the site represents the mirror reflection in which an individual forms and constructs his ideas about the self.On the other hand the vampire in lacking a mirror reflection, does not even register on the radar of identity-formation he does not have the necessary condition for the possibility of becoming a subject. to a fault Rhonda Wilcox explored this theme using the creative Id and the Jungian shadow. According to Wilcox the online body represents the negative aspect of ones temperament. In this manner the vampire is portrayed as the doppelganger of the victim before it was biten. Stokers Lucy and Angel in Buffy are the perfect examples,Stokers Lucy from chaste to ripely erotic, or perhaps the souled and soulless incarnations of Angel in Buffy so too does the virtual body provide opportunity for the vampiric shadow to find form in cyberspace. As stated by Wilcox, the imaginative Id illustrates the unconscious which is repressed and wh ich encourages the pre-vampiric identity to free itself. In this sense online where the personality is fluid the wishes of the Id can be fulfilled as there are no repercussions which constitute some sort of restriction in the sensible world. When talking about horror movies there is a subtle difference between the onster and the human being. But as indicated in films by Dreyer, Murnau, Coppola and Guillermo del Toro a strong link exists between the two beings. The myth and the vampire have always been subjects of debates. Although there are number of similarities and differences between Vampyr and Nosferatu yet both films show us the vampire as being more than just a blood sucking, nocturnal creature but it is also the original of the darkest corners of the human psyche For this is one of the functions of our monsters to help us constrict our own humanity, to provide guidelines against which we can define ourselves.