Could it be that the Democrats are responsible for the rise in vampire tales on TV and the big screen of late? In the wake of Obama's election, the San Diego Union Tribune's Peter Rowe asks whether vampires are the monsters of Democratic eras, and zombies of Republican ones. He talked to a bunch of cultural critics (including yours truly!) about this idea, and got some pretty interesting answers. Of course we've already created a chart showing that zombie movies increase during periods of social unrest. But what about vampires? From Rowe's article:
Tuesday's election of a Democratic president, meanwhile, comes at the start of a new cycle of vampire films (“Twilight,” “Let the Right One In”) and TV shows (HBO's “True Blood.”) Coincidence? Or something spookier? . . . Perhaps the bloodsuckers' latest incarnation, as less-threatening undead citizens, reflects a more inclusive politics. “Suddenly,” said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, “the vampires have become people just like us.” “After the upsurge of zombie films that symptomized the Bush era, the latest re-investment in vampirism signals hopefulness,” said Larry Rickels, a UC Santa Barbara professor of German and comparative literature.
Vampires represent the new hopefulness! Or maybe a tooth is just a tooth. With the Obama Election Comes the Return of the Vampire [via San Diego Union Tribune]