The Vampire Effect

Courtesy of: thelitconnection.wordpress.com

It’s no surprise that you’ll find a vampire film feature in a brandnew culture magazine when, as we’ve seen, the undead have been the talk of Tinseltown. 2009 has seen a major breakthrough for this genre and besides the obvious reason why, namely the Twilight teen dream, Edward Cullen, with his shirtless body and glittering face, Cosmo Culture wants to know what this craze is doing to young people, especially girls, who get sucked into this whole concept of romantic vampire boyfriends. The line between reality and fantasy runs very thin. Are there any substantial reasons why the vampire mania has emerged so greatly this year and what effects it is having on society today?

Media news and Nielsen Online have reported the demographics for the growing trend toward vampiric entertainment and according to their reports there’s been increasing mainstream interest in all things vampire, most recently spurred by the Twilight books and movies and the HBO series, TrueBlood. And even if these aren’t familiar topics to you yet, marketers are keen on the vampire mystique.

I get the appeal, Dracula’s story is all about undying eternal love, but what kind of vampires glow in the sunlight, come out in the daytime, don’t sleep in a coffin, are unaffected by crosses and garlic, and have sworn off human blood? Hundreds of Facebook groups have emerged, and not just your run of the mill “I Heart Edward” or “Team Edward” groups, there are actual opposing groups too. This one being my personal favorite, “You’re not a vampire, you’re a sparkly faggot in a tree”. Harsh, but true?

Assistant organizer of The London Vampire Meetup Group, Kassandra Davis, claims to be a vampire (Check out the clip for an exclusive interview with her!) According to her, when one lives off the energy of other people or even animals, it is called vampirism. She says Edward Cullen in the definitive vampire, because he hides away and keeps to himself. However she does think the bustle of the 2009 mania all started with the Twilight hype. Kassandra understands why the buildup began with the books initially, but later escalated into a frenzie after Robert Pattinson took the screen as the notoriously gorgeous vampire boy.

“The books are written for younger people in the first place and when the movie was made, and the young girls saw Rob Pattinson, they loved it! And with them its more about how the actors look in a movie, rather than it be about real vampirism…they’d love to have a guy like Edward, who watches them sleep. They’re all caught up in a fairy tale.”

And is that a surprise when a big social issue surrounding these movies is the concept of escapism? For young girls who are looking for love, they see something that is going to take them away from this world. They also feel protected by this new breed of vampires. We look for escapism even more than usual and in a culture that worships youth and beauty above all things, is it really any wonder that we are falling for eternally young, eternally beautiful vampires?

Kassandra explains, “The appeal to teenage girls is that Edward was 17 years old. But do they want a guy looking like Edward or who is actually a vampire?” For any 15 year old girl who has spent an hour in a grump, waiting for her boyfriend to notice and ask what’s wrong, the mind-reading vampire boyfriend is a pretty alluring prospect.

Hollywood directors and producers obviously saw the growing trend and realized how much money they were all making from it and thus are taking advantage of it…it’s no wonder it was splashed all over the media.

The London Vampire Meetup Group has over 800 members worldwide. The ones based in London gather collectively to discuss all things vampire! From films, books and music to actual vampirism, however Kassandra reveals that “we have to be very careful who we let join the group. We don’t drink blood and we don’t get involved with people who do. It can be very dangerous and obviously very unhygienic. People can take vampirism the wrong way and become very obsessive.”

They also have a very strict 18-year-old policy on all members. Kassandra, who has been part of the group for two years now, can definitely see the effect these vampires have had on young women, and has certainly seen a drastic increase in members this year.

“Our group is for 18 plus, but we found young girls trying to join, asking if they can be vampires too. Unfortunately we cannot stop this, because they don’t have to add their age when they join so we cannot check. But if they do turn up at the meetings, they’re immediately rejected. I believe the website should allow us to see members age.

“There are so many freaks on the Internet and you just never know. And you have to be careful with vampirism, because it’s almost like a fetish. We’ve had people write stuff like ‘I want to donate my blood for vampires who are going to drink it.’ Young girls have asked me personally if I can turn them into a vampire. You’d be very surprised about what is going on. I wish I could just tell these girls that is doesn’t work like that and explain to them what its all about because it’s not what they think!”

However, it’s not just teenage girls asking to be transformed into vampires that have made this craze go overboard. Check out the new religion of Cullenism! Pillow Biters, a Twilight blog, is reporting that the so-called Cullenist religion might be going “overboard to a realm that would make Mormon mom Stephenie Meyer cringe.”

These Cullenists believe that there is some spirituality to be had in the Twilight series, forming rules and principles upon which to base their creed. According to the Cullenists, their faith includes beliefs that Edward and the rest of the Twilight characters are real, that the Twilight series should be worshipped,  and that if you are good in life, you will be blessed with eternity with the Cullens. Other than that, say the Cullenists, there “is not a limit to what you can believe in when it comes to the Cullenism religion . . . we will accept any other Cullenism beliefs you may have.” Cullenists are also expected to read some of the books on a daily basis, like the Bible and make a pilgrimage to Forks.

Wow, I enjoy Twilight just as much as the next person, but is it possible that the devotion and obsession of a set of fictional books and films are getting a bit out of hand on this one? Maybe some people need to start getting back to reality, focus on their homework and day dream about the cutie on the football team instead…

Lets hope our fandom fans down a bit to see what’s in store for 2010! Werewolves perhaps…more young men running around topless sounds good to me…