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Twilight Movies and the Sudden Trend of Vampire Popularity

I have always been very fascinated by vampires and ghosts... (which is kind of obvious, I guess) I always loved ghost stories, I loved the ghost trains on the carnivals and I loved vampire films, of course. I was really living myself into the stories and images that surrounded me. I was part of it.

I remember when I was little, it was popular to show the vampire classics with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee on a Saturday night on TV, at midnight, of course... when children tend to be asleep, in bed. When I saw in the TV guide that there was a vampire film the following Saturday, I got all excited and I was begging my mom and stepdad "Oh please, I have to see this, please...?!" At first they disapproved, of course, because it was late and it was a Horror movie. Nothing for children. But then they understood that I was strangely enough not scared, but instead, really interested in vampires and that it was very important to me to watch the film... and so they gave in. My stepdad actually thought the films to be entertaining as well, and so we watched Dracula together. I sat on the couch, in my nightgown, with hot chocolate and cookies, really excited and disappeared into the world of vampires.
 
Afterwards, when I went to bed, I lay awake with the window open... in the hope that Dracula would fly in and bite me... but I am still waiting.
I love the good old films, and the greatest classic of all, Nosferatu. Absolutely divine! What an atmosphere! Even though the films were based on the good old traditional superstitions we know - in other words, the demonised Christian version of the vampire myth, where the vampire is a damned creature of the night, fearing the cross and holy water, shifting into the shapes of demonised animals such as the wolf and the bat - but nevertheless, they had a fantastic gothic atmosphere to it.

Naturally, for me, when I joined several Londoner occult groups in the nineties, I often explored the vampire energy in ritual workings and soul journeys. I will explain later what "vampire energy" is all about.

The vampire image has always fascinated the underground music scene and gothic scene. A fascination often frowned upon, demonised and ridiculed by the "muggles" (the "normal", non-magical people as described in Harry Potter).

The nineties brought us some "cool" vampire teen trends. With Buffy and Angel, the vampire image has become quite popular amongst the teens. Yet, even though the vampire image has become more cool and modern, many of the new scripts contain often really banal Christian propaganda. The lines were often so simple, banal and black/white, that it was really embarrassing to the (more intelligent) viewers to watch. With lines like "Oh, he is good now... but oh, he used to be evil... but oh, is he evil again? Way no, he is good... but he can never be really good, because he has no soul..."(?!).

So let's take a look at this: Angel suffers because he is a vampire, damned to immortality and eternal youth... Eh, OK, lets analyse his dilemma: he is strong, melancholic, emotional, handsome, sexy... he will be forever young, doesn't have to work for money, can party all night... wow, where is the problem??? He is higher than any human could be.
What I am annoyed about, mostly, with all those vampire films, is that humans are but oh, so good and innocent and holy because they are human... when we all know that humans are the most viscious and destructive creatures on this planet. So why is it that vampires are so incredible evil then??

Let us analyse the vampire myths:
As I already have written about many times in my books and articles about our shadow aspects, the vampire and the werewolf represent our shadowside or animal within. Often they are shown as creatures with intense senses, bestial instincts and a strong sexual force of attraction. And, as we know, the animal within us, and our bodies have always been demonised and suppressed by the Church.
 
That, in fact, it is humans that are the real evil ones, that torture, abuse, murder in mass, make war and destroy the planet seems to mean nothing? "Now, that is only human you see". According to the Church, it is the animalistic, the supernatural, the mysterious, the heathen ways that the good Christian has to fear the most.

When a person is bitten by a vampire, he or she feels incredible alive. Dead, however oddly more alive than any human being could feel. Both animalistic, sensual, passionate and intelligent. A higher animal. And a higher intelligent animal is a clear threat to a community that is supposed to be obedient, thoughtless and domesticated.

Today's Twilight phenomen:
Oddly enough, we suddenly have a vampire trend hysteria. With Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries, etc., the cool and romantic aspects of being a vampire suddenly come forth, and now all young girls want a vampire boyfriend. Suddenly, we have sexy and handsome vampire and werewolf boys everywhere and crazy young girls screaming and fantasizing about them... Even my daughter is into Twilight and went to the Twilight premiere with all her friends who ride the trend.
 
Should I be happy about this trend? Well no, I think it is totally ironic that all those "normal" people that never had any natural and true fascination for vampires suddenly go crazy for vampires, simply because it has become a big trend, they just ride along. Suddenly, it's OK to be into vampires. It's accepted. Even though they all have no idea what the vampire myth really is about.
 When I was young and was all by myself, interested in the creatures of the night, I was called strange and macabre by the ordinary people around me. I'm sure many other "old goths" experienced the same.
So no, I personally don't think subjects like magic, occult ideas, vampires and werewolves should be made "hip" for every idiot out there. They are strong, deep and intelligent subjects after all that require deeper understanding.

My advise for the new and young vampire fans out there? Well, we cannot drink blood and gain immortality... unfortunately. But we can try to live life with pure intensity! Try to learn to live out some of the animalistic and sensual intensity the vampire represents. We, humans, have become so numb, dumb and unaware and there is so much we can learn from our fellow animals (and even if it is only how to treat with them with greater understanding and respect). Use your senses, use your instincts and always trust your intuition. 

And if you are serious about learning how to gain vampire energy:
Like I said, vampirism does not actually involve drinking blood. It's about the things I mentioned above: learning to connect with your animalistic sides again. It is also about learning how to manage your sexual energy and how to use the art of fascination...

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