Dracula (by Bram Stoker), originally Vlad the Impaler who was the saviour of Transylvania. He was a genuine historical figure who actually did impale his victims on spikes. Bram Stoker made him a romantic character by focusing on his search for love and commitment. This Dracula can be killed by a stake through the heart or decapitation. He isn't impressed by garlic or crosses, but I don't believe they really hurt him.
Dracula (played by Gerry Butler in Dracula 2000) was actually Judas the betrayer (the guy who betrayed Jesus to the Romans). He was paid in silver, which is why silver can hurt him. He hung himself at dawn, which is why sunlight can hurt him. And his betrayal led to Jesus' death, which is why he doesn't like crosses. I don't believe garlic has any effect on him. He is also looking for true love.
Lestat & Louis (by Anne Rice) are some of the most 'humanistic' vampires. They can go out in sunlight, it will kill them, but crosses and garlic have no effect on them. They can be quite vicious or quite placid. But they are monsters, they have fangs, and they're not looking for true love (although they are probably looking for sex).
Angel & Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) are probably my most favourite interpretations of vampires. They don't have souls (unless cursed by Gypsies) and therefore can be quite evil and vindictive. A whole lot of fun! They're affected by the regular things such as stakes through the heart, sunlight, crosses & garlic. These vampires are usually looking for love, or at least companionship and a little bit of fun!
Underworld (the movies) have a fairly traditional view of both vampires and werewolves. Vampires and werewolves are locked in an immortal struggle (as they should be), werewolves can be killed by silver while vampires can be killed by sunlight (or UV bullets), stake through the heart, etc.
Moonlight (TV Show) features a vampire who works as a Private Dectective, he is very cute though! Stakes don't kill these vampires, they just imobilise them. Sunlight doesn't kill them either, but it can make them sick. The only way to kill one of these is to cut off its head or burn it.
Twilight (based on the movies only) is full of mistakes and crappy decisions. The Vampires in Twilight sparkle in sunshine, they don't burn up they just shimmer! They also don't seem to have fangs or be very animalistic - how boring!! There also seems to be an issue with their werewolves who aren't so much man-wolf hybrids, but men who turn fully into wolves. As everyone knows, a werewolf is a man-wolf hybrid and therefore when they have changed into a werewolf they are half man-half wolf, not a full wolf!
Nice synopsis. :) although, you'll find that the werewolves in Buffy (Oz) are full wolves too, and they often have only vague memories of turning into wolves. I've always thought of werewolves as full wolves when they've turned, although it's weird in Twilight that they can change whenever they want and that it's less of a curse and more a skill (no mention of being plagued by the full moon).
ReplyDeleteI do prefer my vampires to be a little more animalistic than Twilight too (my fav is Spike when he's got the chip in his head - nice, but still naughty).
Did you watch The Vampire Diaries last night on Go!? It occurred to me that vampire stories are just an excuse to make really really really old men dating high school girls ok. It makes no difference that they're in the body of a teenager (with the bone structure of a man), they're still really old and hitting on innocent (but beautiful beyond their time) young girls!!