From this week’s theme, we discussed the genre of the Vampire used across many media platforms. More specifically, tropes and commonly used aspects that portray the vampire. During this week I watched the movie “The Fearless Vampire Killers” made in 1967. Some of the recurring themes I took away from class and this movie include the use of garlic, blood, daylight, etc. Firstly, the trope I would like to discuss is the physical appearance associations we use to identify a vampire media. I would say the three most prominent are blood, fangs, and the monster figure. The usage of blood and fangs tie in with one another in many vampire stories. In “The Fearless Vampire Killers”, Professor Abronsius and Alfred hunt down the bloodsucking vampires that are terrorizing the village at night. It is important to note that most of the victims were women in the story, to imply a victimization stereotype in women. The vampire would show its fangs to intimidate the audience (and the victim), and then go in for the kill using blood and gore to intensify the scene. Generally, writers use this to strike fear to the audience because these tropes are somewhat subconsciously built in our minds such as fear of death and blood/life force being drained. The second trope are the weaknesses that correlate with vampires. Garlic, daylight, religion, and wooden stakes are the most used in my opinion. The movie uses these weaknesses a lot, especially garlic and religion. When the victims were attacked by vampires, the often held a cross to defend themselves believing that god would purify the evil. Not to mention, garlic was almost in every room in the village. The villagers believed that having this would keep away the vampires, almost like an odor repellent. Overall, these tropes were some of many themes used in the vampire genre. As these things were repeated throughout the history of film and books, it became almost like a tradition and many people can point out a vampire story because of these uses.
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