What if we postpone our death? feat. The Vampire Diaries

The vampire fascinates, questions, rejects. A vampire can be defined as an immortal dead being who feeds with blood. After the French Revolution, industrial revolutions were to overturn Europe. The myth of the vampire in the 19th century came to life. Vampire stories tell us about life and death, the laws of nature, society, good and evil. It shows us how culture expresses questions and answers that are essential to us. For this, the vampire has become a staple of popular culture: literature, cinema, television series. The American series The Vampire Diaries (TVD) directed by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson from 2009 to 2017, freely inspired by LJ Smith’s book series The Vampire Diaries, was one of the series that had the most impact on television. Broadcast in France from 2011 to 2017, there are 8 seasons of about twenty episodes. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) is a 17-year-old girl living in the mysterious city of Mystic Falls, Virginia. She and her brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), have been living with their aunt Jenna Sommers (Sara Canning) since their parents died in a car accident. Elena finds comfort with her two best friends, Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) and Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola). When she returns to school, she falls in love with the new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) before meeting his older brother, Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). Elena ends up discovering that they are vampires and she starts a relationship with Stefan. As the episodes unfold, Elena becomes friends with Damon and tries to revive his humanity. She also discovers that she has a double vampire, Katherine Pierce, and that creatures are everywhere in her small town for centuries. We will then ask ourselves: How the vampire figure reflects the anxieties of society?

First, we’ll start with a little history!

The term appeared at the beginning of the 18th century: the German "Vampir" meant "the revenants". The Babylonians believed in a creature sucking the blood of men, Lilitû (she was the ancestor of Lilith, first wife of Adam then cursed creature feeding on the blood of children). In Chinese mythology, there were “Chiang-Shi, humans who died violently or committed murder, fearing garlic and sunlight.”

However, the characteristics of the vampire today is mainly related to the Christian religion in Europe. Vampires are “creatures invented by society to accompany the fear of the corpse, of death.” The Slavic populations practiced rites "to prevent the dead from rising", they were pierced "their hearts with a wooden stake", they could also "cut off their heads", they filled "their mouths with garlic". The most famous case dates back to 1725 in Serbia: Peter Plogojowitz, a farmer who died in the village of Kisilova, was suspected by the Austrian authorities of being a vampire. In the days following his death, nine people died unexplained and before dying, swore that it was Plogojowitz who had attacked them. The body was exhumed: the peasant had blood around his mouth, the nails and hair of his beard had grown. Then the inhabitants planted a stake in his heart.

With the progress of science, the line between life and death becomes increasingly blurred. Stories of vampires bear witness to this change.

In the 18th century, rumours of vampirism spread in Europe and the figure of the vampire entered English literature. Two works have marked the history of vampirism: Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu (1872) and Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897). The novel deals with the vampire Carmilla, lesbian, at a time when homosexuality was strongly condemned. This story is the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, which became “the symbol of vampire myth.” This is the first novel to bring enough renewal, precise details about the vampire. He will introduce several features that were, until then, absent from vampire mythology or previous literary works. It creates a unique identity, creating the original vampire.” The vampire retained several characteristics from the novels: a pale and cold skin, long canines, red eyes, superhuman strength, and immortality. The vampire has often been associated with nocturnal animals such as the raven or the bat. It is defeated by garlic, the Christian religion, the sun. Subsequently, some writers wanted to change this image.

In the 1970s, Anne Rice published Chroniques of vampires. The creatures are truly at the centre of the novels, which makes them much closer to the readers who thus know their torments." The vampire is both humanized and sulfurous, he has feelings sometimes contradictory with his nature, has no taboos. The vampire then loses his animal side and we are interested in the psychological aspect. The codes evolved and the genre of the «bit lit» (a term coined by the French publisher Bragelonne) or "biting literature" began in the 2000s. The best known are Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight novels. The figure of the vampire changes considerably: from a monster, he passes to a seductive being with feelings.

Other series of books have emerged, such as The Vampire Diaries written by L.J Smith from 1991 to 2014 (in 11 volumes), which will inspire the directors of the series The Vampire Diaries. In these series of books, the vampire has thus modernized to correspond to what the public expects. Religion is less important and the vampire becomes more human, feeling emotions and remorse.

Here we are! Beware, this has spoilers! I advise you to serve yourself your best glass of bourbon, the flagship alcohol of the serie that reminds me of its sulphurous side. (Don’t go too hard if you don’t want to find yourself dancing naked on a table like our dear character Damon ;))

A) Vampire and beauty

They are beautiful and sophisticated, well dressed. They are immortal. "You can easily imagine wanting to be a vampire or sleeping with one of them. But no one wants to sleep with a zombie.” Lev Grossman explains that creatures have a selective sex appeal: "it is not attractive to have a relationship with a zombie" (he adds that they are at least sincere when they say they love you for your brain). This is an aspect from which the vampire does not separate: since the end of the 20th century, vampires are considered sexy (Robert Pattinson in the role of Edward in Twilight or David Boreanaz, Angel in Buffy against vampires and Angel). The series The Vampire Diaries is known for its particularly attractive cast of actresses and actors. Actresses and actors were nominated for the “sexiest” category from 2010 to 2017 at the Teen Choice Awards. The characters are pushed to the extreme theatrics: the vampire men are more "virile" than any human (many scenes in the eight seasons show us the muscular characters, good in sports, fast and strong). The same is true for female vampires: they exceed the standards of beauty. Vampire characters always seem more alive, always "more" than humans. If Twilight’s vampires shine in the sun, TVD vampires have “magnetic charisma”, “a mysterious aura”. The direction plays a lot: the music, for example, are very numerous and important in the series. The scenes are then more powerful and idealized, including the first cult scene between Damon and Elena (Elena no longer has a rider for the high school queen contest; Damon then appears in slow motion and in costume. They dance to the rhythm of the music and the close-ups on their looks show an attraction and the first signs of their future love). The costumes, hairstyles, makeup are sumptuous and highlight the characters by reflecting their own character. The script itself shows an appetite for beauty: in each season, a beauty contest is organized by the school and transcribed on the screen (contest that the female vampires of the show win without any difficulty).

B) Vampire and death

One of the major attractions of vampire stories is the staging of immortal characters who embody a possible escape from death. Many stories are steeped in religious philosophies and doctrines that these fictional characters materialize. They offer us a concrete vision of immortality with advantages and disadvantages. To imagine how to repel a vampire in a story is also to think, imagine ways to repel our death.

Vampires can be repulsed by garlic, holy water, crucifixes, any other religious object, and be defeated (stake in the heart, fire, sunlight, beheading...). In many communities, mirrors are covered so that the soul of the deceased does not cling to them. In the stories of vampires, they have no reflections since they have no soul. We finds much of this belief in Dracula’s character: he has no shadow, is not reflected in mirrors, can turn into smoke and change his appearance. He has extraordinary physical strength and can see in the dark. But he cannot go in a home without being invited. He is repelled by garlic, holy water and hawthorn. He can be killed by a stake and if beheaded.

The serie The Vampire Diaries is similar in many ways to Dracula: vampires are faster (they give the impression of teleporting), stronger than humans. They cannot enter a house without being invited. They are killed by a stake in the heart and then they must be burned. But there are also many differences (which allow the series to differentiate and renew the genre): vampires fear the sun but most have a bewitched ring to live by day, they have a shadow and are reflected in mirrors. Only some have the ability to transform (the character of Damon can take the form of a crow) and make smoke appear (this aspect will also be abandoned after the first episode because creating smoke at each appearance of Damon cost too much to the production). They do not see in the dark and fear neither religious objects nor garlic. But they fear other plants like the vervain (they are weakened and cannot hypnotize humans who consume them).

Picture of Katherine Pierce, Elena’s ancestor and Stefan’s ex-girlfriend from Stefan’s diary.

The dimension of the past and memory is extremely present : the characters travel through time through portals; there are parallel worlds and eras; flashbacks are present in all seasons and some episodes are even dedicated to the life of certain characters in other eras (Damon and Stefan, the two brothers, during their youth at the time of the Civil War; the creation of the original vampires). These returns to the past are also materialized by the diaries of Stefan (the credits of the series is none other than Stefan who narrates his existence in his diary) and Elena (the first scene of the series is in the teenage girl’s bedroom while she is writing in her diary). This diary motif recalls the title of the novels. There are also memories (characters tell a lot of stories: their past loves, for example).

The characters in The Vampire Diaries end up – for the most part – coming back from the dead. There are many ways such as portals, parallel worlds or witchcraft. However, the series does not use scriptwriting facilities: the strength of love or friendship is not enough to bring back a dead (or a non-mort) to life. Although it is a series that uses the supernatural, a certain reality is created and always justified. The characters really fight to survive and do not give the impression of being invincible or being resurrected every time. This is a limit clearly underlined in the series since in season 5, the character of Alaric Saltzman (human, history teacher, Damon’s best friend, emblematic character of the series, played by Matthew Davis) who had a ring making him "immortal" (This ring has the ability to resurrect anyone wearing it at the time of death) and crazy. By dint of dying and being resurrected, the ring drove him crazy, ready to kill his relatives, including the vampires to whom he was an ally. He will be defeated and killed, suggesting that “life and death are not to be played with”. The series becomes even more interesting as even the main characters risk death (Elena is in a coma from season 6, Damon dies and comes back to life during season 5) and each episode becomes a real challenge for the protagonists and viewers.

In the Tod Browning movie, Dracula looks at death with envy. While "humans seek immortality, vampires seek the peace of death". This is the case of the vampire Stefan in The Vampire Diaries. While his brother Damon no longer wishes to regain his humanity, Stefan preferred to become human again and die. He envies humans who may grow old with their families (while he is doomed to see all those he loves die of old age or be murdered), have children and change appearance (the vampires of the series keep the appearance they had during their transformation). At the end of the series, he will sacrifice himself without remorse, considering that he has "lived enough". Elena, the main female character, does not want to become a vampire even if her boyfriend from the beginning of the show (Stefan) is immortal, unlike many other female characters like Bella in Twilight who prefer to sacrifice her humanity for love. Elena does not fear to see herself grow old and die while her lover will not die. In the early seasons, this point is not very developed due to the youth of the character (she is still a teenager and in high school) but it becomes an important point from the fourth season when Elena is transformed into a vampire against her will. She is not living it well, especially not being able to build her family (vampires cannot have children). The whole plot will revolve around this desire to be human or vampire, with the advantages and disadvantages that this brings. She will take the remedy against vampirism with Damon (who initially did not wish to become human but he places love before his own desires). Her passage as a vampire is seen as a passage in the adult world (entry to university, change of lover, new affinities, new life goals...).

There are many character-to-character discussions about death, the purpose of life, and what comes back, especially for the characters of Stefan and Elijah (the original vampire played by Daniel Gillies), is a fear of definitive death, without meaning or message (“ if God does not exist, this life, every minute of this life, is all we have”) as well as a certain weariness of life and a desire to leave it. Indeed, unlike many fictions about the vampire, the protagonists of the show do not believe in God.

C) Vampire and religion

The vampire-religion opposition is found in a large number of fictions where «vampires are represented as evil creatures always repelled by Catholic objects and vampire hunters are mainly priests.» In The Vampire Diaries, religion is not explicitly addressed, we find it implicitly: the fact of killing a vampire with a stake in the heart, for example, comes to us from the Church (but this fact is never mentioned in the series). There are some scenes in holy places: the vampires enter the places without any problem, no vampire character even hints at the fact that they are impure beings in a holy place (as is the case in Twilight in which Edward is very disturbed to be a being said bad and he constantly seeks to know if he deserves life and to be loved or not). On the contrary, terrible acts occur in a church (in season 6, at the wedding in a church of Alaric and Jo Laughlin (Jodi Lyn O'keefe), she is killed and their union ends in a bloodbath). The series seems to want to show that God, if he exists, can nothing against vampires and other supernatural creatures.

The religion in the series comes to us more as a habit (getting married to the Church while the characters are not believers for example) than as an escape from evil. The fact that Alaric dies after being too many times resurrected gives the show an impression of justice. But this is justified as the reversal of the forces of nature or of life rather than by God.

D) Vampire and love/sexuality

According to psychiatrist Edgar Vance: "Vampires are the representation of our most taboo thoughts like (...) sadistic sexuality. (...) The vampire has something sexual: the bite in the neck, the nocturnal visits made to their victims. (...)" The vampire’s face in movies and television is sexual. The majority of films and series dealing with the vampire speak and show sex and love relationships without taboo (the only exception is Twilight where the vampire appears modest, respectful of religious mores wishing to wait for marriage). The Vampire Diaries is primarily a series for teenagers and young adults, so relationships are very important. The vampire Damon is considered the most sulphurous of the characters of the series: dredges; scenes of debaucheries and of several sexes; scenes where the character is shirtless or naked; his intimate relations with Elena are often shown on the screen (and exaggerated: furniture flies in all directions, the bed is broken, their relationships are more wild than romantic). The series does not seem to have any educational purpose because intimate relationships are unrealistic and do not generally concern mutual consent (it is not uncommon for female and male characters to be drunk during love). On this point, The Vampire Diaries is similar to American series and films where adolescents have an intimate life and a life – globally – free, without parental control (when some adult characters such as Jenna Sommers, Elena’s aunt and her little brother Jeremy, try to put limits on them, they finally have no authority). But this critical aspect also has positive points: the characters easily talk about their sexual relations, problems and experiences to their friends (in season 4, Elena does not hesitate to talk about her sex life with Damon to Caroline and Bonnie, her best friends) and their families (the mother of the character of Tyler Lockwood, played by Michael Delfino, leaves condoms available in the house) which makes it possible to free the viewers speech and make – a minimum – prevention.

“The vampire is transgressive, hypnotic, selfish and destructive. He attacks conventions like marriage monogamy and fluid exchange.” Throughout the series, the character of Damon (and others like the original vampire Klaus Mikaelson, played by Joseph Morgan) will be considered selfish and destructive because he does not respect any rules and does not hesitate to put his desires before everything else. He is in love with his brother Stefan’s girlfriend and does not hide it. He does not hesitate to kiss her (season 2) or to give her ultimatums so that she chooses between him and his brother (the last episode of season 3). The series is highly appreciated for its realistic love triangle (Elena has a really hard time deciding between the two brothers and guilt for both): the suspense on his final choice is one of the big stakes, if not the main plot. Viewers have even created the phenomenon of "ship" (the couples they prefer to see together): Stelena for the couple Stefan-Elena and Delena for the couple Damon-Elena. However, although there are several love triangles (the Caroline-Tyler-Klaus trio in particular), infidelity is not highlighted in the series. On the contrary, when characters love, they are ready for anything (sacrifices, killings, death) to save the loved one. If they have to make a choice, they do not deceive and prefer to leave the other in order to think better. Love has a very important aspect but it is not idealized for all that: the series shows the arguments, the separations, the reflections faced by the characters. The loved one is not considered a soul mate and it is possible for the characters to separate and finish with another protagonist.

The bite pattern in the neck is recurring in vampire movies and series. Indeed, no work has yet modified this fact: vampires drink blood by the neck. In The Vampire Diaries, the bite (when it is made to feed and not kill) is erotic. In season 4, Elena, who became a vampire, must feed with blood if she does not want to die. She then drinks Damon’s blood on his neck, which will make Stefan angry because the bite is synonymous with sexual act and enjoyment. The scene is also filmed explicitly: we see the two characters taking pleasure in it (there are close-ups on the blood that flows and the expression of both faces). Just like in Coppola’s Dracula, blood in TVD is more about eroticism than death. Coppola interprets the aesthetics of blood in her film as "a love story occasionally punctuated with moments of horror". He “associates death and darkness with blue tones (the flames in the castle or the “blue of hell” Jonathan Harker speaks of) and uses blood and red to symbolize life.” Blood and red colour are associated with love and sensuality. In Season 4 of The Vampire Diaries, Elena and Damon are in a nightclub and bite everyone. They dance in the midst of the crowd, blood flowing from their mouths, staining their clothes and kissing. The way they are filmed gives the impression that they are in a bubble (blinding and bluish lights contrast with blood red, slow motion, camera following their movements, close-ups, music) and the scene has an educational intention for Elena: should she really let herself be dragged by Damon and abandon her principles for love?

Damon and Elena in the nightclub.

E) Vampire and morality

Vampire stories are popular among teenagers. This transition to adulthood generates anxiety. The Vampire Diaries has an attraction to self-quest: Elena is integrated among her peers and has confidence in herself. The series focuses on the various relationships: the difficulties of friendship, rivalries, loves. Parents resign, adolescents have a great freedom (alcohol, drugs, late outings...). The quest for the soul mate is not their priority, their affinities are changing and conflicting. The vampire is a metaphor for the dangers of life (sexual predators, murderers, alcohol, unprotected sex...). The character of Jeremy Gilbert (Elena’s little brother) is a withdrawn teenager, drugged and asks to be turned into a vampire by Vicki Donovan (his girlfriend in the first season, played by Kayla Ewell). But the attraction to the world of vampires is presented as a phase, just like any teenager goes through phases of questioning.

One of the main questions of the series is: can someone be bad from nature and choose to do good? Stefan’s character seeks to do good: he only feeds on animal blood, does not attack humans. He is always helpful and kind. It is to him that all characters turn when they need wise advice. The series also shows the limits to wanting to do good: since he does not feed on human blood, he is more vulnerable than other vampires and this causes him problems (during season 2, he cannot protect Elena against other vampires and she is kidnapped). Damon often makes fun of him. In fact, his craving or even his sickly need to do Good hides a deep pain: in the past, he forced his brother Damon to turn into a vampire and for a period, it was Stefan who did Evil by killing all the people who crossed his path ("How can I take so much pleasure if it’s wrong?"). He has an addiction to human blood, if he tastes it, he will no longer be able to control himself (what will happen at the end of season 1: he will be forced to drink human blood to save Elena and he will not know how to stop). The series then shows the difficulty of wanting absolutely to do the Good, to go against its own nature: it is ultimately more a choice than a question of bad nature. Current TV series such as The Vampire Diaries present the diversity of moral choices with vampire characters called “moral” (Stefan, Elijah) and “immoral” (Damon, Klaus). The character of Stefan, initially seductive, seems boring and moralizing while the character of Damon gains in charisma and complexity. Indeed, the series plays on the duality of being: everyone has a share of Good and Evil. Thus, Damon, though selfish and dangerous at first glance, is actually bruised and a being capable of loving. Stefan, however sweet, has a history of being an assassin, of clogging and risks to plunge back into it at every moment. So… who do you think Elena should choose? :)

Television reflects the evolution of the vampire figure from cinema to television as it has largely been inspired by cinema and literature, themselves inspired by ancient myths. But the small screen was able to renew itself by mixing and densifying the codes brought by the cinema, with series like Buffy against vampires and The Vampire Diaries which are nothing other than the result of the evolution of our society. While retaining the theatricalization, dramatization and glamour of cinema, television (with lively productions and a «teen» aesthetic) allowed the public to get closer to the vampire myth and the vampire to get closer to his audience by offering him greater complexity. Indeed, thanks to the commercial strategy of the channels reaching a wider audience than the cinema, TVD had a significant impact on the figure of the vampire on television: a whole universe was created and expanded from this series (the spins-off The Originals and Legacies) ; vampires are endowed with feelings and are capable of moral choices. A new folklore has been created: vampires have a reflection in the mirror, do not fear garlic or religion. The characters are more realistic (they can die, have no soul mate). Finally, the vampires of The Vampire Diaries (and television) now tend to come closer and closer to the human: the figure of the vampire adapts to the needs of the society that explores through it moral questions. The vampire feeds on anxiety to embody existential problems, social and cultural upheavals and project certain ideological values (such as freedom, marriage for all, liberated sexuality, feminism...). However, even if the series of vampires are considered without taboos, bringing renewal on big and small screen, there are still limits: vampires are largely white (black, Arab and Latin communities are very little represented). This could be explained by the myth of the «pale complexion» vampire, and The Vampire Diaries is far from escaping this rule. Most of the cast is white and the only black character – recurring – is not a vampire but a witch with tragic destiny (actress Kat Graham who played the witch Bonnie Bennet will admit to having been a victim of racism during the eight seasons of the show, her character and her story having suffered greatly). Other black characters are secondary and violent (the vampire hunter), cowardly (Bonnie’s mother abandoned her as a child) or wild (the witch Qetsiyah is dressed like an amazon and is sickly jealous. To avenge her husband’s deceit, she will curse him and his beloved). In 2020, Netflix revealed a French series called Vampires featuring Arab racialized characters – but the series had very little success. Although this tends to evolve and the figure of the vampire transgresses society and its manners, they remain no less than figures manipulated by the human being. The series of vampires have their limits: taboos, propaganda (few or no racialized characters; glorification of American society; unrealistic sex; prohibition of indulging in love or human emotions...).

And you, would you like to be a vampire and escape your destiny of death? ;)

- Alexandra M.