The Evolution of Vampires in Pop Culture

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sources:
1. “5 Ways Twilight Ruined Vampire Movies.” Horror Movies Canada. www.horror-mov...
2. Browning, John Edgar. “The real vampires of New Orleans and Buffalo: a research note towards comparative ethnography.” www.nature.com...
3. Brox, Ali. “‘Every Age Has the Vampire It Needs’: Octavia Butler’s Vampiric Vision in Fledgling.” Utopian Studies, vol. 19, no. 3, Penn State University Press, 2008, pp. 391-409, www.jstor.org/s....
4. Cengel, Katya. “How the Vampire Got His Fangs.” Smithsonian Magazine, October 2020. www.smithsonia...
5. Editors, History.Com. “Vampire History.” History. September 13, 2017. www.history.co...
6. Erdman, Shelby Lin. “The Real Dracula was Brutally Vicious and Absolutely Depraved; Who was Vlad the Impaler?” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. October 2018. www.ajc.com/ne....
7. Holte, James Craig. “Not All Fangs are Phallic: Female Film Vampires.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts , 1999, Vol. 10, No. 2 (38), A Century of Draculas (1999), pp. 163-173
8. Hreno, Tine. “1897 Literary Reviews for Dracula.” Blogspot, September 2013. 1890swriters.bl...
9. Little, Becky. “The Bloody Truth about Vampires.” National Geographic, 2016. www.nationalge...
10. Marks, Book. “An 1897 Review of Bram Stoker's Dracula.” Literary Hub, October 2020. bookmarks.revi...
11. Smith, S.E. “Staking Capitalism: The Undead Will Rise as Our Economy Spirals into Chaos.” www.bitchmedia...
12. Stevenson, John Allen. “A Vampire in the Mirror: The Sexuality of Dracula.” PMLA, vol. 103, no. 2, Modern Language Association, 1988, pp. 139-49, doi.org/10.230....
13. Thompson, John J. “Twilight has Ruined Vampires.” Think Christian. November 2011. thinkchristian...
14. Wikipedia. “Dracula.” en.wikipedia.o...
15. Wikipedia. “Mercy Brown Vampire Incident.” en.wikipedia.o...
16. Wikipedia. “New England Vampire Panic.” en.wikipedia.o...
17. Wikipedia. “The Vampyre.” en.wikipedia.o...
18. Wikipedia. “Vampires.” en.wikipedia.o....
19. Wikipedia. “Vlad the Impaler.” en.wikipedia.o...

[@Shanspeare]

Filmed this on the day The Batman came out + on the 100th anniversary of Nosferatu. Baller. Also, I made the pearl necklace but you can find similar on Etsy! It was inspired mainly by Hell’s Belle Designs and Christian Dior!

[@ayeilak5]

I got pearl necklace from local beauty supply store ❤️❤️❤️ great view

[@Gettingbi]

Heya, I was wondering if you had a discord server or were planning to make one? I love you analytical yet informal/comical approach to topics, often I find myself yelling "THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING!!!" when watching your content. I would love to meet others in this community so we can begin to form an evil hive mind to overtake the globe-NAY-the galaxy!

[@yonokhanman654]

This video is perfect timing, I just watched Nosferatu the other day!

[@ashschilling8672]

Now you need to do a video like this but on the “lesbian vampire” trope.

[@jonanasbananas2944]

What kind of program do you use for editing?

[@mannabslot]

one thing i really adore about this channel that i think is overlooked is all the effort put into the visuals - the makeup, outfits, background all coordinating with the topic in the video is such a fun detail :D

[@Shanspeare]

🥺

[@choicethetaurus]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHa2lHqVo7l6l5o

[@redwave4738]

@@Shanspeare kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4rMhH1-qNqBh8U

[@pogbog9303]

@@redwave4738 Probably the last Time I click on a random link....Ngl this was kinda good

[@wonderland.5]

@@redwave4738 wait this is actually pretty good- one of the few times I don't regret clicking some random link

[@elleliteracy]

the bat ears... the bloody pearls... the flawless research, editing and (lack of) thesis... impeccable! remarkable! showstopping! and THAT is why you're the only channel that matters

[@haileytin9454]

People hating “pretty” vampires never made any sense to me tbh. If anything pretty vampires are MORE scary because it shows us how society values aesthetics as a marker of goodness. So when the pretty thing is revealed as dangerous it feels more unsettling and true to nature.

[@chocotoasties2671]

Yeah but most of the time it's not portrayed that way. The vampires are pretty to sell to viewers, not to be commentary on how beautiful people can do ugly things. At least not often. Even with series like Vampire Diaries that have clear abuse going on, it's romanticized

[@haileytin9454]

@@chocotoasties2671 that’s very true! I think both things can be true at once though. Yeah, pretty vampires sell better because they’re pretty and the entertainment industry (and western society as a whole) has an obsession with appearance, but I think that adds to the point I want to make rather than retract from it. We’re so quick to romanticize monsters because they’re aesthetically pleasing rather than accept that they’re killers and abusers. At the end of the day, pretty or not, the vampire is a monster that gains popularity when we’re at our lowest, reflecting the ugly parts of our society even if their intended purpose is to be sexy and romanticized. Meanings are made out of symbols by the audience and not the author.

[@astronomicallyfine]

Pretty vampires have always made sense to me only for the reason that beauty will attract humans. Beauty will be effective even if it’s separated from the notion of goodness. I hate to admit that this is one of the only things I think Stephanie Meyer got right 💀 Everything about twilight vampires was intended to attract humans (beauty, scent, voice, etc). I see beauty more as an advantageous trait than a necessity for vampires though.

[@fleur5782]

Babe it's all the world. We humans are obsessed with beauty

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Vampires are predators so becoming attractive to lure in prey makes complete sense

[@scott2k23]

I wish POC mythology stories where told a lot more often then the European ones. I'm obsessed with West African Folklore. It's sad that in Western media we mostly see Eurocentric stories surround monsters and other mythical creatures.

[@saramoreira9847]

That would make for really interesting new concepts to the general public, I bet there's an untaped well of myths and lore from all sorts of POC cultures. In this age of increasing reboots and revivals it would be a breath of fresh air.

[@scott2k23]

@@saramoreira9847 yes it really would. I’m sick of seeing the same old creatures and monsters from the same adaptations.

[@rose44491]

@@scott2k23 same!! Damn tired of it 😩

[@clrmtsml]

Yes I was thinking the exact same thing. I love writing and I have been contemplating writing my own fantasy story based on my culture mythology (I’m from Guadeloupe, French West Indies) but I’m scared it will be bad 😭💔 PS: the creature she talks about at 9:54 is a very famous creature in Guadeloupe. It’s called “soukounyan” and it’s not just female. It’s anyone that makes a pact with the devil 😭 and they even have a specific three (ceiba pentandra, locally called “fromager”) where they leave their human skin when they transform. And to kill them you have to find their skin, and put salt on it. People are literally scared to stay near that three at night 😭

[@Hope-eb8hf]

@@clrmtsml please do it!!! We need more POC stories written BY POC

[@slinkLainey]

11:24 i feel like with vampirism the blood drains from your face like with a usual corpse, thereby removing your undertone of color, not melanin. Meaning you’d stay as dark as you were but your skin would have a different, more blue-grey undertone instead of what you had before. If that makes sense.

[@uncreativename6210]

hey as a Romanian i really appreciate this. a lot of people oversimplify and make a mockery out of our folklore and culture

[@uncreativename6210]

@Ronan huh

[@NIHIL_EGO]

@Ronan Case in point:

[@noishfanboy1141]

@@NIHIL_EGO no way is that nihil Ego the library of ruina comment man!

[@evelynnovak7796]

as an romanian the thing that is most similar to a vampir is called “ vărcolac” which is a pale long eared, canine teethed blood sucking, humalike creature

[@user-dg3ug7ny5d]

Just found out the 'Vampire Academy' series by Richelle Mead wasn't complete fiction because of this! Thank you! Strigoi are based on real mythological creatures.

[@stargirlabi_111]

@@user-dg3ug7ny5d my dads friend played the blonde girl in that, lucy fry!

[@user-dg3ug7ny5d]

@@stargirlabi_111 You're kidding! I found out she's an Aussie actress after I watched the movie, did some searching, and I've been unknowingly watching movies and series with her in for over a decade! (had a major crush on her as Lyla in S1 'Mako: Island of Secrets,' too.)

[@cockycookie1]

so like a weredog?

[@evelynnovak7796]

@@cockycookie1 not exactly it doesnt have fur and looks kinda like the vampires from garvity falls just humansized

[@scott2k23]

Girl don't even get me started on the racism in these Vampire movies and tv shows. In Twilight and Vampire Diaries, all of the POC characters are left to suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the main white character. Or their written as villains of the story while Pale main white character is seen as innocent. Stephanie Meyer writing of the Quileute Tribes and casting decision on Laurent is racist. The vampire Jasper is a former Confederate solider!!!! In the movie he is seen as hero by Bella. Vampire Diaries is guilty of the treatment of Bonnie and Damon being a former Confederate Soldier as well.

[@TheBooklover1848]

It's important to note that Twilight features narrative devices and motifs that are very consistent with Mormonism (Meyer is famously LDS) - for example, all of the vampires are very white (not unlike the idea of being "white and delightsome" *gag*), Jacob's surname being "black" to drive the point home, Jacob being in Mormon parlance a "Lamanite" who cannot join Bella's 'eternal family' with Edward.

[@leopardshadow333]

The amount of pro Confederate bs in vampire diaries is insane, and they mention slavery like once. I'm basically surprised the characters aren't going around calling it the War of Northern Aggression.

[@ladyredl3210]

As if I needed another reason to hate TVD thanks!

[@darlalathan6143]

So is Sookie's vampire boyfriend in True Blood, which is set in the South. It stereotypes a gay black man as a drug dealer and Sookie's black childhood friend as a jerk.

[@liliahowl8820]

@@darlalathan6143 Isn't Lafayette also shown to be one of the most stable, human, and overall best characters of the show tho ? And the drug dealing stuff was very mild (except when it was imposed on him by Eric) and stopped rather quickly if I remember

[@ladyredl3210]

"No hobbies except for oppression, reading and writing " girl, as an amateur Victorianist, when I tell you I screamed! 😂

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Vlad the impaler was a guerilla fighter fighting a giant turkish army. He used fear as a strategy against overwhelming odds. People nowadays like to skip that part and make it sound like he did it for fun. Also he was a christian and hat support from Vatican, which is funny considering how vampires are considered anti-church

[@cam4636]

People also tend to ignore how propaganda (both for and against a ruler) & exaggeration work. "He tortures captives" gets turned into "he impales them in public and feasts on their blood." "He's really good at killing the enemy army" gets turned into "he killed 20,000 guys at once." "The Carpathian mountains are creepy at night if you don't know the area" gets turned into "he disappeared into the shadows and turned into FRICKIN' BATS"

[@VenusTemple]

I really find Vlad's story interesting, and it's really sad and annoying how there's so much misinformation on him.

[@momoyaoyorozu7004]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how aesthetically pleasing this video is! The roses, the fake blood, literally everything is so pretty !!

[@jefferykusi6444]

I think we all forget how much racism and colourism plays out regarding the adoration of the white supernatural characters - when we talk about the supernatural, the brutality of such a lifestyle is emphasised to an extreme in the media when POCs are in the picture. Case in point, Vodoo - an actual frickin religion is basically shit on by every CW teen supernatural drama went they run out of plots, but hey! Crystals, sexy vampires, gotta love them!

[@liastorm795]

Exactly! Like the POC is always being used and abused and shitted on🙄

[@editaudioaesthetic]

That’s the point of vampires. Every book that defined the vampire as a genre and archetype is usually British. British people in the Victorian era were terrified of foreigners, of the East, they were orientalists and the vampires represented that fear, the fear of the “Other”. So, vampires will always have that inherent white supremacist nature to it just as much as classism (usually rich aristocrats) and sexuality.

[@mariannacross2538]

the blood on the pearl necklace? incredible showstopping spectacular never been done before

[@clockworkoregano]

I love learning about how different cultures all have some version of the same kind of mythological creature (Wurdulak, mermaid, trickster animal spirit, etc)

[@anyone1111]

What’s the first one?

[@user-dg3ug7ny5d]

@@anyone1111 "Wurdulac, also spelled wurdalak or verdilak, is a vampire in the Slavic folklore mythology. Some Western sources define it as a type of "Russian vampire" that must consume the blood of its loved ones and convert its whole family."

[@clockworkoregano]

@@anyone1111 thats a slavic/Russian type of vampire thats sort of related in lore to the Upyr vampire. The "W" is pronounced as a "V" in English so it sort of sounds like "vardulak" if I were to try to write it in English

[@salmaislam3415]

India has also pichash or pichasha

[@corentinie]

Being a lady who loves ladies I heard about Carmilla and was planning on reading it so you posting this video was crazy good timing! Love the vid girl! You always pull out all the stops and make your videos absolutely fabulous!

[@ACBmonkey]

You should read it, it's not very long but I think it's good. Left me feeling a bit empty or unsatisfied though, but I think that's effective storytelling.

[@martabarrales3112]

verilybitchie also has a nice deep dive on lesbian vampires that's really interesting 💕

[@aspenlee3600]

@@ACBmonkey I agree there was an empty feeling that was probably intentional from a storytelling perspective that also felt kind of allegorical to wlw relationships or feelings that go unfulfilled. love carmilla so much though and it's a free pdf online

[@ACBmonkey]

I find the modern vampire best a metaphore for toxic and abusive relationships, whether it be familial or romantic. I especially relate to the aspect of loving someone who struggles with a desire that often comes before everything and everyone else, having a family member who is an addict. That's why I think it's so easily popular. Most people have at some point in their lives loved someone who doesn't treat them right and maybe even hurts them while also feeling a responsibility for that person's struggles. It's a topic not often directly addressed in media or shown with much empathy. And vampire stories do this well.

[@bee1411]

THISSSSS

[@cockycookie1]

You sure it isn't just "Blood kink go brrr"

[@P-P-Panda]

@@cockycookie1 that too ngl

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

@@cockycookie1 or bite kink

[@hastoomuchtoobsessabout4704]

Dowry of Blood !!

[@jr3wx]

If anyone ever makes fun of you for this content you can tell them I took an entire semester-long college course about vampires and their history and literature and this video was more informative! My professor was creepy levels of interested in the details of how Vlad the Impaler tortured people and told us NOTHING about the scientific explanations for vampire panics. You continue to be an absolute delight to watch! The costumes! The rigorous research! The gleeful fandom discussions! Big fan.

[@cockycookie1]

Were you there for creative writing purposes or...?

[@alexanon8345]

I really want to see an anticapitalist vampire story. When I played Vampire the Masquerade I played an anarchist Anarch vampire and while that setting isn't particularly accurate to my political beliefs there is sooooo much territory to explore re dismantling class structure and the "superiority" of people with vampirism.

[@kohhna]

Vampires Vs The Bronx on Netflix. Its great, Vampires as a metaphor for urban gentrification.

[@laurensimendinger8887]

I desperately need a story with vampires as the oppressors

[@user-sf2ng5oi2g]

One of the original vampires ,a Serb named Sava Savanović was actually a capitalist . (One of the popular rationalizations of this myth is that he killed the peasants who stole flour from his mill) That disappoints me, as a commie from Serbia xd

[@cam4636]

@@laurensimendinger8887 They...they are. That's the point. That's what we're talking about

[@ilpensatore1462]

There's a TV show called "blue" which is about French royals being infected by vampirism. Unfortunately it revealed to be kind of a waste of potential of the concept of "rich baroque vampires being the cause of French revolution" .

[@TheCrowFKAPS]

I haven't watched yet but can I just say I really appreciate how much effort you put into dressing along with your videos. I love the goth vampire look.

[@Mimi-ef4mt]

I love this since I was like super young I love vampires in the media whether it be stories movies TV shows love it I think my obsession first came about with vampire Knight which I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing but anime and manga have always gotten me sucked in so I really do miss when the vampire was popular in main stream media

[@Shanspeare]

I LOVED VAMPIRE KNIGHT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL LMAOOOOO UNLOCKED A MEMORY

[@Shadowhunter420]

Bro same I enjoyed vampire knight back in the day I was also obsessed with vampires or werewolves or just the supernatural in general.

[@phucbich7581]

@@Shanspeare I LOVED VAMPIRE KNIGHT AND I STILL DO HELP

[@bee1411]

@@Shadowhunter420 Same! I was obsessed with that shit!

[@mollymishy]

Romanian here, just want to note that Vlad is a war hero and the invading Ottoman Empire at the time was only deterred because of his efforts to scare them off because Romania did not have the ability to fight them (he used tonnes of impaled soldiers heads from earlier battles, it was an absolute last resort), however the Ottomans had made up a lot of stories (I guess history really does only remember the winner’s narrative) and he’s been depicted awfully ever since. The stories I believe did heavily inspire the ‘lore’ of the modern western vampire.

[@mollymishy]

@@trikebeatstrexnodiff Did you read my comment? He didn't actually drink blood, that was propaganda and fearmongering from the Ottomans to discredit him.

[@rarescevei8268]

At that time, there were 3 romanian principalities. The one you're reffering to is Wallachia, or Țara Românească / The Romanian Country.

[@jorie6616]

This video was so informative! The creature at 10:05 is called a "manananggal" (lmao try saying that 5 times fast) in the Philippines, although I don't know what it's called in Malaysia and Indonesia. Another fun fact about it is sprinkling salt/garlic on its lower half will defeat the manananggal because it stops the creature from getting back to its body. The manananggal needs to get back to its body before sunrise or else it will burn, like typical vampires do.

[@fairguinevere666]

Yes! Vampires are very fun. Although the title of the essay amuses me, I think all fangs are in fact phallic - that's what makes female vampires so inherently lesbian, such a threat to patriarchy, etc. If you're going Full Freud (which arguably you shouldn't do but also he's great at describing cishet men) the acquisition of a phallic, penetrating tool and source of power by a woman is like, as scary as it gets. Also why there's such a dedicated subset of trans vampire fans - a woman whose body possesses one of the defining symbols of patriarchy marking her as disgusting and evil? She just like me fr.

[@darlalathan6143]

I can totally understand the Freudian symbolism, after studying symbolism as a cartoonist. I happen to be a Goth transwoman.

[@cockycookie1]

Y'all watch ContraPoints ,right?

[@aspenlee3600]

not this calling out the subconscious reasons i love vampires

[@myasmith1820]

Carmilla approves of this comment, lesbian and bi women vampires are a troupe at this point. Even Adventure Time used the bisexual vampire troupe 😅.

[@rue6914]

What

[@Kestra84]

*raises hand* I lived and worked in a Central Asian community on a lake for several years. One summer, my host family told me, very seriously, I shouldn't be going out at night alone, and especially should not be going near the bazaar, because there was a vampire about. I laughed and figured I had mis-understood some local slang (the word used was "vampyr" a cognate from the Russian, there wasn't a local dialect word for it.) So I pulled out my English/Russian dictionary to confirm they really meant "blood-sucking undead" rather than "dangerous thief" or something less... supernatural. They were very adamant, they meant "drinks blood, is undead" kind of vampire. So I asked how everyone was so sure it was a vampire. Like, what had people actually seen and heard? Was this just a weird rumor? Oh, you see, a woman attacked a militzia (police) near the bazaar right after sunset a few days earlier and bit his ear off! Okay, granted, that's a thing that someone might do, I guess, but that doesn't make it a supernatural occurrence, does it? How did the militzia *know* it was a vampire? Oh, America, you think you're so smart. She. Bit. His. Ear. Off. QED. No further arguments on my part that some people really do be crazy like that, no vampiric activity required, would move them at all from their conviction. Because, there was no other possible explanation. Normal women don't attack militzia and bite their ears off, obviously. Only vampires do that. Ergo... I shared this story with some fellow aid workers later that week. One of the expats living in a smaller village sighed deeply and muttered, "This fucking vampire! My host mother hasn't let me go to the bazaar for the past month!" Apparently, there was a vampire panic in every village along the lake that summer, and since everyone knew us hapless Americans were prone to falling into ditches and other misadventures, we all had to be kept from the bazaars as much as possible, to protect us from our own innocence regarding the very real, very extant threat of the vampire on the lake.

[@HT-pl8du]

Btw, Ask A Mortician has a great video on the New England vampire panic if you guys wanna know more

[@cici-tb4ml]

I one hundred percent blame Bela Lugosi for the sexy vampire trope. When that movie came out in 1931 he got so many letters from women!! What an amazing video and topic thank you so much for making it, I always look forward to your content!

[@elizabethh4855]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Blade, Underworld, Van Helsing, or the Originals. These are some great vampire movies/shows. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also had a vampire (THE Mina Harker from Brom Stoker's Dracula) bu she had a thing with Dorian Grey which was weird.

[@8hanihani8]

not the lime cheese salad again 💀 thought i was over it... but i'm glad our icon is back!! 😤 excited to learn about all the vampire lore

[@Shanspeare]

Can’t get it out of my head 😩

[@wildmarjoramdieselpunk6396]

@@ShanspeareDon’t search fish in jello.

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

From what I've heard, the story of Dracula was largely complete before Stoker heard about Vlad. All he got from him was the name.

[@vladdracul805]

youre right ! the rose sinister vampires podcast has an episode on dracula that explains this more thoroughly - stokers notes were missing for a long time, during which people assumed that vlad tepes must have been the source for the count

[@Lonii04]

Yeah and wasn't it more based on Carmilla? Like I think she even was a character and the setting was also in the Steiermark not Romania

[@obliviongigan6360]

​​@@Lonii04 Lamo what? Steiemark? The main locations in Dracula were in England and Transylvania not Austria.

[@Lonii04]

@@obliviongigan6360 I read somewhere that in his original Draft of the Story it was more closely connected to Carmilla, she was a Character in it and it was Set in Austria like her story but He changed it to Romania when he wrote the actual book and changed the character to resembel Vlad

[@zarahsart8166]

Shanaya- States all the horrifying and gruesome ways Ye old hoomans handled corpses allegedly infected with vampirism Also Shanaya-This is a family channel..I don’t wanna elaborate on the details of those cases

[@susieboo22]

Literally the funniest part of The Vampyre is that John Polidori was Lord Byron's personal doctor and travelling companion (the first draft was written at the same get-together in 1816 that produced Frankenstein). This man spent 99% of his time with Byron and then wrote a novel about a seductive, charismatic man who preys upon the innocent and lures them in using his super sexy charm, and the hapless, totally-not-gay-I-promise-look-he-even-has-a-girlfriend young man who is among those who become inexplicably taken with this guy, finding him beautiful and repulsive at the same time. Like... something you want to share with the class, John?

[@zephyr6383]

I want to add byron was literally bisexual

[@no1GIRluvr]

might i add bram stoker also was gay.

[@samwiseb2799]

I mean I get the impression it was supposed to be criticism of the rich lord Byron type.

[@Thegoofygobber]

Pretty sure Mary was Bi as well

[@BlisaBLisa]

i dont get some ppls insistance that vampires can only be light skinned because they need to be pale, I always saw the pale look of vampires as a way to make them look corpse-like, or bloodless even, and just overall sickly and off-looking. its not about having light skin but about looking dead, you can very much achieve that look with darker skin without making it pale like you would lighter skin.

[@elleliteracy]

I rewatched Twilight and New Moon this week... bestie, are we psychically linked? probably. get out of my head :)

[@Shanspeare]

No :)

[@greenbananaman9409]

i only decry that u didn't mention what we do in the shadows, uve single handedly inspired me to write one of my overdue essays

[@katiebailey3439]

When you talked about the racializing with people who now would be considered white, I thought about how I learned when we went to new orleans that they would keep track of people's lineage and even if they looked completely white; if they had black heritage they were considered black.

[@rockcandyb]

Loved this video. You make learning new things fun and way more entertaining than it usually is. Also in Guyana (South America) we call the old ladies who suck young blood Ole Higues. The lore around them is similar to those around the rest of the Caribbean. They are a big piece of our culture and even have poems and plays written about them.

[@yuhyuh1471]

Thanks for sharing! That’s really interesting!

[@rockcandyb]

@@yuhyuh1471 You're welcome. Almost every Western or Northern folklore (although mostly true) has an African or Caribbean equivalent. You'd be very surprised. 😏😉

[@jols._.9835]

In Trinidad and Tobago we call it soucouyant

[@rockcandyb]

@@Kaylisia25 Yes and if you add more or scatter it they have to start over again. 😌

[@cockycookie1]

Reminds me of Maggie the frog in Asoiaf kinda

[@ruthym7697]

Yasss I'm here for the attention to detail, both aesthetically and content wise! Keep on keeping on sis!!

[@bobafeo]

something minor i really appreciate when watching your videos is your soft tone. as someone who has auditory sensitivity i’m so grateful that i get to enjoy your videos without worrying about the volume . thank you!

[@ayeilak5]

Nosferatu 100th anniversary was a few days ago. I love vampires 🦇. Anna rice past away in January I was so sad she wrote Interview with a vampire the movie great too. ❤️❤️

[@queenelizabethii4397]

ok can we all agree that Aubrey is literally in love with ruthven

[@palanfuiniel]

Hey, Friendly Neighborhood Serb here! When I first read Dracula I was really struck by how violently anti-Slavic it is. John Harper describes the peasants around Dracula's castle as practically subhuman. Unfortunately this tracks with how modern Northwestern Europeans (i.e. England, Germany) see people from the Balkan Peninsula today - backwards (Not Protestant), poor, and untrustworthy. This doesn't translate neatly to North America, where Balkan people (Greek American, Serbian American, etc) are seen as white and benefit from the general anti-blackness of White Supremacy. I really loved this video, and can't wait to see the rest!

[@imani0nline]

Perfect The explanation on the nosferatu to Edward Cullen pipeline I’ve been waiting for 🤠

[@coryl3943]

I hope you cover more horror tropes. The research and vibes were outstanding. The work you put into these videos is incredible.

[@express999snsd]

Have you watched verilybitchie's videos about bisexual dracula and lesbian vampire movies? I think that could add some interesting things on to your perspective, since you talk about dracula being a foreigner but I think you do it differently than the other person's video Great video! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

[@trinaq]

I adore your makeup, you really go all out with your costumes in every video, girl! 😍❣️

[@psychedelicpegasus7587]

The first vampire story I learned about was Carmilla, a novella by Sheridan le Fanu was written in 1872 so 26 years before Dracula. I am excited to hear about one from much earlier.

[@kohhna]

The Extra Credits series on Vlad The Impaler was very good. Dracula was basically a techno-thriller, viewing the old mythos of the Vampire with the then-cutting edge contemporary scientific perspectives of, erm, degeneration theory and scientific racism (Van Helsing quotes and references this stuff in the text) and fights it with the then-cutting edge contemporary scientific technology, i.e., erm, the phonograph, shorthand, telegraphy and blood transfusion. Something else about Dracula that you fail to mention, you have to remember Stoker's perspective as a member of the Anglo-Irish ascendency, a descendant of the protestant english speaking ruling class in Ireland. The early chapters of the young metropolitan male in the rural; hinterland amongst a bunch of weird, superstitious non-english speaking peasants was probably based on his own travels outside of The Pale into the rest of Ireland.

[@katiesperr-crane6558]

also a lot of vampire related folklore/characteristics are very much rooted in antisemitic stereotypes and were used to perpetuate a lot of the myths about jews in eastern europe (i.e. drinking the blood of christians, large noses, heavy accents, hurt by a cross, compared to the devil, etc)

[@cam4636]

This. So much anti-Semitism gets ignored by modern reinterpretations because "oh, it's about CAPITALISM" like...you understand that "evil outsider who hordes money" & "secret cabal who run the world from behind the scenes" are also anti-Semitic tropes, right? "It's about queerness" as if "foreign religious practice where the men don't behave like OUR men, sounds kinda fruity" is not somehow also a longstanding anti-Semitic stereotype...

[@doctortalisman9861]

@@cam4636 Yeah, agreed (if you haven't already, you should totally read Jack Halberstam's analysis of Dracula from this perspective!). Honestly, I always find it odd when people argue over analysis of art like that, by going "no, it's not about THIS theme, it's about THIS one!"... like... have you considered that art can have more than one theme?! I am personally a huge fan of vampires-as-queerness but it is by no means mutually exclusive with vampires-as-antisemitic-stereotypes or vampires-as-capitalism. I mean, going back to Dracula, Bram Stoker was antisemitic, misogynistic, AND likely a closeted queer man - all of those traits carry over into his work, and none of them somehow cancel out the others.

[@bat7696]

Sheridan Le Fanu would probably have an actual heart attack if someone showed him the Twilight Saga 😂

[@HT-pl8du]

Wait Sheridan is a girl?? Someone told me Camilla was written by a guy and I was so shocked bc it's so good lol so I'm glad to know I was right in the beginning

[@bat7696]

@@HT-pl8du typo! Sheridan is a man! 😅 My bad Edit: well, was a man. Long dead now.

[@crisgdincoffeespoons7574]

This is going to seem silly...but thank you so much for pointing out the Chupacabra is from Puerto Rico! Anytimes we see it attributed to Mexico is like...no, it's from here, and its part of long tradition of monsters, both blood drinking and not, in Puerto Rico. Absolutely love your videos and you always do such amazing work and like just wanted to thank you for this one XD. Amazing work!

[@Tuvabaluba]

I wanted to be a folklorist when I was 15 or so. Read everything I could get my hands on when it came to vampire folklore. Was obsessed with vampire literature. But thats like... forever ago now. Had honestly kinda forgotten how much I loved this stuff, and how much joy it brought me. So thanks for the reminder! So excited about the next videos

[@Teodora4537x]

On the Vlad the Impaler stuff, just wanted to add a perspective of how it’s taught in Romanian schools, from my memory (therefore likely innacurate since I haven’t been in school for amost 10 years). His time, like most of our history, was one of a lot of unrest, especially due to foreign invasions, which have happened so many times I’ve lost count. He is seen as a pretty evil guy, but usually in response to deadly circumstances (i.e. the Ottoman soldiers who we’re trying to conquer the area, not just strolling by). Even so, he seemed to go beyond what other rullers of the time did, and I can vividly remmember being about 15 when my teacher described the impaling process, while we were looking at him horrified. It’s a pretty popular story since it sounds so ridiculous and horrifying to us now. He was a pretty successful leader and was able to protect the region against foreign invasions (I think? for the most part at least? who knows, we got invaded so much it’s ridiculous). This supposedly led to some foreign factions (I think I remmember particularly the Hungarians and Ottomans, the main opposition at the time) exagerating his cruelty and methods to provide more reasoning as to why he should be stopped. Since all the legends and stories, his castle has been made to seem spookier than a medieval castle already is (given it’s not the kind with gold and riches, more like stone and gloom). Torture mechanisms from all over Europe have been taken there (or were a few years ago when I visited) to make the experience scarier for visitors, since it’s a big source of tourism, national and international. I would say in my opinion he is viewed as extremely cruel but ultimately triying to protect the people from foreign invaders that the people were already trying to run from, while in the context of a time when human rights were pretty scarse, especially for common folk. Nonetheless, the blatant devil (Dracul = The Devil) nickname for him and his dad, using a very common word for devil, does say a lot about how they must’ve treated their community. There’s probably a lot more lore around this and I cannot promise everything I said here is accurate to my history lesson or the actual facts (given that the education system is very biased), but this is just the perspective of someone who grew up relatively close to his region and has been hearing about his legacy pretty much my whole life. Hope that was somewhat interesting :)

[@pri2x0x]

Im not sure if this was mentioned but have you watched Castlevania on Netflix?? I loved the story of Dracula told and his complex character along with all the other characters.

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

We can't forget the story of Dracula and his wife Lisa

[@directiontonarnia]

Twilight is hated less because of the depiction of vampires, and more for the relationship between Edward and Bella. Honestly, glitter is tolerable, but NOT what those two had

[@isaacofori-solomon7995]

Vampires are often orientalized when it comes to the "other". Specifically in the context of the late 1800s fears against Eastern Europeans but specifically Ashkenazi Jews and Romani

[@aishlelle]

I haven’t fully watched the video yet but I love the look!

[@artia4094]

I really love how much effort is put into all these videos - Ik this has been mentioned already - but it’s just so amazing to me how much effort is put into the research, costume, set design etc etc! It’s so cool! :)

[@rorrieclark650]

Will forever be bitter that I got a C on my science tuberculosis project in middle school where I went in depth about how vampire panic was linked to symptoms of TB.

[@yuhyuh1471]

I Iove, love, LOVE your videos and I’m so glad you made this video!! I recently did a project on Nosforatu and I ALSO found the difference between early vampires to the almost cartoonish depictions today really interesting! Have a great day queen 👸👸👸

[@nokidoke]

I never skip any of your ads because you and contrapoints are the only people on KZbin who can make me laugh out loud

[@maiaergarac8466]

I loved this! I recently started watching buffy the vampire slayer and i just want to bring up the weirdly large age gaps between (more often than not) human girls and then super old vampire guys. Am i the only one that finds it creepy? i just always feel like it's a sly attempt to romanticise and normalise pedophilia and predatory behaviour with a nice lovely layer of fiction and folklore. i was a huge twilight fan at 14, then moved on to vampire diaries and the originals, now that i'm almost 18 and have revisited my young love for vampires, buffy's age gap with angel really makes me feel icky (the fact that he was in his mid-late 20's when he was sired also just- c'mon they didn't even try to make it any better) and thinking about all the other age gaps in the other shows (when the girl isn't even a legal adult yet, if the characters were of an adult age i don't think i'd disapprove so much) is also kinda gross but it's hard to see it when these old vampire guys are depicted as so desirable and attractive. not to mention the way they treat the girls, the stalking and emotional manipulation, but i should stop here for now.

[@darlalathan6143]

You're sharper than I was, when I watched Buffy in college!

[@bee1411]

U know…. Now that I think about it, pedo shit was sadly and still is sadly normalized in many alternative subcultures. For example the scene era of the early 2000’s was really bad for it. We were all obsessed with vampires, and I just made the connection. Maybe I’m crazy but; people really need to pay attention to the messages their media is sending smh.

[@throughthedin]

And now we know how much of a creep Joss Whedon so... I guess he was projecting the whole time?

[@maiaergarac8466]

@@bee1411 YES 100% my sister (11) told me she had seen about two seasons of buffy (my mum unfortunately doesn't monitor what she watches on disney plus very often) and I immediately got very protective and told her not to watch it anymore. She said she stopped after season 2 thank goodness, but i don't want her to grow into a teenager seeing those sorts of relationships in the media and then thinking that it's normal to want to be in a relationship like that just because the guy is perceived to be a "hot, attractive, mysterious" vampire.

[@maiaergarac8466]

@@throughthedin it would make sense wouldn't it

[@kandyjo]

The Soucouyant description of the old lady who turns into a fireball at night: That’s basically how menopause feels.

[@amorphousblob1762]

Made me snort

[@annikajh71]

Only a few minutes in but I must say this is my favorite KZbin background I've ever seen and I greatly appreciate the Halloween vibes in boring March!!

[@itsbasicboi]

Shanspeare uploads, I know my road trip is going to be enjoyable. Love you bestie 😘😘.

[@Shanspeare]

heyyyy bestie! Drive safe!

[@marisophi]

Ahhh this is interesting! The vampire story that I still think about a lot is True Blood because i first watched it in the first lockdown back in 2020. I read somewhere that the vampirism and how they were treated by society in that show was a metaphor for queerness. It gets pretty obvious at some point also when there is a whole church that makes it their mission to kill all vamps. Some parts of this show were actually so good but unfortunately other parts of it were dogshit.

[@dyingforeddiemunson]

omg just a couple of days ago i was literally reading dracula and thinking to myself how much a vampires in literature have changed over the course of time?? and then this video drops?? bestie I love you ❤

[@KaylaTheKindOne]

I've only watched a couple of your videos so far but I can already tell that they are aesthetically pleasing, properly researched, well edited, and well written. Plus you're hilarious, relatable, and have a really nice voice. Everything about this channel is exactly what I want out of KZbin.

[@pestyobsrvr4278]

12:50 "OH NO, VAMPIRES" "GET A BRICK" "WHAT?!?!" lol Loved your outfits in the video. Aristocratic and Hot Topic Vampire you can do both. I'd like this video more than once if I could. Just this one.

[@iantheharvey4109]

Omg! It's so rare I see my name in anything! It's pronounced eye-an-fee, I'm going to have to go find that book now!

[@dixxsempiternal374]

loved this subject!!🖤🖤🖤 it’s just missing Carmilla, it was written even before Dracula

[@juliefarrell6688]

Currently writing a comic series about a family of vampires inspired by Encanto. They all live in a mansion in a valley full of monsters and humans alike and basically run the place.

[@julietbertrand4577]

I also love to see the history of vampires within the LGBT+ community (in your typical queercoded villain style), especially concerning "The Vampyre" and "Dracula".

[@KUREHA3D]

tbh this topic gives me so so much anxiety but ily and you always explain things so in depth! thank you for sharing ♥️

[@user-ji9if5gh2p]

i’m so excited for the twilight, fanfics and 50 shades video omg alizee is one of my favorite youtubers and she makes videos reading all of them

[@ruirui7072]

i love this channel sm, the visuals according to theme, editing, research and how u word everything is so ugh(/pos) lovely vid as always omg

[@vitamincrc8267]

Aubrey agreeing to tour Europe with Lord Ruthven no questions asked sounds like how instagram couples used to meet ~back in the day~

[@evanthia505]

4 words: Only Lovers Left Alive. My favourite romance movie of all time, the blueprint of an ideal relationship and the perfect take on vampires and their immortality.

[@sacrilegioussasquatch]

I love your videos, you have such a calm energy and it's easy to just slip into a concentrated state while doing almost anything

[@BeccaAl]

Brilliant, enjoyed this all esp the part about the asanbosam and other folk law creatures. I’ve never seen Twilight as I was a bit too old for it and I’m incredibly squeamish so my Goth phase was more a nip than a full bite. I do love that vampire atheistic though. Red and black, fangs and all, you look flipping gorgeous in. Not sure what on your neck, like blood globules? But I love it 🧛🏽‍♀️🤩

[@samcotter6236]

I adored this vid! I would have liked to see some love for Bela Lugosi, considering he really shaped the modern image of the vampire.

[@amelianowak9984]

I am obsessed with your content it’s so enriching and you are so full of personality and are just easy to listen to. My new fav channel

[@hyacynthii]

ok my fav part of John Polidori’s ‘the Vampyre’ is the drama between Polidori and Lord Byron that created it- basically the story of the Vampyre came about when a bunch of writers were telling scary stories one night (the same night Mary Shelley came up with Frankenstein!) but it wasn’t Polidori who told the story, it was Lord Byron.. Polidori was his doctor and was travelling around Europe with Lord Byron but got rejected or smth by Byron and was real butthurt so he took Byron’s vamp story and rewrote and published it himself AND HE MADE LORD BYRON THE VAMPYRE, LORD RUTHVEN WAS A WELL KNOWN PARODY OF BYRON FROM A PLAY OF THE TIME!! Polidori went :(( icb lord Byron would do this to me. Time to steal his story and make him the villain :) This stuff entertains me endlessly it’s so funny

[@Insectus666]

As an autistic person who’s special interest is vampires, I kinda have to chime in. What I really love about vampires is that they were something that was used to represent and, in most early literature, demonize marginalized communities, especially immigrants and gay people, but have kinda been reclaimed recently with media like the Carmilla webseries and WWDITS. I really hope vampires can continue to be cathartic for these communities and that more POC vampires become popular.

[@mikifauns]

Speaking of vampire panic in the contemporary era, a close friend of my family was apparently brutally murdered for being suspected of being a vampire. My mom still has a painting he made, and it has become a familial keepsake.

[@mannabslot]

omg i'm so excited I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE

[@lillypad6628]

I’m excited for interview with the vampire series with Jacob Anderson as Louie!

[@Jade-zu4ru]

I'm excited but also scared 😅

[@gayhomosexuallll]

THANK YOU for mentioning Fledgling! It's been on my mind since I just saw Midnight Mass (highly recommend!!)

[@emmacardinal3300]

I already love this video 3 minutes in. As soon as I see shanspeare updates I say ‘sing to me baby’ I love this channellllllll

[@FaithMurri]

THANK YOU for mentioning The Vampyre by Polidori! It's honestly a riot, love that book 😂

[@Freddy-mc1dx]

Simply stunning is all I can say. I loooove the way you structure your videos and your attention to detail is so amazing

[@helenahanssens3330]

I'm sure I will love this video, I love vampire content (check out maven of the eventide's youtube channel if you love vampire videos). I also really appreciate your commitment to costumes and the red lighting looks great!

[@packnetadaija]

I always found the allure of vampires really fascinating, I remember sneaking and watching blade when I was waayyy to young to watch it plus interview with a vampire and I just found vampires to be alluring and cool, they are definitely my favorite amongst the mythical creatures, I even remember wanting to get like some of those fake teeth that you put on your canines specifically to look like a vampire, I love vampires lol

[@OmusKnowsAll]

Love video. Also, your edit at 21:45 to remove the cat is funny

[@bluej9280]

My partner is Hungarian; they told me the delightful fact that "vámpír" translates literally to "blush tax"

[@lucyo2919]

this is so interesting, especially the parts linking vampire fear/interest with different real world economic trends 😮 looking forward to the next vampire vid!!

[@AinaAneanu]

Small specification here before you condemn Vlad the impaler like he was some psycho you should have the context first: he was defending a small country against a huge empire ...successfully even, which could not have been done otherwise but by fighting fire with fire. Impaling was a punishing method used by Ottoman Empire he was taught while being one of the Turkish prisoners / guests during his childhood as a guarantee his father won't go against the empire. Also that was a way to avoid the corrupted nobles to betray him, being feared but just, hence he didn't kill people for fun like it is suggested so often, he was considered a hero and a favorite of the christian high power.

[@lhoush31]

5:50 “what can i say? i, too, am that desperate.” girl same 😂

[@screamingwhales4031]

as a vampire enthusiast, this video makes me so happy!!

[@caoimhenimhuireadhaigh1303]

The esthetics on this video are *on point* !!