Outline
My website highlights both movies and shows about vampires, such as Dracula, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. All four contain controversial themes having to do with in some way either promoting religion positively or negatively. Themes such as sexuality, violence, idolism, homosexuality, love and friendship will be shown throughout the topics. As early as the Count Dracula productions and as recent as The Vampire Diaries episodes, religious aspects have been playing a role in vampire shows and films.
Count Dracula is said to have studied the black arts in his early life and is capable of alchemy and magic. Also there are three female vampires who live in Dracula's castle who seduce the men who go there. So not only has Dracula been involved with alchemy and magic, two things that go against the bible but there is the inappropriate element of sexual seduction. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is centered around a young girl, Buffy Summers who is a vampire slayer who battles the forces of darkness such as vampires and demons. This shows a positive quality; the destruction of things that are evil. However, there is a witch called Willow who is lesbian. Homosexuality is frowned upon in religion and so may cause some controversy. Twilight and The Vampire Diaries contain both violence and sexuality which both go against Christian morals. However, in Twilight Edward and Bella wait until after marriage to engage in sexual intercourse which is applauded by lots of Christian parents whereas in The Vampire Diaries most of the characters have sexual intercourse some of which are still in high school. This shows teens suggestive content and is looked down upon in the Christian community.
My website will hopefully open the viewers eyes to the world of vampirism and the religious aspects involed in each of the four examples of movies and shows which I have selected. I hope you all find it as interesting as I did while I was researching. Enjoy!
Annotated Bibliography
1. Jones, Beth Felker. Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight
Saga. Colorado Springs, Colorado: Multnomah Books, 2009. Print.
Jones discusses the various themes in the Twilight Saga such as love, romance, sex, family and meaning in a Christian way. Jones believes that Christians should embrace the series. Although Jones praises the series and provides good examples of the positive religious qualities, she also discusses some flawed parts of the series that Christians may view as negative aspects of the books and films. This source will be helpful for my project because it digs deeper into the Twilight Saga, and show how even the romantic parts of the series that makes all girls swoon are not as swoon worthy as one may think.
2. Ashcraft, Donna M. Deconstructing Twilight: Psychological and Feminist Perspectives on the
Series. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, 2013. Print.
Ashcraft discusses behaviour, relationships and gender roles in her book. Although this book does not describe the religious aspects of Twilight it looks deeper into whether Bella and Edwards relationship is healthy or toxic. Also Ashcroft looks at the various forms of psychology; personality, social, adjustment, women and abnormal. And another section of the book I will look at is the intimate relationships section. This source will be helpful for my project because it will be interesting to look at some other point of views of intimate relationships involving vampires and to learn about the psychological aspects throughout the Twilight Saga.
3. Erzen, Tanya. Fanpire: The Twilight Saga and the Women Who Love It. Boston, Massachusetts:
Beacon Press, 2012. Print.
Erzen discusses the obsession of the Twilight fans and what exactly about the Twilight series captivates women of all ages. Also Erzen talks about Cullenism, a religion based on the values of Edward’s family of vegetarian vampires.This source will be helpful because to read about the obsession that is the Twilight series and how it consumes girls and women alike. Also I figure it would be interesting to see what Cullenism is about since it’s basically mixing vampirism and religion together and making it as a whole.
4. Stuller, Jennifer K. Fan Phenomena: Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Chicago, Il: The University of
Chicago Press, 2013. Print.
Stuller’s book is also another book talking about the fans of another popular vampire phenomena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show may be long over, but the fans of the series are still stronger than ever. Stuller discusses how Buffy vans are a unique community of it’s own. The book contains interview from academics, fandoms, and culture makers. Fan Phenomena: Buffy The Vampire Slayer shows how the creation of cults and fans effects cultures. This source will be helpful because it will help me to learn about the cultism involved with the fandom of Buffy.
5. Christensen, Jo-Anne. Ghosts, Werewolves, Witches & Vampires. Edmonton, AB: Lone Pine
Publishing, 2001. Print.
This book by Christensen is a book of short stories about the supernatural such as witches, werewolves, vampires and ghosts. These short stories are said to be based on true events. This source will be helpful because it’s interesting to see how vampires are portrayed in these events that are believed to be true. I find it interesting to read so I can see for myself if these events are truly believable and not fake. It is also thought provoking to compare the fictional stories of Dracula, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries to that of these “true” short stories just to see if there are any differences and similarities how these vampires are portrayed.
6. Hurley, J. Finley. Sorcery. Boston, Mass: Routledge & Kegan Paul plc, 1985. Print.
Hurley’s novel looks at the sorcery of witches and their influences on the actions, thoughts, and dreams of people, and how they have the power to either kill or heal someone. When I came across this book I knew it would be helpful with my project because when dealing with The Vampire Diaries there are also witches in the show as well. So I figured it would be interesting to just briefly take a look at the sorcery in The Vampire Diaries than just the vampires. This book discusses how witches can heal and kill other people which is shown throughout The Vampire Diaries and also both the show and this book talk about a grimoire which is a witches spell book so I’m looking forward to reading that section of the book.
7. Bogatyrëv, Pëtr. Vampires in the Carpathians. Carpatho- Rusyn Research Center, 1998. Print.
In a section of Bogatyrëv’s book, he discusses how Subcarpathian Rus people have seen images and apparitions of Christ and the virgin Mary and then how some people have seen vampires. This book will be interesting for my project because the vampires that these people see can be comparable to the devil since they are evil in nature and the opposite of Christ and the virgin Mary that they see. Vampires are usually connected to the devil and so will provide interesting outlooks on the “good” vampires in the works that I will be discussing.
8. Mercer, Joyce Ann. “Vampires, Desire, Girls and God: Twilight and the Spiritualities of
Adolescent Girls.” Pastoral Psychology. 60.2 (2010): 263-278. Web. 1 October 2015.
Mercer discusses the obsession females have with the Twilight franchise and how they idolize Edward Cullen and visualize him as being the perfect guy. Mercer interviews numerous girls of different ages asking questions regarding Twilight. The interview results show how Twilight has the ability to arouse both sexual and spiritual desire in girls. This source will be helpful for my project because it gives a different point of view from the opinions of the series from girls of varying ages and how much they look up to and adore Edward Cullen.
9. Clark, Lynn Schofield. From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural.
Toronto: Oxford Press University, 2003. Web. 1 October 2015.
Clark discusses the relationship between religion and culture by looking at the relationship between teens, religious identity and the supernatural in popular culture. The book contains interviews of teens to help identify their spiritual journeys and how the entertainment of media affects their beliefs. This book will be helpful for my project because it actually looks at how media in popular culture either impacts the spiritual lives of young people in a positive or negative way.
10. Partridge, Christopher, and Christianson, Eric, eds. Lure of the Dark Side : Satan and Western
Demonology in Popular Culture. London, GBR: Acumen, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 4
October 2015.
Chapter 6 of Partridge and Christianson’s novel is about how vampires are represented as both villain and hero throughout the years. In the earlier films of vampires they used to be killed by a cross, which represents that God and Christ are more powerful than vampires and also represents how vampires are evil and demonic. This chapter will be helpful for my project because it goes to show the transition on how to kill vampires, from earlier on a cross and now to the present by ripping out their heart of by a wooden stake, religious aspects are slowly being removed from vampire films and television shows.
11. Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death : Folklore and Reality. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale
University Press, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 October 2015.
Barber discusses folkloric vampires and compares them to fictional vampires nowadays. Barber also discusses how the appearances of vampires have changed over time which can lead people to think that a vampire is not evil if they are attractive looking. This source will be helpful for my project because throughout the years the appearance of vampires have changed drastically, even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the vampire Angel is quite attractive male and in the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries, vampires both male and female are all attractive looking and not exactly represented as looking, scary or demonic. However they do tend to look frightening when they go after a human to suck their blood.
12. Palfi, Benike, and Tiffin, Jessica. The Evolution of the Vampire in Literature. University of Cape
Town, 2012. Web. 1 October 2015.
Palfi discusses vampires throughout popular culture and how religion can be found in just about any vampire text which reveals the progressive history of the vampire. So sand sos also looks at how the effects of the changing society has on the result of the changing portrayal of vampires and how the obsession with vampires can represent both our fear and desire for them.This source will be helpful for my project because it highlights religion in Dracula and the Twilight Saga and is informing about how the change of the society effects the change of vampires.
13. Day, Peter, ed. At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries, Volume 28 : Vampires : Myths and
Metaphors of Enduring Evil. Amsterdam, NLD: Editions Rodopi, 2006. ProQuest ebrary.
Web. 1 October 2015.
Day discusses how the resurrection of vampires caused great controversy to Christians into making the resurrection some dark perversion of Christianity since vampires are unholy. Day also touches on how modern day vampires are basically depictions of humans as an image of our own evil. This source will be helpful for my project because to see how, in what ways Day will compare vampires to humans
and how vampirism is changing the outlook on Christianity.
14. Latham, Robert. Consuming Youth : Vampires, Cyborgs, and the Culture of Consumption.
Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 October
2015.
Latham looks at how vampires in certain productions can be categorized as being gay, lesbian and bisexual. There’s a look at how voyeurism, sexual deviance and homoeroticism all play a role in the vampires lust for blood. This source will be helpful for my project because in many religions homosexuality is frowned upon and that humans will not be excepted into the heavens with God if they are homosexual and so brings on the picture that vampires have a negative impact on viewers and readers.
15. Wilcox, Rhonda. Why Buffy Matters : The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. London, GBR: I.B.
Tauris, 2005. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 October 2015.
Wilcox discusses how Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn’t just another show about vampires but it is a form of art. The show has positive themes such as community, trust and friendship. This source will be helpful for my project to help me discover a better insight on how people see Buffy in a positive way and not just negative views on yet another vampire show. The themes that are discussed are all positive and are themes that would have the approval of Christians.
16. Herbert, Christopher. “Vampire Religion.” Representaions. 79.1 (2002): 100-121. Jstor. Web. 1
October 2015.
Herbert’s essay discusses Bram Stokers, Dracula and how it shows traces of conflicting religiousness. Herbert says how the Count is portrayed as an object of religious veneration and gives religious instruments such as crucifixes and communion wafers a frightening quality. This source will be helpful for my project because it shows the conflict with vampires and religion through earlier times of Dracula films and will help me see if there has been any changes since then.
17. Franiuk, Renae, and Scherr, Samantha. “The Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb: Gender, Violence,
and Vampires.” Feminist Media Studies. 13.1 (2013): 14-28. Web. 1 October 2015.
Franiuk and Scherr discuss in their article gender and gender violence throughout The Vampire Diaries and Twilight. Franiuk and Scherr look at the portrayal of men and women and argue the themes in current vampire fiction. This article will be helpful for my project because it'll provide some understanding of the hidden gender and gender violence throughout vampire fiction that usually goes unnoticed, since viewers and readers usually see and visualize the romantic aspects more so than the underlying violence.
18. Waugh, Rob. “Twilight vampire films ‘take the place of religion’ for teenagers.” dailymail.com:
Associated Newspapers Ltd, 2012. Web. 1 October 2015.
In this article Waugh discusses the fans of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries and how the vampire productions are basically taking away religion from young people. Young people idolize the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries, it becomes a their way of religious worship. This source will be helpful for my project because it shows how young fans idolize and worship characters from the show more so than giving praise to God.
19. Goodwyn, Hannah. “A Christian Response to Vampire Obsession.” cbn.com: The Christian
Broadcasting Network, Inc, 2015. Web. 1 October 2015.
Goodwyn’s article discusses Christianity and the Occult and how it affects families. This source will be helpful for my project because it shows how parents feel about their children reading books such as Twilight and the effect it may have on their children. Getting the point of view from parents will be interesting.
20. Moonlight. “Are Vampires Replacing Religion for Teens?” vampires.com: n.p. 2015. Web. 1
October 2015.
Moonlight discusses how the supernatural is more interesting to her than religion itself, which goes to show how supernatural movies and
shows are being idolized by so many teens. This source will be helpful for my project because so I can see another example of why teens love vampires so much and prefer them over religion.
21. Shaw, Marc E. "For the Strength of Bella? Meyer, Vampires and Mormonism." Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the
Purst of Immortality. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Web. 5 October 2015.
Shaw's article is about how Stephenie Meyer who is the author of the Twilight series is Mormon and that her Mormonism actually reflects in Twilight. This article will be useful for my project because it will show how a different religious belief is portrayed in the famous Twilight series.
22. Snell, Shannon Craigo. "What Would Buffy Do? Feminist Ethics and Epistemic Violence." Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media.
48. (2009): n.pg. Web. 5 October 2015.
Snell's article compares the protagonist Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to that of Jesus Christ. Snell calls Buffy a moral exemplar. Buffy may be a violent females savior but he mirrors the image of Jesus. This article will be useful for my project because it will interesting to see the comparison of Buffy to that of Jesus and how this plays a role in the television show.
23. Wikipedia contributors. "Count Dracula." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct.
2015.
This source will be helpful fro my project because it gives me more insight about Count Dracula and the character development in the film.
24. Wikipedia contributors. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Sep. 2015.
Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
This source will be useful for my project because it will provide me with information about the show and it's characters.
25. Wikipedia contributors. "Twilight (2008 film)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 5
Oct. 2015.
This source will be useful for my project in case I need to look up something about the characters and plot.
26. Wikipedia contributors. "The Vampire Diaries." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 5
Oct. 2015.
This source will be useful for my project because it will help me look up character descriptions, plot and episode references.
27. Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. 2009. Print.
This novel will be useful for my project so I can look up certain passages or quotes to use as references.
28. Lybeert, Amber. "Bella and Edward's First Kiss (Twilight)." Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 12 July 2011. Web. 1 October 2015.
This source will be useful for my project to show the viewers the lust that both Edward and Bella have for each other, even during their very first kiss.
29. Addicts, Twilight. " 'Twilight' Mentioned in 'The Vampire Diaries' (Damon talk about 'Twilight') ;)." Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 2
October 2009. Web. 1 October 2015.
This source will be useful for my project because it shows how even in The Vampire Diaries they try to make the vampires in that seem more real than those in Twilight. I figured this clip would be interesting to show the viewers.
30. https://www.google.ca/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ei=5hMUVu65E8Pm-wHV-YjQCw&ved=0CBMQqi4oAQ
Google Images will be a useful source for my project so I can use pictures from there to upload on my site.
Here are the various videos from Youtube that I used on my site:
angrybritishman. "Renfield in Dracula (1931)". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 9 August, 2010. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Movieclips. "Dracula (9/10) Movie CLIP - Dracula and Van Helsing (1931) HD". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 16 June, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Movieclips. "Dracula (5/10) Movie CLIP - Dracula Gets Thirsty (1931) HD". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 16 June, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer S02E18 Killed By Death". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 25 September, 2014. Web. 6 November, 2015.
gyle91. "buffy and spike season 6 episode 9 - smashed - recut fight/love scene". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 3 May, 2012. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Sonbyd 451. "Willow and Tara's Love Story- Under Your Spell" Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 21 November, 2014. Web. 6 Novemeber 2015.
Amber Lybeert. "Bella and Edward's first kiss (twilight)". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 12 July, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Emily Rose. "Breaking Dawn Part 2 Movie Clip - Love Scene". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 4 June, 2013. Web. 6 November, 2105.
pinky2b4. "Twilight Cafeteria Scene". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 27 October, 2008. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Το κανάλι του χρήστη PattinsonNinaCullen. "New Moon Edward leaves Bella". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 27 December, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Movieclips. "Twilight (4/11) Movie CLIP - I Feel Very Protective Of You (2008) HD". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 15 November, 2012. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Movieclips. "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (10/10) Movie CLIP - Forever (2012) HD". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 10 October, 2014. Web. 6 November, 2015.
DVDrips. "The Vampire Diaries - S02E22 - Bonnie brings Jeremy back to life". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 20 August, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Team Damon 4 Forever. "Bonnie sets Damon on fire (2x02)". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 15 June, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
TVD scenes. "The Vampire Diaries 6x17 - Stefan and Caroline - Steroline Sex Scene". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube,19 March, 2015. Web. 6 November, 2015.
xoCrazyFruitttxo. "Stefan and Elena Sex Scene 1x10 The Vampire Diaries". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 7 February, 2012. Web. 6 November, 2015.
itsforyouADA. "Vampire Diaries 4x07 Damon and Elena Sex Scene Original Full". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 29 November, 2012. Web. 6 November, 2015.
Stelena fan. "TVD 1X18 Stefan Elena kiss in her room Stefan nearly looses control. Elena catches Stefan drinking". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 12 July, 2013. Web. 6 November, 2015.
weyov6. "Vampire Diaries 3x05 - Stefan Bites Elena". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 13 October, 2011. Web. 6 November, 2015.
yodaddy7455. "The Vampire Diaries - Damon Compels Carolyne and talks about Twilight". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 4 may, 2010. Web. 6 November, 2015.
DJ88Prodz. "Vampire Diaries - Elena's First Compulsion (4x02)". Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 18 October, 2012. Web. 6 November, 2015.
