Yes, yes, I know..."glass house/stones", "splinter your eye/lightpole in mine", etc.
It's called a "joke". Sarcasm...look it up.
Anyway, I'm not really sure where some of the vampire myth specifics started, and frankly I'm kinda sick this morning and...ok, I'm too lazy to look it up.
Happy? Moving on.
So, I was taking a shower last night and as I was washing myself I had one of those "PING" thoughts; you know, thinking "A" pings to "B" which pings to "C" then pings to "D" and before you know it you're nowhere near where you started, and you're somewhere brought to you by the letters "W", "T", and "F".
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| WTF? |
Kinda like that picture. Not where I started, but where I ended up...and hey, Katy Perry cleavage. "C" is good enough for me.
Anyway, I digress...where was I...Oh! Right.
So, I was showering and I thought about "wood". Hush. Just...hush. So, wood jumped to "stake"...again with the hushing! Stake jumped to vampire, and then vampire jumped to the myth where vampires rise after being dead three days and...and they....wait a second.
That's interesting. Vampires rise as vampires after dying and being dead three days; Jesus died and rose again on the third day.
Myself: I wonder...are there any other parallels or reversals between the two...?
Apparently, there are if you look. No, it's not a complete match, but enough to make you wonder if maybe Bram Stoker just said, "Ok, let's take Jesus and reverse everything about him and we'll tie that to the vampire blood-drinking myth, cuz hey...it's always about the blood, right?"
Which brings us to the blood. Lots of vampiric power comes from blood. It's what keeps them alive. Ironically, for Christians, the blood of Christ is what they derive forgiveness from...and since the "wages of sin are death", they also derive life from His blood.
There's power in the blood, indeed.
Vampires take their blood by violent attack and seduction; the whole "volunteering" blood is a recent pop-culture construct, one popularized by television shows such as Buffy the Vampire SLayer.
Yes, the "L" is capitalized...after fucking two vampires, "Vampire Layer" is also accurate.
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| Buffy and Spike |
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| Buffy and Angel |
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| Buffy and Satsu |
Moving on...
So vampires take blood...but the blood for the forgiveness of Christians had to be freely given by Jesus; He went to the cross willingly, and according to Him, only He could do so. (John 10:18) So there's a parallel and a reversal with the blood.
Oh, hey, the cross! As we all know, the cross as a holy symbol is anathema to vampires. Recently, again via pop culture, it's been expanded to any holy symbol or religious symbol you hold sacred (Cross for Christians, Star of David for Jews, Lightsaber for Jedi, Colander for Pastafarians, Bathrobe and Beer for Dudists) Some might argue that the Cross is the most effective holy symbol, but it's probably solely because of the prevalence of Christianity and because Stoker wrote it that way.
Vampires are automatically damned. Do not pass "GO", do not collect 200 blood bags, no reprieve. I've always had an issue with that one...damnation ultimately relates to a choice on the part of a person, and some people were "turned" (made into vampires) against their will or without a choice. I think he missed the mark on that one, probably due to lack of theological knowledge if I had to guess, but that's just a guess. He might've been a Doctor of Theology and just decided to show how horrible vampires were by making them automagically damned. *shrugs* It might more tie in with the black/white view that Jesus/God/Heaven are symbolic of all that's "Good", and Lucifer/Hell/Demons being all that's "Bad". Since vampires are the "Devil's Children", ergo "bad"; and if the Devil can't be saved, then they can't either. Again, the antithesis of Christ and Christians.
After a short human life, vampires die and are reborn to live forever as minions to their master. Christians live a short human life, then die to live forever with Christ as God's children, the Bride of Christ. Christians are transformed, and the Bible promises new, powerful bodies in Heaven. Vampires are transformed after death (during?) and receive new, powerful bodies on Earth.
Christians are saved from the Grave (death) while vampires are cursed to it, and must rise every night from their grave, and return to it before sunrise, forever UNdead, a mockery of Christian eternal life.
Vampires and garlic, and transforming into bats, wolves, and mist...Stoker was on some really good shit. Had to be. Just sayin'.
So, that's all I have. Sorry it's been so long, and sorry to return with so lame, but I hope you were at least amused and entertained. Hell, for all I know you all already knew this and are thinking, "Uh...where have you been? That's been pointed out since 'Dracula' was published."
Well, EXCUUUUUUSE ME!
If you take the whole idea of vampirism as a given, there are several ways you can look at it:
ReplyDelete1. Vampirism is a curse from god.
The assumption here is that the curse is passed via the cursed blood not the bite and is something more likely to be ingested voluntarily and therefore fail God's test. Oh! You didn't know? God doesn't seem to have a problem taking out the good with the bad so tough luck for you. Eternally damned! You mean to tell me that God fucked up so bad making his first batch of men that only 1/2 a dozen or so were worth keeping on the whole planet? Either that or many innocents died in the flood. He ordered an attack that killed men, women, children, and even animals. What? Were they the Children of the Corn? On the other hand there's the idea that man can overcome his nature and be redeemed. Redemption would lift any curse and allow for a proper death. That is if you believe in the power of curses you probably believe in the power of God to break that curse.
2. Vampirism is an evolutionary leap.
No problem! Evolution is the honey badger of concepts. "Saved, not saved... I'm the guy with the fangs." At an appropriate moment, the code written into your DNA at birth activates and, in a process that takes 3 days, turns you into one magnificent bastard. Redemption possible.
3. Vampirism is a retro-virus.
Similar to the evolutionary process but much meaner. An alien force invades your body which goes into overdrive trying to fight the infection but it's not equipped to deal with Mr Smith's mad multiplication skills. Shut down for, you guessed it, 3 days while the body is rewritten on a cellular level, the newly awakened creature would become a slave to the needs of the collective. Specifically it's need to replenish the protein and genetic material supply...aka blood. In exchange, the collective uses this material to overcharge all remaining aspects of the body. Absolute Power! Redemption possible but unlikely.
As for the relationships with Jesus the 3 day thing probably has more to do with funerary practices of the day. Remember they didn't SEE Jesus leave the tomb, they came back on the third day and saw he was gone. Maybe three days was just the accepted amount of time before visiting a grave. And that cultural practice was reflected in history by both Jesus's Resurrection and the rebirth of the vampire. Just sayin'.
Actually, the time spent between death and them going to the tomb was due to the double whammy of Passover and a Sabbath; Jewish cleanliness custom from the Torah prohibited contact with the dead or places of the dead especially during those times. Of course, like with many Biblical concepts, people don't let facts stand in their way; they saw three days and ran with it.
DeleteEgads! I was reading back after I posted and startled myself with the number of out of topic references I used.
ReplyDelete1. Oh! You didn't know? (Wrestling reference)
2. Children of the Corn
3. Nooooo problem! (from a comercial)
4. Honey Badger (Don't give a fuck!)
5. "Saved, not saved..." (Hail to the King, Baby!)
6. "You Magnificent Bastard!" (from a movie)
7. Mr. Smith ("Mr Anderson.")
8. "the needs of the collective" (borg)
9. "Absolute Power!" (video game reference)
10. "Just Sayin'" (poking fun at your use of a meme)
I used a meme? I wasn't aware.
Delete'Just Sayin' has overtaken the common vernacular and has (at least in my mind) achieved meme status.
ReplyDelete