From Dracula to Gangsracula - Term Paper Example

An exceptional example of the early vampire is seen in Bram Stoker’s famous novel “Dracula”. The vampire in this book is emotionless, bloodthirsty, and a significant to threat to humans. In contrast, the contemporary vampire is shown to be more open to society norms and to some degree, sympathetic with humans. In addition, even though the modern vampire may be an outsider, he or she is not necessarily isolated, as is apparent from films like Norrington’s 1998 movie “Blade”. This paper seeks to compare the vampire image, as depicted in the novel “Dracula” and the film “Blade”, with particular focus on why the contemporary vampire is gang-oriented, as opposed to being solitary like shown in early literature.

Evolution of the vampire from a solitary creature to an almost human, gang-oriented being is ascribable to elevated gang violence, increased threats from terror groups, and general increase in group mentality or loss of individuality due to advanced social networking. Dracula in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is an epitome of the old vampire; highly popular in the horror genre of literature about a century ago. This character has been used in many film adaptations, and widely perceived as a representation of the universal psychic and supernatural nature of vampires.

Written in the year 1897, Stoker’s novel described Dracula as the ultimate scary monster. His horrific attributes meant that the vampire had nothing that would endear him to people that he encountered. Nonetheless, Dracula performed the crucial function of personifying the dark side wielded by humans. Dracula, among other vampires said to live during Stoker’s literature era, lived in seclusion (Stoker 188). There preferred places of residence were deserted rural areas, where people rarely frequented.

For instance, Dracula lived in an isolated and scary castle, with a basement that evoked a creepy feeling among his victims. In addition to living alone, Dracula