The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Examples of Vampire lore as Metaphor in fiction.

What cultural,social,or even political Metaphor can be extracted from Vampire Fiction?

Well, a vampire is a creature that sucks the blood out of other living objects; sort of like a tick...[don't get mad at me. heh] Politics can be broken down into a vampiric stature when you think about it:

Poli- meaning many
Tick-meaning blood sucking creature.

=D

I know, that was a very stupid comment, but I am at my best friend's house and her living room smells like a flower just died in here [very perfume-ish] and my brain cells are frazzeled.

I suppose the most obvious one in Hollywood vampire films is the word lifeblood.

Lifeblood sustaining the undead.

Hesaid you make a good point, pun-ishly so.

The Vampire Power structure is what I am looking into and how the people at Whitewolf developed it with consideration to lore.This thread will give me some litarary research backing.

Well I'd say that the Camarilla took a lot from the ideas from organized crime but even more so from France. The court of the Camarilla was extremely similar to the intrigue and subterfuge that happened in Paris and Versais during the French monarchy. I don't know that I'd call it a metaphor but if your looking for real world influences of vampire literature and White Wolf then that would be my first observation.

I figured perhaps literary allusions would be a bit more inspiring for a thread instead of metaphor.

He is giving you some background and his statement is metaphorical. You just have to research into the topic and not depend on just this site to base your ideas on.

=]

Vampires are affluent, wealthy, and they have charm.

They prey upon mortals, converting some into vampires.

What elements of this are metaphorical?

Not all vampires are wealthy.
That is a stereotype.

I know Nasforatu are Dirt poor.But the Ventru are loaded,Bruja are thieving punks.

Are you trying to lead into the fact that vampires could be a metaphor for lawyers or any social parasite in particular?

Sorry but the background info you gave made me think that you were actually looking for influences not metaphors.

Thank you great point I would put dictators in the same group.

Well I think that opens things up to be just about any group or person that takes on that vampire archtype primarily because so many of those vampire fictions have the vampire in that job or career.

Your ventrue types become metaphors for:
Crime Lords
CEO's or Corporations themselves
Politicians
Lawyers
Slum Lords

But that's what they are in the stories almost as often. Their front or alias is the very thing that we're calling a metaphor in the same way that you could say some are a metaphor for rock-stars or revolutionaries or insane artists. I don't know if it's a metaphor so much if the character in the fiction is really doing the job or thing they are a metaphor for.

So the metaphor is in the era significants,example Vlad was Brams inspiration.The romantic lore is where metaphor stirs my curious nature.

So what you're actually looking for is not vampire lore, but what the creators of the game Vampire:the Masquerade or Vampire:the Requiem based their world on?


...maybe you should visit any of the thousands of White Wolf fan sites.

Dabbler I hate to look like a daft bastard but you're talking about inspiration again. What was Bram's Dracula a metaphor for in your opinion. He certainly wasn't a metaphor for Vlad. That was an influence and a character source but not a metaphor.

There is a broad step from vampire lore to white wolfs world.I have been looking for a good white wolf site.

But I am going after the literary evolution of vampires.
I admit to being a bit vague in my question.

I think vampires are a metaphor for humanity.

The Variations and re-adaptation of vampires, and the numerous variations that came along since, Dracula
( perhaps even before that as well ) had to do with superstitions and oral tradition. To keep a child, who is raised to hunt perhaps a little less fearless, from going out at night one would hardly get away with telling them a Grimm Fairy Tale, or some such spooky idea that will rein them in, churches tell of demons possessing the stagnant souls of people that stray from the protection of their god. some where along in the process, perhaps a out of rebellion, the fear based tales where adapted to romantic induendo.

Anne Rice said "The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply."


So in her terms, they are expressions of her humanity, as lagniappe says, they each represent various aspects of her emotional reactions to life and experiences.

In the case of Dracula, various interpretations have been applied, from vampirism as it appears in that novel being akin to sex, with phallic symbolism and penetration, intimacy and lust being major character traits.

Others say that it's a metaphor for the anti-Christ and the rejection of God, where it also might represent death and rebirth.

As a political form, as others have pointed out her, it's used to identify unscrupulous politicians and those who specifically benefit from the suffering of others.

As i review this thread I recover my objective, looking through the archives, I find some rich threads on lore and lit. on vampires. The progression of vampires, and the near immortal nature that is built into them always includes a weakness, as though we seek to make a boogy man we can destroy should we need to.Or even one that could "sweep us off our feet'. That progression is the Lit. Angle i was going for. thank you all for working with this frayed thread.