Modern vampires

Vampire stories are on the rise - to state the obvious. The Twilight series (books and now films), and Vampire Diaries and Supernatural - two TV dramas that I've been following on DVD.

Why is not so easy to answer - one theory is that identifying with 'undead' vampires helps people temporarily escape their fear of death. Immortality is a subject that the vampires wrestle with. But in the Vampire Diaries particularly you'd think that 145 years would have made these creatures a little wiser than they appear to be!

Whatever the reason for their rise in popularity it's interesting to compare these modern vampires with their mythical ancestors.

What's common to all three stories is that the vampires are likened to addicts. Every minute of every day the 'good' vampires have to resist the temptation to drink human blood. And none of these vampires turn into bats. In fact that legend apparently got included after the 'discovery' of blood-drinking bats in South America.

The vampires that appear in Supernatural seem to be the closest to the old legends - perhaps that's because vampires are peripheral to this TV series and the writers weren't too interested in presenting them any other way. The creatures usually hunt by night. If you're bitten by a vampire you become one.

In Twilight the vampires are beautiful to look at and their skin shines like diamonds in the sun, but sunlight itself does not harm them. Their bodies are as cold and hard as granite and they have pale skin. They are almost indestructible. In these stories too all it takes is a single vampire bite - the venom takes three painful days to turn the victim into a vampire.

In Vampire Diaries the vampires have to wear a magical ring to avoid getting burnt by sunlight. But none of the usual things like, garlic or holy water adversely affect a vampire - only a herb 'vervain'. Becoming a vampire is more complicated though. A single bite isn't enough. I won't say more on that. One interesting folkloric element this series retains is the fact that a vampire cannot enter a house unless it is invited inside. So... be careful who you bring home?