Dracula and Kids' Culture

[Aaron The Magnificent]

After power-binging through the Dracula class recently, I continued to be blown away by the analysis. The concept of Vampires being a "perversion" of Holy/Sacred things is just fascinating to me. Being interested in Christian Theology, this idea catapulted Dracula into a totally new space for me.

This then made me think of all the children's vampire things out there and made me wonder how on earth this came about. How is it that a topic where a [vampire] woman would coddle a child and drain its blood (perversion of breastfeeding give/take of life sustenance) turn into a topic that is suitable for Disney Junior television shows?

I'm not trying to be a prude, but in a relatively short time, we went from "baby in a bag" to "Vampirina, the vampire girl who just wants to be herself." Is it weird, or just me?

 

[Jim Deutch]

Is it weird, or just me?

It's weird, and it always has been. It's said that "Ring around the rosy" is actually about the Black Plague (I didn't fact-check that!).

In TLotR it's old wives' tales that Gandalf asserts may retain knowledge forgotten by the Wise; in many novels (e.g. Leckie's Ancillary series) it's the kids' games that retain ancient wisdom. It is often distorted and made cute in one way or another, but it can also be very raw and violent.

In real life, Vampirina is just Vampires made both cute and Politically Correct. A product of the entertainment industry, not of children's culture. But following a tradition that is ancient and, if you think about it too hard, deeply disturbing!

 

[Sparrow]

Aaron, I agree with Jim.
Maybe some folks know that their kids will see vampire imagery and want to create a kid-weirdly-friendly image for them to know first?

If our stories came from old wives rather than an entertainment industry, I would be happier.