Vampires-The Romantic Ideology behind Them
Vampires have become increasingly popular in today's culture.They have dominated popular literature, TV as well as motion pictures.They have been portrayed in a romantic, harmless and non-threatening light, unlike their previous, stereotypical images of the bloodthirsty, violent characters in which they have often been portrayed.However, what is the ideology behind such popularity?
Well, the ideology actually dates back around the time of the French Revolution, which occurred in the late 18th century.This event changed the natural order of things, including the sophisticated, austere way of life that many of those eras were accustomed to.For example, two of the most prominent poets that came out of that era, namely Byron and Shelley, are viewed by many who are familiar with the above subject as romanticizing the image of the vampire, among others of their generation.
For example, a poet of that era by the name of Milton, began to redefine the image of Satan, as being evil and sinister to being termed a "fallen angel", or in other words, "fallen from grace," the character has a flaw, but he is not all that bad-supposedly.This Miltonic Satan became the basis of what would later lead to the romanticized image of the vampire in later generations.
By the 19th century, with the improvements of the printing press, as well as wider access to reading material, there came to be more and more writings about this satanic figure as he seemingly became something of a heroic figure rather than the evil character that he actually is.In time, especially in the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, the image of the vampire has become "sanitized", even romanticized.This in turn has led to a new generation of mostly young fans who seem to be obsessed by vampires.
