Postmodern Vampires

2019

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Gothic Studies, 2021

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

In Vampires in Transition, I develop semiotic analyses of two key films of the Spanish transition: Elisa, vida mia (Carlos Saura, 1977) and Arrebato (Ivan Zulueta, 1980). Building off Gilles Deleuze's semiotics (1986, 1989) and Teresa de Lauretis' film theory (1984, 1987) – both drawing on Charles Sanders Peirce (1930-35/1958), I have designed three inter-connected concepts in relation to the vampire figuration: 'vampire-images', 'camera-vampires', and the 'phoenix'. One one hand, these concepts aim to approach the films under study through decolonial and trans-feminist perspectives. On the other hand, they intend to draw meaningful insights on Hispanic film studies in relation to what Donna Haraway calls “informatics of domination” (1991c). Departing from one of the peripheral meanings of the vampire – a male sexual predator, the vampire has been designed as a perverse figuration of structural violence in cybernetic capitalism which could help us understand the relationship between massive addictive habits of digital machines and western patriarchal agendas, as Wendy Huy Kyong Chun studies (2016). Drawing on Teresa de Luretis (1984) and my own trans-faggot experience, vampire-images are designed to give an account of the processes of simulation that work to erase traces of exploitation. They depart from Gilles Deleuze's time-images of modern cinema (1989), which imply irrational cuts caused by particular relinkages of sound and visual data. In addition, as my analysis of Elisa, vida mia attempts to prove, vampire-images involve icons of women as objectified or subordinated to men. The 'camera-vampire', particularly outstanding in Arrebato, stands as a tool to capture and observe the effects of vampires, but its cybernetic design involves a feedback-loop system, which often implies vampiric procedures and habits. Last, as a way to mediate between images and cameras through my own situated knowledge, I have designed an inter-connected phoenix figuration, particularly drawing on Joanne K. Rowling's Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix (2003). Building on the ethics of Zhuangzi (2003) and Karen Barad (2007), phoenix tokens transform the predatory and immortal features of vampires as a way to remind us the never-ending change of material-discursive practices. Last, by public screenings and debates and practices of situated knowledge (Haraway, 1991) and anthropophagic procedures (Suely Rolnik, 1998), I have aimed at decolonizing my id-entity (Anibal Quijano, 2000) as Spanish and European citizen designed at birth as 'male', apart from sharing and spreading revolutionary faith. Resumen: E n Vampiros en transicion, he llevado a cabo analisis semioticos de dos peliculas clave de la transicion espanola: Elisa, vida mia (Carlos Saura, 1977) y Arrebato (Ivan Zulueta, 1980). A traves de la semiotica de Gilles Deleuze (1986, 1989) y la teoria filmica de Teresa de Lauretis (1984, 1987), ambxs basandose en Charles Sanders Peirce (1931-35/1958), he disenado tres conceptos interrelacionados a traves de la figura del vampiro con la intencion, por una parte, de aproximarme a estos filmes y a sus lecturas a traves de perspectivas decoloniales y trans-feministas, y por otra, de entender las vicisitudes de lo que autoras como Donna Haraway han llamado la “informatica de la dominacion” (1991c) en relacion con los estudios de cine hispano. Inspirandome en sus usos perifericos (el vampiro como seductor y depredador sexual), el vampiro surge como una figuracion perversa del capitalismo cibernetico para abarcar diferentes realidades mediatizadas tecnologicamente y fuertemente relacionadas con el sistema patriarcal occidental, como los habitos adictivos de consumo tecnologico (Wendy Huy Kyong Chun, 2016). Apoyandome en Teresa de Lauretis (1984) y a traves de mi experiencia trans-marica, la imagen-vampiro explica como se llevan a cabo procesos de simulacion de condiciones de explotacion. La imagen-vampiro parte de lo que Deleuze llamo la imagen-tiempo del cine moderno, que involucran cortes irracionales a traves de re-asociaciones de material audiovisual (1989). Ademas, como el analisis de Elisa, vida mia trata de explorar, las imagenes-vampiro implican iconos de mujeres objetificadas o subordinadas a los hombres. La 'camara-vampiro', specialmente notable en Arrebato, surge como una herramienta para intentar capturar efectos vampiricos, pero su propio diseno cibernetico implica un sistema de retroalimentacion, que en numerosas ocasiones lleva asociado procedimientos y habitos vampiricos. Por ultimo, y mediando entre los dos conceptos mencionados, he disenado una figuracion fenix que se inspira en Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix (Joanne K. Rowling, 2003). Basandome en la etica de Zhuangzi (2003) y Karen Barad (2007), los signos fenix transmutan el caracter depredador e inmortal del capitalismo vampirico para recordarnos el poder cambiante de las practicas materiales y discursivas, Por ultimo, a traves de visionados publicos y debates y de la aplicacion de metodologias situadas (Haraway, 1991) y antropofagas (Suely Rolnik, 1998), he intentado decolonizar mi id-entidad (Anibal Quijano, 2000) como ciudadanx espanolx y europex designadx al nacer como 'varon' y compartir y propagar una fe revolucionaria. Palabras clave: Elisa, vida mia; Arrebato; semiotica; imagen-tiempo; informatica de la dominacion; imaging; vampiro; fenix; transicion espanola.

True Living Vampires, inter-alia could be identified as another category of vampires who are living human beings or historical true characters, suffering from a blood fetish or an infatuation or an obsession to drink or suck blood from their victims. In their psychosis or syndromic mentality, they cannot survive without drinking blood, mostly human blood. In the modern medical terminology, this category of vampires is supposed to be suffering from an ailment called “Haematomania” or in other words, “Clinical Vampirism” which syndrome could be explained as a morbid psychosexual desire to consume human blood. According to the research carried out by the writer, such vampires were/are found throughout the history of many countries and have become true living people known by their associates, neighbours and the law enforcement authorities. Consequently, most of them are accused of raping, sodomizing, mutilating and finally murdering their victims and as a result, eventually condemned to death, to life imprisonment, to certain terms in prison or confined to mental asylums/ institutions. Most of these vampires have been classified as “Serial Killers” both in the West as well as in the East.

The theme/folklore related to vampires has a lengthy historical timeline, and remains one of great fascination which continues today. This paper is a brief study of Vampires from a Folkloric Perspective.

2017

This article evaluates the importance of the TV vampire onscreen in science fiction, gothic, and horror-based cult TV series from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The inclusion of the vampire as a peripheral character in series including Quantum Leap, The X-Files, Tales from the Crypt and Friday the 13: The Series indicates, in light of postmodern cultural turns, that there exists an imperative to re-evaluate, satirize and reflexively explore the vampire as a necessary and evolving stock gothic character within the narrative and generic frameworks of each show. In looking at these postmodern vampiric evaluations in their own right, where the vampire is featured as the ‘monster of the week’, this article argues that these understudied yet apposite representations of the television vampire, prior to and following on from the success of Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), documents a distinct cultural shift and maturation in representing vampires in non-vampire based gothic televi...

Vampires are a well-known motif in cultural studies, which have regarded their predatory habits as metaphors for various expressions of the troubled relations between sexes, classes, races, and the present and the past. There is scarcely a critical essay on vampire fiction that does not focus someway or other on the symbolic potency of the revenant for the imaginative mediation of abnormal sexuality or deviant identity, and, in modern times, when the vampire has thrived mostly in American territory, the various ‘revampings’ of the figure clearly point to an awareness of the situation of disenfranchised identity groups (so often linked in stories and films to aberration) and have consequently become of crucial interest both for cultural critics and practitioners of fiction that self-consciously draw on these metaphors to unmask their manipulative work. This paper’s attempt is to trace a development of the myth and its ideological implications through the study of three pieces that, different as they are, nevertheless could serve to demonstrate the situatedness of vampire fiction—especially when it is practised by a female author and when it suffers a significant mutation as regards medium and/or conventions. A short story of 1896, British films of the 1960-70s, and a radio play by Angela Carter will be discussed in terms of how they engage in contemporaneous interventions on sexuality and power. The choice of media might allow us to suggest that each of them has of necessity ‘vampirized’ the tradition represented by the earlier dominant medium, but the digestion does not necessarily have to be an easy one.

Horror Studies

This article evaluates the importance of the TV vampire onscreen in science fiction, gothic, and horror-based cult TV series from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The inclusion of the vampire as a peripheral character in series including Quantum Leap, The X-Files, Tales from the Crypt and Friday the 13 th : The Series indicates, in light of postmodern cultural turns, that there exists an imperative to re-evaluate, satirize and reflexively explore the vampire as a necessary and evolving stock gothic character within the narrative and generic frameworks of each show. In looking at these postmodern vampiric evaluations in their own right, where the vampire is featured as the 'monster of the week', this article argues that these understudied yet apposite representations of the television vampire, prior to and following on from the success of Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), documents a distinct cultural shift and maturation in representing vampires in non-vampire based gothic television shows. Whether it is to reify, satirize and remould the vampire as a variant of 'the Dracula template' on the small screen, or to move beyond mere stock conventions, these specific vampire episodes document the continuing fluidity of screen vampires through TV's episodic 'creature feature' framework, and offer differing and dynamic alternative representations of undeath beyond vampire-centric TV shows.