The vampire has been a mythological figure dating back as early as the 18th century. Throughout the years, it has cemented itself in movies, media, and everything in between. The vampire has represented many things throughout its existence. We have seen the vampire transform as society has changed. One concept of the vampire that is very interesting and evident is the sexuality associated with the vampire and the representations it holds for society. One can easily compare and contrast the sexuality of the vampire in the movie Twilight and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and the meanings that stand behind both of them.
A modern representation of the vampire can be seen in David Slade’s film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The main vampire Edward is…show more content… The story of Carmilla may never literally describe sex, but it has clear underline meaning. Carmilla doesn’t see sexual relationships as something that should be opposed. This can be seen when Laura states, “She is the poor girl who fancied she saw a ghost a fortnight ago, and has been dying ever since, till yesterday, when she expired” (Le Fanu, Chapter 4). This is evidence that Carmilla has more than one relationship at a time. Sheridan Le Fanu is demonstrating yet another provocative idea and exposing the double standard for men and women by having his female vampire hyper-sexualized and polyamorous. Demonstrating through a female vampire, a women’s sexual relationships shouldn’t be oppressed and limited if a man’s isn’t. Twilight displays much more reserved and traditional relationships that are between a man and a woman. The relationships we see between Bella, Edward, and the friends and family throughout the film are all between a man and a woman. I find it interesting that traditionally limited sexual relationships like we see in Twilight were created in a modern and significantly more liberal society. A society where women are significantly more accepted to sexually express themselves. Both stories seem to rebel against society’s sexual trends at the time they were created. Twilight’s views on sexuality are vastly more repressed and traditional than Carmilla’s despite being over 100 years more…show more content… With Twilight, one can see how Edward is much more concerned over Bella emotionally than sexually. On the other hand, Carmilla was willing to let intimacy take complete control over her life. We have seen how Twilight projects a conservative and traditional view on sexuality in comparison to Carmilla, who provides a new and open form of sexuality of women in a time that oppressed and restricted them. Both looked to have been created to send counteracting messages about what they thought were problems at the time period. Sheridan Le Fanu lived in a society that limited women and he wanted to act upon that with his story. Twilight seems to see the current trends of open sexuality and wants to present a much more traditional relationship to the audience. Both stories are drastically different in sexual representation and can provide valuable
