We now need to move on with a consideration of a different representation of 'monster' : the vampire.
We will be using some ideas that have found their way into popular culture from cinemas changing representations of what has become a classic monster.
As we shall see, each generation creates a reinterpretation of the vampire. such evolving representations tell us much about the values and concerns of each era - the zeitgeist. the fact that the figure of the vampire is capable of constant reinvention also says much for how it resonates with deep psychological needs of audiences over a period of almost 100 years.
The accompanying booklet to the lessons fills in some of the history and developments of this classic monster enabling us to spend the next few lessons exploring a contemporary manifestation of the vampire in David Slade's 2007 film 30 Days of Night. In this we are concerned with notions of the Other and in the vampire as terrorist.
In the opening sequence we have the 'Classic hollywood Realist' conventions of the horror genre layered on top of the Todorov narrative structure we are now familiar with.
Equilibrium-disruption-complicating events-climax-resolution-new equilibrium.
The film opens with a sketched outline of the lives of the people of Barrow - their domestic situations, their frustrations, their coping with the particular climate of Barrow.
TASK:
What observations does it offer of small town American life?What impression do we have of its people and their values?
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