Introduction
Horror movies have captured our imaginations for decades often times allowing us to delve into the exotic, forbidden, and unknown. We go to the movie theatre and sit for two hours watching this fantastically �other� reality in a way that leads to ultimate simplification of the juxtaposition of the meaning of people�s realities and the reality of the screen. Horror movies, albeit solely for our pleasure, have deeper meanings attached as they pertain to the greater society. Rhona J. Berenstein argues �horror�s signifying complexity and commitment to the underside of humanity form part of its links to psychoanalytic interpretation� (Berenstein: 1996, 19). This in turn becomes full of hidden meanings and latent messages that manifest itself in the audience in images and emotions, emotions that revolve around our natural fears of the unknown, our fears of the horrific and terrifying thoughts we sometimes possess in daily life. The horror genre, in fact, transgresses our normal social boundaries into the sphere of the outrageous and unlikely when set within a safe and �normal� setting such as a movie theatre. By showing on the screen for a short two hours if that, we are allowed to safely take on the role of the monster and the victim, experiencing deviousness not allowed for �real life�. Linked to the typical deviousness seen in a horror flick such as murder, terror, and the supernatural, themes of gender performativity that go against the heteronormativity that exists in other more mainstream movie genres abound within the horror genre. For this endeavor, I intend to focus my analysis on the vampire and look at the ways gender subversion is carried out within the cinematic representation of the vampire. In particular, I will look at gender subversion as it relates to the homoerotic desire of vampires commonly offered in this representation.
Indeed, the vampire is one such monster or legend that speaks clearly to our sexual needs and desires. As Wright says, �the vampire superstition is riddled with sexuality�it is dependant on it, with all the sucking, the flowing of blood, and the love biting� (Wright, 1995:169). This myth of the vampire fascinates our minds so much precisely because of the direct link to blood and sexuality, the two life forces necessary to carry on humanity (for more on the vampire legend, go to Legend and Lore). In addition, vampirism �has far more erotic possibilities than most brands of chiller, and in the recent years of relaxed censorship, producers have been quick to explore the possibilities of sex, and nudity in the vampire�s domain� (Everson, 1974: 192). Within the specified vampire flick, homoerotic desire is proliferated often times more so than the heteronormative desire apparent in other genres or horror flicks. Within this legend, those most often condemned to vampirism were suicides, excommunicate Catholics, heretics, fornicators, or homosexuals (Wright, 1995: 168). In further examining this discourse of the homoerotic vampire within cinema, I will look at the ways in which this representation is played out for female vampires, male vampires, and those vampires that started it all in the classic horror genre dating before 1950. In addition, I will look at European vampire cinema and how this homoerotic nature is represented differently from that of U.S. vampire cinema. |
