The latest trend in pop culture may never die out - that is, if vampires are really immortal. Pushing pirates and wizards aside, the release of books such as "Twilight" and television shows such as "True Blood" shows that vampires have seemingly reclaimed their spot in the entertainment industry.
But calling the recent fang-fixation a trend would be ignoring centuries of red-eyed, blood-sucking fun.
UF Slavic and Germanic Studies professor Dragan Kujundzic, who currently teaches the English course Victorian Vampires, does not acknowledge a fleeting fad but a "continuation of a long presence of vampires in pop culture," recycled from the remnants of Transylvanian folklore and the original horror stories that dominated oral literature.
Today's version of the vampire has little in common with Bram Stoker's deceitfully charming Dracula, who Dragan described as a "civilized" vampire. This modern version drives chic Swedish cars, dates mortals without fatal intentions and doesn't even bother with human blood.
The seeming transition in mainstream media from guts and gore to humanity possibly signals a departure from the horror genre to a broader audience.
"Young girls and guys love to think of extending their youthful love of life for all eternity, and that's precisely what the modern vampire is all about," said Thomas Garza, chairman of the Department of Slavic and Eurasian studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
And while not all of the original vampire stories fit under the horror genre, Garza explained, there are no boundaries to the stories that can be formulated from the concept of a creature that survives by "weakening or killing another living being."
HBO is testing the entertainment value of humans co-existing with vampires in its latest TV series, "True Blood."
Based on Charlaine Harris's "Sookie Stackhouse" book series, the show revolves around the development of synthetic blood geared toward vampires following a non-human diet. Set against the backdrop of Bon Temps, La., Kujundzic describes "True Blood" as "cashing in on the depiction of the south" and employing the same small-town charm that Stoker used. In this attempt to normalize vampires, Kujundzic explains, Joe Six-Pack drinks six-packs of blood.
This concept of placing vampires in familiar places also emphasizes sexuality and romance, as shown by the girls who swoon over Stephanie Meyer's fictional creation, Edward Cullen.
In Meyer's "Twilight" saga, Bella Swan, the jeans-and-T-shirt new girl, falls for Edward, the golden-eyed, Volvo-driving, vegetarian vampire. It would have been love at first bite if Edward had any resemblance to Anne Rice's Lestat.
But he doesn't. And while Rice now writes about Jesus Christ and redemption, Meyer has racked in multi-million-dollar book deals and will have her big screen debut on Friday.
"Twilight is a lot more than just the typical suck-your-blood vampire story," said UF freshman and "Twilight" enthusiast Jordyn Sthay. "It's more of a love saga similar to Romeo and Juliet, only with a vampire twist forbidding them instead of family ties."
Famed "Sweeney Todd" director Tim Burton is also following the gothic genre, as he is set to direct the film adaptation of the vampire soap opera, "Dark Shadows," a TV show that was canceled in 1971.
The Transylvanian trend moves beyond books and movies to music with Vampire Weekend, the New York-based indie-rock band that got its name from the movie lead singer Ezra Koenig produced his freshman year in college.
Garza recognizes today's vampire as a reaction to world happenings, explaining that the entertainment industry responds to periods of war and economic strife by producing media that falls into the fantasy genre. The need for escape and the desire to understand evil peaks an interest in the supernatural.
"We all think we know evil, or at least that we'd know it if we saw it," explained Garza, "But the vampire presents us with the tangible combination of evil and seduction."
