Sexy Curses: Part 2

...An Upir, the name for vampires in Romanian folklore, was God’s curse reserved for heavy sinners. After death, the person would rise from the grave and return home to feast on their loved ones. The amount of time between death and rising depended on the severity of the sin - a witch would become a vampire almost immediately, the un-baptized child becomes a vampire seven years after its death. The vampire had no free will. Though many people are attracted to, or at least intrigued by, dark themes, there’s nothing sexy or romantic – in the literary sense – about feeding on one’s family and friends. In fact, the curse of an Upir reminds me of the darkness in Hera’s curse for Hercules, driving him to a rage in which he kills he wife and children.

Just as Hercules has shifted into modern times, namely with Disney’s Hercules and the 90s TV series, the list of modern actors and actresses who played vampire roles includes Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Aaliyah, and Kate Beckinsale. Twilight’s lead vampire could (or has, for all I know) make the cover of teen magazines worldwide. High school goths daydream about becoming vampires. Even Stoker’s Dracula, 111 years old, gets literary critics excited by the symbolism of sexuality and seduction in Victorian society. So how did the vampire go from the most revolting curse to a mainstream symbol of dark seduction?...