The Undying Appeal of the Undead: Introduction to the Psychology of Vampirism

The Undying Appeal of the Undead: An introduction to the psychology of vampirism

“Come To Me” – Fright Night Soundtrack

Introduction to the phenomenon of the vampire

This is the first post on a series on the psychology of vampirism and the appeal this subject has on the masses. In this series, I will predominantly focus on its effect on the young.  This new series closely relates to my series on narcissism as the vampire is the ultimate representative of the malignant narcissist. Both narcissists and vampires, interestingly enough, are today more popular than ever.

It is a striking feature of vampires, as a type of creature in the horror genre, that of having the ability of never dying in the imagination of humans. This fact truly makes vampires “immortals.” This “immortality”of the vampire–and its penchant for raising back from the grave over and over again at every certain number of years–applies even more to young audiences whose loyalty to the vampire character never wanes.

Of the gallery of monsters and creatures created by folklore, literature, and the film industry in the last two centuries, only the vampire has survived unscathed. He/she has been “revived” with renewed strength and increased ferocity with every generation since its inception.  And only the vampire–of all fictional monsters–has managed to gather a flock of diehard faithful that has given it cult status.

This fanaticism for all-things-vampire has taken the form of a cult following of miilions of fans around the world. This cult of the vampire has–not only grown stronger as the decades passed from the 19th century into the 20^th–but it has intensified even further in the 21st–degenerating into an socio-psychological phenomenon that remains unexplained.

So, we see that in the last four decades people have started to believe thet are vampires themselves; vampire clubs have been established; people have led vampire lifestyles; and some have even gone to the dangerous extreme of practicing actual vampirism.

These post-modern vampire tribes members count in the thousands in the UK and the US today and it is regarded by many as an “alternative” lifestyle in the 2020s.

Vampires as the masters of horror and of sex appeal

Other horror creatures and fictional characters such as Frankenstein, the werewolf, zombies, and necrophilic killers–to name just a few of the arcade of characters created to terrify audiences–had their heyday.  And every number of years, some of these creatures have experienced minor revivals with audiences. But none of them have ever been able to reach the popularity–and the appeal–the vampire has exerted on the young since the inception of this character in English literature in the early 1800’s. 

None of these creatures has ever even come close to reaching the never-ending “life” of the blood-sucking undead. This refusal to die permanently–and its penchant for coming back with a vengeance in the preference of audiences–is a unique feature of the vampire. And I believe this is a psychological mass phenomenon that begs psychoanalytic investigation.

Why is the Vampire such an audiences’ favorite?

A few initial questions to consider on this matter are these:

• Why is it that this type of “monster” holds such an appeal for human beings?
• What is there in the depths of the psychology of humans that responds to this Archetype?
• Why does the vampire cause such a yearning that it keeps people reading these novels or watching these films over and over again? 
• And why is this allure even stronger in the young–to the point that every generation since the publication of “The Vampyre” by John Polidori in 1819– has become mesmerized by this fictional character in its multifaceted manifestations?

A brief history of the fictional vampire

Interestingly enough, this cult phenomenon for all thing’s vampire has only grown stronger since the early 19th century till the present time. This mass fandomship phenomenon started in England in 1847 with the publication of the so-called “penny-dreadfuls.” These weekly publications (that are the 19^th century version of the 20^th century comics), launched a character named “Varney the Vampire.”  This original crude vampiric character became popular in repressed Victorian society for its dare and gore. It comes as no surprise then that “Varney the Vampire” ran successfully for decades in England.   

The Introduction of sexuality in the vampiric theme

By the mid-19th century, the popularity of vampires was reinforced with the publication of Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” in 1872. This seminal vampiric novella became a milestone for the genre, exploring not only vampirism–but introducing the gothic element to the vampire theme—while at the same time taking it to a new transgressive level with the introduction of lesbianic themes.  Le Fanu, and not Bram Stoker then, is the true father of the magic formula for the successful vampire novels and films that would follow. He was the first author to put together vampirism, sexuality, and the gothic theme.

And this vampire furor created by Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” came to its acme in 1897 with the publication of Bram Stoker’s Opus Magnus “Dracula” . Stoker–followed suit with the path opened by his fellow countryman Le Fanu. But, he wrote a very long–much more realistic novel–that put together sensuality, vampirism and the gothic revival–but set in modern day England. “Dracula” would thus become the master piece of the vampire horror genre.

This last editorial event marked the beginning of an unprecedented chain of events in fictional history.  It propped up a repulsive ancient folkloric character original to the superstitions of rural eastern Europe and turned it into a mainstream refined Western fictional character.  It is so–and to such an extent–that in the course of the 20th century, Dracula as the final dark romantic character, would become an unparalleled literary, theatrical, and film hit. Unfortunately for him, Stoker never lived to see the universal success of the vampiric character he had created when he died in 1912. 

Initially, Stoker’s novel was received to mixed reviews and it made no immediate impact on the public. But as the years went by, it got traction as it was turned into a successful play in London that ran in the West End for years. The vampiric, sensual, and gothic themes put together in a new mix proved to be immensely attractive to early 20th century audiences. This was the case as the vampiric theme was in many ways transgressive of the conservative Victorian mores still present in Edwardian times. 

Wide diffusion of the vampire theme began after Dracula was adapted to the stage in London in the 1920’s and to the big screen in the following decade.  In 1931, the novel was adapted for film in the United States. Thereafter, the character of Count Dracula became universally known to Western audiences when Universal Pictures produced “Dracula.” This is the original cinematographic version with Bela Lugosi playing the Count depicted above. This film became an immediate success and it shaped the image that comes up in most people’s minds first when the name “Dracula” is pronounced.

Since that time, and with every passing decade, Dracula–as the master of vampiric characters–became a household name in the West.  (Interestingly enough, it remained virtually unknown to Romanians where Transyvania is located today until recently). In time, Dracula turned into the most frequently used literary character in film history. Dracula appeared in at least 120 films and in innumerable documentaries and spinoffs. 

At the same time, the novel Dracula was translated into every major language. Within a mere century—Dracula went from being an unknown novel to becoming the most widely read book after the Bible. And, what is even more remarkable, it has never been out of print since its original print in 1897!

Why it is important to analyze this attraction for vampires psychological phenomenon

These facts in themselves—and the very reality of the spell this subject still holds on individuals, urban tribes, and audiences around the world—justify a deeper examination of this strange psychological phenomenon. This is reason enough for psychoanalytic inquiry.

Given the limitations of time and space in this post, I will not be able to address every possible angle of these fascinating questions that I will pose here. That in itself would be the subject matter of an entire volume on the matter. This article–and the ones that will follow on this subject–intend to broach the subject and start a process of psychological inquiry.  In this introductory article I present the question to the attention of the general reader, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and other individuals interested in this matter.  I aim to whet their appetite for knowledge and increase their thirst for investigation in this field.

Vampires and the Unconscious

To begin with, it is vital to understand the role that the Unconscious plays in the vampiric dynamics. The Unconscious plays an important role in the underlying cause of this fascination that vampires exert upon human audiences—but especially upon the young.  Now, let’s keep in mind that this appeal has been—and still is–particularly powerful in adolescents and the youth–but it is far from being absent in adults and in older people.  Yet, the truly surprising fact is that this faithful following for the vampire theme has only grown stronger in the young in the course of the 21th century. Surprisingly, it has grown rather than die off as it would have been expected considering that the gothic theme started as a 19 century fashion.

It is unclear, however, what the long-term psychological effects of this type of identificatory figures posed by vampires are.  Neither is it known what ultimate effects these forms of entertainment have on immature minds. This is, I believe, another valid reason for inquiry into this subject, especially for those who work with these younger age groups. 

This series of articles point to elucidating what lies behind the undying appeal the Vampire holds that–like a magic spell–he has cast on us, and on every generation of young audiences. And they aim to find out why this vampire phenomenon has grown so strong in the course of the 21th century instead of dying off.

Let’s examine the basics questions about vampires

So, let’s start with an examination of the very basics questions about vampires and the psychology behind their appeal:  

• First of all, what is a Vampire?
• What does it offer young audiences to identify with that they love so much? 
• And what kind of “jouissance” (dark enjoyment) is at play in the doings of this “creature of the night” that is so enticing to them?
• What is so appealing in the vampiric scripts that are so alluring to the young? 
• What is the uncanny attraction the vampire exerts on young audiences both male and female and anything in between?
• And, what kind of enigma does the vampire as a character answer about the question of the “Jouissance” of the Other?
• I will be addressing these questions in following posts.

Understanding the paradoxical psychology of the “pleasure in fear” (Jouissance)

However, there is a preliminary question that must be answered before addressing these matters. This question is rather simple, but it often goes unasked:

Why do people in general–and young people in particular–pay to be scared in the first place?

This psychological phenomenon–paying to be scared–is in itself something extremely puzzling. It is a psychological phenomenon that in itself defies logic and that has gone unexamined in psychology. There is no rational way to explain this tendency of a desire for fear in people from a scientific, rational, evolutionary–or in the name of self-interest–standpoint.  And this desire for fear is an intrinsically human trait.  No animal known—except for human beings–would ever pay to be frightened. That is why science has nothing to say about this phenomenon; and that is where Psychoanalysis comes in.

There is no possible access to the answer to this question, unless one uses a reference to a concept introduced by French Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.

In the 1960’s, Lacan introduced a new term into psychoanalytic jargon. It was a revolutionary new concept he called “Jouissance.” Unfortunately, this French word does not have an exact translation in English.  It can be translated as “Enjoyment”, but the word “enjoyment” lacks the sinister overtones–of the French word “jouissance.”  In plain English, Jouissance is the way people “get off” on something or someone.

The other obstacle to address this matter properly is that no other English speaking psychoanalytic school developed a concept that is an equivalent to “Jouissance.” Therefore, lacking a way of naming this phenomenon–not having a word to name it–it is equivalent to ignoring it. The closest approximation in traditional psychoanalytic language to what Lacan calls “Jouissance” would be Freud’s “primary masochism.” And, to make matters worse in the contemporary mental health field, there is not even a notion of this irrational form of enjoyment in suffering. It never appears in the DSM system, in psychiatric textbooks, or in the neurocognitive and behavioral models used in therapy in the UK and in the US today.

“Jouissance” means taking pleasure in pain

The best way “Jouissance” can be translated for an English-speaking audience is by using an acronym that is at the same time a palindrome (a word that can be read forwards and backwards in the same way). ““Jouissance” in English can be expressed as the acronym PIP, i.e., Pain-in-Pleasure and Pleasure-in-Pain–and all of this at-the-same-time.

The concept of “Jouissance” is then essential to understand what follows in these articles. That is the reason why I have made the effort to make this digression here to explain it in detail, as most English-speaking individuals are unfamiliar with the work of Jacques Lacan. 

However, the understanding of Jouissance is essential in today’s clinical practice as the mental disorders of the 21^st century are predominantly those of an excess of Jouissance as we will see in my next post.

So, the only possible way to understand the motive why audiences attend horror movies–and in such large numbers, among them vampire films—is because there is a certain “Jouissance” involved in the thrill of being scared. This “Jouissance” results from a particular state of uneasy arousal enjoyed side by side with others.

Jouissance is then the presence of a state of anxious tension experienced in a controlled environment in which one knows that one is ultimately safe– and when leaving the movie theater–finally experiencing a sense of welcome relief.

Before this concept was ever developed, this was a constant problem for Freud’s theorizing of his metapsychology. It created obstacles for him as he was trying to understand the principles of psychical functioning.

Freud had initially thought of a model of the mind in which the psychical apparatus “aimed to discharge itself from a quantum of energy (tension) as much as possible.” He called that tendency to discharge “The Pleasure Principle,” which he opposed to the “Reality Principle.” The apparatus, according to this first Freudian theory, aimed at keeping its charge at its lowest possible level without dying.  And the discharge of tension was perceived as pleasurable. The epitome of this discharge was the orgasm.

Freud’s discovery of the “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” dynamics

Many years later, however, he realized that there were many situations that were in some strange form pleasurable–but they involved an increase in tension rather than a release.  That type of tense excitement is what we today would call a Thrill.  And he realized he could not explain these paradoxical phenomena that contradicted his original theory of the mind with his original model.  

It was not until 1920 when he finally wrote Beyond the Pleasure Principle that Freud realized the problem with his original theory and changed his views on the matter. It is in this seminal work in which he opposed the two basic instincts or human Drives: that of Eros, or “the life/sexual instinct,” driven by sexual libido and Thanatos–or “the Death instinct.” The latter represented an undercurrent that ran in the background of the Unconscious. The Death Wish was in his view a force that silently labored to bring us back to nonexistence. 

It is from this latter work that the Lacanian concept of “Jouissance” evolved and his psychoanalytic school’s later emphasis on the importance of the Death Drive. 

Interestingly enough, the vampire phenomenon coincides with a renewed fascination with narcissism and its appeal in post-modern society. It is my hypothesis that this intense appeal relates to the unique allure of the unconscious mix between these two primal forces: the Sex drive and the Death drive.  This makes the vampire the uncanny character par excellence as we will see in following posts.

In following posts, I will continue to examine the sources of the appeal of the vampire and vampirism in audiences.  In future posts, I will also look into the connection of the figure of the vampire as the ultimate manifestation of “malignant narcissism.”

If you liked it or benefited from the content of this post, say it to others by liking it. As always, don’t hesitate to ask a question or leave a comment below. If you are interested in mental health matters, sign up for this blog for free by entering your email address below after pressing “Like”.  I hope to see you in my next installment. Until then, and stay safe and sound. And have a better 2021.

Ah! and remember to keep your windows tightly locked, your garlic at hand in your room, your necks nicely covered with a scarf, and a crucifix at hand just in case….

Dr T