Zombies & Vampires

And why are we frightened by a motionless skeleton when we see it lying in the cemetery but not afraid now when we see its zombie-like body moving about like a walking corpse controlled by momentary impulses?
Santideva: Bodhicaryavatara 8.47

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This reflection reminds me of a thought that has been on my mind the past few years: there have been a plethora of novels, movies and television series featuring romanized vampire themes the past few years. To me, the vampire reflects two different obsessions with death in a weird way. For instance; the original vampire tales were about a living corpse being animated by an intrinsically evil, shape-shifting, spirit… decaying without receiving substance from the blood of the living. Though the idea had sexual overtones, the theme was essentially the lust for power drawn from the innocent and any sexuality was driven by a hunger and clinging onto living forever. From the Anne Rice novels the sexually attractive and romantic image of the vampire entered the cultural landscape and it stuck to this day with the Twilight series and so on. Vampires became not so much decaying corpses but pretty young things that are people just like us except that they now have enormous strength, romance sexuality and magical power. These have taken over the theme and the decaying living corpse fades almost entirely into the background. Isn’t this a way to seduce our consciousness into finding or encouraging us to see the living dead as something that is attractive to us? And taking a leap into another subject; isn’t this a subliminal commercial enticement that contrives to keep us from actually seeing or thinking about spiritual and emotional vampirism... of acting on impulse?Doesn’t vampirism of this sort compel a materialistic neurosis that drives us to become easily manipulated consumers?

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