"When man meets a force he can't destroy, he destroys himself instead. What a plague you are." This line is spoken with the deepest contempt and disgust by the leader of a supernatural gang of predators to one of their victims in the film 30 Days of Night. The story accounts the misfortune of a small Alaskan town when its annual month-long darkness attracts a horde of monsters. They are, of course, vampires.
Vampires are in many ways a perfect totem of human fears. They remove us from our cozy throne atop the global food chain, give us a reason to fear the setting sun, and perhaps most intriguing, they shine a light on the fears we harbor for one another. Vampires, unlike their equally popular mythic cousins, zombies and werewolves, are of completely sound mind. They are as intelligent, if not more so, than any of us and are unbound by the limitations of age or social contracts. And so, as expressed in the quote above, we know they are wise to the pain they cause their victims, have no remorse, and enjoy it.
Their prominence in the early cultures of every continent proves an equally powerful fascination with their bloodlust and terror at the prospect of their existence. In this episode, your personal AoE Dr. Van Helsings will examine the universal power of the vampire myth on Earth and what it might reveal about humans, their simultaneous victims and creators.
