Realized by Laurent FALLET, from INSA of Rouen (13/03/03)

Vampires Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m here today to talk about vampires, and my talk will last about 10 minutes. My presentation will be divided into 3 main parts: firstly, I will refresh everybody’s memory about vampires, their way of life and origins. Secondly, I’ll talk about vampires in films. Finally I’ll try to explain the impact of vampires in our society. If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt at any time. The first idea to come us in mind about vampires is a bloodthirsty monster. That’s more or less the image that has been familiar to us since childhood. That is to say, we all think that vampires are only interested in biting people in the neck and draining some fresh blood, that they are afraid of garlic and religious objects like crucifix or holy water. Everybody knows the ability of a vampire to turn into a bat, or mist (mist is like the fog of London, water in suspension in the air). However, vampires have many over characteristics than those ones; they possess a high power of seduction, and can annihilate the will of their victim. They have psychological powers such as telepathy, and the time has no effect on them. They can’t become old. The immortality is one of the reasons why some vampires commit suicide by burning themselves. If they can’t bear becoming a vampire, they become mad or simply die. As far as relationship between vampires, we can observe that they love or hate other people but always with a lot of passion. They always have strong feelings. Another important point is that vampires are moody. Let me explain what “moody” means: You can be in a good mood or in a bad mood. A moody person is someone that is always changing of mood. So vampire’s behaviour is unpredictable. Is it clear so far? Before going any further, I would like to say that, of course, vampires are not real; they have been invented by imaginative people. What are their origins? Every people can give his own explanation. Some people says the first vampire was created by a sorcerer from the old Atlantean (Atlantis) city. This sorcerer used a spell to cause his enemies return from the dead to the vampire form. Unfortunately, the vampires were more powerful than he predicted, and he was slayed (to slay means to kill, like in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). Many other origins are mentioned, like Egypt at the pharaoh times, Europe in the twelfth century, and even stories based on religious event. To sum up we can say that it’s really hard to know when vampires were first created. What about vampires in literature? Vampire’s films are presents in the cinema since the start of the century. The most famous authors are Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula, and Ann Rice, who did “Interview with a vampire”, “Lestat the vampire”, and “The Queen of the Damned”. We can also quote “Blade”, and from my point of view a very good french film named “Les Vampires du Désert”, of J. S. Cardone. It tells the story of a young guy infected by vampirism who tries to kill his master, that is to say the vampire who had bitten him. I bet

you’re going to ask me if it’s only for a vengeance… That’s not the main reason; because if you break the psychic link between the master and yourself, you won’t become a vampire. That’s why he is hunting the vampire. But vampire’s stories are not limited to films: mangas like Hellsing tells the story of a vampire proud of his race, full of hatred against small vampires which live like animals. In role play, “Vampire” is a famous game, where the players act as if they were vampires. They are from 10 to 20 times more powerful than humans and that make the game interesting and funny. Humans have always tried to hunt vampires, but it’s no use, vampires are stronger! We now come to the analysis of vampirism. In vampire’s films, what can we see? Blood of course, violence, sex, and often a loss of religious marks. It is interesting to link that to the evolution of our society: violence is growing, people are not ashamed to talk about sex, and religion is loosing his power, when compared to 2 or 3 centuries ago. If we take a closer look to the symptoms of vampirism, we can realize that most of those are found in human behaviour. There is a kind of people called “Gothic people” which like to be considered as vampires. As a matter of facts, there are always dressed in black, wearing capes, living during the night, even sleeping in boxes! They are attracted by myths about the vampire. They want to have the same power, to be overwhelming. It’s also some type of revolt against the society and conformity.

To conclude, I would like to say that there are so many aspects of vampire phenomenon that it would require 3 or 4 hours to fully explore. The use of vampires is to materialize our fears and to frighten ourself. Even if we don’t know the real origin of vampires, that’s all right! We are free to imagine what we want! Thank you for your attention. If you have any question, I’d be happy to answer them.