Thirst - Vampirism As Identity plus Trailer Posted by DarkUFO at Friday, July 17, 2009 0 comments Labels: Thirst

Thanks to Niles Vu for sending us the following.

Face it, vampires are everywhere, with YA entertainment being only the newest niche that they’ve invaded. The past two years have seen three projects alone with the same base plot: Girl meets guy. Guy turns out to be vampire. Cue lots of sexual tension, thinly-veiled abstinence messages… oh, and there’s probably some sort of shapeshifter/werewolf in the mix as well.

That formula will get its due in a future post, but for now I’d like to address the concept of vampirism on its own, as that’s what most fascinates me about our culture’s current vamp obsession. Because even though the players in whatever love/angst story are mostly unchanging, the place of vampires in those worlds vary to astonishing degrees.

Vampirism as a condition: seeing only the negative.

Even though people generally consider Twilight to be Bella’s story, with hyperbolic metaphors for the clumsiness and raging hormones brought on by puberty, it’s equally Edward’s tale of not fitting in. Worse, he believes that he’s ugly because he is so different: He considers his superhuman abilities abominable for their strength, thinks himself physically and emotionally terrifying. This inner struggle with conforming to society’s ideals of beauty certainly much more realistic than Bella spending pages and pages moaning about how stunning Edward and the other Cullens are.

Vampirism as a disease: searching for a cure.

In I Am Legend, Will Smith’s lone man in an abandoned Manhattan spends equal time shooting his crossbow into vampire covens and capturing subjects to bring back to his lab and attempt to cure. The condition is not irreversible, but rather, a temporary condition that is no one’s fault and that can be treated. Even 28 Days Later, which I was convinced was a zombie flick, leans more heavily toward the vampire mythos, with the usual aversion to sunlight, and the major fact of the disease spreading through a single drop of blood.

Vampirism as race: building one’s own culture.

One of my favorite elements of Alan Ball’s adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ novels into True Blood is that they tackle vampirism as a metaphor for racism. The fact that the series is set in the South only crystallizes this fact, but Ball doesn’t rely on easy conclusions; rather, he throws vampires into the spotlight and digs around inside them, and inside us as the humans suddenly assimilating with them, to explore our base prejudices about what we don’t understand. At the same time, the vampires construct their own ruling systems — some royalty, some taking the title of sheriff — and social leagues, with the intention to infiltrate Congress and demand equal rights.

Vampirism as human evolution: looking ahead.

In the upcoming Daybreakers, although vampirism also travels as an infection, the majority of the entire human race has become vampire. It’s True Blood fast-forwarded: these people still call themselves humans, and then regard the remaining non-vampires as a food source, nothing more. It’s only when their blood source begins to run out (translation: there are so few “humans” left) that Ethan Hawke’s character brings to the table the suggestion that they look to reverse what has for the become an evolutionary step. Homo sanguinis?

And here’s our newest addition to the vampire canon: Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, which entwines vampirism with medicine, faith, and the seven deadly sins. Priest Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho, The Host) volunteers himself for a vaccine study in the hopes of eradicating a deadly virus; but the vaccine overpowers his human body and brings him to the brink of death. All that can save him is a blood transfusion, but the blood is infected… and so Sang-hyun is reborn, as a vampire. As he struggles to reconcile his life in faith with his renewed lust for life, he encounters a friend’s wife (Kim Ok-vin) who needs his help in the worst way.

You can follow the film on Facebook, but if you’re in New York or California, then head to one of these theaters:

New York
Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema (143 East Houston Street, near 2nd Avenue)

Los Angeles
Laemmle’s Sunset 5 (8000 Sunset Boulevard, at Crescent Heights)

San Francisco
Landmark’s Bridge Theatre (3010 Geary Boulevard, near Blake Street)



Source: Ology