Patriarchal Blood Rituals and the Vampire Archetype

Abstract

Correspondences can be identified between (on the one hand) androcentric cosmogonies, ancestral misogyny and tribal blood rituals, and (on the other) the classical paradigm of vampirism, especially in its literary and on-screen flowering. Specifically, the initiatory culture-hero and the archetypal vampire both confer a haematologically-mediated rebirth, via an ancient male, into an intrinsically masculine eternity. Such parallels could account for the success of the senior male vampire as an enduring archetype in the popular imagination. IMPORTANT: Please read the Culturally Sensitive Material warning (beneath the Keywords section on the title page) to inform your decision on whether or not to read the article