Television Vampires

Vampires have existed in myth and legend for centuries haunting humanity's darkest thoughts and fears. Now we have television shows about them. How do we re-imagine these myths? How does each show re-invent the vampire?

Each show chooses to do so in different ways, here are four new looks at the legends of Vampires as seen on television.

True Blood
Vampires can love. They have loyalty. That doesn't mean they're all moral in the least. They have powers beyond mortal ken, and they are indeed long lived. With the creation of "True Blood" they have "come out of the coffin" and exposed themselves. This displays Vampires as essentially being a different species, with regenerative powers.

They drink blood, but don't always kill. Sunlight will kill them, crosses won't and they don't have to sleep in their own coffin every night. Wooden stakes through the heart can kill them and they are also vulnerable to silver as is shown in the pilot episode when Vampire Bill is held down with a silver necklace. Crosses don't effect them. Beware the eyes of the Vampires in True Blood because if you aren't careful they can glamer you into obeying them.

Vampire Diaries
The vampires in Vampire Diaries are targeted for teen romance. Some can control the minds (which is held off by the plant Virvain), they aren't effected by garlic or crosses and it hasn't become important yet how they are killed. In Vampire diaries the creatures aren't as monstrous, they must be approached on a fundamentally romantic slant. More tragic than terrible.

They are strong, fast and can heal quickly and some can even control mists and fog and some might even be able to fly. This series is more about painting them as human, being human despite differences in ability than it is about highlighting their abilities and differences.

Buffy and Angel
Vampires have souls but that doesn't mean there aren't a few heroic ones out there with souls. Vampires also aren't that high on the food chain as far as demons and deviltry go and yet for some reason the Slayers were created with mostly Vampires in mind. That goes deeper into the mythology of Buffy however.

They can be staked through the heart, killed by sunlight and harmed by crosses and don't like garlic. They are as close to "stereotypical" vampires as we can really get just super-imposed on the modern day. Mostly they drink blood, hit things really hard and move a bit faster than normal people can.

Supernatural
Vampires are monsters that are hunted, but not all of them are bad. They sleep during the day but that doesn't mean they won't wake up. They have extraordinary senses. They have sets of teeth, not just two fangs. They can't be killed with a stake, and the sun won't kill them. The only way to cause their death is decapitation.

Dead man's blood will poison them however. They aren't the focus of the show but the fact that I got to see a vampire called Bo and the fact that they are pretty interestingly depicted as thuggish instead of as "sexy" as they often are in television and movies. The are instead depicted as slightly bestial for the most part.