“More than What [They] Made Us to Be”: From Passing to Perception in Victorian and Modern Vampire Media
Throughout Victorian Gothic horror fiction, vampires function as deviant figures, maneuvering within social confines of passing until their status quo-threatening identity is exposed. Of the popular vampires from this period, most gradually fail to maintain status as social insiders—as demonstrated with Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, who possess the temporary capacity to pass until their hidden monstrosity is revealed over time. Even if Gothic monsters are confined to a limited space and time far from society, this is still not enough; in accordance with the Victorian culture of morality policing by dominant groups, the vampiric Other must be eradicated regardless of how they perform identity, and their perspective is wholly neglected. Comparably, numerous modern vampires rebel against these confines; figures like Ana Lily Amirpour’s skateboarding, chador-wearing Girl or Gilda from Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories demand perception and prioritize radical humanization (both alone and within Othered communities)—often through reclaiming their Otherness by spurning notions of passing altogether. In the process, these vampires’ narratives bring sociopolitical standards to light; yet unlike their Gothic counterparts, these vampires thrive, calling for active change and reimagination as told from the monster’s perspective. This thesis combines approaches to passing within existing scholarship (Goffman, Butler) with foundational monster theory texts to explore a key transition from historic to modern horror. I argue that whilst Gothic vampire media reflects the inevitable and “necessary” exposure, subjugation, and destruction of a foreign Other (depicting the vampire’s failed efforts to pass wherein performativity dissipates, unmasking underlying monstrosity and Victorian era racial/cultural/sexual/gender anxieties), the modern vampire tears itself from its predecessors’ closet, asking audiences to imagine a reality in which self-actualization, community empowerment, restorative justice, and challenging dominant norms can enable greater connection.
Gothic literature, Victorian literature, monster literature, vampire literature, monster theory, speculative fiction, marginalized identity, the other, racial passing, gender passing, sexuality passing, creative and cultural media analysis, vampire media, American Literature, American Popular Culture, Fiction, Game Design, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America, Literature in English, British Isles, Literature in English, North America, Modern Literature, Other Classics, Other Film and Media Studies, Queer Studies
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