Twenty-first century vampires: From the Dracula myth to new (American) superheroes

Taking into consideration Julie Sanders’ distinction between adaptation and appropriation and Julie Grossman’s notion of ‘elastextity’, this article focuses on how contemporary adaptations of an archetypal vampiric text have progressively led to its appropriation by another cinematographic narrative genre. Dracula is the model of the ultimate vampire in the public eye, but also in the minds of modern creators, who began to exploit the ‘elastextity’ of the traditional vampire codes, ethics and images. After undergoing a process of humanization, ‘new’ vampires started appearing at the turn of the current century such as Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998) and till Gary Shore’s recent representation of Dracula (Dracula Untold, 2014). They represent a new kind of vampire, one associated with the aesthetic of American superhero films. With this evolution vampires have come to represent a new model of superhero expression linked, by virtue of their nature, to sacrifice, redemption and hope.