Post
by Jim Nolt » Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:14 pm
What manner of being is a vampire?
I met my first vampire in 1957. I was about Oskar's age... maybe a shade younger. It was late on a Saturday night. Everyone else had gone to bed, and I was left to deal with it alone. And that's just the way I wanted it. I prefered to be alone. And besides, he seemed friendly enough. "I am Dracula. I bid you welcome."
But I soon learned that the very mention of his name "brings to mind things so evil, so fantastic, so degrading... you wonder if it isn't all a dream... a nightmare" (or so said the voice on the trailer.)
Despite that clear and ominous warning, I was still rather intrigued by the noble Count. He dressed elegantly and had those Old World manners that appeal to me.
That was fifty-six years ago. And through the intervening decades I've continued to be fascinated by vampires. Initially I thought being one was something to aspire to. I saw only the elegance, the power, the potential immortality. That's pretty cool, I thought. So cool, in fact, that I was somewhat troubled by Dracula's remark to Dr. Seward's company at the theater: "To die... to be really dead... that must be glorious."
In later years I met other vampires: those that looked like Lon Chaney, Christopher Lee, Kiefer Sutherland, Gary Oldman, Tom Cruise, and Stephen Moyer. With few exceptions, they, like the ancient Count himself, were romantic figures. But then came those really nasty beasts I met in Barrow, Alaska. Old World manners be damned. They couldn't even speak clearly. And after that there was Eli. Deadly to be sure... but so sympathetic a figure that I actually shed tears when I think of her... and I think of her so very often.
So what would be the life and personality of an actual vampires? Would they feel elegant and powerful. Would they value immortality? I now believe "life" would be difficult for these creatures of the night. It seems to me, Lindqvist is pretty much on the mark. A vampire's existence would be lonely. Attacking people and ripping out their necks is not elegant. And although powerful in many ways, a vampire is also extremely vulnerable. Whom could they trust? And immortality? The older I get the more I think that immortality could very well, in time, become a burden. Perhaps during that era known as the Middle Ages, it might not have been so difficult to keep up with the times; one century was very much like the next. But today the world moves quickly, and trying to keep up with that world even for so little as 80 or 90 years can be difficult. But maybe a vampire wouldn't even try. I think he/she would eventually make no attempt to keep up... but would rather hide from society... unless, of course, (s)he encountered someone special to fill a void that until that moment was seemingly out of reach.
I do so very much love the story of Eli and Oskar, and I doubt anyone could perform their roles better than Lina Andersson and Kåre Hedebrant. I think during my first viewing of the film I missed 75% of the plot because I was so intent on watching their expressions. I was friends for thirty years with character actor Dabbs Greer. He often told me that he learned to "act with his eyes." A good example of someone who learned that lesson well is Raymond Burr. But I digress... both Kåre and Lina seem to instinctively have that talent. Wonderful... wonderful performances.
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