[DeCoffinated] Build Your Own Vampire Project

Build Your Own Vampire Project

Team Name: DeCoffinated

Class Period: 2

Team Members: Yongyin Zhou, Edison Wong, Xin Rong Liu, Emily Wong, Giordano Lynch Ferraris

Vampire’s Ethnicity: Italian

Justification: Our vampire is Italian because we wanted to pick an ethnicity that would make his characteristics stand out the most. We took inspiration from the first known vampire which may be traced back to Greek Mythology. Initially human, a young Italian adventurer, Ambrogio embarks on a journey where he comes across a series of blessings and curses from Greek Gods which eventually transformed him into a vampire. The sun god Apollo, cursed Ambrogio so that his skin would burn under the sunlight. He gambled his soul to Hades and Artemis made it so that Ambrogio’s skin would burn if he touched silver. After Ambrogio takes pity on a poor man, he gains the blessing of immortality and to live eternally in his current form. Artemis also gives Ambrogio speed and strength second to her own. “Blood-sucking” was also included in the series of blessings. Folklores about vampires also originated almost exclusively from Southern Europe.

Citations: “History of Vampires.” Smore, 23 Oct. 2014, www.smore.com/pcpnp-history-of-vampires.

Vampire’s Abilities: Shapeshifting, Immortality, Strength 

Justification: A vampire must feed in order to survive yet the outside world is dangerous to vampires. In order to feed without being identified by humans, vampires have the abilities to shapeshift into anything to protect themselves. Our vampire will have the ability to shapeshift, allowing him to freely interact with humans in the world without humans suspecting him as a vampire. Immortality and super strength are also common characteristics of vampires in traditional folklore. They are all distinct qualities that would separate vampires from normal humans. 

Citations: Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Tanasa, Adrian. “Dracula.” Dracula between Hero and Vampire, www.dracula.cc/vampires/.

Vampire’s Weakness(es): Invitation, Daylight

Justification: A vampire simply cannot enter a house without being invited in by the owner. However, once invited, the vampire cannot be uninvited unless there is a change in ownership of the house. This weakness would make feeding harder for our vampire. This gives a significant disadvantage to the vampires but it also enables the vampire to constantly develop schemes and use their charms to seduce their victims. Similar to various vampire folklore, being exposed to the daylight will not kill our vampire but instead completely limit its supernatural abilities.

Citation: Warner Bros. The Vampire Diaries. The Complete First Season. [Burbank, Calif.]: Warner Home Video, 2010. Print.

“The Science of Vampirism.” The Science of Vampirism: Vampiric Mythology, www.fvza.org/vmyths.html.

Vampire’s Reproduction: Reproduction via bite or exchange of bodily fluids

Justification: One of the sole fears of all living creatures with a conscious is loneliness. Vampires are immortal creatures who cannot die through old age. This means that the mortals that they have around them will eventually die leaving the vampire trapped in a constant cycle of loneliness as they watch their companions age and die. As a result, vampires have to have other vampires as their companions. As a vampire’s body is technically dead, they are unable to reproduce sexually, thus, they rely on biting their victims in order to create more of their own. Thus in media and literature, the sexualization of vampires are often times exemplified through the exchange of bodily fluids in the process of reproduction.

Citation: Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897.

“Vampire Offspring.” Gods And Monsters - Ancient to Modern Mythology, www.gods-and monsters.com/vampire-offspring.html.

Vampire’s Camouflage: Invisibility, Shapeshifting

Justification: Vampires rely on the blood of living things. While they can survive on animals, they do not receive the same result as drinking the blood of a human. As a result, to humans, vampires are seen as a monstrous beast or serial killer. As a mechanism to survive, some vampires have the ability to vanish at will, taking on an incorporeal form and becoming unseen to everyone else. Our vampire uses the ability to shape-shift and become invisible to disguise his identity.

Citation: Sheridan Le Fanu. Carmilla. 1872.

Vampire’s Home: Apartment in Paris, France

Justification: Jean Charles Nodier’s Le Vampire led to a vampire craze in France’s literature and inspired many Parisian vampire plays. In French romantic literature, vampires exemplify exploration of inner self and the dark side of human nature. Our Vampire lives in France because it is a place with a rich history of vampires. More than just a monster, our vampire shares human conflicts and emotions. France is also a prominent setting in many of Anne Rice’s novels. Vampires have lived in France for a long time and Lestat was turned into a vampire by one in Paris.

Citation: Rice, Anne. Lestat. 1985.

“France, Vampires In.” The Free Dictionary, Farlex, encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/France Vampires in.

Vampire’s Preferences: Having a personal connection with their victims

Justification: Lestat follows a monster and eventually kills him. Several times in the book Lestat talks about falling in love with the people he kills and having a personal connection with them. Our vampire shares similar traits with Lestat because he longs for all his unaccomplished tasks during his life as a human. Having a personal connection with victims means that our vampire can also fulfill his emotional well-being as well as his hunger.

Citation: Rice, Anne. Memnoch The Devil. 1995.