Vampirism as a metaphor for privilege

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Title: Vampirism as a metaphor for privilege
Creator: meganphntmgrl
Date(s): 24 Jan. 2014
Medium: online
Fandom: multifandom
Topic:
External Links: post on Tumblr, Archived version
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Vampirism as a metaphor for privilege is a meta essay by meganphntmgrl, posted to Tumblr on 24 January 2014.

It argues that, while vampires have been used to represent groups of "Other" people and the dominant culture's anxiety about them, it actually makes more sense—and is more helpful—for vampires to represent people with power, who have historically used that power to exploit the less powerful, but can decide not to, and can decide to work to stop exploitation.

Topics

The Essay

I’m starting to think that instead of vampires as a metaphor for oppressed people, we really need to start using vampirism as a metaphor for privilege.


Like, yes, you’re a vampire and you probably can’t help that, and sometimes people will freak the fuck out when you’re coming at them even if it’s just to ask if you can borrow a cup of sugar for your blood muffins or something, and you’re like, “Hey, don’t judge me just because I’m a vampire!”

And then a human’s like, “Um, well, historically, vampires tend to attack us humans and drink our blood.”

And sure, your first instinct is to go “Hey, I’m one of the good vampires! I have a subscription service at a blood bank and everything!”, but… that… doesn’t change the fact that historically, yeah, vampires have survived by eating humans. Any changing perception of vampires is going to have to start with vampires.

So instead of protesting your innocence, you have to start by going to find other vampires and being like “Hey guys, we have to stop eating humans.”

And unfortunately, a lot of vampires are gonna think they’re already doing everything they need to to be Good Vampires, and this needs to be combatted. Being a Good Vampire is a never-ending struggle, and it’s not very rewarding, but it’s what has to be done.

And some humans will never, ever stop being suspicious of you, and you’ll have to accept that. Humans don't owe you their respect just because you’re doing them the basic service of not flapping into their bedrooms at night and biting their necks. That’s like, the bare minimum of not being an asshole vampire. And some humans will probably still make jokes about how vampires can’t go in the sun without burning up and how they have no reflections and how for some reason they think “Alucard” is actually a cute baby name, but you’ll just have to deal with that, because they’re coping with the fact that this is an entire population of things that historically have always eaten them.

But it’s not about you. It’s about making the world safer for humans, and combatting it every damn time you see another vampire planning out a good old-fashioned round of feasting on virgins in nightgowns, and saying “Okay, no, that’s really offensive” the next time one of your vampire buddies refers to a human as a bloodbag, and generally working overtime to present a pro-human standpoint.

Because really, what good does it do to make the monsters the oppressed ones?

Fan Comments

[coelasquid]:

This is basically my issue with every story that uses creatures that are generally willing and capable of killing people en masse as a metaphor for marginalized groups.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]: …*steals this idea and runs into the hills*

(Btw, this idea also works on the grounds that… there is no magic ‘stop feeling the need to eat people’ button. Just like people of privilege (myself included) need to constantly improve and assess their words and actions, because privilege destroys you the instant you have it, and to not say anything you think is well meaning but to everyone else is unbelievably dickish is a hard and thankless task, but if it’s a choice between that and hurting people, you either suck it up or you stop being you and start being just another part of the problem. Idk, I’m probably not conveying this very well. Point is, I need more books like this like burning.)

[the-grey-panther]: This is a way better allegory than the X-Men.

And I’m saying that as a Marvel comics fan.

[colesquid]: I basically agree with this in terms of archetypes. Stories where a typical vampire is wealthy, has a lot of influence and advantages, and tends to be heavily corrupted by their power (or have a history of being so) make a lot more sense to me than stories where vampires are living on the hated fringes of society out of a gutter somewhere. Especially because I think we need more stories that examine privilege while they talk about oppression.

However, not every vampire is going to fit that archetype. As soon as you start bringing in black vampires and poor vampires and disabled vampires, or vampires who were turned against their will and are traumatized by the experience, or any vampire who isn’t accepted by the wealthy and powerful vampires, things get complicated. A black man who police perceive as a vampire is not necessarily at an advantage because of it. (Maybe this is just the standard thing where if you paint an advantaged group as dangerous and say that fear of them is justifiable, it’s going to hit hardest for members of that group that are disadvantaged and demonized on other levels–ie, you tell a white woman that all men are dangerous and she should always listen to her instincts, and maybe it particularly reinforces her existing fear of black men.)

I think it should be complicated. I think it should be messy. Real life is complicated and messy, and discussing the different ways in which different people are affected by their vampirism is way more interesting than any sort of one-size-fits all narrative where all vampires experience their vampirism solely as the same sort of advantage or disadvantage. It gives you way more freedom to explore and way more opportunities to make your society seem plausible.

[apprenticebard]: (Simplistic) metaphors which make sense to me:

vampires in fiction/folklore = fear of the rich; zombies in fiction/folklore = fear of the poor, fear of the ‘other’.

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