If vampires live forever...

Mark Latimour · #1 01-25-2010, 05:48 AM

....(at least until killed), then presumably vampires ahve been around since the dawn of man. This must be pretty much common belief among any person (writer, vampire fan etc) who is into the vampire mythology. So, why then, does everyone assume that vampires, who have been around since the dawn of man (if not earlier), would choose the Victorian "gothic" period as the time to take their fashion cues from and not move on. I mean, why didn't they pick the Roman times, surely there must be vampires walking around in togas rather than black leather and capes and frilly collars. How come we don't see vampire movies where all the vampires wear loin clothes, having decided that the pre-historic period was the age they would stake their fashion claim?

I call shenangins. There is no reason that vampire fashion should be centred around Victorian gothic times. In fact, I demand that goths start wearing more loinclothes and togas.

$0.02

Relic · #2 01-25-2010, 05:58 AM

Oh come on now...you mean to tell me that you never had a hankerin' to walk around in black victorian garb with a long flowing cape? They walk around like that simply because it's the epitome of cool for vampires and us blood bags alike. Can you really imagine spending the rest of eternity wearing a toga/glorified pillow case?

I didnt think so...

ehque · #3 01-25-2010, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

....(at least until killed)

Your very first sentence is already logically flawed. If something lasts forever, doesn't mean it doesn't have a beginning - it means it doesn't have an end. According to your intepretation vampires would have been created in the big bang and crash landed on earth, clearly an improbable scenario.

RWP · #4 01-25-2010, 06:01 AM

No, actually many vampires are doing Geico commercials.

Relic · #5 01-25-2010, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehque

Your very first sentence is already logically flawed. If something lasts forever, doesn't mean it doesn't have a beginning - it means it doesn't have an end. According to your intepretation vampires would have been created in the big bang and crash landed on earth, clearly an improbable scenario.

Not so.. vampires are simply human beings who have been inflicted with a curse, so although they can live forever, they still had humble human beginnings.

But come to think of it, how do they maintain erections with such a erratic supply of blood. Can vampires suffer from ED? Do they need Vampiagra?

(sorry, it's early here folks...)

fdeck · #6 01-25-2010, 06:38 AM

If rock & roll will never die, then how come...

WalterBush · #7 01-25-2010, 06:46 AM

Historically speaking, vampires dressed to blend in and avoid being burned, decapitated, or staked. Only in the last couple hundred years have story writers worried about what their vampiric characters were wearing. Anne Rice did a good job portraying vampires dressed as Egyptian royalty, if I recall.

The only reason they keep wearing Goth clothing is because they want to blend in with disaffected youth, I guess. Maybe Goths hold still while being exsanguinated. Maybe they're just too busy sleeping the days away to notice we don't dress that way anymore.

Mark Latimour · #8 01-25-2010, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehque

Your very first sentence is already logically flawed. If something lasts forever, doesn't mean it doesn't have a beginning - it means it doesn't have an end. According to your intepretation vampires would have been created in the big bang and crash landed on earth, clearly an improbable scenario.

You clearly take vampires very seriously

Actually my sentence wasn't as complete as I would have liked it. My intention is caught up in the presumably. I know that vampires are not "born" but created. However, if you cannot die, and these things have always been around infecting others, then there must be at least a few from the early homo-sapien era I wasn't suggesting that they were created in the big bang, but that the law of probability says that there must be some who are at least as old as man. Hence, they were exposed to all of man's fashion choices. I just question why they stopped "updating" their look in Victorian times. Why not funk it up a bit and go ultra-modern (ie Blade) or ultra-old school (ie Flintstones)?

People who follow vampires (and model their lives of them) surely are limiting themselves by dressing like goths. Clearly vampires would ahve dressed in many different ways. Sure "goth" kids should be wearing Togas etc.

PSPookie · #9 01-25-2010, 07:58 AM

I don't recall what movie it's from but one vampire origin stroy is that the original curse was bestowed upon Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus. Presumambly, he spread the curse from there.

Based on this, one would think that a natural hate of all things Roman would preclude the toga option. The timeline also places vampire fashion significantly post-loin cloth. Perhaps they didn't reall fin their style until the Victorian are and then just stuck with it . . . until the 80's. Then they went to dayglo spandex and haven't looked back. With all the night-dwelling they needed a bit of color in their lives. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood has perpetuated the black cape stereotype. I suspect this is due to a marketing agreement with Hot Topix.

ehque · #10 01-25-2010, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

You clearly take vampires very seriously

By the same argument, even if vampires did exist, you would not be able to identify the time period they first sprouted... Perhaps the first vampire was bitten by a rabid fruit bat in the Victorian era, explaining the dated wardrobe?

**zenrad** · #11 01-25-2010, 08:16 AM

Very many blood-sucking Vampires dress like music business executives these days...

MN_Bass · #12 01-25-2010, 08:25 AM

Is Paris Hilton a vampire, she sucks, o nevermind, I guess it doesn't count if its not blood

Unrepresented · #13 01-25-2010, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehque

By the same argument, even if vampires did exist, you would not be able to identify the time period they first sprouted... Perhaps the first vampire was bitten by a rabid fruit bat in the Victorian era, explaining the dated wardrobe?

Yeah, the premise suggests that vampirism is a genetic mutation as opposed to a susceptibility towards it from an outside source.

The plague, AIDS, and the boogie woogie flu have potentially been available to start infecting mankind throughout our walk on this planet, and yet we've only seen them come forth in more (relatively) recent times. Perhaps the environmental conditions weren't compatible with a vampirism outbreak until the romantic era.

**Mark Wilson** · #14 01-25-2010, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenrad

Very many blood-sucking Vampires dress like music business executives these days...

I think you mean Lawyers?

DanRJBrasil · #15 01-25-2010, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

Oh come on now...you mean to tell me that you never had a hankerin' to walk around in black victorian garb with a long flowing cape? They walk around like that simply because it's the epitome of cool for vampires and us blood bags alike. Can you really imagine spending the rest of eternity wearing a toga/glorified pillow case?

I didnt think so...

good one LOL

lunarpollen · #16 01-25-2010, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I call shenangins. There is no reason that vampire fashion should be centred around Victorian gothic times. In fact, I demand that goths start wearing more loinclothes and togas.

I have no idea what you are talking about, the only vampires that wear Victorian-era garb are those whose films' stories take place in that time period.

And I can't stand vampire films or vampire anything really, boring as hell.

**Mark Wilson** · #17 01-25-2010, 09:05 AM

Mark Latimour · #18 01-25-2010, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

I have no idea what you are talking about, the only vampires that wear Victorian-era garb are those whose films' stories take place in that time period.

THis would be easy to disprove!

Quote:

And I can't stand vampire films or vampire anything really, boring as hell.

...and yet here you are!

Asa Samuel · #19 01-25-2010, 09:49 AM

I agree with ehque, just because they are immortal doesn't mean they have been around since the dawn of time; Dorian Gray for example made a pact with the devil to become immortal. If you go by the Underworld theory of how vampires were created, the first immortal gave birth to two sons, one bitten by a bat who became the first vampire and one bitten by a wolf who became the first werewolf. In the metal gear solid series vamp was trapped in a church, pierced by a crucifix for two days which gave him his supernatural speed and lust for blood. The character Marius De Romanus from The Vampire chronicles by Ann Rice wasn't the first vampire but he was turned into a vampire by the "God of the groves".

They may feel an affiliation with that style of dress as it is very dark and gothic, or it may even be some kind of uniform.

LaklandBass · #20 01-25-2010, 10:01 AM

Also consider the thoughts that vampires originated from Vlad the Impaler who lived throughout the mid 1400's in Europe. This could shed some light on the clothing and whatnot. Although I am sure that they would need to blend in with current times rather than go back to their old clothing preferences.
For some very interesting reads check out the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlain Harris. These are the books that the very popular trueblood series on HBO is based off of. The show is fantastic and the books are even better. She does a great job with having vampires of all ages and cultures in these books.

Theres one thing I know for sure.... vampires dont twinkle and attend highschool.