Inv estig ating Ang el: The Hair, the Car and the Ward rob e Reb eccca F ea sey (1) As w e ha ve alread y seen in this collection, the va mpire ha s long been a pa rt of ma instream p opula r culture, w ith the mythica l crea ture appea ring a s the subject of folklore, fiction and more recently film and television narratives. Since the ea rly 1990s, film a nd television screens have w itnessed a resurg ence in the va mpire g enre. W hile the small screen ha s p resented a ra ng e of vamp ire texts such a s Da rk Shad ow s ( 1991) Forever Knight (1992- 1996), Kind red the Emb ra ced (1996) and Ultra violet ( 1998), the b ig screen ha s b een d ominated b y Innocent Blood ( 1992), F rom Dusk Till Dawn ( 1996), Dra cula 2000 (2000) and the Blad e trilog y (1998, 2002, 2004) . (2) Althoug h the recent p opula rity of the vampire g enre confirms the pow er of this crea ture a s a mod ern-da y cultura l icon, it is also worth noting tha t a b od y of a cad emic scholarship ( in field s such a s sociolog y, psycholog y, feminist, ga y and lesbian studies) ha s d evelop ed in ord er to exa mine the mea ning s and p lea sures of this fig ure in the contemp ora ry period. Such litera ture ha s frequently mad e reference to the va mpire a s a symb ol of the enduring p rob lems of sex, p ow er a nd violence in society (See Holling er a nd Holling er 1998; a nd Ashley 1998), pa ying pa rticula r attention to the wa ys in which the una ssimilated a nd d eviant va mp ire can be seen to a ct as a metaphor for the homosexua l exp erience (See Gelder 1994; and Benshoff 1997) . (3) How ever, although existing w ork on the va mpire is revea ling in its discussion of sex, violence and sexuality, it is also important to consid er the role of p erforma nce, style and d esire a s it has b een presented in the vampire g enre. After all, a lthough the p olitics of appea rance is a g row ing a rea of schola rly interest (See Brunsdon 1997; Ep stein 2000 a nd Moseley 2002), a consid eration of the role of clothing a nd the pow er of consump tion to a d eb ate over ma sculinity is long over-due. Moreover, if one consid ers tha t the roots of the much- touted ‘crisis of ma sculinity’ lie in the ‘d amag ing p sycholog ical sp lit in so ma ny men b etw een their … feelings … a nd their p ublic … performa nces’ (Cla re 2000: ba ck cover), then it is necessa ry to consid er the role tha t d ress a nd p erformance ha s to play in a d eb ate over id entity politics for the contemp ora ry ma le. (4) In films such a s The Hunger ( 1983), Bra m Stokers Dra cula (1992) and Interview w ith a Va mp ire (1994) the nig ht wa lker is a n effortlessly stylish and striking figure, from Da vid Bowie/J ohn Bla ylock’s elegant yup pie crea tion a nd Ga ry Oldma n/D ra cula’s d eca dent dand y to Tom Cruise/ Lesta t d e Lioncourt’s b ea utiful and effeminate portra ya l. M ore recently, how ever, w e ha ve seen the emerg ence of a new b reed of va mpire w ho is neither effortlessly stylish nor inna tely chic, but rather a va in a nd fastidious crea ture w ho is seen consciously ‘p utting on’ (Holmlund 1993: 213- 229) his surfa ce a ppea rance and attra ctiveness as a ‘ma nly front’ ( Kimmel 2001: 279) to signal streng th, sta mina and potency to his a udience. M y point here is quite simply tha t if the fig ure of the va mpire ca n b e used a s a metap hor that tells us about sex and pow er in society, then the new b reed of ima g e ob sessed va mp ire can also b e used a s a ba rometer for und erstanding w id er social a nd sexua l concerns rega rd ing the p olitics of app ea ra nce. (5) The wa ys in which Angel ( 1999-2004) p resents its eponymous hero as a n imag e ob sessed va mpire encourag es the series to b e read, not simp ly a s a p a rod y of existing va mpire texts, but also as a commenta ry on the politics of a pp ea ra nce for the contemp ora ry ma le. W ith this in mind, this chap ter will look at the rep resenta tion of the fa stid ious va mpire throug h notions of app ea ra nce and p erformance, a nd exa mine the relationship b etw een ima g e and a uthority a s it is p resented in the Angelverse. Angel (6) The most exp licit exa mp le of this fa stid ious creature ca n b e seen in the long running television series, Angel. Angel is a da rk, urba n show tha t focuses on the eponymous Ang el (D avid Boreanaz), a n Irish commoner who in 1727, a t the ag e of 27 wa s sired b y a female va mpire a nd transformed into the most evil of creatures who w ent und er the name of Ang elus. After terrorising mankind for severa l generations, Ang elus wa s cursed with a soul a nd forced to live an eterna l life of guilt and reg ret a s Ang el, forew a rned w ith the know ledg e tha t a moment of p ure hap piness w ould turn him ba ck into his evil alter ego. (7) Althoug h the p rog ra mme focuses on the cha racter of Ang el a s he fights b oth his ow n inner d emon and the pa ra norma l a ctivities tha t threa ten the resid ents of Los Ang eles, the show a lso follow s the lives and loves of Ang el’s extend ed investiga tive tea m who aid a nd a ssist the va mpire in fighting aga inst the coming apoca lyp se. Althoug h the ca st of the series chang es throug hout the show’s history, the key pla yers in ‘Ang el Investigations’ a nd the key p la yers in the show itself are; the eponymous Ang el, the ta citurn va mpire w ith a soul looking for red emption; W esley W ynda m-Pryce ( Alexis D enisof), the fallen ‘Watcher’ w hose va st know ledg e of a ll thing s d emonic a re crucia l to the id entification of evil-doers; C ord elia C ha se (Charisma Ca rp enter) , the a sp iring a ctress a nd ob ject of Ang el’s a ffections w ho is Ang el’s link to the hig her p ow ers and Cha rles Gunn ( J. August R icha rd s) who is und erstood as the ad d ed b raw n of the team. Or, to q uote from the series: ‘Ang el is the cha mpion, W esley is the b rains, Gun is the muscle and Cord elia the hea rt’ of the op eration (‘Fredless’) . (8) Althoug h, a s p reviously mentioned, the va mp ire g enre is sa tura ted with chic d eniz ens of the nig ht, Angel ca n b e seen to offer a uniquely mod ern telling of the va mp ire myth. After a ll, wherea s the central protag onist of existing va mp ire texts ap pea r a s effortlessly stylish crea tures, Ang el is seen to construct his surfa ce app ea rance in ord er to p roject a stylish a nd pow erful p ersona. However, althoug h the ep onymous Ang el is w ritten, from the outset of the first series, a s a cha ra cter w ho is ob sessed with his hair, his ca r and his wa rd rob e, the va mpire is not merely ob sessed w ith style or fashion per se, b ut ra ther, he rema ins a wa re of the ma sculine p ow er a nd authority that ca n b e achieved throug h the calcula ted construction of a pa rticula r self- imag e. Surface ap p earance and masculine style (9) F eminist theorists often sta te that the rejection of fa shion and bea uty p ra ctices wa s a t the hea rt of second-w ave feminism, in w hich it is cla imed tha t the pa rap herna lia of femininity objectified, trivialised and d ehumanised women ( See W olf, 1990; Falud i, 1992 a nd Hollow s, 2000).