THE MORAL UNDEAD: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SOUL IN CONTEMPORARY VAMPIRE FILM AND TELEVISION Emma Somogyi M.A.App.Ling (TESOL); G.Dip.Ed (Sp.Nds); B.A; Cert IV Proj.Man. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Media, Entertainment, and Creative Arts: Film & Screen Faculty of Creative Industries Queensland University of Technology 2017 Keywords Soul, vampire, personhood, undead, horror film, horror television, horror cinema, humanity, morality, Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries The Moral Undead: Representations of the soul in contemporary vampire film and television i Abstract The vampire was introduced to the cinema in the early 1920s and has become a popular and prevalent character in both cinematic and televised forms. In film studies, it is widely recognised that the vampire has traditionally been represented as a monster embodying the societal anxieties of particular times—as Auerbach notes, ‘every age embraces the vampire it needs’ (1995, 145). However, at various times in film history, and in its literary, televisual and cinematic forms, the vampire has also been represented as a sympathetic and reluctant creature—as Smith explains, this depiction encourages viewers to align with the vampire character (1995, 83). Since the early 2000s, there has been a marked shift in how the vampire is represented; since the 2008 release of The Twilight Saga films (Hardwicke 2008; Weitz 2009; Slade 2010; Condon 2011, 2012) in particular, numerous films and television shows have portrayed the vampire as a character that exhibits increasingly human-like traits. Precursors to the post-millennial vampire include the vampires Angel and Spike, the protagonists (and sometimes antagonists) of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Whedon 1997-2003) and Angel (Whedon and Greenwalt 1999- 2004), who were portrayed as having souls, and many plotlines from both series revolved around this notion. In terms of scholarship focused on investigating the representation of the soul in Buffy and Angel, analysis has tended to concentrate on sacred notions of the soul. Since these shows ended, little has been written in scholarly literature about the soul of the vampire or the representation of the soul in Western post-millennial vampire film and television. Consequently, there are few studies that consider the nature of the post-millennial vampire through the lens of metaphysical ontology—that is, soul theories, including both sacred and secular approaches to analysis. This study is a genre and textual analysis of the post-millennial vampire’s representation in film and television through the lens of predominantly secular soul theories. The research is guided by the primary research question: ii The Moral Undead: Representations of the soul in contemporary vampire film and television • How is the soul represented in post-millennial film and television vampire horror narratives? The research also addresses three key sub-questions: • How do representations of the soul in post-millennial vampire horror reflect theoretical understandings of the soul? • Can the presence of a soul denote the personhood of a being and, if so, can vampires therefore be considered people? • If a vampire is represented as having a soul, what are the implications of this for horror film and television studies? This thesis argues that a new cycle of vampire representation exists in the vampire horror sub-genre, which this thesis terms the ‘sensitive cycle’ and that commenced around 2008. The research also argues that within this cycle, the post-millennial vampire is represented as having a soul. In seeking answers to the primary research question, the thesis explores the notion of personhood in relation to representations of the ensouled vampire. Through close textual analysis, the study establishes the marked shift in representation of the vampire as an ensouled being with the status of personhood, thus delineating an identifiable new trope in the sub-genre. The Moral Undead: Representations of the soul in contemporary vampire film and television iii Table of Contents Keywords ................................................................................................................................................. i Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... vii Statement of Original Authorship ....................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the study .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research questions ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Significance of the research ......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Texts studied ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.5 Delimiting the study .................................................................................................................... 7 Western vampire film and television ...................................................................................... 7 Contextualising the study: Postsecular society ....................................................................... 9 1.6 Methodology and Research Design ........................................................................................... 11 Field of research ................................................................................................................... 11 Genre studies ........................................................................................................................ 12 Textual analysis .................................................................................................................... 14 1.7 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 2: EVOLVING THE SYMPATHETIC VAMPIRE .................................................... 19 2.1 From folklore to cinema: monstrosity to sympathy ................................................................... 19 Folkloric and historical beginnings: True monstrosity ......................................................... 19 The vampire in early literature ............................................................................................. 21 Early cinematic vampires ..................................................................................................... 23 Dark Shadows: A new era in Gothic melodrama ................................................................. 26 2.2 The Postmodern vampire ........................................................................................................... 27 Changes in horror cinema: The transition from monstrosity ................................................ 27 Changes in cinematic vampire horror .................................................................................. 28 The debut of vampires with souls: Angel and Spike ............................................................ 31 2.3 The Post-millennial vampire ...................................................................................................... 32 2.4 Evolving the vampire through Serialisation ............................................................................... 35 Serialised vampires: from fiction to film ............................................................................. 35 The serialisation of television horror .................................................................................... 38 The serialisation of television vampire horror ...................................................................... 40 Market cycles and their effect on serialised vampire horror ................................................ 42 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 3: THE NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENT OF THE SYMPATHETIC VAMPIRE .. 45 3.1 Narrative features of vampire horror ......................................................................................... 45 The fantastic and fantasy ...................................................................................................... 45 Dark desires and death ......................................................................................................... 47 Monstrosity .......................................................................................................................... 49 3.2 Generic features of post-millennial vampire