Are the Vampires of fiction modelled on Schizoids?

Most Vampires in fiction are solitary, mysterious, reclusive, flat affect, etc.

Could it be that authors have been inspired by Schizoid-like people they encountered, and based Vampire-like characters off of them?

Possibly many authors identify as Schizoid themselves and so created autobiographical Vampire-like characters off of themselves.

I never thought about it that way.

I think the early movies, like Nosferatu from 1922, are in the tradition of „creature movies“; in which most of the time there is only one creature, be it a from the Black Lagoon or Transilvania. These creatures don't appear schizoid to me.

Now we have the emotional cold, social elite, no morals type,
the sturdy teen lover-boy,
the brainless, screeching zombie substitute and
the warrior princess in leather.

The Vampires of fiction seem very changeable today. I'm not much into novels aside from the material from WhiteWolf, which goes trough all the clichés in depth, building new pictures.

Only very rarely something like „Interview with a Vampire“, „Låt den rätte komma in“ or „Only Lovers Left Alive“ surfaces. I think these movies are more about immortality.

I see the „solitary, mysterious, reclusive“ aspect in some templates, but when it comes to „flat affect“ I would like to have some examples. Most of the time they are very driven, highly motivated, which I don't think is schizoid. High pleasure gain derives from hunting and feeding.

In my opinion the deciding quality that appeals to people is power, the rest are emo props.

Vampires, like all monsters, are based on certain behaviors or personality features that disgusted people. Oddly enough that has changed over time so that now you have sympathetic vampires.

The vampires in fiction were originally based on vampires from folklore, and those figures may have been inspired by people's encounters with "outsiders"--those who's behavior was strange or secretive--but I wouldn't say they were schizoid specifically.

You can use vampire figure to represent schizoid behavior, but I don't think the latter informed the development of the former, any more than Marx's use of the vampire to represent capitalism was reflected in the creation of the vampire.

I wrote my PhD dissertation on the origins of horror fiction and things such as the role of the monster figure in literature, so I'd be happy to elaborate further, but at the risk of boring you.

Dalloway wrote:I see the „solitary, mysterious, reclusive“ aspect in some templates, but when it comes to „flat affect“ I would like to have some examples. Most of the time they are very driven, highly motivated, which I don't think is schizoid. High pleasure gain derives from hunting and feeding.

Also, there is a air of romanticism entwined within vampire mythology. Not to mention a recurring need for physical contact. Neither would appeal to me. I would probably prefer my victims draw their own blood and just leave it on the stoop of my castle.

While we're at it, what about "Frankenstein"? Are we to assume Mary Shelly had a relative with DID?

Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and werewolves would almost certainly be bipolar. Or maybe borderline.

"The Mummy?" AvPD.

I think most modern horror villains would be somewhere on the antisocial spectrum, except for Leatherface, who clearly struggled with gender identity issues.

biteme wrote:I wrote my PhD dissertation on the origins of horror fiction and things such as the role of the monster figure in literature, so I'd be happy to elaborate further, but at the risk of boring you.

Wouldn't bore me...

Dalloway wrote:
I see the „solitary, mysterious, reclusive“ aspect in some templates, but when it comes to „flat affect“ I would like to have some examples. Most of the time they are very driven, highly motivated, which I don't think is schizoid. High pleasure gain derives from hunting and feeding.

In my opinion the deciding quality that appeals to people is power, the rest are emo props.

Its true the "modern" Vampire is different from the Vampire of the Victorian era. I haven't actually watched many contemporary Vampire movies so I was thinking mainly of the earlier Vampire.

As for flat affect, I think of depictions of Vampires as people who are very formal, impeccable manners, not showing any signs of impulsivity or emotion. Very controlled and emotionless.

This might be a silly example but a lot of people claim this youtuber is a vampire:



People might be saying this because he is so formal and emotionless. He has flat affect, and seems completely detached from any current trends. He does his own thing. He also seems very reclusive and doesn't go out much. Much like a Victorian era vampire.

biteme wrote:Vampires, like all monsters, are based on certain behaviors or personality features that disgusted people. Oddly enough that has changed over time so that now you have sympathetic vampires.

The vampires in fiction were originally based on vampires from folklore, and those figures may have been inspired by people's encounters with "outsiders"--those who's behavior was strange or secretive--but I wouldn't say they were schizoid specifically.

You can use vampire figure to represent schizoid behavior, but I don't think the latter informed the development of the former, any more than Marx's use of the vampire to represent capitalism was reflected in the creation of the vampire.

I wrote my PhD dissertation on the origins of horror fiction and things such as the role of the monster figure in literature, so I'd be happy to elaborate further, but at the risk of boring you.

Very interesting. Your name is very a propos to this discussion.

Anything else you'd like to say wouldn't bore me at all.

naps wrote:

Dalloway wrote:I see the „solitary, mysterious, reclusive“ aspect in some templates, but when it comes to „flat affect“ I would like to have some examples. Most of the time they are very driven, highly motivated, which I don't think is schizoid. High pleasure gain derives from hunting and feeding.

Also, there is a air of romanticism entwined within vampire mythology. Not to mention a recurring need for physical contact. Neither would appeal to me. I would probably prefer my victims draw their own blood and just leave it on the stoop of my castle.

While we're at it, what about "Frankenstein"? Are we to assume Mary Shelly had a relative with DID?

Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and werewolves would almost certainly be bipolar. Or maybe borderline.

"The Mummy?" AvPD.

I think most modern horror villains would be somewhere on the antisocial spectrum, except for Leatherface, who clearly struggled with gender identity issues.

biteme wrote:I wrote my PhD dissertation on the origins of horror fiction and things such as the role of the monster figure in literature, so I'd be happy to elaborate further, but at the risk of boring you.

Wouldn't bore me...

Its true there is romanticism involved. This could be a projection from the authors though. If an author is inspired by a Schizoid-like person they know they might not be aware of the lack of romantic/sexual desire, and could be imposing their own desires.

Lol @ leaving the blood on your castle stoop.

If I were a vampire I doubt I like to go out seeking fresh blood every night either. Sounds like a lot of work.

Well then at the risk of sounding academic, I'd say that when you're talking about a figure in a genre of literature & not a specific author's version of it (i.e., the vampire & not Bram Stoker's vampire) you're really concerned with how audiences perceive the figure. An audience of readers are the ones who really define a genre not authors, although as readers themselves they may play a role, or critics, since in terms of popular fiction critics have very little influence.

Readers' perceptions of what vampires represent have changed over time in pretty drastic ways. The vampire went from being a figure of fear and revulsion to being a classic anti-hero to being a full-blown hero in some urban fantasy. Which highlights the fact that what the vampire respresents is really mutable.

If you are interested in how Victorian readers reacted to vampires & what they represented then it helps to look at a variety of reader responses and 2nd hand depictions of the vampire figure. For example, as I mentioned, in Marx the vampire represents the capitalist (& interestingly the werewolf is used to represent the working class). In other contexts the vampire is also used to represent an outdated feudal system (Dracula is a count) and the dangers of immigrants and racial miscegenation (there's another vampire novel from the period, Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat, in which the character's vampirism is caused by being "tainted" by having an African ancestor). Vampires also were used to represent other groups that were seen as endangering the natural order of things, such as gay men or sexually predatory women. There's even a Punch cartoon from the 1890s where vampires represent "special interests" in general, as opposed to groups who put the interest of the nation first. In that cartoon the vampires have names like "working classes," "mother's meetings," & the "odd fellows." While Stoker's Dracula was somewhat reclusive and mysterious, he wasn't solitary--he actually keeps a harum of female vampires and manipulates others into doing his bidding. Other vampires from the era are a threat to the social order but it's more because they're intrusive not reclusive.

When it comes down to it, vampires like all monsters, are really useful as screens on which people can project their particular fears, and as those fears change over time. While mental illness has certainly been a fear for many people & still is, I don't think personality disorders are what most people think of in those terms. And I don't think the vampire was a very useful figure for those particular fears. Mr. Hyde certainly represents a fear of mental illness, but he isn't really very schizoid--maybe manic and certainly sociopathic.

I always connected vampires to Byron and the Byronic hero, which has some schizoid qualities. It's almost like a really romanticized version of one which is charismatic and driven, but also closed off and enigmatic.

This isn't exactly what OP was asking, but straying away from what vampires are perhaps modelled on and going into what they most represent, at least nowadays in my opinion, is addicts. I would argue it doesn't even matter what the object of addiction is but the overall pattern of behaviour addicts have in common - trying to escape a personal void through a particular habit, which through escalation turns into something harmful to the world around them, though obviously this is contextual and occurs in varying degrees. I find that accurate to my experience, the hiding of the habit, how that hiding can change you as a person, and how the truth of what you are or what you do can transform you in the eyes of others from a well adjusted member of society into something monstrous. Several works touch on this idea of vampires as metaphors for addiction, the only two I can think of right now though being The Addiction and Only Lovers Left Alive. Just thought I'd add my perspective

biteme wrote:Vampires, like all monsters, are based on certain behaviors or personality features that disgusted people. Oddly enough that has changed over time so that now you have sympathetic vampires.

The vampires in fiction were originally based on vampires from folklore, and those figures may have been inspired by people's encounters with "outsiders"--those who's behavior was strange or secretive--but I wouldn't say they were schizoid specifically.

You can use vampire figure to represent schizoid behavior, but I don't think the latter informed the development of the former, any more than Marx's use of the vampire to represent capitalism was reflected in the creation of the vampire.

I wrote my PhD dissertation on the origins of horror fiction and things such as the role of the monster figure in literature, so I'd be happy to elaborate further, but at the risk of boring you.

Interesting- I would not be bored. I am never bored anyway.

Long ago-I wrote a Vampire - 'Fall of the House of Usher' style screenplay for my degree So I am intrigued.

In Film's --What's interesting is The Actor Anthony Hopkins in the Film "Remains of the Day" is a Schizoid personality...and when I examine the character closely. He is spot on.

MotherRussia wrote:Most Vampires in fiction are solitary, mysterious, reclusive, flat affect, etc.

Could it be that authors have been inspired by Schizoid-like people they encountered, and based Vampire-like characters off of them?

Possibly many authors identify as Schizoid themselves and so created autobiographical Vampire-like characters off of themselves.

I agree partly with you on several levels....but I also attribute another disorder to their motivations.
I feel Vampires in Literature and Film are closer aligned to Borderline Personality Disorders. The key here is fear of abandonment. Dracula once he knows his beloved Mina is within his grasp he will stop at nothing not to lose her again.

For me The Character of Dracula and vampires represents- the omnipresent desire to conquer the secret of life- that is the secret of immortality- while containing the elements of its renewal.
He represents the terrible desire for survival, destroying others to maintain his own existence… Vampirism, is imagined in the image that most often comes to mind, the perverse nature of the vampire like act, in which the bite and the sucking of blood produce .. well what appears to be something better than sex.