Sharpened Stakes and Lingering Touches: the Depiction of the Female Vampire in  Modern Media Adaptations of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla

In recent years, vampires have been prominently featured in (young adult) literature, film and television, including the Twilight franchise, as well as popular TV series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, These well-known examples feature heterosexual romance, and are specifically geared toward a heterosexual audience. Next to these popular, ideologically affirmative incarnations of vampire mythology, and more in the margins of contemporary vampire culture, there exists also another type of vampire, which has its origins in the lesser-known female vampire who first came to existence in the nineteenth century: Carmilla Karnstein. This particular vampire, the title character of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1871 novella, is a female vampire whose primary goal it is to pursue young aristocratic women in hopes of feeding on their blood and transforming them into vampires. This thesis researches the depiction of the female vampire in Le Fanu’s novella as well as three of its modern media...Show moreIn recent years, vampires have been prominently featured in (young adult) literature, film and television, including the Twilight franchise, as well as popular TV series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, These well-known examples feature heterosexual romance, and are specifically geared toward a heterosexual audience. Next to these popular, ideologically affirmative incarnations of vampire mythology, and more in the margins of contemporary vampire culture, there exists also another type of vampire, which has its origins in the lesser-known female vampire who first came to existence in the nineteenth century: Carmilla Karnstein. This particular vampire, the title character of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1871 novella, is a female vampire whose primary goal it is to pursue young aristocratic women in hopes of feeding on their blood and transforming them into vampires. This thesis researches the depiction of the female vampire in Le Fanu’s novella as well as three of its modern media adaptations. In constrasting the film The Vampire Lovers (1970), the television film Carmilla (1989), and the web series Carmilla (2014) with the original novella, this thesis reflects on the ways in which an overarching social structure such as the patriarchy can determine the representation of female characters in film and literature.Show less

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Sharpened Stakes and Lingering Touches: the Depiction of the Female Vampire in Modern Media Adaptations of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla