Udantha Panditha, Period 8, 3/15/22

 Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

Prior to learning about them, I can say I really did not think too much about vampires. Obviously, I was aware of their existence as they have been a staple in our pop culture zeitgeist. I merely thought of vampires as just being “there”. If you asked about my thoughts on vampires in my formative years, I would have told you “Eh, I think they are cool”. Learning about the possible origins of vampirism simultaneously surprised and saddened me. Mythology is used to explain the unexplained, and vampirism was used to explain porphyria. I wasn’t too surprised about how cruelly the supposed vampires were disposed of, as it was standard for the time. I was surprised to learn about the shady gravedigging by medical institutions back in the day, but then again, these practices do resemble my idea for “19th century medicine” 

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

I was surprised that the origins of vampirism could be reduced to porphyria, but saddened to know that it resulted from the mistreatment of the diseased, which is unfortunately too common. I also find it interesting how vampires and werewolves have been romanticized to an extent, especially vampires, while zombies remain as being horrible monsters that serve as a cliche enemy in those dime a dozen apocalyptic survival shows. All three of these monsters are outsiders in the realms that they inhabit, reflecting their possible origin points; people with diseases. The romanticization of these monsters is similar to the romanticization of being wealthy from humble or squalid beginnings. For example, I despise the plot of the play RENT, because I interpret it as a poor glorification of the AIDS crisis and the Bohemian lifestyle. Once I looked into the way the main cast interacts with their environment, I wished that they were evicted because most of them were city kids emulating the lifestyles of the downtrodden for “art” I suppose. Vampires

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

The quote likening vampires to the upper class, the werewolf to the middle class, and the zombie to the lower class, was food for thought. There is a growing movement in the world that decry the world’s elite as vampires, sucking money from the commoners. Vampires look the most “human” out of the three, and I did find it interesting when Miles pointed out that in Hotel Transylvania, the vampires are the owners of the hotels, the werewolf is the customer, and the zombies are the workers. It is probably a coincidence. Vlad The Impaler probably did not impale anyone, and is just a case of history being manipulated by the winners. I now know to be more careful when analyzing historical figures and to read the fine lines.I wonder what our generation’s folklore would be like. What monsters and myths would be passed down from the age of information? I find it amusing that Twilight could hold as much significance as the great epics of Beowulf or Dracula. Perhaps in the future, Mythology classes would be about understanding the significance of the melodrama in Twilight or something, I don’t know because I’ve never read the books.  I wonder if Beowulf was mocked in its day, but then I remember that the common man wasn’t literate at that time so they probably couldn’t criticize it. There are a lot of memes and creepypastas out there depicting scary monsters quite similarly to the creatures of yore.