Jay Erickson-
Many people nowadays have some understanding of what a vampire is. Many English-language movies and shows depict ravenous monsters in their own way, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and Interview with a Vampire. Many other cultures also love to depict these creatures through film. On Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, Gustavus welcomed Dr. Thomas Garza, a Slavic and Eurasian Studies Professor from the University of Texas – Austin, to give a talk on vampires as used to depict masculinity in Mexican and Russian films.
Dr. Garza started the talk by giving the audience a general view of his thesis that vampire films are used as a form of “performative masculinity” with Mexico and Russia “looking at their larger partners” (those being the U.S. and Western Europe) for inspiration. He discussed how both Mexican and Russian films use vampires as a symbol of masculinity, but each country has their own differing standards of masculinity, which is reflected in their films. Vampire films “make evil real… they create a monster, something I could be seduced by… and then we defeat them”, Dr. Garza said. The root of masculinity in vampire films is an “obsession over power”, he added.
During his talk, Dr. Garza discussed many films, one of which was the 1957 Mexican film El Vampiro. Dr. Garza described this as one of the first films to make a strong connection between vampirism and masculinity, with the main character hoping to “impose the great power” of his family. As mentioned above, power is often connected with masculinity and the main character in El Vampiro’s drive for power reflects Mexico’s interpretation of masculinity.
Dr. Garza shifted his attention to another movie from Mexico, 1993’s Cronos by Guillermo del Toro. Veering away from the traditional vampire, in true del Toro style, Cronos features a small antique scarab called a cronos machine that inflicts a chemical transformation that mimics typical vampirism. The main character is an older man who runs an antique store. He views himself as antique – much like the ones in his store. He becomes younger and stronger the more he uses the machine and, in turn, restores his masculinity. Dr. Garza argued that this film shows not only how vampires represent masculinity, but also how people will chase masculinity to feel worthy.
One of the last things Dr. Garza discussed was the humorous rumours that Vladimir Putin of Russia is a vampire. Dr. Garza displayed memes of Putin, one of which was featured as the poster for the event, taking his picture from a Time article and overlaying it with Dracula-like themes. Dr. Garza discussed how a tabloid even got Putin’s wife to call him a vampire. Putin, on the other hand, “… called his enemies vampires and bloodsuckers… draining [the] life out of [his] white Russian world”, Dr. Garza said.
Dr. Garza also discussed how, for a long time, vampires were not depicted at all in Russian films. “Monsters didn’t fit Socialist Realism… [they didn’t present] Soviet men in a positive light”, Dr. Garza stated. In the Soviet Union, people could take on masculine roles and jobs “regardless of gender”, he added.
Dr. Garza concluded the session with a comment on myths and mythos as a whole, declaring that “myth only works if there’s a way to stop them”. “Vampires symbolize things we’re afraid of,” Russian Professor Annalise Rivas, who brought Dr. Garza to campus, said. Thus, having a monster that represents humanity’s fears that is beatable means that those fears themselves have the ability to be overcome.
Rivas said that stories and films are “ways that humanity can discover themselves”. She hoped that her class RUS-244: Vampires in Slavic Cultures, as well as the talk itself, would bring students’ attention to how “gender roles and gender ideas in different cultures interact”, said Rivas. She believes that films, even watching them for pure entertainment, “can lead into ways to analyse media in daily lives”, said Rivas.
While the talk focused on Mexican and Russian films, many people have more experience with English-language interpretations of vampires. “[English vampires] are fairly different from Slavic folklore, [but] they are very good at showing the things that people are afraid of at different times”, Rivas said. He added that overall, films act as a “fun way to get at the deeper questions of humanity and our struggles[…our] fears and desires.”