Vampires are classically allegories about scary foreigners spreading diseases and sexual immorality. See Stoker’s Dracula and Le Fanu’s Carmilla for the Ur-examples. There is, however, a really good modern reading of Dracula as healthy queer polyamory vs toxic polygamy. And Carmella is the inspiration for many of the canonical works of lesbian literature.
Eh. It’s true that Dracula was a scary foreigner, but he was also nobility, and most subsequent vampire works definitely lean into the nobility aspect instead of the foreigner aspect. Debaucherous nobility is a common theme in works that deal with non-monstrous aristocrats, too.
Vampires are classically allegories about scary foreigners spreading diseases and sexual immorality. See Stoker’s Dracula and Le Fanu’s Carmilla for the Ur-examples. There is, however, a really good modern reading of Dracula as healthy queer polyamory vs toxic polygamy. And Carmella is the inspiration for many of the canonical works of lesbian literature.
Eh. It’s true that Dracula was a scary foreigner, but he was also nobility, and most subsequent vampire works definitely lean into the nobility aspect instead of the foreigner aspect. Debaucherous nobility is a common theme in works that deal with non-monstrous aristocrats, too.