The Vampire Genre Storms Popular Culture (Again) The vampire genre is the most popular form of pop culture today. Vampire films and literature have become popular in American popular culture today, but the popularity of the vampire genre dates back much further than many people realize. Born from the humble beginnings of fire lore, vampire fiction has been a mainstay in the literary realm. It is in today's literature that we see this ever-popular fragment of popular culture truly blossom in Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel series, Twilight. In the novels, Meyer's characters display a ceaseless swirl of complexities involving the rare, seemingly nonexistent, romantic bond between vampire and human. More importantly, it influences American culture by tempting readers, and eventual viewers of the film version of the series, with an almost tangible adolescent fantasy of eternal adoration, romance, and lust that manifests itself vicariously through the vaunted fictional vampires. Meyer's popular novel and film series sparked a craze that took American popular culture by storm and completely reshaped the perspective of the vaunted vampire. Nowadays, vampires are the dominant colorful protagonists of the tween genre, but the undead haven't always been the heroes. . According to ancient Eastern European myths, the undead ghost was a decrepit corpse called Nosferatu. Nosferatu “is a Slavic word for 'plague carrier' from the Greek word nosophoros” (Shaurette) and was greatly feared by the citizens. Another early cousin of the modern vampire was "the Nightmare from the Latin incubare, meaning 'to lie upon'" (Shaurette), a spirit who took the form of a man and sexually forced himself on unsuspecting, sleeping women. Despite the similarities between… middle of paper… and the romance between the charming Edward and the everyday Beauty, Meyer effectively reshapes the historical bond between vampire and victim. Although refined and optimized, the new relationship succeeds because it has embraced and embellished a solid, historical foundation. Society has used the vampire, in some way, as a catalyst to protect the human virtues of life and chastity, while at the same time managing to captivate generations of viewers. Works Cited Meyers, Stephanie. Dusk. Little Brown and company. New York, New York. 2005.Poe, Edgar Allen. Think exist. October 20, 2009..Shaurette, Dan. "Ancient and Modern History of Vampire Lore." January 21, 2009. October 20, 2009.Id/33/Ancient-to-modern-history-of-vampire-lore.aspx>.