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As the world is falling in love with the Vampire through True Blood and Twilight, we thought we'd take a closer look at what exactly is going on...
"I don't know about the 'gothic' aspects of vampires ie living only at night, drinking blood etc, however, the immortality part I believe is a possibility." Says a professor from Oxford University.
"Telomeres are a genetic "defect" in the human DNA that essentially serves to act as a time bomb... they tell your DNA when to stop dividing and reproducing, and once that happens, you live on what cells you have, which die off eventually never to be replaced, until you die of old age."
"I can believe that some individuals throughout history have been born with no telomeres, or some genetic mutation deactivates their telomeres... if this were to happen, their DNA would go on reproducing almost indefinitely, which means at least a far extended lifespan, if not an endless one."
Interesting stuff. We did some digging and we found this video...
It's part of a series of interviews undertaken by artist, Lynn Hershman Leeson (playing Gene Ware, a character from the virtualworld of Second Life) and actress, Tilda Swinton.
In this episode, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who is credited with having identified "the aging gene" or Telomeres in our DNA, discusses how this information shifts our understanding of who we are as humans, how in fact we are ourselves a genetic remix; and how advances in macro photographic processes have aided that revelation. Commissioned by Tate's Intermedia Art programme, copyright Lynn Hershman Leeson 2008
Commissioned by Tate's Intermedia Art programme, copyright Lynn Hershman Leeson 2008
So that's immortality explained. What about the thirst for blood? We talked to somebody close to a coven of vampires in the UK who didn't want to be named but did want to shed some light on a few vampire related myths for us. We started with the two most obvious vampire characterstics, the teeth and the blood...
‘Porphyria. This is an acute medical condition which has been held responsible by some scholars for inspiring the vampire myths of the past. Sufferers of porphyria have pale and are very sensitive to sunlight. Their gums often recede excessively, giving their teeth an elongated and possibly fang-like appearance.
‘Porphyria is caused by a deficiency in the enzyme which helps produce heme, a constituent of the blood which helps carry oxygen through the body.'
In fact, Dr. David Dolphin was the first to suggest that porphyria was the inspiration for at least some of the Mediaeval vampire myths, contending that some of the sufferers may have been driven to drinking blood in order to relieve their symptoms. As a result, the condition has come to be known in modern times as "the Vampire Disease".
Apparently vampires have abnormally white skin, low body temperature, low blood pressure and heart rate; when they do not feed, they become weak and groggy. Their vampire blood cells rapidly devour and destroy human blood cells, resulting in severe anemia. And vampires do not need to breathe, not really. Their oxygen demand is nowhere near that of a human being.
We've been watching True Blood though, that speed, that agility. Where's that coming from?
‘There's an enzyme, called CaM Kinase. It's the thing that, when activated, causes actin-myosin bridge cycling, in other words, muscle contraction of so called high-twitch muscles, meaning skeletal muscle, arms, legs, that sort of thing. Vampires, we're told, show elevated levels of this enzyme. There are other things in addition to CaM Kinase, but that's the most important one...'
So where do all the superhuman qualities come in?
‘Vampires have enhanced night vision and iridescent eyes. Taperatum lucidium is a layer of the eye that absorbs and reflects light over the retina. It is found in all nocturnal species, and it accounts for both the night vision and the iridescent appearance of the eyes.
It also accounts for the terrible sun intolerance of the eye. "Infected" mortals can't stand the sun. The eyes sting, feel as if knives are being continually stabbed into them. The sun is blinding, they can't see in daylight, especially on bright sunny days. Those days are their worst nightmare. They can, however, see at night, even with dark sunglasses on.
‘Also vampires are capable of inducing visions, trances, etc. There is a naturally occurring psychedelic, called DMT. This chemical is elevated in the vampire brain.'
Ok.
So all of this can be explained away with a bit of science that we won't ask anyone to look at too closely as we're pretty sure it's not based too firmly in fact. But it sounds impressive enough. So do they drink anything except blood?
They drink beer, spirits, whatever, they don't eat much though, except sometimes raw meat if they haven't been able to feed from anybody in a while...'
eeek! What?
'Yes they have donors who are tested for diseases and then are on hand to provide a source to feed from. Donors are willing participants who are trusted and important people in the vampire's world. The whole feeding experience is enhanced by the activities that are going on around the donation of the blood, eroticism makes the whole process more pleasurable.' Erm yes. For who exactly? And what does it taste like?
'Different blood types taste very differently. It's like fine wine with different varieties of grapes. Also there are things that donors need to do to make their blood taste good. No Garlic.' We guessed that one. What else?
'No drugs and no history of mental illness". What? Surely it's easier to get people to agree to have their blood used like it's the vampire equivalent of red bull if they're just a little bit out there?
'Perhaps but we wouldn't welcome them, everyone needs to have an interview and a medical making a full medical history available'
This is sounding a bit like applying for a job... So back to the blood, what else makes it taste nice?
'honey, rosewater, celery, red wine, walnuts, fish, chicken, peppermint, chocolate. It's important that donors look after themselves, smoking and excessive drinking are discouraged and it's good to exercise.' Suddenly it's less like a job interview and more like a phone conversation with my mum. Then we get onto a subject that I'm pretty sure my mum and I would never need to touch on.
'If the vampire is drinking animal blood then it's important that the animal is clean of disease. Don't offer a cat with cat AIDS for instance as that could really harm the vampire'. erm ok. I wont do that. It would seem horribly bad manners to offer sub-standard dead cats, though I'm wondering how I can tell if my dead cat, squirrel, hedghehog has a nasty disease or not. Clue one is probably that it is dead. Perhaps road kill is the way to go here.
So let's move on from drinking dead cat blood (I assume that this only happens if the donor has a headache and feels more like curling up in front of the television eating toast and drinking tea than squirting blood into a hungry vampire friend's mouth. Well the honeymoon never lasts in any relationship does it?
What about their social lives. What do they do?
'They do have jobs but they party a lot, go to gigs, watch football...but of course they have trouble sleeping. That's down to night para insomnia, the inability to sleep during the dark hours.
In some ways they're sounding more and more like the kind of people we spend too much time with getting kicked out of bars at closing time. Especially with the road kill thing. So what do they wear when they're out partying and looking for people to feed from?
'Well they don't dress like goths. Why would they? They don't role play, that isn't their thing at all. They dress like anybody else would, in jeans and t-shirts, they don't have to play up to the traditional vampire imagery because they're the real deal.'
Cool. I'm wondering if I know any... so what are they like, as 'people' if we can use the term without it seeming to undermine their abilities?
'They're all really good looking, charismatic and charming but they can be arrogant, greedy, deceptive and cunning. They are witty and good company but they have short tempers, especially if they haven't fed in a while. They can be hard to get to know and appear to be loners because their secrets are quite closely guarded.'
'They're all highly intelligent, they know alot about history because they've lived through it and they generally speak a few languages.
They're wealthy, aristocratic and well travelled.'
Know any?...I want to date one.
Tags: vampires twilight true blood
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