I’m especially thinking of some bizzare foreign horror movies that didn’t make sense to me and I figure there’s gotta be some from my own (US) culture that just make 0 sense outside of the context of having been raised in this culture.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    8·
    19 hours ago

    Even if you’re raised in a culture that has vampires, sometimes you still get caught out. I remember watching some vampire series pre-Buffy and the whole poppy seed thing left me totally flummoxed.

      • ethaver@kbin.earthOP
        9·
        15 hours ago

        Not sure if this is what they’re talking about, but vampires are frequently depicted as having to stop and count large numbers of small things. So if you’re being chased by one you can throw out salt or grains of rice or seeds or whatever and they will have to stop and count it before they continue pursuing you. Or you can attack while they’re preoccupied too I guess. That’s where you get the count from Sesame Street.

        • eightpix@lemmy.world
          3·
          9 hours ago

          Whoa, no way. THAT’S why he’s the Count? I thought it was a royalty/ bloodline thing.

          In general, vampires existed to me as a commentary on colonialism, class, and the advantages to longevity. Vampires as “blood suckers of the poor”, to quote Popa Wu, who was quoting Louis Farrakhan.

          I didn’t know the ‘stop and count objects’ element.

          Question, though, as I think this through: would that not extend as an antisemitic trope?

          (A half hour of reading later.)

          TIL there is an antisemitic history to vampires.

          “As rendered by Bram Stoker, the literary depiction of Count Dracula is deeply antisemitic, with roots in the long-standing blood libel against Jews and the antisemitic archetype of the wealth-hoarding degenerate.” [2]

          “Today, the vampire remains one of cinema’s most popular horror villains, and the connections to prejudice are largely forgotten, or erased. They still lurk around the edges of the genre though, as generations of creators have either furtively invited them in or tried to put a stake through their heart.” [1]

          “The symbolic link between Jews and blood through a history of blood libel and the depiction of Jews as alien and parasitic are seen the main themes that allowed the merging of the two image.” [3]

          [1] Bloodsuckers: Vampires, Antisemitism And Nosferatu At 100

          [2] The Antisemitic History of Vampires

          [3] How Vampires Became Jewish

          [4] Blood Libel: The Anti-Semitic Roots of Vampirism