Chapter 3 Foster Journal

A vampire story does not require literal monsters. A vampire story is a vampire story as long as one character (or sometimes many) seeks to lure in their victim character, use their abilities, and then leave the victim to waste away. This method leaves a lasting sense of fear in the readers, as the symbolism of the situation often alludes to real life troubles or taboos such as lust, selfishness, or exploitation.

An example of this is the movie “Rain Man”. Raymond Babbitt plays the victim, and his brother Charlie Babbitt the vampire. Charlies initial motives are to manipulate the disabled to Raymond for the money left in their father’s will. He learns Raymond has superb counting capabilities, so he continues to use him by taking him to Las Vegas to gamble. Once everything is settled and Charlie has his money, Raymond is put back into a mental institution. This falls into the vampire category: Raymond’s greed leads him to exploit his relationship to Charlie as well as his abilities, and then leaves Charlie out of the success.