Blade

Aside from being a typical Hollywood modern kungfu film, blade offers several points or relevance to the vampire genre, reinforcing several cliches while debunking others. The single most interesting facet of blade is that the protagonist is a supervampier; a half vampire half human that possesses all of the vampire's strengths, and yet none of their weaknesses. Blade, as he is called, is invulnerable to sun garlic and silver, interestingly enough the character is African American. I can't recall in modern history many examples of black vampires in film, so I found it interesting that the filmmakers would cast Westly snipes. The role race plays in this film raises some questions. One might wonder if there is significance in this, that the single black vampire, more resistant to sun, takes down an empire of predominantly white vampire brood.

Aside from raising racial questions, Blade breaks away from the typical vampire iconoclast in other ways. One such example that I don't see in many other vampire movies is the way in which vampires are portrayed. Blade paints the picture of vampires that are predominantly hip youth's; the scene in which the protagonist is introduced is a vampire rave. The movie's antagonist uses technology to bring about a new order within the vampire ranks; even his entertainment acts as a system of defiance to the older vampire ranks. Furthermore, it is uncommon within this film that vampires are seen in typical vamp goth attire. Many vampires don sexy white lingerie, or other fashions embraced by rave culture.

The connection between sex and vampires, however, is one way in which Blade chooses not to stray from the mold. Most of the vampires are sexually charged characters; with the exception of the older ruling class, all the vampires seem to exist in a realm of pleasure; sex and partying is seen in almost every gathering of youth vampires.

An interesting correlation to the sexual motif in the movie is the connection between sex and power. From early on in the movie, one can notice that power dictates sexual energy. In the first rave seen it is clear that the most sexually charged characters are the most powerful one's. The vampires, clearly more powerful than the sole human, give no attention to the human while a practical orgy rages on amongst the vampires in the background. Later on in the movie Blade is given a second chance at life when the female protagonist decides to give her blood to him. The bloodletting scene is very obviously a sexual metaphor, from the act itself, to the characters reactions, even to Blade's figurative climax after his thirst is satisfied.