Gothic Vampires
The term gothic vampire came about after the arrival of gothic music and the gothic subculture, which gave birth around the late 1970’s. Gothic music and culture was based on a fascination with the dark and gloomy, death, destruction and mystery. The vampire was adopted as a logical image or symbol for the gothic culture, because both vampirism and gothic culture had so much in common. Vampirism also dealt with death, destruction, dark figures in alleys who preyed on the blood of humans, and similar concepts and images. Artists who contributed to the gothic subculture added elements of vampirism to their work. Since both gothic art and dark tales of vampires and monsters shared many similarities, much of gothic art came to portray these images of vampires, graveyards, the undead, etc. Consequently, vampirism became in a sense synonymous with gothic ideas and concepts. The gothic vampire now, may have strayed far from the legendary Romanian vampires from several centuries ago, but it has become a common element of the gothic culture in the modern world.
