Vampire Attraction: It's All About the Id

Vampire attraction goes well beyond teenagers. Though best seen through the frame of an adolescent in heat, the appeal of Vampires taps directly into the subconscious. Vampires represent the id: that part of Freud's three-part psyche that is all about pleasure, chaos and instant gratification.

So those Edward and Bella fans want to believe that they're the first teenagers to stay up nights, dreaming about some bloodsucker that uses too much hair gel? Sorry. Generations of adolescents have pined away for smokin' hot vampire lust and not just teens.

I agree with *most* of Simon's earlier theory on the Vampire = Teen connection but don't think it's limited to adolescents.

( Get his original theory on how Vampires are the teenagers of the spirit world here.)

Vampire appeal goes beyond teens.

In Freudian terms, I think vampires represent the id.

Freud defines the id as:

"the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learnt from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of this is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We all approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organisation, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.

[Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933)]

Here are a few themes to support my 'id theory of vampires.'

1. Transformation - People are always are growing and changing. Women mark this cycle every 28 days or so. Guys have other own stuff. People of all ages, especially teens, feel lost and alienated...even from their own bodies. Who better to identify with than a vampire...a creature so close and yet so far from humanity? Vampires understand. They're changing, too.And, at least for Anne Rice's newly-minted vampire Louis, (portrayed by Brad Pitt in the movie, "Interview With A Vampire") there's the comfort of having an older guy like LeStat around to help explain it to you.

2. Immortality. Immortality is a huge part of Vampire appeal and connection to the id. The id operates on impulse, without thought of consequence. Think of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" DVDs. Those dudes live forever. Well, unless Buffy gets to them first.

Teens think they are immortal. Adults spend their lives wishing it were true. The anxiety of death's finality affects everyone. Vampires offer another, more pleasurable path. 3. Blood lust. Simon came close, but didn't really get into how the pleasure principle is such a huge part of Vampire DNA and attraction.

3. Blood lust. Simon came close, but didn't really get into how the pleasure principle is such a huge part of Vampire DNA and attraction.

Vampires are freakin' hot! Any girl back in 1979 who needed a few minutes of to...uh...collect herself after watching Frank Langella's "Dracula" sink his pearly fangs into Jan Francis's neck understands this. It's that bad boy appeal. It's everything their parents warned them about...staying out too late, hanging out with guys in black, the undead...Hello? Your id is calling. It wants more pleasure.

4. Eternal love and security. This is the weakest part of my Vampires represent Freud's id theory. It's hard to reconcile the home and hearth attraction of eternal love with the unfocused, pleasure-seeking lust of a Vampire in heat. Yet, eternal love does resonate with the pleasure principle on some level. If you were immortal it would probably feel good at times knowing you had a 24/7 immortal booty call to accompany you through time.

The appeal of this part is undeniable, though. Women old enough to know better are devouring the "Twilight" series like Lindt truffles and salivating over each installment of Bill and Sookie's romance on HBO's "True Blood." Why? It gets her in that 13-year-old place...the one that makes her weak in the knees over a guy who vows to love her until the end of time, no matter what.

Finally, regarding my theory of the vampire/id connection, do we need to explore the symbolism of long, pointy teeth puncturing the skin and sucking out blood? There's a whole other theory there: vampires represent phallic desire.