In a power exchange there is the possibility for an infinite amount of control; an infinite amount of transformation. Once the trust is established and secured there is endless opportunity to explore the energy created from giving to another and taking from another.
An article I read recently about Dracula referred to "an uncanny collaboration between vampire and female victims" and those words spoke to me because it isn't true that one person takes and the other gives in some neat formula. The word "collaboration" is what is important here.
When I first read about submission I took umbrage at the word 'service'. I'd been serving my family's needs for quite some time on an hour by hour basis so I didn't feel that my innate desire to express my submissive nature related to wanting to serve. To the contrary, my inclinations were to receive: to receive love, attention, affection. I'm not adverse to being spoiled.
I think I missed an important factor in the power dynamic there. When you burrow deep down into a sense of comfort in the dynamic the desire to serve, to please, to impress and to make happy abounds. It is simply there. This desire compounds and grows as the dynamic shifts into a smooth running gear; when the resistance is very low and one's place well understood, accepted and enjoyed.
This sense of wanting to please the other opens pathways previously unconsidered. I want to show that pathway and yet it is so difficult to demonstrate the process on a web journal page. The '"victim" discovers, to her surprise, that what the "vampire" wants is what she wants as well but I can't express that in any other way, I strongly suspect, other than with dialogue. Only the dialogue can express the perfect synergy of the vampire and his victim; the mutual feeding taking place.
The connection between them is so great that the two minds merge. The "victim" is reliant on the energy of the vampire and gives of herself freely. The giving of herself is, in fact, more than a gift; a sacrifice. She gives happily; readily; consistently. She gets off on giving not because she is the good submissive (although hopefully she has become that too) but because his darkest urges and desires have become her darkest urges and desires.
This is to imply that "Dracula" is dark (bad) and the "female victim" the light (good) - that one entity has influence over the other and undue influence at that. I've not a doubt that "Dracula" has powers of persuasion difficult for the female victim to ignore or deflect. She is drawn to him; helplessly. Yet, I'm not convinced that hidden below the surface of the "victim" is the not the already present desire to be fed off; the desire to be made to do Dracula's bidding. Perhaps it is possible that "the victim" lured Dracula to do his worst. What would the feminist readings of this story make of that, I wonder.
The makings of an interesting new twist on a vampire movie: What if the alluring power of a willing "victim" moves a man to feed off of her, to become a vampire? Hmmmm...a controversial plot line, to be sure. (PS. I really, truly appreciate your sophisticated and poetic take on submission.)
ReplyDeleteI remember as a very young girl in primary school watching "Dark Shadows," the somewhat campy television show in the US. I had not entered puberty yet, but had such a crush on Barnabas Collins. We are not victims when we want it, when it fulfills us and yes, feeds us. I think my submissive nature responded to the vampire in ways that it took me years to understand.
ReplyDeleteThank you for another great post. Such good writing lately, Vesta.
Susan
I have always considered the vampire with some affection, a creature to be pitied rather than feared and reviled. Perhaps this goes back to my teenage years in the 1980's and the fact that vampires and all things gothic were celebrated in popular culture at that time. Bands such as Bauhaus, Theatre of Hate, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, Southern Death Cult drew on vampire/gothic melodrama in their music, and clubs that hosted these bands such as the BatCave in London were mecca for the youth of the day. I still find 19th-century Gothic literature incredibly satisfying and enjoyable to read. Count Dracula, of course, was not the first vampire. Vampires had existed in folklore and legend for hundreds of years, back to ancient times. But Stoker's novel was the first to personify such a creature and give it a name.
ReplyDeleteThe vampire is a creature of tragedy, living as he does at the mouth of hell, needing to feed off the blood of the pure of heart to keep him from falling into the abyss. The urge to feed drives him to seek new victims, as once a victim is infected with his bite her blood can no longer sustain him. His need to come out into the living world to find and seduce new victims puts him at great risk, a little like some males in the natural world that risk death in their urge to mate: the preying mantis, the black widow spider. It is this tension that makes the seduction so dramatic and alluring.
Seduction is the key word here. He needs to arrive quietly, feed and retreat without raising alarm, so she must be complicit in his actions. Does she find him darkly alluring? Undoubtedly. Does she find the fear inside her thrilling? Perhaps. Does she wish to rescue him from his own dark world? Quite possibly. But only those whose dark desires drive them to be taken to the edge of hell themselves would embrace him willingly, knowing that to do so is to change forever.
I think in the end the vampire represents our own struggle to keep a cap on our animal instincts. His is the path of the wanton and the damned, and he is "other" because to collude with him, out of kindness, pity, weakness or volition is to become an outcast for all time...
Anon: Oh, that's funny. I hadn't meant to suggest an adaptation, and yet it *does* sound like I was suggesting a new plot, now that I think about it. Thank you for the lovely compliment.
ReplyDeleteSusan: Well, that's fascinating to me. I do wonder if so many of us writing and reading here began in just the same way - seeing something on tv or at the movies that spoke to us in some way and that simmered away in our minds, only to find expression years and years later. Perhaps naively, I don't shun Dracula, well, not after Johnny Depp played Barnabus Collins so deliciously! I tend to think that a Dracula type would be responding to something in me that is already there, so that being the case, it is hard to shun him. (It would not be wise to ignore his nasty, devilish side however and despite all attempts during being objectified to be dumdum, I do try to keep my head. Tee-hee!)
Rollymo: Beautifully written and your interest in Gothic literature is obvious. In my younger days I didn't take too much interest in it but that is in line, I think, with my scaredy cat ways. I didn't want to explore the depths of my feeling about Dracula and other scary thoughts too much for fear, perhaps, of what I would find.
Many women, I believe, want to feel that she's the special one, the one that can tame a man; keep him endlessly satisfied; or at least, the one to which he returns. Since no woman can have Dracula forever - since it is fate that he must move on - the story of Dracula goes against the fate that most women want - to be endlessly adored and cared for (to have a loving and devoted owner?!) and thus we are drawn to Dracula and to the hope that it is *our* blood that will keep him everlastingly satiated. This is not the official version of Dracula but merely my own personal thoughts on the matter.
It's such a wretched thought; that "to collude with him, out of kindness, pity, weakness or volition is to become an outcast for all time" but I agree the attraction is "fatal". I think that for quite some time this thought played on my mind subliminally until I realized that any comparisons with this story were unnecessary. But, that's another story for another day.
I think there is the basis of a novel in this post. Consider the idea of re-writing "Dracula" using the idea that Dracula is a victim, lured to his eventual death by his desire to give female companions what they desire. It could be a whole new take on the mythos! I could definitely see the story being made into a movie, most likely starring Johnny Depp as the good Count.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, however, there is real truth in what you wrote. I've often thought that the perception of the Dominant as the "taker" and the submissive as the "giver" is backwards, and that the submissive takes at least as much from the Dominant as they give.
Good post, Vesta! Thanks for sharing!
fantastic!
ReplyDeleteJake: How satisfying that you can see this version of the story played out on the screen. I imagine that copyright laws means that we won't be able to get it done, but certainly the idea is sound. I bet Johnny would love it!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking personally, I get a great deal from the Dominant and I'm not afraid to admit that. Perhaps I should keep my big mouth shut but I believe the Dominant services the submissive desire to much the same extent as she services his Dominant desire. Put it this way: they need each other!
Maryann: Thank you.