Research Plan

Research Plan

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover):

The purpose of this study will be to explore the changes of vampire character in different periods’ vampire films (from Nosferatu 1922 to Twilight present) and what these changes mean.

Detailed statement of your research question:

During the long history of the development of world’s film, vampire film as a fresh and fancy type of film always attracts much attention and becoming more and more popular in the modern times. Such as the latest famous vampire film The Twilight Saga adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s novel draws the numerous audiences and achieves great success. However, the vampire films today are much different from the early ones, not only in the film styles, but also the different representations of vampire character in the films. Therefore, by watching four vampire films in different periods: Nosferatu, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and The Twilight Saga, I am going to explore what are the changes from early to modern vampire films, and what these changes mean.

List of the information you need to gather

1.      Vampire films: Nosferatu, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and The Twilight Saga.

2.      vampire image in different time period

3.      factors the changes reflect: audience, social and cultural factors

A preliminary list of sources:

·         primary sources (the texts you will examine):

Vampire films: Nosferatu, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and The Twilight Saga.

·         secondary sources (what other people say about these texts):

Backstein, Karen. (Un)safe Sex: Romancing the Vampire.

Benefiel, Candace R. Blood Relations: The Gothic Perversion of the Nuclear Family in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula." Afro - American Red Star.

Bryce, Devon Elizabeth. Surviving the change: The domestication of the vampire in literature, film, and television.

Meyer, Jenna. "You're a vampire... Was that an offensive term? Should I say 'undead American'?" The evolution of the vampire in popular culture.

Oakley, Samantha. "I Could Kill You Quite Easily, Bella, Simply by Accident.": Violence and Romance in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" Saga.

Pierce, Sarah E. From demon to daimon: A mythic and depth psychological analysis of the American hero vampire,

Pullinger, Kate. "Re-Creating the Vampire Myth."

Morrison, R D. Metamorphoses of the vampire in literature and film: cultural transformations in Europe, 1732-1933.

Plan for gathering your information that includes:

·      Who/what you will be studying (for example: students in a College Composition class, how they think about the comments teachers write on their papers):

The vampire character in different periods’ vampire films: what are the changes, what the changes mean?

·      Where you will collect your information (for example: in interviews at Kean University)

Kean library, films

·      How many subjects you will study

Vampire, film, social and cultural factor

·      What methods you will use to conduct your study (for example:. interviews, textual analysis, discourse analysis)

Textual analysis, film analysis