When most people think of monsters they think of vampires, zombies, and werewolves to name a few. One of the most popular in culture right now is the vampire. They are seen in many different lights such as the villain, the mysterious, sexy man that no one can get close to but everyone wants to, along with others. It is interesting how the feelings about vampires have changed due to teen fiction books and popular movies. In earlier books, vampires were shown as being vicious monsters who are only interested in killing people for reasons such as sexual pleasure and hunger. Over the years, the view of vampires and other monsters has evolved as people have become more accepting of people who look and act differently from themselves. With the emergence of books such as Twilight and television shows romanticizing vampires, people have become more interested in learning about vampires and some people have even begun to say they are vampires. Vampires have become a popular Halloween costume for people of all ages and aren’t seen in horror movies nearly as much as they used to be.

One of Cohen’s theses that explain how vampires are a 21st century monster is the thesis that states: the monster’s body is a cultural body. The feelings regarding the vampire as a monster have changed over time which has changed the view of vampires as monsters. As the cultural stigma regarding vampires changed, they were considered to be less of a monster and more of a creature to be understood and written about for adventure stories or romance stories. Thesis three can also be used to describe what makes vampires a modern day monster because they cannot be easily categorized. Through people’s changing views they have been able to avoid being categorized as monster or friend or something in between. They also cannot be fully integrated into society or another group of beings because they are different in too many ways to fit with another group besides themselves. This goes along with thesis four which says monsters dwell at the gates of difference. Originally people were considered monsters because they were different from what society considered the norm. The monsters in stories were based on people the writers saw that were different and it made them concerned and nervous. The people may have physically been different or they may have acted different in a way that concerned or alarmed the writer. A final thesis that fits well with the current feelings regarding vampires is that fear of the monster is really a kind of desire. Vampires have changed from being something that is feared by most people to something that people sexualize through books and movies. Even in the books from the Victorian period vampires were considered alluring to the people within the story because that was how they lured their victims.

The Seven Thesis can be used to show how any monster can be considered a contemporary monster. Every monster can fit into at least two of the thesis and can be considered contemporary monsters. There are monsters that can be pulled from modern times and the thesis can be used to explain how they can be considered monsters even though people may not initially view them as such.