Notebook Extract

30 Days of Night

The sense of the vampire group functions as a family is reflected in the survivors and highlights their deficiency in the face of the Other: whereas the vampires are an organised collective and have trust in their leader, Marlow, the humans are disorganised and continually question their assumed leader, Eben. A further disparity occurs in the sense of relationships that occur within each group: the humans are survivors, familiar to each other only as friends and neighbours whilst the vampires, although from completely different families, are a family that is quite literally blood related through the contaminating bite of the vampire. As the film progresses, Marlow’s relationship with the dark haired female vampire suggests that they are, in some sense of the word, a couple. They respect each other, share victims and Marlow’s allows this ‘partner’ chance and opportunity to attack and kill before the others. In this state, they function as a normal couple, a further instance of difference that highlights the deficiency in the humans as this relationship is reflected in Eben and Stella: whereas the vampires suggest a healthy, mutual and equal relationship, Eben and Stella are clearly unhappy with each other to the extent that their relationship has collapsed and the pair have split up.