Between Twilight and True Blood, vampires seem to be around, and plenty of news stories are analyzing what the whole thing means culturally. A reasonable answer disappointing to the media studies crowd may be that it means nothing at all. We burned through a bunch of zombie movies and now we’re getting some vampires. Not that long ago it was slashers chasing after virginal teenage girls. Monsters, like most trends come and go, based on how they’re used and abused. A movie or a book can jumpstart a trend, and with Hollywood’s copycatting skills, the trend quickly becomes legion. These days it’s the lack of cultural originality that’s responsible for cultural trends more than anything else. Naturally the people who overanalyze things to death can’t wait to sink their teeth, yes pun intended, into what the whole vampire trend means. What it really means is that people are sick of zombies, zombie movies and things involving zombies. And vampires are like zombies with brains who can actually do more than lurch toward you with slack jaws. Of course with Left 4 Dead a hit, I wouldn’t count the zombie out yet either. Analyze that.