What does the metaphor of the vampire imply in Let the Right One In?

The mystery and allure of the vampire has been a staple in literature and film for more than two centuries. The European folklore of the vampire can be traced back to the mid 1700’s, where panic swept the Serbian countryside with tales of the dead reanimating from their graves (Mumford). However, just as times have changed, the vampire has evolved as well. The vampire identity has usually been described as a creature of the night, enslaved to a human host of male or female sex. “Let the Right One In” by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, takes the idea of the old vampire lore and reinvents it for a modern audience. Although the vampire myth has gotten stale with cliché ideas throughout the years, “Let the Right One In” does a brilliant job at rejuvenating a tired genre by recreating the crucial role that identity plays in both the novel and Swedish film adaptation, stripping the vampire of its distinctiveness of man, woman, or creature. Although some might argue “Let the Right One In” is nothing more than another vampire novel, I would have to disagree. Although the book is labeled as horror genre, I would argue it is less a horror novel, and more of a coming-of-age love story, tackling common issues of adolescents such as bullying, hormones, puberty, and uncertainty in our own sexuality during those difficult pre-teen years.

The history of the vampire has almost always been seen as this sort of sexually driven Casanova (Eldridge). “Overall, Victorian vampire narratives dealt with the vampire difference, often referring to sexuality and sophistication of the demonic creatures. A favorite twist was to portray the vampire as a creature of noble birth, an allusion popular with the general public as it provided a convenient means of illustrating the blood-sucking tendencies of royalty with a minimum of risk” (Shepherd). F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” has long been hailed as a classic horror film, serving as an inspiration for many vampire films and literature that followed. Yet, the film is more than a simple vampire story; debates have raged for years over the sexual undertones and the subtle twisting of traditional gender roles in the film. “This is especially true of Count Orlok, the film’s so-called “Nosferatu.” While some scholars place Orlok in a strict gender dichotomy, I would argue that Orlok transcends the sexuality and gender binaries and is inherently androgynous. In fact, Nosferatu could well serve as a reflection of the gender nonconformity that was becoming common in 1920s Germany (Elizabeth Vest). In the film “Nosferatu,” Orlok’s seductive bite on Thomas Hutter, and his lustful eyes on Ellen, suggest some sexual confusion in the part of the vampire. F.W. Murnau’s 1922 film “Nosferatu” has done much to influence contemporary vampire literature and film, especially in regard to how sexuality, gender identity, and androgyny are portrayed in vampire literature and film. In fact, rather than the sexual ambiguity of Nosferatu, it is strictly the androgyny of Count Orlok which is reflected in “Let The Right One” (Elizabeth Vest).

In the English-speaking world, vampire narratives, both literary and cinematic, have long been a staple of popular culture, but in Sweden, both novel and film versions of “Let The Right One In” attracted favorable attention in part because of the novelty of a Swedish vampire story (Lapin). “The title, which comes from a song “Let The Right One Slip In” by ex-Smiths’ member Morrissey, has multiple connotations, besides the apparent vampire meaning, by becoming friends with Eli, Oskar has “let the right one in.” The idea that our destinies are determined by who we let into our lives is an overarching theme in both novel and film (Raup). Nevertheless, there is much more to this so called Swedish vampire tale than meets the eye.

Unlike other books and films on vampires, “Let The Right One In” never mentions crucifixes, stakes, or garlic. “Though Eli displays superhuman strength, paranormal powers, and no toleration to sunlight, that is pretty much where the similarities end

compared to other vampire literature and film” (Wright). “Let The Right One In” offers a different version of the vampire, largely de-sexualized in its representation, with a focus on the ‘pure love’ that develops between a 12-year-old boy and a vampire that has been twelve for a very long time.

The story takes placeinBlackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm during the early part of the 1980’s. The story is a familiar one for anyone that went to school and was bullied, myself included. 12-year-old Oskar is the protagonist of the story, a bullied preteen boy, and an outsider trying to find his identity in the whole scheme of things. Bullying and separated parents have helped spawn a lonely boy, knife in hand, privately acting out imaginary revenge scenarios on the boys who bullied him at school, with an unhealthy obsessive interest in the gory aspect of crime as presented in the press, which Oskar records in a scrapbook (Kern).

Oskar lives in a world that is cold physically, socially, and emotionally, often returning home to a quiet apartment and a distant mother that only intensifies his isolation. The theme of identity is relevant early on in the novel; “even the suburbs themselves appear to be in the midst of this struggle, described as boxy, faceless, history-less complexes:” Only one thing was missing. A past. At school, the children didn’t get to do any special projects about Blackeberg’s history because there wasn’t one…You were beyond the grasp of the mysteries of the past; there wasn’t even a church. Nine thousand inhabitants and no church. That tells you something about the modernity of the place, its rationality. It tells you something of how free they were from the ghosts of history and of terror (Lindqvist 2). Identity is what shapes the novel. Who are we, how much of ourselves do we show to others, and who do we trust to let into our lives?

According to Erik Erikson, a German psychoanalyst heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud, and his eight-stage theory of identity and psychosocial development; Oskar would be in stage four (Ages 6–12) while transitioning into stage five of development (Ages 13–18). The fifth stage of development is Identity vs. Role Confusion. Prior to this fifth stage, development depends on what is done to a person. At this point, development now depends primarily upon what a person does. “An adolescent must struggle to discover and find his or her own identity, while negotiating and struggling with social interactions and “fitting in” and developing a sense of morality and right from wrong. Some attempt to delay entrance to adulthood and withdraw from responsibilities (Moratorium). Those unsuccessful with this stage tend to experience role confusion and upheaval. Adolescents begin to develop a strong affiliation and devotion to ideals, causes, and friends” (L).

Erik Erikson’s stages of development play an important role in how Oskar’s behavior and that of his peers are accounted for. For instance, Oskar is eager to learn and share his knowledge with the police officer who has come to speak in his class about the dangers of drugs, but Oskar feels like he cannot answer due to the bullies in his class (Lindqvist 8–9). The progress that Erikson talks about in his development stages is reason for concern because it stunts the growth and identity process that should be normal for a child of Oskar’s age. Another aspect of his underdeveloped self is that he suffers incontinence that causes him to urinate uncontrollably during periods of great stress (Lindqvist 9). My opinion on why Oskar is still wetting his pants at the age of twelve has more to do with bullies than incontinence. If most of Oskar’s harassment is being carried out in the boys’ restroom, then it only stands to reason that he has formed some sort of negative association with his bladder and restrooms, causing him to leak urine out of fear.

Oskar’s growth and maturity depends on his ability to learn and function in a normal environment. When Oskar is tirelessly avoiding being tortured by his peers, his ability to function on all cylinders becomes jeopardized. Oskar’s fight or flight response is activated almost on a daily basis. “The Fight or Flight response is a physiological response triggered when we feel a strong emotion like fear. The Fight or Flight response evolved to enable us to react with appropriate actions: to run away, to fight, or sometimes freeze to be a less visible target” (What is the Fight or Flight response? ). The Fight or Flight response is generated in our bodies to be a useful tool to prepare our bodies of impending danger. But what happens when this Fight or Flight response is activated every single day, as in the case with Oskar? “It goes from being adaptive, or life-saving, to maladaptive, or health damaging. Children of Oskar’s age are especially sensitive to this repeated stress activation, because their brains and bodies are still developing. High doses of adversity not only affect brain structure and function, they affect the immune system, hormonal systems, and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed” (Harris).

The entire fourth stage of Erikson’s development talks about the ages of 6 to 12, and what is done during those progressing years that will affect all other stages of development. If stage five is Role and Identity, then it only right to assume that Oskar is unsure of his own sexuality and his identity because of what was done to him during stage four of Erik Erickson’s stages of development model. A few times in the novel, Oskar looks in the mirror and imagines himself as someone else saying, “I don’t exist anymore, I don’t exist and no one can do anything to me.” (Lindqvist 265, 451). Bullying has been such a fixture in Oskar’s life for so long that he longed to be someone else, or to have no existence at all, a common coping mechanism in children who are subject to great deals of violence and stress (Juvonen).

“It is also important to note that anger and rage is one possible emotional response to bullying. Many reports following school shootings have found that the child shooters were bullied by their peers” (Niary Gorjian Ph.D.). Many of the antisocial and violent behaviors that Oskar portrays throughout the novel and film can be traced back to his troubles with the bullies at his school. In the novel and film adaptation of “Let The Right One In,” Oskar imagines himself as a killer, violently thrusting a knife into a tree, imagining his enemies bodies being mutilated in the form of flying wood chips (Lindqvist 26–27). Oskar is acting out in his frustration in the only way that he knows how.

According to Dr, Raul Silva, children dealing with unhealthy outlets on communication may exhibit frustration or cognitive intellectual impairment where communication may also manifest with aggression. “When children with these conditions become aggressive, they often do so because they have difficulty dealing with their anxiety or frustration and cannot verbalize their feelings as others do” (Raul Silva).

Oskar has latched onto Eli as a way to cope with the bullying because he feels like he has no one else to turn to. Oskar seems less troubled by the fact that Eli is a vampire, and more troubled with the knowledge that Eli is a boy. His worry is not whether or not this vampire will feed on me, but more about what the kids at school would say if they found out he had feelings for a boy (Lindqvist 307). “During the preteen years, people often find themselves having sexual thoughts and attractions. For some, these feelings and thoughts can be intense and seem confusing. That can be especially true for people who have romantic or sexual thoughts about someone who is the same sex they are. “What does that mean,” they might think. “Am I gay?” (Neil Izenberg).

Oskar is at this stage in his life that he is unsure of what his sexual orientation is, but he knows that he likes Eli, and identifies with Eli, and that seems to be enough for him. Oskar is not frightened of his feelings for Eli because of what it might mean regarding his sexuality, he is more alarmed about his feeling because of what others will say. It really makes you feel for this child because his growing depends not on nature, but nurture. “Nature is what we think of as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors after conception, e.g., the product of exposure, experience and learning on an individual” (McLeod).

As Oskar searches to find his identity, Eli has been stripped of his. It is revealed later in the book that Eli is not a young girl at all, but a young boy named Elias (Lindqvist 352–353). Eli had been castrated and has taken the identity of a young girl, growing out his hair and dressing in female clothing. According to Healthy Children.Org, Children typically express their gender identity in the following ways: clothing or hairstyle, preferred name or nickname, social behavior, manner and physical gestures, and social relationships, including the gender of friends, and the people he or she decides to imitate (Gender Identity Development in Children). Eli is stuck in a 12-year-olds’ body, and thus is trapped in Erik Erickson’s 4th to 5th stage transition which causes Eli/Elias to be stuck in a confusion of identity. Eli has what is known as Gender Dysphoria (formerly gender identity disorder) defined by strong, persistent feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one’s own assigned sex. People with gender dysphoria desire to live as members of the opposite sex, often dress, and use mannerisms associated with the other gender (Gender Dysphoria). Although Eli is a vampire, his sexual identity was stolen from him during castration of his penis.

Eli has adopted the role of “damsel in distress,” exposing it to her advantage in order to survive. Disney films are notorious for their portrayal of the damsel in distress and the knight who comes to the rescue. “Disney’s women are not merely damsels in distress; rather, they use their positions of weakness to exploit men’s empathy and affection. Whether they want to or not, the men eventually come to terms with the shift of power — though not without resistance” (Ljungback) Eli, acting on survival instinct has taken the identity of a young girl to lure her prey.

Eli’s very first kill scene in the novel, we witness Jocke Bengtsson, walking home alone at night, and after encountering what he believes is a young female child in need, he stops to help. He even goes as far as to offer to help carry the child to safety (Lindqvist 73–76). One has to wonder if Jocke would’ve helped Elias in the same way he helped Eli. One might argue, people naturally care more about a woman’s welfare than a man’s when it comes to both the saving of lives and pursuit of self-interest. A study by post-doctoral students at New York University shows most people are hard-wired to put women first (Hosford). I believe that Eli knows this particular weakness in men and exploits it for his/her personal gain. Hakan, acting on his pedophiliac urges, murders young boys, all in a useless attempt to have Eli reciprocate the same love he feels for him.

Eli’s identity is sort of a puzzle throughout the novel and film, and it is up to Oskar to figure it out. The puzzle plays a huge part in the telling of the story, with Oskar’s fascination with solving the Rubik’s Cube, and the Morse code deciphering between him and Eli. Eli urges Oscar to touch a large, Fabergé-style egg that then shatters into thousands of tiny puzzle pieces, revealing a treasure hidden within. The significance of the egg and its contents is dense, but one plausible interpretation is that it represents the puzzle and enigma that is Eli, the protective shell around her private secrets, which she now willingly shares with Oskar.

Speaking of identities, Hakan, a pedophile, and Eli’s caretaker, carries this secret identity that he only shows to Eli and to those unfortunate enough to run into him in the darkest corners of Sweden. Hakan’s sexual appetite for young boys has caused him to do some ungodly deeds, murder and sexual assault just to name a few. Identity is important in the case of Hakan, because he is a monster wearing a human disguise. Although some might claim that Eli is the true monster, I would argue that Eli kills to survive, much like a hunter kills animals to survive. Hakan does not kill to survive but kills in a selfish act to fulfill his lust for the young boy that is Elias. Even the people that Hakan chooses to kill are that of young boys. His desire to touch Eli and satisfy his own sexual desires for young flesh is pure evil in my opinion. Hakan grooms Eli in the same way that any child predator would groom a child. Hakan provides a service or need to the child, and in return, he hopes to use the child for his own sexual deviances. “Although pedophiles differ in their “type” regarding age, appearance and gender, all pedophiles will look for a victim who seems in some way vulnerable” (Phil).

The one selfless act that Hakan does accomplish is by destroying his appearance with acid to protect Eli. In Hakan’s own warped mind, I do believe he loves Eli, but not the normal love between a man and woman. Hakan disfiguring his face has finally exposed him as the monster that he always was. Before Hakan turned into a vampire there was a slight hint of morality still left in him, but all that was gone after he turned into this hideous monstrosity of a vampire. The monster which is Hakan, can no longer hide behind the mask of human flesh, because his true self has been exposed, erect penis and all (Lindqvist 285).

Also explored are the psychological impacts of divorce and negligence to a child; Oskar resolves to solitude and violence as neither of his estranged parents pay attention to his life at school or at home. Oskar’s life demonstrates how society creates outsiders through negligence, discrimination and prejudice (Osoro). When Oskar meets Eli, he finds an oddball much like himself, and he clings to her (Lindqvist 36–39). In this world of his, the sexual identity of Eli is not relevant. Oskar has found a bond that he so desperately sought out from his peers and family, but never was shared until he found Eli. Oskar meeting Eli for the first time on a small playground outside his apartment complex with Eli standing atop a jungle gym, which in this way, Eli standing atop of the jungle gym provides a surreal image of biblical proportions. It is almost as if she was an angel that flew down to Oskar. In a way, she does act as a biblical angel would, saving Oskar from loneliness and protecting him against the wicked children that mercilessly torment him (Bonding Through Exile).

“Let The Right One In” takes the focus on love further than some of the more recent vampire novels and films, in that the subject of the vampire relationship it centers on is entirely asexual. Even when Oskar and Eli share the same bed one night, there is nothing sexual about it. When Oskar asks Eli to be his girlfriend, it is through the sweetly quaint “Want to go steady?” Eli, whose main objection is that “she’s not really a girl,” agrees when Oskar explains that it would not involve anything more than hanging out. “I’m nothing,” Eli explains in the novel. “Not a child, not old, not a boy, not a girl. Nothing.” Oskar’s reply shows his remarkably single-minded devotion: “Will you go out with me or not?” (Tyree).

Oskar and Eli’s relationship unfolds as one of love, but what kind of love? Accordingly, Oskar and Eli both transcend their natural states for the sake of the other. Eli transcends her nature in her relationship with Oskar by protecting him, both from others and from herself. Oskar rises above an instinctive reaction to Eli’s repulsive acts, which to her are natural, but to him are unnatural. The pair also engage in playful affection, examples include using Morse code in order to communicate through the adjoining wall of their apartments and sharing a Rubik’s Cube, which Oskar offers Eli as a gift. The initial timid connection between Oscar and Eli comes about when he lends her his Rubik’s cube and she demonstrates how to solve it. They exhibit a sort of loyal attachment found among siblings and friends.

“Oskar and Eli have at least a brush with mania, obsession that may be associated with sexual passion: they embrace, kiss, at one point share a bed and touch modestly and tenderly, confirming a commitment to be together, on which Oskar is especially keen, despite what Eli has told him on two occasions: “Oskar, I’m not a girl” (Ph.D.). Oskar seems to know that Eli is boy and doesn’t seem to mind as long as Eli doesn’t continue to bring it up. At one point, Oskar gets upset at Eli for bringing up the fact that Eli was not a girl, saying, “You’re like a goddamn broken record. I got it. You told me already” (Lindqvist 348) This statement from Oskar is common in young teens who are uncomfortable discussing their unusual sexual orientation that falls out of society’s norms. Being in love with someone of the same sex was still sort of a taboo thing in the early 1980’s. The story takes place in Sweden, October 1981, On June 5, 1981, the virus that would become known as HIV was mentioned for the first time in a medical publication (Landau). The fear that plagued the gay community during the early 1980’s might have played somewhat of a part in the way that Oskar was unable to one hundred percent admit that Eli is a boy, and worse yet, he might be in love with him.

“These characteristics of their affection can usefully be linked to their likely stages of moral development, and thus to the ethics of their relationship. Kohlberg’s so-called ‘Level 2 Conventional Morality’ stage of psychological development seems to be the stage at which Eli and Oskar are functioning, their mutuality incorporates the values of “trust, loyalty, respect and gratitude” (Helen Bee, The Developing Child, p.467, 1992). Their love seems to encourage an unconditional loyalty. It extends to Oskar’s confidentiality with regard to Eli’s nature and needs, as well as Eli’s extraordinary rescue of Oskar from his bullies (Brooks).

While the child vampire Eli is a sympathetic figure in the way that it mirrors the alienation experienced by the bullied boy, she is also a monster –abject, violent, and seductive (Howell). Just as sex and sexuality have been key elements in vampire fictions on and offscreen, sexual knowledge is commonly the corrupt other side of innocence in the uncanny child of Gothic fiction and horror cinema. “The uncanny child is unsettling and horrible for the way it uses our investments in childhood innocence and purity against us” (Freud). “The model for the uncanny child is of course provided by Henry James’s 1898 Turn of the Screw, where the possibility of children who are not as innocent and unknowing as they seem, prompts a frenzy of hermeneutic activity, shared by both the reader and the Governess narrator” (Smith).

“Let The Right One In” is forthright in depicting the way that Eli uses her youthful femininity, frailty and the commonly held urge to protect the child to lure her prey. In these terms, she is very much the uncanny child whose monstrosity, calculating, seductive, and murderous, hidden by a mask of innocence and vulnerability. ‘Her character in these terms demonstrates the typical ambivalences of the humanized vampire, who still bears traces of his or her monstrous “otherness” (L.C.S.W.) That is, by departing from more mainstream tropes of vampirism and the un-canny child, the novel manages both to acknowledge Eli’s monstrosity while enacting its own narrative and visual seductions that mobilize ideologies of childhood. The seduction of innocence, torture and corruption of innocence has long been central to the Gothic novel, and “Let The Right One In” explores all the common tropes (Howell, The Seduction of Innocence in Gothic coming of Age).

The novel and film adaptation of “Let The Right One In” comes to a gory climax when Oskar naively goes to the swimming pool, underestimating the pure evilness of his bullies as they attempt to drown him (Lindqvist 467–470). As he is held underwater, we are acquainted with both the full monstrosity of the boys who have hunted Oskar by day, as well as the bloody violence of Eli. We see evidence of Eli’s ongoing guardianship of Oskar in the form of the severed head and limb of his attacker, sinking in a cloud of blood to the bottom of the pool as he is released.

The idea comes back to the story of “Frankenstein” and who is the real monster: Victor Frankenstein, or the creature he created. Victor is the one that should be labeled as the monster, since he is the one who shows characteristics of being a monster. “Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, composed a list of characteristics that define what a monster is. Jung expressed that monsters are “unnatural — aberrations of the natural order, hostile toward others, inspire dread and embody evil, not human, even those that look and act like people are not fully human,” and all of these characteristics can be found in Victor’s personality as well as in Oskar’s bullies” (Maria). Monsters are the people that create outcasts in society. Oskar became an outcast much like the creature in “Frankenstein” not by nature, but nurture of his peers. Society created Oskar’s loneliness and odd behavior because nobody gave him a chance. “Are individuals born malicious or do they become that way? In answering this question, you must consider the “nature vs. nurture” argument. Does one enter the world evil, or does he become malicious gradually because of his life experiences? My answer to this controversial question is that nurture is mainly the cause for either one’s goodwill or one’s malice. This notion is proven throughout “Frankenstein.” The wretch was originally “benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” (119). The creature is born kind. It is nurture, or lack thereof, that made him malicious” Society is wrong in placing its fear on creations that are unnatural; they should place their fear where it is due, on the creator, or in Oskar’s case, the bullies” (Hitzig).

“David Schmid, professor of English, focuses on cultural monstrosities, those among us whom we perceive as “monsters” and the role they play in our self-perception as individual and social beings. Although Schmid’s initial work in this field focused on the serial killer as an American popular culture figure, he also studies how society safely represents and addresses the anxieties of our time through the use of other monsters, such as zombies and vampires. I never want to lose sight of the fact that the most distinctive and numerous monsters in any culture are the ones that we don’t immediately recognize. The monsters I’m most interested in are the ones that exist in plain sight,” Schmid says (DONOVAN).

In the final scene of “Let The Right One In,” Oskar and Eli escape their old lives by boarding a train (Lindqvist 472). Although Oskar’s bullies are all dead, he still feels the need to run away, thus proving that Eli is the only person who Oskar has a true connection with and feels safe around. “A study in The New York Times article of adolescent runaways has provided new evidence that physical and sexual abuse are important contributors not only to runaway behavior, but also to delinquency and emotional difficulties. The study of 149 youths between the ages of 12 and 20 found that running away was often a symptom of family distress, conflict and aggression, as well as lack of family commitment and mutual support” (Collins).

The scene on the train is a touching one because it shows us two outsiders who have no place in the world, shunned by society because of their differences. Only time will tell if Oskar becomes the new Hakan, as Oskar continues to age with time, and Eli remains twelve forever. Will Eli shun Oskar as he gets older, and use him in a way to kill for her as Hakan did? Or will Oskar accept an invitation to become a vampire and remain young forever. All these questions remain to be seen, because after all, Oskar is a twelve-year-old boy with an underdeveloped mind, and Eli is a two-hundred-year-old vampire in a twelve-year old’s body. Oskar is still growing, both physically and mentally, and he may decide down the road that he does not want a relationship with Eli. The film adaptation of “Let The Right One In” has a scene at the end where Oskar is using Morse Code to communicate with Eli through the luggage compartment. In this scene Eli sends a Morse code to Oskar, P U S S — Swedish for “small kiss” (IMBD). This final gesture to Oskar shows the innocent love between these two misfits, and how they have grown together to find a simple, yet complicated love story. “Let The Right One In” is a story about dealing with the complications of youth, divorce, bullies and peer pressure, but it is also about discovering yourself and sharing those special moments with the ones you feel closest to. Only time will tell if these two outcasts will remain loyal to one another, but if I had my way, I’d have them both remain twelve forever.

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Is Oskar a vampire Let the Right One In?

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Did Eli turn Oskar into a vampire?