"Dear Miss NNN,
difficult child tells me that the parameters for the assignment have changed and she can now research it all online, because hers is an opinion piece and that she has cleared this with you. I am a little concerned that her chosen expert, Dr Phil McGraw, is not going to be readily available for a personal interview, given his schedule. I am aware that he has done a TV show dealing with people who believe themselves to be real vampires, but I'm not sure if that makes him sufficiently expert. I would welcome a chat with you about the level of personal responsibility you expect from me, over my daughter's assignment."
Now to her topic -
porphyria is one aspect. Frankly, I wouldn't shoot her topic down in flames. Plus there are books in the library, hard-copy references. But you need to search using different terms.
First, helping her like this is NOT bailing her out, it is actually ensuring that she must follow through on her choices. She chose an obscure topic but she must have had some idea in her head. If she didn't - sorry, kid, your choice is made. Follow through. Do the best you can with what you have. You knew the rules, you can't change them now. But it can be done.
Now, here are some things to do.
First, define the terms. What is a vampire, really? What is the concept of vampirism? Why is it so fascinating these days? Discuss the "sex without responsibilty" aspect, the Freudian implications of penetration, blood, control, superiority, darkness. There would be plenty of references for tat.
Next, the origins of vampirism - I agree, porphyria is one aspect to now discuss. It can be hereditary and in darker times with less medical understanding, there could be some unfortunate creatures who were the victim of rumours or who possibly even caused some rumours.
Another consideration - a TV program I saw recently (documentary probably via National Geographic channel) was discussing the possibility that historically-recorded "vampire epidemics" could have actually been tuberculosis, and the people that used to dig up the corpses of suspected vampires to drive a stake through their hearts, probably infected themselves with TB, thus perpetuating the epidemic. Think about the symptoms of TB - dramatic weight loss, weakness, general malaise, fever. The cough was less of a consideration perhaps for people panicking about vampires, although blood in the sputum is common. Often someone with TB can look flushed in the cheeks despite being otherwise very pale and wasted.
It was an interesting idea, worth exploring. If this project can be a discussion of the spectrum of vampirism, including where a lot of the mythology could have originated as well as what the myths are - it is a good start.
Now to known vampires, according to history. Research Vlad the Impaler (a nasty piece of work, he liked to take tea in the garden with hundreds of impaled heads of his enemies as ornaments. A servant complained about the smell, so that servant's head was impaled higher tan the others, so he wouldn't have to smell them). Also Elizabeth de Bathory, who used to bathe in the blood of virgins (supplied form the local village, until the supply literally ran dry). Another nasty piece of work.
Then the vampires of fiction, and why those tales struck interest at the political time - the original "Nosferatu" movie by the Expressionist German film scene and the rise of early anti-Semitism in pre-WWII Germany is a fascinating topic on its own. "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari", while not strictly a vampire movie, would have to be mentioned for the cultural significance.
And now to modern vampires. The real ones. And I'm not talking porphyria here.
There are people out there, mostly Goths gone extreme, who genuinely believe themselves to be true vampires. They drink the blood of their victims although generally they don't kill for it nor do they attack innocent people. No, bizarre as it sounds, while there are those who consider themselves to be vampires, there are others who are their willing victims (aka 'donors'). That is an interesting psychological phenomenon and I think Dr Phil may have done a show on them. But it would only have been a couple of them, not a large number.
As such, I don't see him as an expert. Only someone doing what your daughter has to do - gather information and present it. And Dr Phil would have had his own researchers doing that, he's just the front man reading an auto-cue.
By all means, do your utmost to contact Dr Phil. Or if she has to make the contact, find the contact info for her and get her to send it off. BUT - make it clear that she needs fallbacks, because Dr Phil is very busy. Nor will he do the work for her and present it all wrapped up on one blood-red bow. Dr Phil doesn't work that way.
If she wants to do this, she needs to do a proper job. Picking an obscure topic is not the soft option she may have expected it to be.
A well-known topic may have the apparent drawback of being overloaded with informaiton - where do you start? She may have chosen an obscure topic because all the information available could be used as is (so she thinks). But it doesn't work that way - you can't just gather information and quote it.
What she needs to do as she gathers information - ALWAYS write down where it comes from, first. Attach this info to your notes form this source, even if you don't think you are actually going to use it. Then as soon as you can, you attach this source to the bibliography.
So, things to search for in the library as well as online - blood disorders. Freud (especially his words on blood, sexual penetration, biting and darkness). Vlad the Impaler. Elizabeth de Bathory. Cannibalism. Porphyria (the range of these, there are a number of different types). German Expressionist films (here is a good link to get you started -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Expressionism). The background to the Victorian vampire novels including "Varney the Vampire" which was published as a newspaper serial, the original "penny dreadful" and why these were popular.
Because the modern vampires, those who believe they are genuine bloodsuckers, are all based on this folklore and social development of the vampire mythology.
Feel free to use this to get her started. And frankly, if she does this properly, it might take the shine off the romanticism of "real" vampires.
There's nothing like a bit of back story to set you straight!
Marg
