Written for the 2012 PCA/ACA conference.
Published in 2004, Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) is a story about the relationship that is formed between a bullied twelve-year-old boy, Oskar, and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. The book explores the dark side of humanity dealing with issues such as social exclusion, school bullying, parental neglect, pedophilia and murder.
Growing interest in the book has resulted in two adaptations for the big screen: a Swedish film, Let The Right One In, released in 2008, and an American adaptation, titled Let me in, which opened in cinemas in 2010. Only slightly departing from the themes of the book, the films are particularly rich in representations of contemporary anxieties regarding, among other things, isolation and otherness.
Through an analysis of the two main characters, the twelve-year-old boy and the vampire child, the paper discusses how the films reflect current societal anxieties about psychological isolation and exclusion from a wider social network. Furthermore, the paper reflects on the use of the vampire motif to present otherness in the two texts, by offering a reading of the Swedish film alongside the American big-screen adaptation. The analysis will focus on how the two films explore otherness through the vampire character, and will raise questions regarding adjustments made in the American version that lessen the affect of critical points, which are particularly problematic.Through an analysis of the two main characters, the twelve-year-old boy and the vampire child, the paper discusses how the films reflect current societal anxieties about psychological isolation and exclusion from a wider social network. Furthermore, the paper reflects on the use of the vampire motif to present otherness in the two texts, by offering a reading of the Swedish film alongside the American big-screen adaptation. The analysis will focus on how the two films explore otherness through the vampire character, and will raise questions regarding adjustments made in the American version that lessen the affect of critical points, which are particularly problematic.
