# Question about Vampires
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 25, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131 "2016-02-25T19:30:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/1 "2016-02-25T19:30:53Z")
Ok, so as some of you others may know, I’ve been watching _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ from start to finish along with watching\* Angel\*, so I could get all the cross overs and such … Something occurred to me in the recent _Angel_ episode, “Darla.”
Angel mentions that she has broken all the mirrors in her room, because now that she is restored to a human with a soul, she can’t stand to see herself, because she knows what she used to be. That got me to thinking, though…
How do vampires, more to the point, female vampires, make sure they look good with make-up, hair and what not, if they have no reflection in mirrors?
I know that this may be one of those “just go with it” things and I should probably ignore it, but I still have wonder. I mean, they look all dolled up and everything, so how do they know how good or bad they look?
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/2 "2016-02-25T20:06:01Z")
Being ghosts, they’re inside your head, making you see what you want to see.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/3 "2016-02-25T20:13:45Z")
In the case of Buffy, they like to live in groups, so presumably help each other get put together.
In other settings, the vampires tend to be nobles, who would have servants to help them - and even if not officially so, they’re likely to have thralls to do it for them.
The whole mirror thing is one of the first ‘traditional’ ideas thrown out in other settings.
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### Author:  [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/4 "2016-02-25T20:14:41Z")
I’m sorry, but I’m not liking that as an answer.
There has to be more to it then that. I mean, has this ever been addressed before in film or cultural references?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/5 "2016-02-25T20:15:27Z")
They do each others hair and make-up, or have their minions do it, as Lauren Hutton had Cleavon Little do hers in _Once Bitten_. Plus the glamour that **burpo** mentioned.
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### Author:  [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/6 "2016-02-25T20:20:51Z")
You should watch “What We Do in the Shadows” to see how one group of vampires deals with this issue.
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### Author:  [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/7 "2016-02-25T20:29:39Z")
I kind of figured it was along the lines of what has been said - that they have others help them. That makes the most sense.
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/8 "2016-02-25T21:09:00Z")
As with so many other geeky things, Sheldon Cooper has the answer:
“Well-groomed vampires meet in pairs and shave each other. Case closed.”
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/9 "2016-02-25T21:09:57Z")
Vampires don’t actually look good, they are hideous. They use their mind tricks to make us mere mortals believe they are extremely attractive.
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### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/10 "2016-02-25T21:21:27Z")
Could they use a webcam? Or don’t they show up on video either?
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/11 "2016-02-25T21:25:11Z")
Vampires are immortal, so they’ve had lots of time to practice.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/12 "2016-02-25T21:25:43Z")
Omar is right. Take Twilight. You think it’s ridiculous that vampires are impossibly beautiful sparkle-ponies? Yeah, it is ridiculous, because they actually aren’t. Bella only\* thinks\* Edward looks like a magic sparkle unicorn. He’s really a rotting corpse that crawled its way out of the grave to feast on the blood of the living. But vampire disciplines can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. He’s literally enthralled her.
Back to BtVS, my non-canonical theory is that they really always look like their “vamp” faces, but they can hide their monsterous face with a bit of concentration on projecting the illusion of humanity. When they forget or don’t bother to make an effort, you see their real face.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/13 "2016-02-25T21:26:53Z")
> [@Ignotus](#):
>
> Could they use a webcam? Or don’t they show up on video either?
😕 Uh, we’re talking about vampires on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
You know, a **television** show.
Wouldn’t be much show if vampires didn’t show up on camera, would it?
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### Author:  [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/14 "2016-02-25T21:30:41Z")
There is an episode of Angel where he is able to see his hair in a mirror and says something along the lines of…This is what my hair looks like! Why didn’t anybody tell me.
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/15 "2016-02-25T21:36:06Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> 😕 Uh, we’re talking about vampires on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
>
> You know, a **television** show.
>
> Wouldn’t be much show if vampires didn’t show up on camera, would it?
But those are actors _playing_ vampires.
I presume the question is about _real_ vampires. Sheesh!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/16 "2016-02-25T21:40:19Z")
> [@Ignotus](#):
>
> Could they use a webcam? Or don’t they show up on video either?
I’ve often thought about marketing a camera system “mirror” to vampires, just so that they have a way to see how they look.
Of course, like many “folkloric facts” about vampires, this one was invented by Bram Stoker for his novel _Dracula_. You won’t find anything in vampire lore pre-Stoker about them not being visible in mirrors.
even afterwards, people were inconsistent. Just before he turns into a puff of smoke, Count Orlock in the silent film _Nosferatu_ is very clearly visible in a mirror as he rises from drinking “Ellen”'s blood.
See here at 1:22:07 onwards
You see the same thing, less forgivably, in _Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein_ at 52:32 onwards.
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Bela Lugosi, of course, played Dracula on stage and onscreen, and in both versions of the original story his not appearing in a mirror is an important plot point.
Those mirrors didn’t HAVE to be in both scenes – it’s a movie, after all – someone deliberately put them there.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/17 "2016-02-25T21:43:59Z")
> [@Ignotus](#):
>
> Could they use a webcam? Or don’t they show up on video either?
No, they don’t. This came up on an episode of Angel, though it’s been too long, and I can barely remember the context…something about Angel and a security video.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/18 "2016-02-25T21:45:14Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> But those are actors _playing_ vampires.
OOOOOOOOooooooooh
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/19 "2016-02-26T01:35:21Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> But those are actors _playing_ vampires.
>
> I presume the question is about _real_ vampires. Sheesh!
But according to that great Documentary _Shadow of the Vampire_, Max Schreck really WAS a vampire.
And he not only showed up on film, but in a mirror as well.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-vampires/747131/20 "2016-02-26T02:02:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **Dante G** :
>
> There has to be more to it then that. I mean, has this ever been addressed before in film or cultural references?
Satchel asked the same question in a recent _Get Fuzzy_ strip. Does that count as a “cultural reference”?
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