Dracula? Filthy rich.
Lestat? Filthy rich.
Edward Cullen? Member of filthy rich vampire family.
Bill Compton? Not as filthy rich, but rich by comparison to most people and completely surrounded by filthy rich vampires.
Angel? Even when his private investigation business is starting out and they are all whining about lack of income, they are all well-fed, have a nice office in L.A., and Angel sleeps in a bedroom with lame, but expensive, silk sheets.
Why is this? It could be because they are so damn old that they have had lots of time to amass wealth, but in the case of Louis and Claudia from Rice's Vampire Chronicles, they are immediately launched into Lestat's wealthy status as soon as they are turned. Additionally, that doesn't really answer why we never see poor, or even middle-class, vampires. I would think that at least one of them along the way would have invested poorly. One of them could easily have been like, "Computers? What one earth is that?" or bet on Betamax instead of VHS. If they are all fabulously wealthy, then it is statistically probably that one vampire was heavily involved in the DeLorean, right?
The real reason we never see poor vampires is because we associate their eternal life with eternal wealth. The two are interchangeable in our culture, especially with exorbitant health care costs. HIV, which once was a certain death sentence only a couple of decades ago, can now be well managed with antiretroviral drugs. The only problem is that these drugs cost more than $10,000 per year for a patient. Is it any wonder that survival rates correspond with the socioeconomic status of counties?
Not only internal health, but external vitality goes along with wealth and vampirism. Vampires of course do not age, and neither do our rich for the most part thanks to numerous cosmetic surgeries, botox, and being able to afford a healthier diet and lifestyle.
The reason vampires are rich is because they are the rich. They symbolize our aristocracy, even our fears of the aristocracy and their soullessness. Which is why I feel that the once horrific creatures have more recently become protagonists and heroes. We used to fear them, but now we want to become just like them.
