Underworld (2006): War, Identity, and Immortal Conflict

Introduction: Beyond Human vs. Supernatural

Unlike most horror films, which depict only the eternal conflict between human beings and the supernatural, Underworld (2006) portrays a world contingent upon violence between two otherworldly beings — vampires and werewolves — to highlight the purposeless nature of war and the futile nature of drawing divisions between different groups, such as races or ethnicities, within any given society. In the film, the world is torn between Death Dealers and Lycans. Both groups of otherworldly beings are immortal, unless another immortal being acts against them, and both groups despise one another.

Rather than depicting the supernatural as either above or below humanity in terms of moral conduct, the film suggests that the morality of these creatures is roughly on par with humanity's own: both humans and the vampires and werewolves are locked in a continual circle of cycle of violence. Even though these two groups share a common characteristic — that of eternal life — they are also torn by eternal hatred, and each group is sworn to destroy the other.

Eternal Life, Eternal Hatred: The Parallel to Ethnic Conflict

The parallel between ancient feuding groups — such as the conflict in Iraq between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, or the conflict in the former nation of Yugoslavia between the Serbs and the Croats — is manifest. As long as people draw divisions between themselves and "others," even if those others are not technically people at all, they will find reasons to hate one another. Both vampires and werewolves lay claim to long-standing grievances and see the other group's survival as a threat to their own continued existence.

One might think, from a purely human perspective, that these two groups shared the potential for common unity, given their shared immortality. However, they have been divided for just as long as the parallel ethnic groups from the mortal world. The Yugoslav Wars and the sectarian violence in Iraq both illustrate how deeply entrenched group identities can persist across generations, feeding cycles of retribution that outlast any original grievance.

Love as a Challenge to the Categories of War

One potential escape from this cycle of violence exists in the form of love. The main character is a vampire who falls in love with a human bitten by a werewolf — someone whom, according to the laws of war, she should have wished to destroy. The human-vampire-werewolf hybrid Michael contains all elements of society within his being and exemplifies the difficulty of maintaining rigid divisions between creatures. If hybrid beings can exist, how can there be justification for war between two groups capable of producing a new individual like Michael? Michael poses this argument much as a multiracial child's very existence can serve as a living, breathing argument against intolerance.

The love that the vampire Selene feels for Michael demonstrates that love cannot be imprisoned within categories of class or race. War, by contrast, punishes people based on such arbitrary distinctions in a futile fashion. The figure of Michael resonates with broader scholarly discussions of hybridity as a challenge to fixed identity categories — a concept explored extensively in postcolonial theory and cultural studies. Thus, one of the primary lessons of the film is that even within war, one can never be certain who truly stands on one's side.

Conclusion: Immortal Beings, All-Too-Human Conflicts

The basis for the conflict between vampire and werewolf is not grounded in logic — rather, it is sustained by long-standing hatred. The hatred continues even in the absence of reason, as more bodies pile up and each group finds new justifications to blame the other. Even Selene's discovery that her previous life of hatred was built on a lie leads only to more violence and death, as she turns against Viktor.