Vampires, get off my lawn!

[lesbiassparrow]

Is there some sort of new internet law that every time someone mentions a vampire film/book/theme park/whatever horrific contribution to vampire fetishes someone is coming up with next, they have to say 'Forget Twilight'? And then they go on to describe things that if you read Twilight there is no chance that you'd be interested in?

And much as I think Twilight is filled with the WTFness of the first degree, most of the other stuff that is touted as amazing and entirely the way vampires should be depicted sounds almost equally dreadful. And, sadly, more boring (say what you like about Twilight it keeps me endlessly entertained). That may be because I am ready for vampires to be retired as a way to explore the human condition or whatever else people say they are exploring. Seriously, they're not that interesting: They eat people. They live forever or a really long time until some rightminded person comes along and stakes them. That's it, people. They're like human shaped, long-lived, man-eating lions. Who may or may not be able to go out in sunlight, depending on what crappy vampire novel they're in.

Also, introducing a more manly, killer vampire doesn't make your character necessarily better than Edward (though I will admit the odds are surely in your favour). It just makes him more manly and killer. That, in itself, is not inherently interesting and better.

Comments

[kalliopeia.livejournal.com]

Mitchell is WOUNDED at your indifference. :)

I think vampires in general are fascinating. I'm just not usually very impressed with how they are depicted these days. Obvious exceptions excluded, of course.

[lycomingst.livejournal.com]

It could be worse; it could be a fascination with werewolves. There'd be an endless parade of stories about how they smell, and grooming stories and about venture capitalist werewolves trying to corner the market on silver mines.

[chelseagirl47.livejournal.com]

Even the New York Times, which surely ought to know better, ran a piece the other day on the enduring appeal of vampires and blah, blah by Guillermo del Toro and his co-author. Blah blah Polidori . . . blah blah Stoker . . . blah blah contemporary phenomenon.

Although they did NOT mention Twilight at all, which was rather a relief. M. and I are being separately peer-pressured about True Blood but . . . we'll see.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I confess I've loved vampires since I first read Dracula, and I think some of the appeal for me is because they're immortal man-shaped people-eating lions (hee) - and it's the same explanation for the popularity of Alpha heroes in romance: if you can tame this guy, you're one hell of a woman.

That said, the one really and truly different vampire I've come across in the last few years is Constantine in Patricia McKinley's Sunshine. He's really gross in so many ways, but he's also (imo) incredibly compelling and even sexy.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I recently saw a Swedish movie you might've heard of called Låt de rätte komma in (Let the right one in) which had a pretty original, fresh take on the whole vampire thing. I've never been a huge fan of the vampire lore (apart from reading Der Kleine Vampir, a German book series as a kid) and something I'm sick to death of is the whole basic sexuality/sexual desire/control of sexual desires intertwining with vampires, whether it's Mormon abstaining vampires ala Twilight or something else (like Angel on Buffy turning evil post-sex). So to see a movie that was like "uhh, nothing sexual about sucking blood here!", it was really awesome.

I think why people say "forget Twilight" is because Twilight's messed with the essentials of vampire lore, and to those who like them, that's pretty blasphemous, especially when it isn't done well. Like, LTROI messes with some essentials of the lore but carries out others creatively and interestingly. So people are down with that.

I do agree with you vampirs aren't that interesting. But those who like them, I assume, would feel Twilight is an abodomation of their beloved fictional tradition.

Read this article yesterday

[aikakone.livejournal.com]

I thought it was good. Don't know if you will, but it does mention Angel and Buffy.

http://www.slate.com/id/2223486/ [Vampires Suck by Grady Hendrix]

[calixa.livejournal.com]

I have never and never will like vampire fiction. Unless they are evil in it. And get stakes driven into them. Then I'm for it.