Vampires are huge! ... Not like that, you pervert. Yeesh. They're dead, so technically they should be able get it "up" anyway. Rigor mortis doesn't work like that.
*crickets chirp*
Alright, let me back track here.
Vampires are hugely popular right now—a bit too popular for my liking. I almost feel like vampires have been overdone, which makes me sad. I hate when people (crazy fans) take over a fandom that I really like and overdo it to the point that it's intolerable.
On the other hand, a person could argue that vampires have not been overdone because they have been reinvented in so many ways. I can sort of see this and agree to some extent. I mean, three of my favorite books series have are centered on vampires, but they each have 3 very different concepts of vampires or vampire-like beings. So, I'll give the opposition some credit to that. I also see that it's necessary to reinvent the vampire to keep them fresh (as fresh as the undead can get) and for the sake of originality.
The clearest reinvention of vampires has been the romanticized versions, which has been all the rage as of lately (well, not exclusively recently: Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles). I have only seen a few recent films or books that portray vampires as real monsters. These romanticized, or over-romanticized vampires, have become the protagonists in stories and movies instead of the external danger. They are made into intelligent beings with likeable traits. They have redefined badass in terms of enormously strength/powers, and they can kick ass better and faster than a zombie kung-fu master on steroids. Vampires have become sexy (which is a bit ironic since culture in North America defines beauty as having a golden tan or ethnically light brown skin tone – not the translucent white of a corpse). I also see vampires as advertising for paranormal-themed entertainment: “Become a vampire! Be forever young, gorgeous, and super smart!”
(Why are the scholars get bitten? Don’t you think the book-smart people would have read up on this or and known the signs of a vampire sighting? Or are vampires now super intelligent because is there nothing better to do than study with those extra years of longevity?)
I’d be lying if I said I did not see the appeal of this portrayal. In fact, I like reading paranormal stories that include vampires, especially romantic paranormal novels (likely the most romanticized of all). But I can't stand paranormal romance novels that treat vampirism like a fad, something that is completely idealized with barely any negative side-effects. Oh, there are many I could mention (Twilight series included), but I’m trying to keep this post as short as I can.
What the hell is that?! Honestly? Most chick lit paranormals probably don’t go that far, but I would not want to read any book that’s anything like that. People have taken the monster out of the vampire! Not cool. Much as vampires have been overdone in general, they have been overly romanticized almost beyond the recognition of nosferatu or Dracula. Where's the gore?! The angst (but not too much)? The berserker craze of blood lust that can never be satisfied? The disregard for human life?
I’m not too big into these new-age vampires. The real old school vampires were killing machines, monsters, capital E-vil capital M-onsters. Think Dracula, Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot or Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles series. Although Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show became romanticized to an extent (ex: Angel, Spike), the premise of the show is still to kill off vampires with the generalization that all vampire are monsters, i.e. Evil.
Nowadays, there are even people who wish they were vampires. There’s a whole vampire underground subculture (freaky) that began long before Stephanie Meyer began to dream up Twilight. Of course, these people wanted the bad and good of vampires, the monsters with power and intelligence. They do not intend to become a vampire and be a perfect being. They see vampires as scary.
One of the reasons I think much of our cultural fear of vampires has abated is because of how prevalent violence and blood is in present American culture. Back in the day, vampires were terrifying because of the huge AIDS scare. Think about the associations: vampires > blood > disease > death. In a way, HIV AIDS was/is a vampiric disease; it eats away at the immune system, the body, sucking up the victims' energy, life force. The point is, blood and disease was scary business which generated much more fear and panic than worry about today's advanced viruses and diseases.
Bringing this full circle, I will leave you all on my ever pondering question of cultural impact. What has this done to American culture? And what has shaped American culture to accept the monsters/villainous characters as more likable than the heroes & heroines?
Interesting thoughts. Just been debating a similar Facebook thread. Your blog post showed up in a Google search.
ReplyDeleteHere's my take on it:
Gothic horror has always allowed us to pity 'The Other'. Somtimes we are even encouraged to identify with it and empathize ('There, but for the grace of God...')
But its raison d'être is catharsis. Horror is primarily Aristotelian tragedy, the release of anxiety through fear. This catharsis reinforces our identity in the world of 'The Normal'. However, when fear of the monster is usurped by envy, this suggests that we have become dissatisfied with (or even afraid of) normality.
The romantification of vampires (and now even zombies) is a predominantly Chick Lit led trend. So the real question is: why have women become afraid of normality and fallen in love with monsters?
I suspect it's something to do with 'taming the beast' as a kind of Byronic guard dog. The new monsters are effete, consumptive poets - pale and interesting with tortured souls. But they're still capable of violence. And I think that hits the fang on the jugular. When the world of 'The Normal' collapses into violence, men are the new monsters - and monsters are the new men... :/