What’s with all the vampires?
by Hanly on Jun.22, 2009, under Television
What’s with all of the vampires? Recently they seem to have made it back into mainstream culture. Its seems that a society which once shunned science fiction movies and television shows is craving them more and more every day. Vampires however seem to have made the biggest hit. There’s the twilight book series and movies, which altogether seems to ignore most of the vampire tenants introduced by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There is True Blood, which sucks away all of the finesse and class which has become the widely accepted vampire way while substituting it with something reeking of the CMT channel, lastly there’s Moon Light on Sci-Fi. Lets not even talk about Moon Light. As one would expect from sci-fi programming, the acting and plot are atrocious. I almost forgot about the Underworld trilogy and the less famous Blood and Chocolate. I have to admit, I am a fan of Underworld.
Twilight
Most vampire stories inevitably gravitate towards the sexual and love story themes. Twilight of course, while somewhat hinting at the explicit at times is geared at a younger audience of hormonal teenage girls and Hot Topic shopping goth kids (don’t blame me for this one, blame South Park). I found it quite funny when I walked past a Hot Topic after watching the episode and saw a movie poster at the entrance.
I’ve read the first volume of Twilight, and while it wasn’t that bad, it’s just not the type of book I like to read. I’m not into the whole love story thing. After reading it I felt like I was cheated out of 12 hours of my life (fine I would have been cheated out of those 12 hours anyways since I read half the book on my way back to school last semester). Nevertheless, It was very predictable, had a to be continued type of ending, and it just struck a chord with me since It disobeys vampire tenants. In the Twilight universe, vampires are not affected by the sun, the stay out of the sunlight because they glisten like diamonds or glitter. That’s kind of cheesy, although I do have to admit it is unique. There is the clichéd good vampires (the ones who don’t feed on humans) versus the bad ones (the ones that do), and the human vampire love story. To kill a vampire you burn them, and of course there is the whole vampire versus werewolf dichotomy which is introduced in the second volume. Didn’t see that one coming…right. The movie was atrocious. It completely ruined my interpretation of the book. The casted characters were not up to bar with the described beauty of their book counterparts. In my mind Alice was hot, had nice flowing black hair and dressed in a vintage gothic (maybe victorian gothic) dress. She had none of that in the movie. Twilight also took a twist on the vampire charming abilities, making their scent the thing that makes them irresistable. In Twilightverse vampires don’t sleep, yet every other vampire story to date says they sleep in coffins during the day. Heck, Twilight makes it good to be a vampire, the only downside is the bloodlust.
True Blood
True Blood is like watching CMT (Country Music Television) for an hour. If you can make it past the thick southern accents, its actually a great vampire show. There is everything one would expect from an HBO show: gore, nudity, and explicitness. That’s what made me such a Rome fan. Like any southern set drama, there is the whole good versus evil religious battle. There is the cult-like extremist religious group Fellowship of the Sun, which directly battles the vampires. The Fellowship of the Sun operates under the belief that if god is light then they are the children of god and if darkness is evil, then it is bad, and if it is bad then it is not god therefore it must be Satan, and since vampires burst into flames at the sight of sun and live in darkness then they must be sons of the devil, and as such they burn in the sunlight. Lost you yet?
True Blood is a bit more true to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Vampires sleep on the earth (I’m assuming if they sleep in coffins then they must have dirt in them). They are also susceptible to the sun and silver. They can be staked to death…sometimes very easily almost to the point of ridiculity. They dislike garlic but it doesn’t kill them.
How can vampires be so strong, yet explode when staked? A human can take more than they can apparently. This is just too ridiculous and in fact its even funny to watch when they explode like in the clip above.
True Blood also makes vampires look somewhat trashy. For years vampires have been associated with old gothic style, elegance, old customs, and stoicism. There’s just something about it, it bothers me that the show is set in the deep south middle of nowhere Louisiana, with their thick southern accents. If it were to take place anywhere else, say a more urbanized city where people speak english with a normal accent, I would be fine with it. Now, the main character Sookie is good looking…except for that large distracting gap every time she opens her mouth. Why, why, why would the casting crew choose someone like that as the main character. The gap is too distracting! I agree, it makes her look more southernly.
Somehow, despite me not wanting to watch it, I still do. I have to admit I like the show. What’s not to like about exploding bloodbags?
Moonlight
Moonlight is just atrocious. It’s on sci-fi after all. I used to be able to stomach the shows on there, but Moonlight is just too bad. It’s private eyes meets vampires with bad acting and a lack of plot. I can’t believe CBS ever paid to produce this sad excuse for a television show. I’d rather subject myself to hours of Medium than this. Last Friday’s episode was about a boring search for a rogue vampire who had been turned and left for dead. Oh yeah, unlike in True Blood, makers (vampires who turn a human) don’t need to sleep near their deceased body in a hole in the ground to breathe life into them.
Vampires have become a staple of popular culture once again. And once again we are subjected to some sub-par science fiction television shows that should never see the light of day, like Moonlight. Others like True Blood would benefit from a change of setting. I guess the bayou is unique, but somehow I feel like I’m watching a fishing or hunting show on CMT. So what’s your favorite vampire show or movie?
Tags: art, blood, book, funny, moon light, television, true blood, tv, twilight, underworld, vampireRelated posts
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