comment #1

Howlingman says ...

Sleep all day.

Party all night.

It's fun to be a vampire.

Face it; movie vampires are almost always young and sexy -- they''re 19-21 years old forever. I think the reason they appeal to that under 25 year old sect is because they (vampires) never have to deal with getting a job, joining the real world, deal with mortgages and greying hair and packing on the pounds. It's the ultimate fantasy, hence its popularity.

Now the over 20s who still vamp it up, well, the Brits have a very good term for that; "wanker."

comment #2

The InSneider says ...

A ridiculous explanation. But nice try. Doesn't it just speak to everyone's desire to live forever (and look young to boot), be an exceptional lover (and thus have exceptional sex) and be able to fly and/or shapeshift? I'd give up daylight and garlic for that shit any day.

comment #3

Craptastic says ...

Just saw "Let The Right One In". That is, hands down, not only one of the best "vampire" movies I've ever seen but also the best overall film I've seen in a long time.

It's too bad the teenie boppers that are going to see "Twilight" won't be exposed to this film until the completely unnessesary remake comes out.

comment #4

T. Holly says ...

Craptastic, would you rather see Let the Right One In or Faust with a band?
http://redcat.org/season/0809/mus/faust.php

It was better when vampires just lived forever and never cheatd on you because all they wanted was to suck your blood.

comment #5

mitchtaylor says ...

Oral sex prolongs your life and the prudes who don't understand will try to stab you in the heart for understanding this.

Of course, the book Dracula is all about swarthy europeans corrupting pure English girls with aberrant sexual activity...

So maybe it's just about that college-age travel abroad and fucking the locals while you're there?

comment #6

Radewart says ...

It's all about romance, espically with teen girls and Twilight. Vampire has been around for ever and feels alone and bitter until he meets this girl that creates a longing inside him that he hasn't felt in centuries. The girl is pretty, but in a unique why and is kinda of an outsider of the "in" crowd, the girl readers identify with that sentiment. A rival vampire wants to harm the girl and the good vampire fights to protect her as they fall deeply in love.

comment #7

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

It's not just young girls. I know women in their 30's and 40's who are anticipating this film with very high awareness.

I think one of the more uncommented upon aspects of the whole vampire thing is the submission aspect. Pretty much all woman want to be sexually submissive and the vampire mythos taps into this directly. Having someone give you eternal life would be a pretty fair trade off for giving them your free will eternally.

comment #8

erniesouchak says ...

It's easy to say it's all about sex because when Bram Stoker wrote about it, it had a lot to do with sexual repression. No matter how far we think we've come since then, I suspect it still has a lot to do with that. Curiously, Alan Ball has taken the opposite tack on "True Blood," depicting humans as so berserkly sexual there's no way vampires can compete. It's easy to forget, though, that vampires don't have sex in Anne Rice's "Interview w/a Vampire," which is probably the most popular piece of vampire lit ever written. Maybe it plays into the collective female fantasy that they can actually change a man -- or make him want to change.

Or maybe it's just the appeal of the idea of being young, omnipotent and pretty much invulnerable forever.

comment #9

JoseRC says ...

I think because they're generally portrayed as sophisticated, dangerous and romantic figures, three characteristics that put together appeal to these demos thoroughly. It might not be that simple though, but I think it leans to that direction.

And yes, Alan Ball has gone an entirely new direction with "True Blood" and I can't picture young women (for example) being excited about that series. "Twilight", on the other hand, is right up their ally.

comment #10

Rich S. says ...

There is also a very strong forbidden fruit/drug addiction metaphor in there. It comes out very strongly in the Lugosi and Lee versions of Dracula. Mina and Lucy know what they're doing is wrong, but they can't help themselves. They're addicted to the rush of being with the "bad boy." Like dating a biker, but worse.

comment #11

calraigh says ...

The most interesting aspect of both these posts relating to Twilight for me, is the volume of barely legible, syntax-free comments they seem to have attracted.
Interesting, no?

Oh and Deathtongue Groupie- the, ''pretty much all woman(sic) want to be sexually submissive '' concept is about as sexist as they come. The women you know in their 30's and 40's who are anticipating this film are the exception, not the rule.

This exception is in fact, the target audience for Twilight ; the premise of the novels by Stephanie Meyers on which the movie is based is incredibly conservative, to the point of being creepy- and that's disturbing creepy, not enjoyably creepy. They basically paint a very cosy, rosy portrait of teen marriage and teenage pregnancy, not to mention, as Deathtongue Groupie says, the ''submission'' aspect.

First there's heroine Bella's willingness to marry her vampire lover Edward, even though it means becoming a vampire, leaving behind her family, and sacrificing any hope of a normal life. Then there's her pregnancy and although she's never wanted a child before, she immediately falls totally in love with the green-eyed baby boy she's sure she's carrying. She says at one point: "I wanted him like I wanted air to breathe," "Not a choice � a necessity."

Gone for the most part is the sexy rapacity of Dracula; gone is the fine long tradition of gay vampires. These vampires mate for life, and they mate straight.
It's heroine's dominant personality trait is low self-esteem, and nobody really has to give up anything.
They're straight-up boring.
In much the same way that High School Musical garners it's appeal from it's straight-laced, ultra-clean morality, there's something of that to be found in Twilight , except sacrifice and a bad self-image are the exclusive preserve of the female characters and not only that, they're shown to be highly attractive traits; ones which will get you a man.
Yup, completely non-sexist, harmless fun.
The most tragic thing of all is that those female exceptions in the population who buy into this mentality.

I'll be in the bar.

comment #12

calraigh says ...

'' are those''.... Sigh .

comment #13

Strolzy says ...

Why Let The Right One In is becoming one of my favorite films to define this era:

SPOILER ALERT (in theme rather than plot)

- it captures with sincerity a throbbing sorrow that stems from the acts of Columbine
- there is 'cutter' diagnoses that registers in a character which manifests in a kind of pathetic physically contorted gesture
- vampire brutalities you can believe in

comment #14

huntermdaniels says ...

It grants catharsis through allowing one to examine his or her own mortality in a worldview where it is not as scary because it is not the end.

In queer culture it's popular because it plays off of the "recruiter" stereotype and, in some levels, deals with the AIDS crisis. I don't know that there is any literature on that, but it's always been my theory.

A vampire story is also useful as an allegory for adolescents and th development of secondary sex characteristics and the new "hungers" that come with them.

comment #15

nemo says ...

Let's face it, of all the traditional movie monsters, vampires are glamorous.

Frankenstein monster, not glamorous.
Wolf man, not glamorous.
Vampires -- glamorous.

All the theories presented here are pretty good. And they're probably all contributing factors.

Freud said that mental illness is always overdetermined. There is never a single cause. There are many "causes" working together, any one or small number of which would constitute a sufficient cause.

comment #16

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

everybody above is pretty much right.

also, vampires make me horny.

comment #17

MovieBob says ...

Vampires are driven and empowered by a compulsion that at once alienates them from the herd AND renders them in some ways a superior animal. They're the only monster that works as a metaphor for EVERYTHING on a long enough flow-chart ;)

Also, there's the "buffet" aspect: Werewolves are ONLY about animal-id, Zombies are ONLY about death, Succubi are ONLY about lust - Vampires are about everything.

comment #18

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

calraigh - it's not sexist if its true. Date a little more or have a wife who relates her girlfriend's admissions as I do, and then come back to talk.

comment #19

Edward says ...

Interesting topic since I just watched the Hammer classic, Horror of Dracula. Overly melodramatic, but a fun film. Pretty tame by today's standards. No hiding the erotic subtext in this film.

My favorite current vampire novels are Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, more noirish than romantic. Good writer, check him out at www.pulpnoir.com.

comment #20

T. Holly says ...

calraigh, go here

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/11/twilight-whats.html

and tell them, in an abreviated way, what you said and put a link in your comment to lure them back here. I'd like to see their fangs come out and fur fly.

comment #21

huntermdaniels says ...

For what it's worth, psychologically, submissive sexual desire is in no way related to being secondary or subordinate. In all actuality, the sub is in control because the entire game works on the premise that the dom has to stop when the sub says so. Ergo, the sub is actually the one with all the power.

That said, the initial comment did seem a bit questionable.

comment #22

Mr. Muckle says ...

In spite of modern elaborations having to do with sex, that's just a minor offshoot of vampirism. I see it as an emptiness and lack of integrity that manifests as entities who suck the life out of you. George Bush strikes me as a colossal, world-class vampire. Absent any cogent ethics and without fundamental personal integrity, he feeds on the nation and the world by creating upheaval for no good reason other than that he lacks restraint and the ability to accomplish any positive act. Fear is what makes us vulnerable to vampirism and, obviously, the creation of fear is the modus operandi of fascist politicians and wrong-headed religionists the world over since time began.

comment #23

lonniechung says ...

I've never been all that into the whole vampire thing, but I've also never been dismissive of the allure. It's just not for me. Twilight feels like it was made for teenagers, but I have become totally absorbed by True Blood, in spite of the vampires and because of fully formed characters and a clever approach to story telling. I think the reason that a certain ilk is drawn to vampires is fairly obvious - they're dangerous, outsiders by nature and overtly sexual. But come on, vampires in 2008? I'll wait for the big mummy revival.

comment #24

Pwrgirl says ...

The star of Twilight, Robert Pattinson, was asked this question on Access Hollywood recently. He said, "It has something to do with death and sex...It's like, 'I know what having sex with you will be like, it will be so amazing that I will end up killing you.' I think that is what the deal is."

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