It appears that 2010 is off to a solid start at becoming another Year of the Vampire.
Although the eternally sexy blood-sucking undead have found immeasurable popularity over the last couple of years, it would be erroneous to not mention that there are a significant number of fang-haters walking among us.
It is in direct response to these beings that lack blood-lust that I write this blog. See, I have found that a little blood-lust is harmless, and might just do a body good. Allow me to explain.
As long as vampire stories have existed they have been associated with sex, lust, and sin. But, as teenagers have become more and more in love with the genre, shows like the Vampire Diaries and True Blood* are showing that vampires don't have to be just about sex and sin. Add the absurdly popular Twilight books and movies and it's clear that there is another theme prevailing - vampires are good. Sure, they have that pesky diet issue, but they are our protectors, they represent eternal youth, and...damn, they are sexy!
Of course I have my issues with the genre. The human girls tend to be portrayed as the damsels in distress, no matter their age. But, it has been quite refreshing to see that every once in awhile, even the frail little human girls turn out to be quite the protectors themselves.
In the Twilight books, it was Bella who rushes to save Edward from his own demise in Italy during New Moon.
In the Southern Vampire Mysteries Series (Sookie Stackhouse novels) it was Sookie who rushes to the aid of Bill when he was being held by Lorena in Book 3, and it was Sookie who rushes to the aid of Eric on a number of occasions in the books after that.
In the Vampire Diaries (referring to the show here, the books are unknown to me), Elena puts her life at risk on numerous occasions to rescue both of the Salvatore brothers.
And let's not forget that the Twilight books offer three female vampires in Esme, Rosalie, and Alice who equally need about as much protection as the Hulk.
So what is my point? Relax, I'm getting there.
The new vampire tradition has become much more even-handed in its gender and human delivery. While the leading vampire men are tortured, moody, dare-I-say-it-downright-EMO, they have high moral standards when it comes to respect for human life, and seem to genuinely feel pained when it becomes necessary for them to (gasp) kill someone. And although some of their actions can be a bit stalkerish, we forgive them because they just can't seem to help themselves, and we at least know they mean well.
But, most importantly, they are sexy and fun to watch.
So, how does this do a body good?
Because the theme of eternal youth spills over into reality. It isn't very often that women over the age of 30 get together in droves to see a midnight showing of a movie about teenagers on a weeknight.
I was one of these women, and based on the early box office results and the number of status updates from my peers telling the world which theater they were in with their friends to see the Eclipse premiere -- well, I think it's clear that vampires make us all feel young at heart and eternally youthful.
And there isn't a thing wrong with that.
A/N:
*True Blood might be a bad example due to the amount of nudity and sex on the show, but because Bill was portrayed as a tortured old-fashioned soul in the first two seasons, I feel it merits mention here.
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