Thankfully in the past several months the whole vampire trend in the media seemes to have calmed down to reasonable levels. However, the trend is still seen as destructive to the dignity of the entire vampire concept.
There are loads of times when being a vampire fan embarrasses me; even blogging for a whole month on nothing but vampires scares me. (Thus, I thank my viewers who still stick around when all hell broke loose.) Out of all the posts on the subject, every single piece of media portrays them as dark, attractive, mysterious, and sexual creatures of the night. Wasn't it only a few centuries ago when vampires were unfeeling, heartless, horrible servants of the devil?
Though I can't remember specifically, vampires fascinated me long before Twilight. Brief mentions of such creatures in Harry Potter? Mentions of Dracula? Sights of vampire costumes? Mini history lessons about Halloween monsters? Debates of superiority between vampires and warewolves? Playing with dolls with my friends and imagining they had supernatural powers? Whatever sparked my interest (though I'm sure the Count from Sesame Street didn't start it,) I knew the basic, semi-universally accepted characteristics of these creatures: repelling from holy water, the sun, and garlic; drinking blood from the living; roaming around at night; having pale skin, fangs, and dark hair; and dying from a stake to the heart.
Because I grew up knowing this, these tend to be the limits of my standards and
I never seemed to mind the various interpretations of these monsters. Though the vampire mythology of Buffy is far different then that of Vampire Academy, I still relish both interpretations for the sake of an enjoyable story.
But I obviously will join in the traditionalist bandwagon in the crusade against the sparkling ones. Thank you, Stephanie Meyer.
To further prove how much of a sucker (pardon the awful pun) I am for them, I have always wanted to write my own vampire story. Maybe it wouldn't bring dignity to the mortally bleeding horse, but at least it isn't beyond dead completely. But for now, I continue to research, watch movies and TV shows, read books, surf the web (who says that anymore?), and use my noggin to create something - if cliched - that won't suck to the point of people puking out their organs.
Regardless, the process is moving very slowly, but having sources and saving them never hurts.
In the meantime, I still have to dive into several books that people have asked me to read, specifically Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and The Historian. Well, I'll get there in the next three years or so at the rate I'm moving. Hopefully I can get something, somewhere one of these days: just as long as my blood doesn't run dry.
Since I didn't update as much as I wanted to, I will wrap up this month with maybe two more posts: one on a basic summary of the origin of some vampire legends and a review of something else. Look out for them, or dance for joy that the topic will get stabbed in the heart and sealed into a hell dimension for a very loooong time.
... ... ... maybe I should really stop watching Buffy. At least the title came from a HIM lyric... *sigh* Making references with no feedback is great for my ego. I have no life... *sniff*
