...and then came Twilight

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The current rage of vampire novels, TV shows and movies that pretty up these so-called denizens of the night has its genesis many years ago. Bran Stoker’s novel crystallized and popularized vampires, taking bits of legends and folk stories from all countries and cultures and distilling them into one coherent mythos, one that remains fairly intact. Everyone “knows” that Vampires drink blood, are super strong, do not like garlic, crosses or holy water, and that they will live forever if they avoid sunlight, staking through the heart, beheading or fire. Everyone knows that they have to be invited in, have cold and pale skin, and have powers to persuade or charm. The males are all excessively male and the women highly sexualized. Add to all this is the fact that their soulless state allows them to do whatever the heck they want with no regard for consequence or censure and you have a very compelling story telling device that pits all of these rather exciting gifts against the many societal and moral constraints imposed by our religions, laws and social norms.

No wonder people are intrigued with the concept of vampires.

This latest teen vampire craze, which has its genesis with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also portrays them as possible boyfriend/girlfriend material. They are beautiful, old/wise, enigmatic, lethal, world-weary, tortured, wear cool leather coats, and, if engendered with a soul, have capabilities that make them veritable super-heroes.

They do still have to drink blood and stay out of the sun and have scary hair-trigger tempers, but that just seems to add to their mystique.

Then came Twilight.

Now suddenly, vampires are not just cool bad boys, they are beyond beautiful, able to withstand the sun, are not affected by weather or religious icons, are incredibly hard to kill and fight epic battles to protect someone they love. In addition, they seem to somehow eschew the much storied “demonizing” effects of losing one's soul and actually retain their human personalities. As such, they can choose to live ethically as “vegetarians” and seem to have no real flaws. They talk about a lack of a soul as an excuse for not wanting to change humans, but really, what is that in comparison to all that great beauty and strength and immortality, too?

Who wouldn’t want to be a vampire?

As much as I enjoyed the Twilight books, there has always been a sense that something real is absent; the lines of good and evil are carefully drawn and in the central Vampire family, the Monster is almost completely missing.

I think the vampire stories are a bit more compelling when things are not so easy, when they are struggling against their inner demons, when they feel the weight of their years and the watch the humans they love die off one by one. How long would it take before they would remove themselves from human society to protect themselves against caring for creatures who are so short-lived? How long can a being live before they begin to look at the human race with the same detached curiosity as a child watches an anthill, sun at his back, magnifying glass in hand…

Being a monster should be a bit messier than current modern pop culture dictates. There should be a price, even if that price is not readily apparent and is found centuries into the future when eternal life and beauty brings nothing but crushing loneliness and despair.

That would indeed be monstrous.



Just Musiing,
Susan

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Why I Love Joss (and Buffy)

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Joss Whedon is either revered by rabidly loyal fans or reviled by people who don’t get what all the fuss is about. There is very little in between.

Until about 7 years ago, I was in the latter, “Who the hell is Joss and is that really the way you spell his name?” group; now I am firmly ensconced in the “I Will Watch ANY PROJECT With Joss Whedon Attached” crowd.

There are two main reasons for this sudden and irrevocable change of heart: His ability to write unforgettable, completely rounded flawed, heroic and funny characters and his absolute and utter fearlessness as a writer and as a director.

This man can make you fall in love, make you angry, make you laugh and rip your heart out, in the span of an hour’s episode (roughly translated to 43 minutes of air time). .

Today’s subject will focus on, arguably, one of Joss’ most celebrated popular TV series: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. (I will get into my other favorites in separate blogs, where I am sure I will reveal more about me than about Joss!)

First, the name: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Oh please. What an utterly stupid premise, a teenage high school blonde girl named BUFFY (of all things!!) who is super strong and fights vampires?? How childish! I refuse to watch because even the TITLE sounds dumb.

Then I caught the end of the episode when Evil Willow carelessly ripped Warren’s skin right off his body.

WHOA.

What just happened? Why? What did I miss?? I spent the same hour every day trying to figure out what was going on. It was so compelling , even at that late date in the series, that I kept watching day after day… Complex and intertwining, overlapping stories and characters that just pulled me in: Who was a good guy, who USED to be a good guy but was temporarily bad because of a combination of grief and access to power, wait and someone else used to be a really really bad guy and now he was a good guy because of a “curse” (how do you curse a bad guy into being good??? Isn’t that the opposite of curse?) and, of course the Vampire Slayer is somehow in love with a Vampire, no matter how cute he is… WHAT? Unapologetic, quirky, charismatic and somehow amazing interesting bad guys. Really good friends who will literally pull you back from the brink of hell. Even regular guys who just seemed to be sucked up into following the wrong person and end up feeling guilty, but somehow lack the courage to get out. Characters who actually EVOLVE and grow and sometimes even change completely… All that evil personified into characters who were alternately funny and scary and complex and then REALLY scary because it hit close to home.

Joss is unflinching… he knows how to add layers to his characters and pull them all together in a really compelling story, the best of which stay with you for hours, days, weeks. Many essays, blogs, articles, books have been written on Joss’ ability to draw people in, college classes have been taught dissecting the “deeper meaning” of his work, so I won’t attempt to reinvent the wheel here.

Since this is my blog and I don’t really have to impress anyone, I will indulge myself a little.

Here are my Awards for favorite Episodes, Moments and Characters:

BEST EPISODES:
*Creepy Harlan-esque horror: Hush (s4)
*Real life, helpless horror: The Body (s5)
*Funny, Clever and Painful Your Secret’s Out: Once More With Feeling (s6)
*Best Cross-Over with Reality that Really Makes You Wonder: Normal Again (s6)
*Most Fun Had by Grown-Ups: Band Candy (s3)
*EEEEEEwww!: Doublemeat Palace (s6)
*Best Averted Apocalypse: The Gift (s5)

MOMENTS:
*Scariest Hook-Up: Xander and Faith
*Favorite Strong Buffy Moment: Buffy telling the Council off – and throwing a sword at the pompous guy to shut him up
*Best Character Reveal: Spike realizing he is in love with Buffy after a dream
*Best Character Reveal Reaction: Xander laughing after Buffy tells him Spike is in love with her
*Best Betrayal Scene: The Potentials and Gang kicking Buffy out of her house
*Most Powerful Love Scene: The building falling down around Buffy and Spike
*Funniest Tombstone: She Saved the World. A Lot.
*Most Heartbreaking Moment: Anya’s walk down the aisle
*Most Touching Moment: Spike putting the rifle down and awkwardly comforting a crying Buffy on the porch
*Best Payoff Moment: Series Finale, Anya: “Floppy, hoppy, bunnies…!”

CHARACTERS:
*Favorite - for so many reasons - Character: Spike
*The Most Evilest of Really Evil Bad Guys: Caleb
*Most Schizophrenic Bad Guy: Glory
*Best Evil Version of Themselves: Vampire Willow
*Funniest Version of Themselves: Buffy the Robot
*Most Pathetic Character: Riley
*Most Over-rated Character: Angel (except when he was Angelus)

Well, that’s it for today. I suddenly have this strange desire to re-watch the entire series again…

Just Musing,
Susan


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