Nov 23 2008
Fanged or unfanged?
Tomorrow, I’m going to be exposed to some speculative fiction myself. My daughter, who is a huge fan of the Twilight series, is taking me to see the movie. She has all but worn out her copies of all four books and is anxious that I am intrigued by this.
Now, I have to admit two things: (a) first, most of the teenagery books my daughter reads, I can’t stand. What seems like perfectly natural dialogue to her is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me, not because it’s not the way teenagers talk, but because it is. I feel the same listening to teenagers talk amongst themselves. (b) Vampires don’t interest me much. In fact, I can’t recall a vampire story I ever found compelling.
For anyone with teenagers, I don’t think I have to explain the teenager speak issue. As for the vampires, sorry, I don’t find draining blood all that sexy. Immortality sounds boring in the extreme and, hey, I like sunsets. I think part of my disdain is that, especially recently, people have worked too hard to make them protagonists because so many find them romantic. OK, not sure why they’re romantic, but I either find them fangless, if they’re too protagonisty, or slimy if they’re not. Anne Rice’s vampire from Interview with a Vampire I actually found whiny. I wanted, about halfway through the book, to tell him to stop whining and hit a tanning booth.
I was, in fact, telling my husband that I thought it was too hard to make vampires protagonists without making them stupid when he told me it was easy. He’ll be putting that together himself to prove his point. And I’ll get a chance to see what has made my daughter so excited. No, I haven’t read the books yet. After tomorrow, I’ll see if I should.
Oh, and I’ll see if there is a vampire scenario that works for me because, well, it’s a challenge.
I am DEFINITELY a fanged girl! I love vampire stories. In fact, (and this is TMI) when I was young, I used to want to be a vampire. I was disappointed to find it all a myth. I can’t tell you how many times I watched “Interview With a Vampire”. I think Ann Rice’s version of vampires in the sexiest. I’ve been out of the loop for a while, so I didn’t know anything about “Twilight” until recently. Let me know if it is good. As with all vampire movies and books, I’ll have to get to this one too.
Caveat: My husband and I still argue about who’s the best–werewolves or vampires. Unfortunately, he bought into the propaganda today’s market sells about the power of those wimpy wolves.
Davida
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Davida
As a child, I read way too much science fiction. Today I find it coming true; a situation I find horrifying.
I never published any science fiction. However, the science fiction critic/writer Damon Knight once took me to lunch. (Name dropping.)
I’ve never liked vampire stories or time travel stories. However, Theodore Sturgeons’ vampire book Some of Your Blood is so sick it’s kind of cute. You may not want your daughter to read it.
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Oh, the books are most definitely flawed, but I have found few books that aren’t. Yet I genuinely enjoyed them (three did less for me than 1 & 2, though, and I have yet to get to 4).
I hope to take the hubby to the movie soon…he loves vampire stuff, and we were both Buffy watchers until she went off to college and everything went stupid.
Glad you liked the film… I hope I agree.