We will fang your fiction to death

[meganbmoore]

So, several times lately, the subject of vampires vampires vampires everywhere has come up. Some love them, some hate them, some just don't get why they're so big. I mean, lets face it, they're all over the place in virtually every genre of fiction, and vampire spinoff shows are spawning ripoffs...

[Poll #1072385]

Comments

[foenix.livejournal.com]

Like, but with love leanings.

Depends on if they're hot. ;)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*shakes head*

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

Although I have loved shows with vampires in it like Buffy or Angel, and I rather enjoy Blood Ties and Moonlight, as a general rule, vampires piss me off.

1. Stupid, indecisive, fangy things. Either be dead or alive, none of this indecisive undead crap

2. I hate how irresistible and gorgeous they're always supposed to be. They're animated dead flesh that sucks blood.

3. I hate the portrayal of vampires that they're always gothy, leather-wearing, bondagey, sex-obsessed, bisexual, kinky hedonists :D It gets a little old!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Exactly. When I like or don't mind them, the property as a whole tends to take the "evil bloodsucking monsters" approach, or "sexy? those things? are you insane? THEY WANT TO EAT YOU!"

Buffy had Angel and later Spike, but for the most part, they were all portrayed as evil evil evil, and even those two, it was of the "you're nuts to buy into the anne rice mindset" i mean, angel semi-regularly went bad, and spike more behaved himself than ever really went good...even in season seven or angel season five, he was more acting good than really good...in buffy because he loved buffy, in angel because he was having fun.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I rather enjoy Blood Ties and Moonlight

Oh!! YOU ARE ENJOYING MOONLIGHT!!! ????

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

Yup! remember this conversation (http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/974801.html?thread=7582161#t7582161)? :D

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Either be dead or alive, none of this indecisive undead crap

Hee! This is pretty much how I feel about vampires as well. All this indecisive flailing that seems the staple the modern vampire is becoming too much. It's either fang or not to fang - there is no try. ;P

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Just gobble everyone up, or quit whining and so something about it.

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

It's either fang or not to fang - there is no try. ;P
Exactly! Out of all those supernatural beings they are the most self-entitled, Gen X/Gen Y/have my cake and eat it/it's all about me/indecisive creatures! They should just take the ... creature by the fangs damnit and be one or the other ;)

Sometimes I think vampires are just an excuse to have lots of gratuitous pretty people engaging in kinky sexy romps in black shiny outfits on screen/on the page :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think vampires are just an excuse to have lots of gratuitous pretty people engaging in kinky sexy romps in black shiny outfits on screen/on the page :D

You just described about half the urban fantasy genre. The half I try to avoid.

[chomiji]

I blame the whole thing on Anne Rice. She had to go and come up with Lestat, and it's all been downhill since then.

I quite liked them when they were rare, and were still grotty bloodsuckers up close. Now they're just the night-dwelling glitteratti, and in some cases the horror-story equivalent to the cheap-ass fantasy fiction elves. Take a hike, dudes. You don't suffer enough for me to feel your angst ... .

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I love urban fantasy and most urban fantasy seems to have them as a requirement, so they're unavoidable, but more often than not, they annoyed me. When I do like them, it's because vampires as a whole aren't portrayed as tragic, romantic, misunderstood, etc. I mean,seriously, they look at us like lunch...what's the appeal?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Vampires used to be scary AS ANYTHING and I liked them this way but they are a cliche' of romantic prose now and I still like it. Bbut yes, this season there seems to be too many of it. But "Moonlight is goooooooood. :D

I liked scary vampires because I used to be a fan of horror stories.

I like them in romantic cliche' because it is a GOOD cliche' for me as I am forever a lover of redemption stories and redemptive types and the whole "I am half a monster and I am fighting it" thing appeals to me. And yes - forbidden love. I like it. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not just this season...and they're everywhere in books.

I'm all for redemption stories and a GOOD forbidden love story, but all too often, the vampire version is just milked without there really being a good forbidden/redemption angle, just tossing the cliche out there. The reason it worked so well in Buffy is because on the Angel front, he really DID used to be a monster, and only stopped because he was forced to. Even though Angel is "Good" when we meet him, he doesn't REALLY become good until falling for Buffy. Similarly, Spike was and remained a monster, and only tried to change because he loved Buffy...it's very clear that without Buffy and possibly Dawn(to keep him good without Buffy, and even that's because of Buffy) there would have been no change.

Most of the time now, though, they just toss out an angsty or romantic vampire, have him pose and whine and call it a forbidden love/redemption story.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Most of the time now, though, they just toss out an angsty or romantic vampire, have him pose and whine and call it a forbidden love/redemption story.

I agree in some cases - this is actually what repelled me in "Blood Ties" as books. The mood is a little different in the TV series but in the books Henry is clearly a vampire who has hypnotic powers (and uses them on women) and who has no scruples about drinking human blood at all. And all women find him irresistible and let him drink their blood. YIKES!!!

The reason it worked so well in Buffy is because on the Angel front, he really DID used to be a monster, and only stopped because he was forced to.

And you see, this is what I like in "Moonlight" now - Mick also used to be "just a vampire" but he changed and now he is constantly aware that he is a monster (and he is trying to fight it). It is not a spoiler as it is probably everywhere but let me know if you rather don't know any spoilers : he changed after he rescued Beth when she was a little girl and saw her fear of him. I like these elements v. v. much.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I used to like vampires. Now I'm allergic to them. Same with dragons and unicorns. It takes a lot of my friends telling me something is awesome before I'll pick it up if it's got one of the Big Three in it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

hmmm...i'm largely fed up with vampires, but i love dragons still...i can't really think of a lot w/ unicorns...simon r green's blue moon rising may have given me an eternal tolerance for them, though.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

I voted "Won't watch anything with them in it" which isn't entirely true, but it has to be a bloody exceptional piece of work (no pun intended) to make me seek it out willingly.

This also covers, to a much lesser extent, zombies, werewolves, etc etc. A good "zombies eating everybody" movie will slip through the cracks pretty easily (like recently a friend showed me "Slither" with Nathan Fillion which was pure campy fun, or "Shaun of the Dead" from a few years ago. If it tries to be serious, though, it kills any interest instantly), but aside from that I prefer them out of my fiction.

Mostly they just bore me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Zombies exist for guys(or gals) with guns and pointy things to shoot/chop them up. Any other use is silly. Sometimes it's another zombie doing the shooting/cutting, which can be even better.

[fire-snake.livejournal.com]

I buy into the whole "good turned evil, turned tormented evil, turned good" for the plot and character development purposes. Otherwise, Dracula and his followers are supposed to be pure evil. According to the traditional view, being a vampire means the ultimate destruction of the soul, lack of hope in redemption, etc. Call me a traditionalist, but I get cranky when being a vampire becomes an alternative lifestyle.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Exactly. When it's one vampire in a couplethousand, it's fine. When it's virtually every vampire there is, though...

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

er... Indifference? Is that an option? Because, much like every other preternatural wonder, I can take 'em or leave 'em.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I think that would largely fall into the 3rd.

But yeah, I really didn't care one way or the other until they were invading everything I read.