Enough already! I’ve had it with all the vampires!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my all-time favorite shows, but I almost didn’t watch it. As clever as I thought it was when I heard the title — the chosen vampire slayer is named “Buffy” — I was already sick-to-death of vampires.
And this was in 1997! You can only imagine how much sicker I am of them now, over ten years — and 30,000 vampires — later.
I used to like vampires. They’re scary, they’re sexy, they can be used to make interesting points.
But here’s the problem: every possible point you can possibly make with a vampire as metaphor has already been made: the power of sexuality (Dracula), homosexuality (Anne Rice), assimilation (True Blood), chaos (I Am Legend), teenage angst (Buffy), immortality (The Hunger), delinquency (Lost Boys), eavesdropping (Fright Night), teenage love (Twilight), even war and the Israeli/Palestinian situation (Underworld).
But the well is dry, folks! There is nothing more that is even remotely interesting that can possibly be said about vampires. Let’s drive a stake in it.
Look, I get it. People love vampires — so much so that they’ve become something of a “genre” all its own. Vampire-lovers don’t care if the metaphor has been exhausted. For some reason, the identify with the characters.
But here’s the problem: when something becomes this popular, it drowns out other, more original stories.
It happened with superheroes, who have literally taken over the multiplexes. As much as I used to love superhero movies, enough already. It’s gotten derivative.
Vampires are the new superheroes. These days, vampires are like the tribbles from Star Trek, multiplying so rapidly that they’re threatening to engulf the entire ship. Have you seen all the damn vampire books in bookstores lately?
And what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning. There are a zillion more vampire projects in the works — books and movies. For example, Dacre Stoker, a great-nephew of Bram, has a new Dracula novel coming in October — and the movie rights have already been sold.
Publishers and studios won’t stop producing these stories until people stop buying and going to them. Vampire projects have become a way to help the bottom line — a “cheat” that gives businesses a way to make money without having to do anything daring or original.
And this is precisely the point: only so many books and movies can be published and produced in a year. When a good portion of books in a genre are all one thing, it means there is less oxygen for other, fresher stories.
Now, of course, word has gone in publishing circles that the vampire fad might finally — finally! — be fading. What’s going to take it’s place?
“Werewolves are the next vampire,” I heard one editor say.
Kill me now. First, the werewolf has a metaphor is almost as tired as the vampire, and as a genre it’s almost as tired.
Here’s the greater point: any monster being used a metaphor is tired. It’s been done. And done. And done.
Move on, already! Give us something different, something new!
Anything except this endless flood of vampires.
For a different perspective on vampires, click here.
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I must confess…. I have read the Twilight Saga. Yuk. But that was before the series was even fully released. I don’t get the obsession personally. The writing isn’t that good, the characters are 2-D and its incredibly cheesy. I much prefer the older, scarier bloodsucking vampires. Vampires used to be fantasy horror.
I am defiately planning to sell my copy of the book
I totally agree with you, but the overdose of vampire books and movies that nowadays deluges the fantasy genre is only part of the reason of my disappointment. Problem is, those books and movies don’t contain any vampires any more. They portray just humans with some “vampirical” features to make them more interesting. Underworld is an enjoyable movie, but do we see even once one of those “vampires” actually drink blood? They are just humans with great physical strength and big teeth. Inverview with a Vampire is good, and the urge for blood is actually covered, but then again, it’s more of a psychological study of the reactions of humans thrown into unhuman conditions. Those vampires are definitely no monsters. No undead creatures which came back from the crypt craving for the blood (live force) of the living. They are humans who never died, but just underwent a bodyly transformation that didn’t change their personality at all. Dracula certainly had memories of his mortal live (he talked about it), but he was definitely a nonhuman monster. That’s what a vampire is supposed to be.
Ah, and by the way, homosexuality was introduced into the vampire genre not by Anne Rice but already by Sheridan Le Fanu.
YES! Please! They’re getting progressively worse. The only original vampire book is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. THE ONLY. Not Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer’s collective wet dreams on paper.
Notice that the vampire was never really scary…but it was at least intriguing? In the original book you at least had some trepidation about who this pale, sophisticated man was. Now, people read it and toss it in a half hour.
Drive a stake in the vampire genre, and the werewolf genre. It’s been done.
Oh, and vampires and werewolves hating each other. Can anyone give me a logical explanation for that? Bats and Wolves dont really hate each other…
It is frustrating going to the bookstore and trying to find the small amount of epic fantasy books among all the supernatural books.
I noticed the trend start with the popularity of Laurel K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books. I love those books and have read a few other supernatural series, but I like my epic fantasy much better.
That being said, I don’t want all vampires to go away.
Yeah, stake MOST vampires…but maybe not all.
I’m with you on the moratorium for vampires. Not so much on the werewolves, but then I just really wanna be a werewolf. ‘Cause, you know, COOL.
And I utterly, utterly detest the “well, it’s OK to have a book centered around a vampire, because he’s GOOD vampire, who doesn’t kill people. What the hell? Please, if you’re going to write about vampires, just admit that you’re writing about creatures that KILL people and get over it. Otherwise, write about something else.
The problem with being a werewolf is you can’t control it. That and the fact that you, you know, KILL people.
I know, right? I so hate waking up in the morning cuddling a bloody limb that I was gnawing on when, you know, the Change came on and I went all unconscious & back to my human form. And the police show up and are all, “What is this torso doing in your front yard, blah blah blah.” And I really need to get a Bobcat to take care of things in the backyard, cuz you know, pooper-scoopers are fine for Chihuahuas, but canis lupus luna, not so much. Who knew this was so high-maintenance?
Most of your examples on metaphors seem to be relatively recent. Which considering the age of the vampire myth, makes it seem like there are a refreshing amount of new angles on which to explore it even after all this time.
I’d say kill some vampires. Staking seems a bit final as well. But the recently mentioned brick in the mouth would do some parts of fpr example twilight so much good (blabla, blabla).
But definetly not all, since I need to see how the cliffhangers from True Blood get resolved next season.
PS: two articles on vampires displaying opposing views? What are the chances of that? (I kid, I like it!)
OMG, a brick in the mouth of some parts of TWILIGHT. HILARIOUS!
I am right behind you on this. I admit I still love every moment of Buffy, own all seven seasons on DVD (Angel too) and am reading the comics. However, anything else with Vampires anywhere near it, I ignore completely.
I was joking with a friend of mine while participating in NaNoWriMo this past November that my sister who was also participating was writing a vampire story and that if by some miracle we all got published off those stories, she’d probably out sell us ten to one because of the vampire craze in the world right now.
I would like to add that she is a good writer and I honestly wouldn’t begrudge her the sales if that ever happened, I’m just bored with the whole vampire thing!
Also, I like werewolves better than vampires, you’re right about that storyline being done too.
I don’t even bother with vampire stuff any more. But the fangirls sure do! That’s what vampires are all about now. You know that, right?