BAD Vampires

OK, starting with the idea of bad and good vampire. For some of us there is no such thing/creature as a bad or good vampire. Some of us even don’t like to think about vampires, for we find them scary and fairy tale like. But let’s think for a while about bad and good vampires. There was always a division between things considered as good and evil, people have good and bad side (yeah, dark side etc.). The main concept of fantasy genre is the war between good and evil, so we’ve got heroes and anti-heroes. In short, that’s how the history and introduction goes. Since Meyer’s Twilight we observe a continual progress of good vampire emerging out of thin air. OK, maybe not out of thin air, rather out of authors’ mind.

I’m aware of three GOOD vampires, Edward Cullen, Bill Compton and Stefan Salvatore. The huge rest of them, including even the stereotype and conventional ones, are BAD vampires. Bad, so we should avoid them, be afraid and in the end stake those monsters because otherwise we’ll be their next dinner or aperitif! Just run for your lives then duck and hide in a pot full of garlic. I know that’s grotesque, but such is introducing the contrast between good and evil vampires. Good vampires don’t drink humans’ blood, they prefer (how come? masochists!) animal or synthetic blood and usually fall in love with a human. And then what is the greatest desire? The lover’s blood. Yeah, that’s all about masochistic behaviour and being a veggie vampire.

Back to the true vampires, that is, bad or evil vampires. I’ll mention only those who are nowadays most popular. Eric Nothman, Damon Salvatore, James and Victoria. James and Victoria, both Meyer’s characters, are rally evil. They’re predators, humans are only food for them, sort of fast food. But, I think that our and my attitude is affected by the lack of insight into their motives and history.

Damien and Eric are a different kettle of fish. We more or less know their motives. But first let’s look at those lads.

Eric

Damon

Two gorgeous  lads. This seducing look. Maybe I’m over-interpreting that, but still. Both wearing black leather jackets and jeans. Both having their arms folded as if saying ‘so what?’ or ‘you’re already won’. But there’s a difference between them, even huge and I’m not mentioning their vampire are. Damon was made during the Civil War and Eric in the pre-Middle Ages. Damon was a son of the bitch as a human and he is happy with his ‘new’ powers and the ability to control humans. Eric’s mentality is different. He was a Viking and though you might thing that Vikings were fierce warriors who didn’t really care about anything  it’s not exactly the way it was. Vikings were Germanic warriors who are a part of the culture of shame (Christians are the culture of guilt). Their honour is the only thing they posses. They have to fight and win so others would be proud of them. It’s not that they didn’t care about their follow warriors. They were dedicated to their leaders, loved them. They’d do anything for them.

Some time ago, we wouldn’t go into analysing characters’ psychic, but nowadays it’s normal. The deeper we go into the more we understand. For me there is no division between good and evil vampires. As vampires they have the same traits as they had as humans. A story needs a hero (good vampire or a vampire slayer), anti-hero (bad vampire or a stereotypic vampire) and a victim (usually beautiful girl).

That’s all.

True Blood, Vampire Diaries and Twilight

Lovely triangle?

Well, this is the triangle from Vampire Diaries. That is two Salvatore brothers, obviously vampires, named Damon and Stefan. If I ever thought that Bill is not a vampire name I’d have to eat my words, for now we have a winner of an unofficial contest for the least appropriate name for a vampire. Stefan. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that you can name a cat Stefan, but not a vampire (http://kotstefan.blox.pl/html). Is it the end of the Gothic convention?

Stefan is a sort of veggie vampire, yeah, the same type as Edward Cullen and surprisingly Stefan has the same hairstyle, similar style of clothing and even features! Is Vampire Diaries a TV version of Twilight? Well, not exactly. Cullens have specific supernatural powers, but Salvatore brothers seem to be  almost like Dracula. They can transform into fog or a raven and they can change human’s thoughts, erase them or modify. What’s more they have supernatural strength and speed, but is rather usual.

We’ve got an evil older brother (yeah, older brothers are pure evil ^^’ ), Damon who is a true vampire type and Stefan. I start to think that even name indicates how his behaviour is different from the conventional one.  Younger brother is compassionate, loves humans and fells in love with a human… that is Elena. Interestingly, TV Elena  is completely different from the book Elena. Though she should be bitchy she is meek like a lamb. And who is the best lamb in the world? Bella, there is even a slight resemblance between those two actresses. OK, maybe more than slight. But, initially, Elena should be blonde like True Blood‘s Sookie and we’ve got brunette Elena.

Getting back to True Blood, we’ve got there blonde Sookie, blonde Eric (<3) and black-haired Bill. Though the name ‘Sookie’ sounds a bit deprived of intelligence as well as appropriate for the Louisiana setting it can be justified. Just listen to the girl talk. ‘Eric’ is a somewhat Gothic name of a centuries old Viking vampire, yeah fearful and amusing lad. And we come to ‘Bill’ . My immediate association is the cartoon Blinky Bill, but maybe I’m just carried away.The guy was made a vampire during the Civil War and amuses us with his chivalry and dedication to Sookie. Gimmie a  break. Another ‘edwardish’ or ‘stefanish’ character. Not that I consider every carrying character a sort of moron which can only appear  in romantic comedies or mills&boons. Also, I’m  not pessimistic, rather realistic. Girls want such things in guys but they behave differently and far away from the Edward Cullen ideal guy set of character traits. It may turn out that girls will stop thinking about Mr Right or a Prince and his white horse. We’ll have a dreamy white-skinned vampire lover. Sorry, vampires don’t exist. Emotional ones do, but I doubt if any girl would like to date such, unless she is a masochistic lamb and he’s a (stupid) lion.