Curiously enough, just walking through the science-fiction sections of my local book stores, I've just noticed that nearly half of 'em now contain books with either a vampire or a vampire hunter as the main character...
Vampires - Anyone Else Not Get the Sex Appeal?
- Thread starter Lapis Exilis
- Start date
RobertScorpio
Pariah
I wil l get it indeed!!
I was reading my JSA ANNUAL #1. And in that issue they show what happened to Power Girl after she got sent to the 'new' Earth Two by GOG. In that issue they actually show, briefly, DOCTOR FATE and SPECTRE (jim corrigan).
If this is the same 'pre crisis' spectre (though in a new form) wouldn't he "know" where Superman Earth 2 went (eventually to 'that other place' with Alex Luthor/superboy prime/Lois and then died in Infinite Crisis). I actually like the new 'Earth Two and wish they had continued with it....Especially since Huntress was alive, the real Earth-2 Catwoman/Batman daughter version.
BACK ON TOPIC..
Did anyone else here like Bram Stroker with Gary Oldman? I thought it was great and I just got a bluray copy to watch this weekend.
As for the VAMPIRE SEX appeal? Upon seeing TWILIGHT, both my 15 year old daughter and my 41 year old wife wanted to run away with that guy. So...maybe its a 'woman' kind of thing that we guys just dont get.
Rob
Great. Hope you like it.
Back to vampires: they've always been sex symbols, at least in popular fiction. Barnabas Collins was a big heartthrob back in the 1960s. There were over thirty Gothic romance novels written about him.
Even in DRACULA, the sex is just under the surface. Look at that scene with Dracula's brides, or the bit where Dracula tears open his shirt and forces Mina to drink his blood--while her husband is sleeping beside her. Bram Stoker got away with an awful lot by Victorian standards.
That's true, but we weren't trying to trace the sexy vampire's literary genealogy. We were trying to identify the moment when the paradigm shifted from 'scary' to 'sexy' in popular culture.
Lapis, remind me to tell you about the novel I'm writing for Leisure's "Fresh Blood" contest.
As for vampire sex, I've always found it to be unsettling and a little redundant. Say what you will about Anne Rice, but at least her sexy vampires had little use for their genitals after their transformation.
As for vampire sex, I've always found it to be unsettling and a little redundant. Say what you will about Anne Rice, but at least her sexy vampires had little use for their genitals after their transformation.
I think I was watching "Warehouse 13" . . . .
(Did I mention that my very first book was a non-fiction tome on the history of vampire literature?)
I think I was watching "Warehouse 13" . . . .
(Did I mention that my very first book was a non-fiction tome on the history of vampire literature?)
I never would have guessed.
I'd say that's because of the ridiculously arbitrary rules. Titillation and taking pleasure in sexual content will never go away, nor should, because, after all, sex is fun (unless you're doing it wrong). But the environment is restricted in such a fashion that juveline sniggering is pretty much as far as it goes it terms of free expression (after all, what says arbitrary rules like childhood/adolescence?). The limited sexualization in our society is, in many ways, akin to the sex-obsession of teen boys (sorry, not sure how it worked for the ladies) exchanging bawdy jokes and smuggled pornography because most of them have no access to the real thing. Publically, as a society, we're still adolescent about sex; it's all about the 'naughtiness' and seeing how far you can push the 'adults' (the aformentioned censors and other moral guardians). Like I said, I don't have anything against the occasional sophomoric view of sex per se; the real problem is that there's no counterbalance with a more serious, mature view of sex. Restrictions both foster the titillation attitude as a reaction to restriction, and assure its dominance by denying the alternative.
For instance, when traveling in western Europe--whose attitudes to sex a slightly more enlightened than North American, though certainly not without its own restrictions--it's possible to see billboards with topless women that aren't overtly sexualized (like billboards for soap, say). There may be such an element subconsciously, but being able to be more open about sex simultaneously makes such imagery less susceptible to being 'naughty' because it isn't as forbidden.
Well, attraction will always be subjective; understanding something intellectually and feeling it are two rather different things. I can understand, at the intellectual level, why some people enjoy BDSM play, for instance, but I will never be able to feel it and it will always be a turn-off to me. That doesn't make it wrong, just somebody else's fetish. And I'm totally down with sexual diversity; I can enjoy difference even if not the individual components.
Coincidentally enough, I just got my tickets for that...
Really? What's the title/publisher?
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
RobertScorpio
Pariah
That's the one. Alas, it is now out-of-print and way out of date.
It basically covers vampire fiction up to 1987 or so . . . .
Hah! I just noticed the reference to my former career as a phlebotomist. Boy, that takes me back.
(Yes, I used to drain blood from winos for a living . . . .)
It basically covers vampire fiction up to 1987 or so . . . .
Hah! I just noticed the reference to my former career as a phlebotomist. Boy, that takes me back.
(Yes, I used to drain blood from winos for a living . . . .)
Last edited:
Vampire women have long fangs. I shouldn't have to tell you why this might be a problem.
I know it's just a movie, but I found it intriguing that the film Ed Wood (Tim Burton) had a conversation in it about why women are obsessed with vampires (and much more so than men). They particularly talked about how a woman's response to blood is different than a man's. Part of a woman's sexuality involves blood.
There's also an attraction to the fact that many of these fictitious creatures are ones who have had extraordinarily long lives, are mature, mysterious, exotic and distant, are often presented as both masculine/strong and sensitive at the same time, have witnessed history and appear to have wisdom beyond how they look physically (forever young). All these things appeal to women. Especially history nerd women.
And don't forget the power of the excuse for the women-targeted costume period drama. You'll notice these scenes in most of the old-timey vampire stories. It's a marriage of sexy horror with costume drama fantasies. Girls also enjoy dreaming of 18th and 19th century gowns and chivalrous, romantic men.
And I say this as someone who DESPISES Jane Austen. Apparently, I'm in the minority as far as women go. Most just eat that stuff up. Though I certainly have my costume drama fetishes (mostly relegated to darker dramas like Amadeus and various vampire stories).
There's also an attraction to the fact that many of these fictitious creatures are ones who have had extraordinarily long lives, are mature, mysterious, exotic and distant, are often presented as both masculine/strong and sensitive at the same time, have witnessed history and appear to have wisdom beyond how they look physically (forever young). All these things appeal to women. Especially history nerd women.
And don't forget the power of the excuse for the women-targeted costume period drama. You'll notice these scenes in most of the old-timey vampire stories. It's a marriage of sexy horror with costume drama fantasies. Girls also enjoy dreaming of 18th and 19th century gowns and chivalrous, romantic men.
And I say this as someone who DESPISES Jane Austen. Apparently, I'm in the minority as far as women go. Most just eat that stuff up. Though I certainly have my costume drama fetishes (mostly relegated to darker dramas like Amadeus and various vampire stories).
I just want to be around when one teenage girl picks up the recent DVD re-issue of Near Dark based on the Twilight-ish new cover image...
THEN see her reaction after watching the movie, since it's pretty much the anti-Twilight.
LOL! Now we know why Nathan Petrelli was so hard to kill in Heroes, he was really a vampire!
Im confused though, I havent seen this film yet(but its in my Netflix queue)I thought I read that Pasdar's character doesnt actually become a vampire in the film?
as for the OT? love vamps, the gothier the better!
and I loved Moonlighting. Id like to check out True Blood too, if I can just find the time...
not so sure about Twilight though. Robert Paterson looks like such a douchbag in the movie.
He's like an SNL parody of a vampire.
^^ I don't want to give too much away but he's not a vampire when the film ends at least. It's a cool flick you should check it out, sort of "vampire grunge".
I was going to post that Twilight-ish image somewhere after I saw it, I cracked up when I first saw it, I'm glad someone posted it.
I was going to post that Twilight-ish image somewhere after I saw it, I cracked up when I first saw it, I'm glad someone posted it.
I've was just thinking about this topic the other day, and discussing it with my hubby. My friend has given me two vampire books by JR Ward. I tried to get into the one book with no luck, I got to a sex scene (which was enjoyable to read), and then it was blah. My friend keeps telling me that I would be interested in the newer series of Twilight, well, I don't have the heart to tell her no.
As I'm more interested in the history behind the fiction, the actual Dracula and what he did. I'm fascinated by the Victorian era and all it's dark secrets that it holds, but I cannot get into fictional vampires. I've tried before with Interview w/a Vampire when I saw in the movie theater long ago,but only thought of it as a good entertaining movie. I enjoy reading about sex and sensuality, but I have found other books that include that into their topics.
I will admit that I did watch Buffy, but it was only for a short while as I started to lose interest in it. Never got interested in Angel other than the fact that David Boreanaz looks just like his Dad (who happened to be the weather guy for the ABC affiliate in Philly).
So thinking about my friend and why she likes it, I think it has something to do with sex and it's sensuality. I think that this topic may replace the old romance novels that kept lonely housewives hoping and dreaming.
As I'm more interested in the history behind the fiction, the actual Dracula and what he did. I'm fascinated by the Victorian era and all it's dark secrets that it holds, but I cannot get into fictional vampires. I've tried before with Interview w/a Vampire when I saw in the movie theater long ago,but only thought of it as a good entertaining movie. I enjoy reading about sex and sensuality, but I have found other books that include that into their topics.
I will admit that I did watch Buffy, but it was only for a short while as I started to lose interest in it. Never got interested in Angel other than the fact that David Boreanaz looks just like his Dad (who happened to be the weather guy for the ABC affiliate in Philly).
So thinking about my friend and why she likes it, I think it has something to do with sex and it's sensuality. I think that this topic may replace the old romance novels that kept lonely housewives hoping and dreaming.
RobertScorpio
Pariah
