More Twilight Tatts

Inking your body with Twilight motifs is a pretty hardcore sign of devotion to the franchise. Obviously. Here's one example that comes with an inspirational story behind its origins.

This is Cathy Ward, 49, of Reading, England. A friend gave her a DVD of the first film during an ebb in her life. She became obsessed with the series, and spent her downtime following the series rather than snacking. She managed to drop 14 dress sizes. She got the tatts done (with more to follow) in commemoration of the series' role in saving her from morbid obesity.

So, despite what some might say, turns out Twilight's good for something.

It Was Bound to Happen

I wasn't kidding when I mentioned how mainstream vampires had become thanks to the Twilight franchise. Here's the latest proof.

A word of warning, if you're actually thinking of seeing this flick: it was written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. If those names don't ring a bell, try Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007) and Meet the Spartans (2008) on for size. The best assessment of their movies can be found here (NSFW link).

Twilight Haters Unite!

There's always a flip-side to success and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga isn't immune from the taint. In fact, it's managed to accumulate its own brand of anti-fandom.

For instance, did you know there's a whole website devoted to distaste for the series? I'm sure there's many others, but this one's called TwilightSucks.com. Here's the scoop from their "About" page:

TwilightSucks.com is NOT a hate shrine but rather a place of refuge for those who didn't fall madly in love with Twilight...saw through it's blinding errors, contradictions, and mockery of the English language AND the writing profession as a whole. We are not a fan site, we are not a hate site...we just realize and agree that Twilight sucks discoballs. Oh yeah, I went thar.

Not a "hate shrine"? The folks at Encyclopædia Dramatica beg to differ. Before you click on that link though, be warned that it's not safe for work. Or kids. Despite the offensive content, they make some pretty good points about "hating" on the franchise.

As a side note, I've re-labeled my "Stephenie Meyer" posts under the "Twilight Saga" banner. Usually, I prefer labeling posts about a work under the collective name of the author. But when that work exists almost beyond the author themselves, that is, it achieves a mainstream popularity that goes beyond mere autobiographic details and becomes a phenomena in its own right, then I'll feature it under the name of the work itself.

That's why there's a "Dracula" banner at all.

However, if the post largely does concern the author themselves, then they get their own tag. Just something for future reference, there.

The Twilight Machine

While I may occasionally sneer at Twilight, one thing that fascinates me about it is its level of success. Absolutely phenomenal and bewildering at the same time.

I mean, how often does this level of mainstream popularity and success happen to an author who'd never even written a novel before? A manuscript that took a mere three months to complete? By contrast, Stoker's Dracula (1897) was written over a period of seven years.

What about the story itself? The vampire love triangle, prolonged over a series, wasn't new to young adult literature when Twilight was published in 2005. So what's the big deal about with this one?

Anyway, here's a peek inside the inspirations that gelled into the mega doorstop epic that is the Twilight saga. Of course, there's another probable angle, alluded to by Rob Pattinson, himself.

Ramblin' Man

Just came across another Twilight-centric study on Amazon, to be released on November 3. This one's called The Twilight Mystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films.

If I can be bothered, I'll get around to compiling a list of studies on Twilight. And presuming there's a decent number out there. We'll see.

Yeah, I bet you can sense my lack of real interest. Heh heh. However, I'll give those books credit for something: thanks to their pop culture infiltration, there seems to be an increase in the publication of the books about vampires. Woohoo!

However, it's disenchanting to see that not many of these are be meaty studies of the field. Just the usual regurgitations on vampire history and the literature and film stuff. Ah wells.

At least, in the English-speaking world. If you shuffle over to Niels' Magia Posthuma, you'll see some seemingly interesting publications (see here and here) in German. It's a real shame that the majority of this stuff doesn't get translated into English more often. Practically none of it, actually.

In fact, the most recent translation of any vampire non-fiction book I can think of, off the top of my head, is Claude Lecouteux's The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes (2010), which was originally published in French as Histoire des Vampires : Autopsie d'un mythe (1999). While it has some interesting references, it's also pretty damn incoherent in structure. It just seems to jump all over the place.

Really, that's the best book we make available in English? Come on!

Amazonian Recommendation

Sorry for neglecting the blog, folks. Just been really busy lately.

Here's a brief item of interest, thanks to Amazon's recommendations. It's a new book to add to the burgeoning field of Twilight scholarship. It was released on June 15th.

That's right, I'm talkin' 'bout Bitten by Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, and the Vampire Franchise. Here's its product description:

Focusing on the wildly successful Twilight series, this collection of scholarly essays examines the phenomenon from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives. Particular attention is paid to cultural, social, and economic aspects of the series and to the recurrent messages about youth, gender roles, romance, and sexuality. Essays discuss race and religion, and provide audience analyses of young adult, adult, anti-, and international fans. Other chapters are political-economic examinations into celebrity, tourism, and publishing. With new research by established and rising scholars, this volume is a significant contribution to the growing field of youth studies and complements existing feminist cultural analyses of media texts.

Does that kinda stuff tickle your fancy? If you liked the books mentioned here, it'll probably be right up your alley. Personally, I prefer a more generic approach to vampire studies, not regulating them to a specific pop culture vampire franchise. See also: Buffy Studies.

But hey, that's just me. That's not to say the book won't be of some interest, however.

Taking the Sparkle Out of Twilight

Ellen Donahue and Lane Bennett wrote an interesting little review called, "Real Vampires Don't Sparkle". Yeah, you can probably guess what the book is. Here's an excerpt:

From page 376-451 there is almost a plot. The “bad vampires” (you know, the vampires who actually feed off of human blood. We know, it’s shocking, how could they?) show up and decide that Bella is just so amazing that they simply must feed from her. This naturally upsets Edward and his family, but the problem is quickly ridden of and Bella and Edward can go back to staring at each other.

De-Romanticising the Vampire

Well, it looks like my jubilation over the Fright Night remake being canned, was a tad redundant.

As recent news from Collider.com reveals, it looks like it's going full steam ahead. Even if they're only at first draft screenplay level.

However, there's an undercurrent to the article which conveys a backlash against the "romantic vampire" genre. It's even seeped into the current premise of the movie. Producer Mike De Luca elaborates:

You know, what about this idea is relevant to today and what could be done better than it was…maybe not better but different and different in a way that makes it exciting. And with Fright Night, again, going back to the vampire thing, with all the romantic vampire stuff going on with The Vampire Diaries and True Blood and Twilight, the most obvious. We thought it would be interesting if, in this atmosphere of the way the vampire is being portrayed right now as a romantic object, under the wire of all that in the culture the real thing moves in next door. And the real thing is a killer. Just a predator. It’s the shark from Jaws. On the outside it’s a seductive package and it looks like a human being, but it’s just about ripping your throat out and drinking your blood.

There's echoes of this attitude in Blade: Trinity (2004). Think the scene where "Drake" (Dominic Purcell) walks into the goth shop.

The basis of the idea, of course, is to regress the vampire back to its "monster" status. The creature of evil we grew to know and love through Stoker's Dracula (1897) and various other incarnations.

This nostalgia is typified by John Nettles' "Where Have All the (Real) Vampires Gone? (Or, "Bite Me, Lestat!")".

However, there's two factors that these monster buff miss out on: 1) the vampire of history (folklore) wasn't nearly as brutal as they'd like to think 2) even the monsters in fiction are sometimes shown to have a heart.

For a quick example, let's look at Count Dracula.

In the novel, he is depicted as a cunning, cruel being, looking to spread vampirism through the civilised world. Yet, he clearly has a soft side. Let's take this scene, in which the Count rescues Jonathan Harker from the attentions of his "brides":

"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me."

The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him. "You yourself never loved. You never love!" On this the other women joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the room that it almost made me faint to hear. It seemed like the pleasure of fiends.

Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper, "Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will. Now go! Go! I must awaken him, for there is work to be done."

This "emo" side of Dracula is also alluded to in Bela Lugosi's turn as the Count, when he says, "To die, to be really dead, that would be glorious."

When "monsters" are humanised in this manner, especially by giving them a "tragic" elelment, the natural outcome is to explore the emotional dimensions of their situation. What's the mindset of a being that lives for centuries and must subsist on blood for its own survival?

This, of course, lead to the diversion of vampire-as-monster into vampire-as-hero/protagonist. Thus, Fred Saberhagen's The Dracula Tape (1975) sought to tell the story from Dracula's point-of-view. Its subsequent sequels, in turn, recast the Count as a hero.

More famously, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1976) was narrated by Louis de Pointe du Lac, a former resident of 18th century New Orleans, who describes the trials and tribulations he faces as a vampire. Probably the most successful vampire novel of the twentieth century, it was further expanded in Rice's elaborate "Vampire Chronicles".

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Hotel Transylvania (1978) transformed a mysterious historical figure into a vampiric Romantic hero and also spawned another successful series.

These approaches made the vampire much more "accessible" to the public. He was no longer an aristocrat living alone in a dank castle up in the mountains, but a fully developed "personality", one that could be found in an urban environment.

This also meant that the vampire became more of an accessible "fantasy" figure, too.

And so, from this genesis, the vampire romance genre was born. Its most successful incarnation is, of course, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight franchise.

Of course, this means that fans of the vampire genre, who either grew up with - or prefer - the "monster" variants, were stranded in an overcrowded market.

This in turn lead to a new wave of vampire depiction, in which the vampire's monstrosity is re-introduced, if not enhanced. The vampire hunter also resurfaces as a major character. Think F. Paul Wilson's "Midnight Mass" (1990; 2004), John Steakley's Vampire$ (1991) and David Wellington's "Vampire Series" (2006- ).

Then, there are versions that walk the line, like Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter" series (1993- ) and Joss Whedon's TV rendition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).

The tug and pull between romanticisation and de-romanticisation will always be present in the vampire genre. There will always be debates and preferences over what vampires are "meant" to be like.

After all, one of the greatest attributes of the vampire in fiction and film, is its adaptability; the same characteristic that's ensured its success and survival in the present age.

X-Rated Twilight

I should warn you that this post is gonna be dealing with some adult content! So, if you're of somewhat delicate sensibilities, I advise you to turn away!

Oh, you're still here.

Anyway, I was having a read through CRwM's "Link proliferation: John can give you cancer", which leads into a subheading he calls "My Most Blatant Bid Ever to Drive Traffic to My Blog":

Stephanie Meyer's, Twilight, the word "porn."

Those search terms alone should pretty much guarantee that this becomes my most read blog post ever.

And it got me wondering...is there Twilight porn? Y'know. Purely for curiousity's sake.

Ahem.

It didn't take long to find out. And don't worry, I didn't Google "images"!

Jenni Miller gives coverage to the "inevitable" pornographic spin-offs of Meyers' success. In particular, a flick that was released in October last year called This Isn't Twilight: The XXX Parody.

Rule 34, indeed.

Uh, that link isn't "worksafe", by the way.

You would've noticed the emphasis on "parody" appearing in my previous post. Obviously, these artistes are trying to avoid a lawsuit.

Although, one wonders what conservative Mormon housewife Meyer must be making of this stuff. If she's aware of it, of course.

Mind you, the main appeal of such flicks is the cheeky titles they use. It's no wonder that Cher Tippetts laments This Isn't Twilight's lack of originality: "Frankly, we were disappointed they didn't even attempt to come up with a vampire-themed pun for the title."

Much more effective titles have been used in other "parodies" of popular vampire franchises. A few of my favourite titles (none of which I've seen, mind you) are Muffy the Vampire Layer (1992), Intercourse with the Vampire (1994) and From Dusk 'til Porn (2004).

Twilight Backlash

In the previous post, I mentioned that the success of Meyers' books had spawned off a massive resurgence in vampire literature.

As usual, there's always a flipside to such things. A backlash, if you will.

Several parodies of Twilight have been written. They include Stephen Jenner's TwiLite: A Parody, Stephfordy Mayo's New Moan: The First Book in the Twishite Saga: A Parody and The Harvard Lampoon's Nightlight: A Parody (all 2009).

Oh, and you check out a Twilight-based tune here.

Obviously, not everyone's so keen on vampires at the moment. Hell, the good folk of Flatmancrooked have even gone out of their way to publish an anthology with the following title:


That's right. It's called, Not about Vampires: An Anthology of New Fiction Concerning Everything Else. It was edited by Deena Drewis and is due for release on the 15th.

If the bloke on the front cover looks familiar, then you'd be right. It's David Duchovny.

Why'd they choose a rendering of him for the cover? Here's what the book's publishers have to say:

On this season of Californication, Hank Moody decried the Twilight series, and in so doing nearly drove one of his students to suicide. Though we don’t want Stephenie Meyer to die, or anyone else for that matter, we’d like to combat the recent spate of popular vampire fiction, some of which is parading itself as literature. Therefore, Flatmancrooked presents Not About Vampires: An Anthology of New Fiction Concerning Everything Else, with cover graphics by the white hot Kevin Best depicting Professor Moody dispatching some teen bloodsuckers.

In the Wake of New Moon

Here's a few letters from the mX (Melbourne) concerning the Twilight phenomena.

New Mooner writes ("In the Twilight of Their Opinion", Monday November 23, 2009, p. 24):

Anna Brain (For What It's Worth, mX, Thu) [Brain is one of the paper's pop culture columnists -ed.], a negative review of New Moon? How unoriginal. People of all ages have a real love affair with these books and movies. Surely you felt the atmosphere of opening night? Millions of people can't be wrong...right?

However, G doesn't share this sentiment ("For Real", Monday November 23, 2009, p. 24):

Anna Brain, at last someone who's read and seen Twilight and sees it for what it is. What I also find scary is how some girls might end up in abusive relationships and not do anything about it, because it's what Edward does.

It's also caused some frustration for David ("Twi Not", Monday November 23, 2009, p. 24):

Anyone would think that Twilight New Moon was the second coming of Jesus. If I hear one more thing about it, I'll murder someone. Who cares?

And lastly, B. Stoker chimes in with his two cents ("Gurgling", Friday November 27, 2009, p. 19):

Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, climate change, Twilight movie and its fans - the world really is going down the drain.

Cracking the Hundredth Mark

While I was watching Neighbours today (ahem), one of the ad breaks screened a compilation album called Forbidden: Songs of Love, Lust & Blood.

What does this have to do with vampires, praytell?

It was the angle being used to promote it. That's right, they were pitching a vampire connection!

The ad was too brief - and surprising - for me to have jotted down any notes (not that I sit in front of the telly with a notepad and pen in hand, mind you), so I'll hand you over to CD Online's spiel:

2 CDs for the lovers of all things vampire. The world has been swept up in the craze of Vampires, whether it be the romantic movies, tv series, books, actors etc, we can't get enough of this fantasy world. Disc 1 features Rock/Emo sounds with Vampire themes and Disc 2 features Acoustic/Indie focusing on love, lust & passion.

Some of the inclusions are certainly a bit...unusual. I mean, blink-182's "First Date"? 3 Doors Down's "Kryptonite"? Really?

Despite the (mostly American) acts present on the album, it's certainly an Aussie compilation in that it features a pretty decent amount of Australian acts, namely, The Living End, Short Stack, Kisschasy, Sia, Missy Higgins, Butterfly Boucher, Josh Pyke, The Audreys and Little Birdy.

It's quite obviously a cash-in on the recent release (November 19) of New Moon, but boy that cover looks pretty!

It's also interesting to see the romance (for want of a better word) angle being so prominently featured. Tragic love. That, I believe, is the drive behind the success of Meyer's books. Not vampires, per se, but the themes she explores in her series. The vampires, I think, are practically peripheral.

Now, as you may have noticed from the title of this entry, this is my hundredth post for this blog! So, after that previous ramble, I'll share some goodies with you to mark the occasion:

• "Meet the Twlight Mums". Read this heartwarming (or, disturbing, if you prefer) story of a bunch of mums who got together to share their love over Meyer's books.
• Martin V. Riccardo's "The Vampire as a Psychic Archetype", TAT Journal: The Forum for Awareness 2.3 (1979).
• I was recently looking for a copy of Matthew Kratter's "Twilight of the Vampires: History and Myth of the Undead", Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 5 (1998). I wound up contacting the journal's publisher, Michigan State University Press, only to be informed by its Order Fulfillment Manager that the article was...available for free as a download! Woohoo! You can access download it via this page. But, a word of warning: you'll need Adobe Acrobat (it's a pdf file) and you'll have to download the entire issue (c. 25mb) to have your own copy of the article.
• Remember my entry on the (rather dubious) connection between porphyria and vampires a while back? Well, I've got something a bit more scientific for you: Ann M. Cox's "Porphyria and Vampirism: Another Myth in the Making", Postgraduate Medical Journal 71.841 (1995). You can download it through here, and yes, it'll be another pdf file.
• Lastly, here's a stack of articles from Innana Arthen's "Rare Article Archive" from her webiste, By Light Unseen.
  

Well, that about wraps it up for now. Have fun kids!

I'd like to take the time to thank my readers, commentators, followers and even casual browsers of this blog. Wouldn't be much point without you!

I'd also like to give particular thanks to Niels K. Petersen and Andrew M. Boylan for some wonderful correspondence.

Thanks guys and keep up the good work!

Even Hackers Go Crazy for Twilight

You know you've made it big when even hackers exploit your popularity.

Here's "Hackers Put Bite on Fans" from the Thursday November 19, 2009 edition of mX (Melbourne), p. 5:

Cyber criminals are attempting to rob personal information of fans of the Twilight series.
Security software company PC Tools has identified a scheme that targets people who search online for author of the books, Stephenie Meyer.
When users click on to "Stephenie Meyer at 365Multimedia.com", their computer is infected with malware that asks them to install phony antivirus software.
The Vampire Byte program then sucks out personal details.

Vampires on Telly

Speaking of localised vampire interest, I was surprised to see vampires featured on Wednesday's The 7pm Project (Channel 10, 7pm-7:30pm) and via a crappy skit on Hungry Beast later that night (Channel 2, 9pm-9:30pm).

It's a lead-up to the cinematic release of New Moon, nationally, today.

On Friday the 13th, I was also sent an e-mail by Allison Bethurem, FutureWorks PR, who notified me about Stephenie Meyer's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the same day. The show was listed as a Facebook event.

I never caught it as a) I was busy that day b) the screening times differ in my country c) Allison notified me by a Gmail account I rarely use.

But, still, it's the principle of the thing. We're talking about a vampire author on Oprah!

How often does that happen?

The world has gone vampire-mad!

Localised Vampire Interest

Looks like there's other kindred spirits haunting the web.

Here's how Amy Gray - author of How to Be a Vampire: A Fangs-On Guide for the Newly Undead (2009) - is described by Candlewick Press:

Amy Gray is a writer, photographer, and amateur vampirologist who has been fascinated with vampires, spooky art and literature, and the supernatural stories.

I had no idea she was a fellow Aussie until I read the rest of the description.

It's great to see such contributions being made by my fellow countrymen. And women. Ahem.

You probably weren't even aware such writings came from here. After all, did you know that Ken Gelder (Reading the Vampire, 1994) and Gordon David Keyworth (Troublesome Corpses: Vampires & Revenants from Antiquity to the Present, 2007) are fellow Australians?

And, just like many other parts of the world, we've been bitten by the Twilight bug.

Martin V. Riccardo forwarded me two interesting articles that discuss the rise of vampire interest in my country, largely off the back of the success of Stephenie Meyer's series and its subsequent movie(s).

The first article talks about its success knocking another popular franchise off its block:

VAMPIRES have killed off boy wizards in the battle for the imaginations of Aussie kids.

The popularity of supernatural bloodsuckers has eclipsed old favourite Harry Potter, with children eagerly awaiting the release next Thursday of the second movie in the wildly successful Twilight series, New Moon.

The second article he sent talks about the rise of "VAMPIRE clubs, covens and lairs".

Now, I'm not saying that vampires have completely taken over our society, but it's interesting to see how much they've caught on. We don't exactly have a huge horror fanbase here. Hallowe'en is still generally regarded as an "American holiday".

That said, I'm not operating under any grand illusions with vampires' current popularity. I know that it's nothing more than a trend that'll pass soon enough, but it's also interesting to see just how deeply vampires have embedded themselves in mainstream popular culture.

I don't think vampires have ever been this popular.

So, for better or worse, hats off to Mrs. Meyer and her sparkly undead.

I can only hope that this current popularity will generate more scholarly writings on vampires in general. After all, there's more to 'em than Edward Cullen!

Something They May Live to Regret

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series seems to have surpassed J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise in terms of hardcore literary-based fandom.

What makes me think that? Check out CelebrityFIX's "Die-Hard Twi-Hards Show Off Their Twilight Tattoos" for a hint.

The article ponders on the possible hastiness in getting such artwork etched into their skin:

Sure, some of them will probably still be die-hard Twi-hards even when they have to zimmer frame it to the video store, but for others we're guessing the teen angst will wear off long before the tattoo ink fades.

It is also accompanied by a gallery of 17 body art tributes to their favourite young adult fiction vampire series.