Anyone else sick of vampire movies/series?

GWC Community Off-Topic/Other
#1

I can’t be the only one. I just saw a commercial for The Vampire’s Assistant. It’s like the umpteenth vampire themed movie show this year. I understand trying to capitalize on Twilight and True Blood, but come on people (talking to Hollywood). There are other horror figures to explore. Ok, Mummies has been done for awhile. How about Frankenstein or more Werewolf movies like the upcoming The Wolfman. I wouldn’t mind more Underworld movies. Anything besides just vampires!

Are people really paying/watching this stuff to warrant the saturation of vampire themed movies/shows? Am I the only one ranting against them? I feel like Pierre Bernard and his Recliner of Rage.

#2

I remember reading The Vampire’s Assistant years ago…it was half-decent.

And yeah, I used to really love Vampires, and now I’m ashamed to say I like them, what with all this feminization of them and all. It’s really sickening, to be perfectly honest.

I’d love to see something dealing with the arcane and supernatural…you know, ghosts and stuff to that effect.

Dr.Who crossed with Ghosthunters meets Van Helsing :smiley:

#3

Dr. Strange movie maybe?

Kinda funny, Robert Downey Jr. might make a good Dr. Strange too.

Edit: Omg! Doctor Strange (2012). Neil Gaiman is doing the screenplay!

#4

See, I’d love a Dr. Strange movie, because he’s my favourite Disney superhero :stuck_out_tongue:

But there isn’t enough of a fanbase for a movie like that to succeed. Besides, he isn’t the Sorcerer Supreme anymore.

#5

Lol @ Disney superhero. Who is the sorcerer supreme these days? Is Dr. Strange the Sorcerer Deluxe now? ^^

#6

Brother Voodoo, although since replacing Dr. Strange, he’s known as Doctor Voodoo.

From Wikipedia: As of New Avengers #53, Brother Voodoo has possession of the Eye of Agamotto. The Eye left Strange after showing him and the New Avengers nearly thirty candidates who would possibly replace Strange. Because he possesses the Eye, Drumm may be the new Sorcerer Supreme. The possession of the Eye indicates that Jericho possesses a pure heart and a clean soul. Drumm appears in New Orleans to intervene in the desperate battle between Dormammu and The Hood against Doctor Strange with the New Avengers. After Hood and Dormammu’s minions are defeated, Doctor Strange agrees to train Brother Voodoo in the arts of magic.[17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Voodoo#Sorcerer_Supreme

#7

I’m not a fan of vampires at all. I’ll be glad when this “era” exhausts itself. Give me aliens, or… well you know :wink:

There’s a lot to be unpacked there. In short, feminization = sickening / shame is problematic - does this mean being feminine is inherently shameful? Why are the ways these figures are being portrayed perceived as “feminization”? Why is feminization coded as negative? I’m sure there’s a history about the figure of the vampire in general (also problematic, given the physical violations that (male) vampires visit upon their (female) victims), but these types of comparisons and characterizations (reading: feminine / feminization as not worthy of attention) have always struck me as unfortunate uses of cultural discourses around gender and power, as well as the socialization that we all participate in vis-a-vis both of them.

#8

Of course he can speak for himself, but I think what Shalashaskka may have meant is a sort of ‘reverse misogyny’.
I’m no expert in vampire lore, but I would consider Bram Stoker’s Dracula fairly misogynistic, so I guess turnabout is fair play.

#9

I concur, nothing wrong with a bit of feminization!

Or a lot!

#10

For the twilight fans: Vampires do not “sparkle”.

That is all.

#11

I have always liked “Traditional” Vampires…Dracula etc…
I also like movies like NEAR DARK… Where there is a twist to the Traditional Vampire.

I have never been a fan of anything ‘metro-sexual’ and that is what this current crop of Twilighty vamps seem to me to be.

That said, I am OK with, the Vampire Diaries being a TV series, ( I have watched two episodes and will not be seeing more) Because I think it can act as a gateway for some of the 90210 crowd to find out that Sci-Fi is OK.
IMHO.

#12

I didn’t mean any offence by my comment, so I’ll try to explain.

Keep in mind, I grew up on Dracula. He was THE vampire. And he was a masculine figure, a very masculine one. He was a seducer, an elegant man, and he commanded power. This is the template from which I draw this argument from.

Basically, as Vampires have progressed through time, more and more they started to lose this masculinity (strictly speaking from a male perspective), starting with Anne Rice. Lestat and Louis were very good characters, but there was something lacking there that really made them the same level of coolness that Dracula possessed. They seemed a bit more feminine, and even in Interview there was supposed to be a hinted sexual tension between the two. However, Lestat was still a bad ass and a very kickass character in his own right.

Progress to the now…Twilight. Need I even bring up how much of a pussy Cullen is? He is the complete antithesis of what Dracula was. A total estrogen soaked whimp who does not deserve to be called a male. Now, I am not a chauvinist or a misogynist, but he is portraying all vampires and weak and pathetic, indecisive and very very emotional, as he is the new posterboy for them.

Now, I have NOTHING against female Vampires…Lilith was an amazing character. She was a seductress, a bombshell, she knew how to throw her weight around to get what she wanted…all without losing her feminine side. Also, whats-her-name from Interview (Kristin Dunst’s character in the movie, it escapes me at the moment). She was an extremely likable character, who was a woman, but she didn’t show the same indecisive weakness that Mr. Cullen does.

That is what I mean by feminization: not necessarily acting like a female, which I have nothing against, again, but rather, it is NOT acting like a man.

And this is why it is hard for me to say I am a fan of vampires, because these pathetic excuses for creatures of the night are lumped in and Twilight first comes to mind. I don’t want to speak for everybody here, but I think this is the case with most men. Vampires, which were once awesome, no longer are.

Again, sorry if I offended you.

#13

Truth be told I was never a huge ‘monster’ fan, vampires included. What I did like was the conflict between the demonic predator and the protagonist who risks his/her own soul in the fight against a manipulative and compelling evil. My main problem with these more recent adaptations is that they lose some of those predatory aspects by attempting to further humanize them(they are all ready humans turned evil which is a big reason why the stories are so scary).

I think they are reaching a saturation point, if they havent already, but if it is well done Im willing to watch.

#14

I am not tired of vampires in the least. I am not a fan of Twilight or The Vampire diaries. In fact I’m quite surprised that the first real break through of vampires into movies/television was indeed Twilight. Especially when the series that truly brought it into current reading trend popularity is Anita Blake. Believe me when I tell you, these are not angsty teen vampires reliving their hormone induced high school. These are gritty dangerous, vicious beings & they certainly aren’t the only ones. The heroine is also not the Sookie Stackhouse type (as portrayed in the show I have not read the books).Anita is a tough woman with her own strengths & weeknesses trying to survive in a world stacked against her as a woman & dealing with creatures that she is clearly no physical match for. In many ways she reminds me of Starbuck without the gender neutrality in the BSG universe. These are the types of vampires/heroes/heroines that I enjoy reading about.

#15

not really–the ones I like, I’ll watch. but there is the risk OD-ing it

#16

I don’t really see how you are saying that Edward Cullen isn’t masculine…give me examples. Furthermore whose definition of masculine? What about the vamps on Buffy, or True Blood for that matter? Is it because they are all good looking? Is it because they are not inherently evil as Dracula was? It is because some of them seek redemption for past evil? Is it because vampire fiction is increasingly geared towards a female audience?

Says you. Who made you the person who defines what vampires do? Vampires are fictional and therefore cannot be restrictively defined. Perhaps you prefer that they do not sparkle in the sunlight - but that is your preference.

#17

Maybe this is my issue. I’m not big on demographics. But, maybe because so much vampire fiction is geared towards women, men and women who don’t consume stories geared toward women that we feel vampire stories are over saturating the market? Or, could be the lack of vampire stories we’d like to see/read.

That said, I tend to enjoy many anime and manga geared toward women for some reason. Prolly because there’s a greater variety.

#18

Most vampire fiction these days (with the exception of True Blood maybe) is geared towards women, specifically teenage girls. And it’s because teenage girls are the most susceptable to that kind of fantasy - dark dangerous men who sweep you off your feet. Vampires are being used more as a metaphor for the “bad boy” that every teenage girl thinks she wants. Twilight didn’t cause this phenomenon but it sure made it much much worse. To be sure it is watered down - but swing the other way and you get pure horror which appeals to men but not to women. There doesn’t really seem to be a middle ground.

#19

Dude, seriously, stop digging! THE HOLE IS DEEP ENOUGH!

I’m not a fan of Twilight myself, I find it to be poorly written misogyny with a worrying tacit approval of spousal abuse, but that’s just my opinion of it, and I know a lot of people, male and female that love the series, and don’t see the same things I do in it.

To add context, I’m fairly certain that Casper The Friendly Ghost is really a series of recruitment films for the freemasons, so my opinions may be somewhat suspect.

Is Edward Cullen feminine? Not really, he’s an Emo, but at least he doesn’t have stupid hair.

I do have to sat that I think the only time that vampires should sparkle is as their ashes catch ambient light after a good staking, but hey, one mythos is just as valid as any other.

#20

That would probably be the nail in the coffin…pardon the pun

Really?