Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Cornucopic Contemplation: Why Vampires? They Suck.

I hate Twilight, I dislike Stephanie Meyer, and I can't say that the movies strike any chords within me, and any that it does strike are dissonant at best. Most vehemently of all though: I hate the recent vampire craze that has hit the country thanks to the success of Twilight.

Now, I'm not going to go on a rant about how Twilight is the worst heap of vomit ever to be regurgitated by the mass market YA crowd, and about how much I want it to die and for the world to forget it ever existed. Instead I'm going to talk about how silly and annoying it is that authors all over the country are cashing in on the "vampire craze".

It's amazing how many vampire books have popped up (and become popular) because of the success of just one. I'm trying to decide which is more annoying: the fact that authors are trying to cash in on the success of Twilight and Ms. Meyer by producing something that will please the hoards of vampire hungry preteen girls because they can't get enough out of those poorly played out, badly acted, badly written series of books and movies, or the fact that the authors are succeeding.

I understand the alure of vampires and the thought of vampires has always been enjoyable to me, especially in books like Night Watch, where they are simply there and not an intigral part of the story line. But what I can't understand is how authors have turned something that is supposed to be terrifing into sparkly and idiotic love interests. The only exception that I can give for the case of falling in love with a vampire is for the Sookie Stackhouse series because vampires still retain an ounce or two of their frightening nature in those books (and show).

Hopefully this shameful market craze will end once all of the twilight movies have come out. Zeus forbid that Meyer writes a spinoff on the last book.


(Click to Enlarge)

2 comments:

Natalie said...

I have to agree with you for the most part. (Don't even get me started on sparkly vampires or the literary mess that was Breaking Dawn)! I've read the Twilight series myself, because I strongly believe that you should try something before you bash it. My opinion: there are definitely major plot/character/mythology holes in the entire series. I can understand why some parts would appeal to teenage girls, and I can respect the fact that the series has gotten some teens into reading who wouldn't read otherwise, but to me, the writing's lacking in depth. I never really liked the main character, but I thought the books were mediocre (with the exception of the final installment, which was just plain awful). That was before the craze hit. Now? I can't really stand seeing any of it. I'm sick of hearing about it in some way, shape, or form everywhere I go!

Kudos to you for being able to write a post that will probably be controversial in the blogging world. I hope the Twilighting teens never get ahold of your address. :)

Jenn (Books At Midnight) said...

Ahh, yes. I have to admit that I was quite a Twilight fan about the months following its release (years ago, before it got popular). But now, after reading vampire book after vampire book, though I can't truthfully say I don't like vampires, it's just gotten a bit old. And now it's either some crazy obsession or pointing out flaws. Seriously? Twilight is just a book that I could have enjoyed by myself if it wasn't blown up so much. Nice post!

Ratings and Recommendations by outbrain