I give. Time for another ramble!
Mar. 9th, 2008 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reipanOkay, if you're new to this, which none of you are, this is the time when I wander off on some random train of thought for a while. Possibly two or three. If you don't like this, either don't read it or...well, no, that's your only option.
Right, that's all from the brain of Rei. This ramble is the Official Christening Ramble of Oscar Wilde, my new computer who is, strangely, female. (I like Oscar for a girl.)
Signing off!
Let me talk to you, then, about vampires. They've become somewhat an obsession of mine recently, mainly because I disagree hugely with the popular portrayal of them. Admittedly, this is subject to variations (Joss Whedon calls them bigger, badder humans, Anne Rice calls them godly superbeings, Stephanie Meyer calls them superbeings made of rock) but these tend to rest on a common bedrock: vampires are efficient predators who feed on human blood. This efficiency takes the form, nearly-exclusively, of them being Drop-Dead Gorgeous in an Evil yet Irresistible Way.
I take issue with this for several reasons.
First off, as most of these people also agree, vampires can be created by other vampires. This means that at least 95% of all vampires were human beings once. Unless the process of becoming a vampire alters your basic genetic makeup, you're not going to suddenly become the paragon of sexiness once you've been bitten. Maybe your appearance will take on qualities it didn't have before, but no way is it going to alter so drastically that you're irresistibly good-looking if before you were a rat.
And your personality won't change that much, either; no magical parasite is going to make you ultra-sophisticated or cool. Perhaps after a few thousand years of trying to attract human victims and failing you'll learn ways of drawing them in that you didn't know before, but I don't see why these should necessarily rest on sex appeal. What about a weedy-looking little boy/girl vampire who attracts bullies by dropping his/her glasses, bursting into tears, and feeding off those who come to pick on them?
Which brings me smoothly onto my next point: why are they all about seduction? Why do they all have to hang out in clubs, flirt with teenagers, and bite them whilst making out? Are all humans the same? No. Are they all going to go for that tall, dark, handsome stranger in the corner? No. A lot of people are going to get alarm bells going off in their heads if that person asks them to step outside. They'll think "rapist" or "killer". Sure, some of them will, but why should all vampires only have that type of victim to choose from? Some humans just aren't into looks; they're not as affected by lust, they'll be drawn in by something else.
And if vampires are predators, won't they be competitive? Won't certain vampires want to focus on less-hunted segments of the population? What about adorable vampires? Depending on your canon - if, in your world, vampires can go out during the day - why not a sweet, shy little bookworm who preys on unsuspecting library-goers? A slightly more twisted version of the nightclub one who takes humans on a few dates before killing them? A little-kid vampire who kills broody humans by luring them off on a false search for their lost parents? These are predators. The majority of them are not going to care if their prey has a home and family; or, at any rate, the possibility of that will matter less to them than their immediate needs.
Which is another thing, and my major puzzlement about most vampire canon. A lot of people like to make their vampires uber - in itself, not something I agree with, but I'll let it slide for now. They have super strength, super speed, super-senses, or all three. Some of them have magical powers. As if the Drop Dead Gorgeous "gene" wasn't enough. And mostly they're immortal, they don't age, they don't get sick. But all the "decent" ones cherish the secret longing to be huuuuman. To have a soooul. To have a normal liiiife.
Now. I can see why this might be an issue for some vampires - like I said, they were most of them human once. Some of them will have family, friends, lovers they've been separated from. Okay. Fine. But why is it that only the evil ones are allowed to enjoy what they are? Even a little bit? Okay, so, you have to drink blood. You maybe don't want to kill humans. Fine, I can go with that. It's accepted that you can exist off animal blood, which is no more than carnivorous humans do. So can't you enjoy the other stuff? The super-speed? The ability to defend yourself when you maybe couldn't before? Why is it always a curse? Why is it always something that no vampire wants to inflict on their loved ones? Why don't some of them say, after some soul-searching, "well, this isn't what I had planned, but it has its upsides; it's not going to torture me for the rest of my days". And perhaps try to convince a loved one to be vampirised as well?
And don't give me the "but no one will belieeeve me" bullshit. If you are one, I'm sure you can rustle up some evidence. Most humans are reasonable, and will, after some persuasion, believe you, especially if they knew you before and you were an honest person. And you give them the choice. This seems to me like just an excuse to give all vampires some angst. I sincerely doubt that there is not one single decent human being who wouldn't welcome a bit of immortality if they had someone to share it with. Why does that automatically make you evil? Being a vampire would not necessarily mean you had to be on your own for all eternity. And maybe you'd have regrets, but everyone has regrets. They don't dominate your life. And if they do, you should seek medical attention, vampire or no.
And I'm not saying this should be true for all vampires. I just find the lack of diversity irritating; it occurs far too often. Not just among vampires, either. Not all humans are the same; this is, by now, common knowledge. So not all members of each fantasy race are the same either. Face it.
Incidentally, why is so much of attraction sex appeal? I mean...well, no, okay, I can sort of see the logic behind that. (Among all species, that is.) It's just that it seems to me that there are ways of attracting people without making them necessarily want to sleep with you. I have a character who women adore, but in an entirely sexless way; he's very charming and very sweet, and they all want to hug him and give him cake. I have another character (just to be equal-ops) who attracts people by sheer virtue of the fact that she is very, very interesting. They don't necessarily fancy her; she's not that good-looking. But a lot of people find themselves so absorbed in conversation with her, once they meet her, that they don't notice much else. I suppose you could classify that kind of attraction as quasi-sexual, to be fair, but...I dunno.
Does anyone else out there have characters or examples of characters with utterly sexless charm? Share with me!
I take issue with this for several reasons.
First off, as most of these people also agree, vampires can be created by other vampires. This means that at least 95% of all vampires were human beings once. Unless the process of becoming a vampire alters your basic genetic makeup, you're not going to suddenly become the paragon of sexiness once you've been bitten. Maybe your appearance will take on qualities it didn't have before, but no way is it going to alter so drastically that you're irresistibly good-looking if before you were a rat.
And your personality won't change that much, either; no magical parasite is going to make you ultra-sophisticated or cool. Perhaps after a few thousand years of trying to attract human victims and failing you'll learn ways of drawing them in that you didn't know before, but I don't see why these should necessarily rest on sex appeal. What about a weedy-looking little boy/girl vampire who attracts bullies by dropping his/her glasses, bursting into tears, and feeding off those who come to pick on them?
Which brings me smoothly onto my next point: why are they all about seduction? Why do they all have to hang out in clubs, flirt with teenagers, and bite them whilst making out? Are all humans the same? No. Are they all going to go for that tall, dark, handsome stranger in the corner? No. A lot of people are going to get alarm bells going off in their heads if that person asks them to step outside. They'll think "rapist" or "killer". Sure, some of them will, but why should all vampires only have that type of victim to choose from? Some humans just aren't into looks; they're not as affected by lust, they'll be drawn in by something else.
And if vampires are predators, won't they be competitive? Won't certain vampires want to focus on less-hunted segments of the population? What about adorable vampires? Depending on your canon - if, in your world, vampires can go out during the day - why not a sweet, shy little bookworm who preys on unsuspecting library-goers? A slightly more twisted version of the nightclub one who takes humans on a few dates before killing them? A little-kid vampire who kills broody humans by luring them off on a false search for their lost parents? These are predators. The majority of them are not going to care if their prey has a home and family; or, at any rate, the possibility of that will matter less to them than their immediate needs.
Which is another thing, and my major puzzlement about most vampire canon. A lot of people like to make their vampires uber - in itself, not something I agree with, but I'll let it slide for now. They have super strength, super speed, super-senses, or all three. Some of them have magical powers. As if the Drop Dead Gorgeous "gene" wasn't enough. And mostly they're immortal, they don't age, they don't get sick. But all the "decent" ones cherish the secret longing to be huuuuman. To have a soooul. To have a normal liiiife.
Now. I can see why this might be an issue for some vampires - like I said, they were most of them human once. Some of them will have family, friends, lovers they've been separated from. Okay. Fine. But why is it that only the evil ones are allowed to enjoy what they are? Even a little bit? Okay, so, you have to drink blood. You maybe don't want to kill humans. Fine, I can go with that. It's accepted that you can exist off animal blood, which is no more than carnivorous humans do. So can't you enjoy the other stuff? The super-speed? The ability to defend yourself when you maybe couldn't before? Why is it always a curse? Why is it always something that no vampire wants to inflict on their loved ones? Why don't some of them say, after some soul-searching, "well, this isn't what I had planned, but it has its upsides; it's not going to torture me for the rest of my days". And perhaps try to convince a loved one to be vampirised as well?
And don't give me the "but no one will belieeeve me" bullshit. If you are one, I'm sure you can rustle up some evidence. Most humans are reasonable, and will, after some persuasion, believe you, especially if they knew you before and you were an honest person. And you give them the choice. This seems to me like just an excuse to give all vampires some angst. I sincerely doubt that there is not one single decent human being who wouldn't welcome a bit of immortality if they had someone to share it with. Why does that automatically make you evil? Being a vampire would not necessarily mean you had to be on your own for all eternity. And maybe you'd have regrets, but everyone has regrets. They don't dominate your life. And if they do, you should seek medical attention, vampire or no.
And I'm not saying this should be true for all vampires. I just find the lack of diversity irritating; it occurs far too often. Not just among vampires, either. Not all humans are the same; this is, by now, common knowledge. So not all members of each fantasy race are the same either. Face it.
Incidentally, why is so much of attraction sex appeal? I mean...well, no, okay, I can sort of see the logic behind that. (Among all species, that is.) It's just that it seems to me that there are ways of attracting people without making them necessarily want to sleep with you. I have a character who women adore, but in an entirely sexless way; he's very charming and very sweet, and they all want to hug him and give him cake. I have another character (just to be equal-ops) who attracts people by sheer virtue of the fact that she is very, very interesting. They don't necessarily fancy her; she's not that good-looking. But a lot of people find themselves so absorbed in conversation with her, once they meet her, that they don't notice much else. I suppose you could classify that kind of attraction as quasi-sexual, to be fair, but...I dunno.
Does anyone else out there have characters or examples of characters with utterly sexless charm? Share with me!
Right, that's all from the brain of Rei. This ramble is the Official Christening Ramble of Oscar Wilde, my new computer who is, strangely, female. (I like Oscar for a girl.)
Signing off!
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-10 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-10 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-10 11:10 pm (UTC)Oh, crumbs, how do I explain my theory without blushing. Basically, in most forms of sex, there's some form of penetration, be it digital or penile (hope those words are right). So, therefore, there's an underlying sexual element in the act of a vampire biting someone, as the teeth are penetrating the flesh. Blood's also a bodily fluid, like semen, so again there's the sexual element of bodily fluids being released. As a third point, and no doubt I appear to be extremely stupid now, vampires are usually written as disliking/being intolerant of daylight, thus making them nocturnal. Night-time is associated with things like sleep, bed, sex, etc, so there's another connection to sex.
Hopefully I don't appear to be talking out of my arse. >.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-12 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-12 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 11:33 pm (UTC)I think you'll find the kind of vampire you're looking for in Lee Killough's vampire trilogy (which can be a bit hard to find, admittedly) - Blood Hunt, Blood Links (republished together as Bloodwalk) and Blood Games. The protagonist is a cop who is turned while investigating a series of really strange murders, and while he has his share of angst (separated from his friends and family, etc.) he does appreciate the benefits of being super-strong, super fast and having hypnotic powers. And while he does lose weight (no more snacking on junk food!) and looks a bit younger after his transformation, he doesn't suddenly become super-sexy, and his character remains essentially the same.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 05:38 pm (UTC)