Am I Lying to Myself?
The title of this post may conjure up all manner of dramatic questions and images, and even thoughts of doubt. Well, lay your minds to rest because I am not in the midst og any personal crisis nor am I doubting my writing. If anything I could never be more positive about it.
No, what I want to talk about today is vampires and romance.
If anybody asks me about vampires, I am more on the side of evil. blood sucking motherfuckers who don't give a crap about anybody than the lovey-dovey, doe eyed yuppies that seem so popular today. Yet if you take a look at the shows I watch you will see a different picture. From Buffy and Angel to the current number one on my TV Show list the Vampire Diaries, it would appear that I am nothing more than a walking contradiction.
In my defense however, I would like to see a stake driven into all of the twilight characters. Although that may be more as a result of acting so wooden it makes Daniel Radcliffe look like Tom Hanks.
My love for all things Vampire Diaries aside, I stand by my feelings over Vampires. However, I do believe that there is a mix between the two. I do not think that Vampires should be painted as pure monsters, but nor are they daylight loving Jersey Shore watching metrosexuals.
I should probably confess at this point that my first real series of novels I ever planned was a YA Vampire series of 4 novels called True Evil that saw four vampires sired but learn that they had the ability to control their urges and could choose to be evil. This was about 10 years ago I had this idea and made rather extensive notes on it. Maybe one day I shall venture back to it, but not to hit an overpopulated market but because I liked the idea once.
If we look at the ultimate vampire; Dracula. There were definitely a lot of romance that surrounded him and his character, and much like Hannibal Lecter, he was well-mannered, well read and a very gracious host. I like that concept and think it makes a much more chilling villain than some mad doctor on a small tropical island planning to take over the world.
I guess what I am saying is at the end of the day, in my humble opinion (for what it is worth) vampires are evil. Maybe that is why I like the Vampire Diaries so much. When we boil it down, all of them vampire portion of the diaries are evil. They mask it and act with near perfect social graces when the call for it is there, but they are all killers, and have all been shown as such in some way.
To keep with the theme and the show, I think my favorite line involving any vampire lore was uttered by one of these well-mannered villains in last week's episode. It is where Elijah is talking about their mother – the creator of vampires – and how she wants them all dead.
"Mother made us vampires. She didn't make us monsters. We did that to ourselves."
