Reflections on "Move over Dracula"

This post is in response to my sister's blog, and this post in particular the entry: "Move over dracula." When I read the following to my husband, "Last year, around October or so, my book club suggested Twilight so I read it. Fluffy teen vampire romance, hardly any substance, next thing I know, I'm borrowing the other three in the series and waiting impatiently for the movie . . . " he nodded in agreement and said, "That's the way it goes."

My husband and I love trashy TV. We watch House and Grey's Anatomy. We watch America's Next Top Model. We have both lamented about the fact that Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency is no longer airing. Although arguably some of the shows do actually have some some substance, Grey's Anatomy and House are two examples, it is invalidated by the fact that we also watch Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team. We're fascinated by their perfect bodies. We've contemplated purchasing their workout DVD.

We're losers.

At any rate, I am interested in my sister's interest in this sudden interest in vampires. I'm interested because our newest trashy fascination is with Vampire Diaries and all things vampire. As I write this, we're watching The Secret Life of Vampires on the Biography channel. The caption in the info button is, "The creatures affect pop culture for more than a century." It's wonderful background noise for vampirical inspiration, although I must say I wasn't bargaining for the segment on the "real vampires" in the modern world.

Apparently there are some extremists out there that actually drink blood from each other! To me that's pretty shocking, but I'm a self-admitted square, so maybe I just need to be more accepting.

[Pause]

Nope, still shocked.

The rest of the show on the Biography channel is really interesting about the history of vampires. Apparently none of the shows we watch (and love) seem to be overly concerned with historical accuracy. Oh well. Part of the vampire's enchanting allure is their adaptability. I don't recall Count Dracula possessing a magic ring that allowed him to go out in the daylight, but that's a new-fangled twist on vampires now-a-days. Oh, and PS: speaking of the Count, according to the Biography channel: dracula means devil (I did not know that). There is no end to the intriguing tidbits!

So the "sudden interest," according to the Biography channel, is technically not so sudden. Apparently it all started with Bram Stoker's novel Dracula in 1897, but as time went on increasingly better special effects were thrown in from Hollywood, not to mention the bigger boobs from 21st century nutrition, and voilà! We were on a neolithic journey and have finally arrived at the captivating picture of today's vampire. And there were multiple cinematic triumphs of gleaming white teeth and gleaming white skin along the way.

It does seem though that with the Twilight series, everything has exploded all of a sudden. But I can trace my interest back to Interview with a Vampire. I would have loved to be in the casting room when they were having the "Who should play Lestat? Who should play Louis?" conversation. I applaud the genius who made the selections (did they just have an issue of People's "Sexiest Men" in front of them?). Especially in the case of Lestat. Honestly, I do not think there is an actor on the planet that could have played that part half as well as Tom Cruise. "There's still life in the old lady yet!" Always a classic.

I'm not sure I'm on board with the trashy television evolution yet. I guess I appreciate a more traditional vampire. Don't get me wrong . . . I love Vampire Diaries. I look forward to the tweenage melodrama every week. I watch the show on the edge of my seat, debating and speculating freely with my husband, and when the previews come for the next week, we're even more hooked than before.

I think my only beef is with the special effects. I guess I haven't moved with the vampire times . . . the new thing that they're doing with their eyes creeps me out! What ever happened to just having fangs drop down? And that fog . . . now vampires can control fog? What craziness is this! I could really do without the fog because it looks just like it does on my farm out here in the boonies. My imagination does not need any more fuel! And finally, Damon's sneaky little trick of standing in the middle of the road and waiting for a car to hit him. Geez. I do not want that image in my head when I'm driving late at night in the middle of nowhere.