Julia Slaughter

Archive for November, 2009

At work I heard a statement that I found completely and utterly fascinating. Theresa, one of my coworkers standing by the microwave announced “I don’t like Vampires, they are all ugly.”

I considered that for a moment, “All of them?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Even though, like people, they are all different?”

Theresa nodded again, and this was right before she confessed that she had seen and liked Twilight, the first movie in the Twilight saga. I desperately longed to ask more questions, but I wasn’t sure where to start or if the lunchroom was even the appropriate place for my questions.

If all you know of vampires is the Hollywood portrayals, really what’s not to like? Way before Twilight and Rob Pattinson, Hollywood stars and constellations alike have played vampires – Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Robert Sean Leonard, Bill Nighy, Kate Beckinsale, Gary Oldman,and of course how can we forget Keifer Sutherland and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Vampire movies go back almost to the beginning of films and they long ago abandoned the white (not pale but white) skinned vampires with black circles painted around their eyes clad in a black cape.

As my mind wandered down those lines I thought if her issue isn’t with the Hollywood kind of vampires, which I don’t see how it could be, does she know real life vampires? I don’t think that I do. The closest I’ve ever seen in Don Henrie from Mad Mad House on SciFi (back before it was SyFy) and while I don’t know that he really is a vampire, (Googling him reveals that there seems to be conflicting reports as to if he could possibly be a vampire or not) I know that he is of Asian American descent and a fairly handsome man. (I did not post a picture because I couldn’t bring myself to bother him by asking for permission for a personal blog.) In fact if you look at his MySpace currently – http://www.myspace.com/donhenrie, the picture there is pretty mundane. (He looks more like a model than anything else.)

I guess I assume that like every other life form on this planet, there are attractive and less attractive examples out there. I still can’t stop kicking it around in my head, Theresa knows ugly vampires, who knew?

I’m here to confess – I’ve read Twilight and the subsequent books in the series, I’ve even read what Stephenie Meyer posted on her website of Midnight Sun. I read the books under protest, my best friend Kim found the books and LOVED them. I caught snippets of her discussing them with other people, Edward this and Edward that, and I was 110% NOT INTERESTED.

Kim tried planting little seeds to pique my curiosity – “vampires, you like vampires.” Me, yes I love vampires – I’ve loved them since I was in grade school and we went on a field trip to St.Louis cemetery and I imagined all the little “houses” inhabited by sleeping vampires, waiting for the sun to set. I viewed vampires like stray dogs, you don’t have to be afraid of them but you have to be cautious and respectful until you’ve established a rapport. Nope, vampires had been in my life forever, I wasn’t interested in the “propaganda” that had suddenly made them part of the mainstream. I would not read Twilight.

Kim tried to draw parallels between myself and the author, mentioning how well read we were and how Stephenie Meyer and I seemed to read  the same books. I believe she saw this as a huge compliment. I was unmoved. I would not read Twilight.

Finally after almost two years and three of the four books being published later, Kim threatened me that our friendship was in peril if I didn’t read the books – I read Twilight.

I am shocked by how polarizing these books seem to be. People love them with a religious frevor – the disciples of Twilight study them, reread them, analyze them, debate them, and devotedly defend them. While people who hate them seem to crusade against them with an oddly intense zeal. I can honestly say that I’m in the middle – I read them, I enjoyed them, and I put them on the shelf and moved on to something else. Like many books in my life I revisit them on occasion, but I have yet to join the fight, on either side.

I don’t care that Bella might not be a great role model. I’ve never really looked to books for role models, well definitely not fiction books, if I encounter one I consider myself to be fortunate. I think Bella is a great “everyman” kind of character – she’s not flawless, she’s not the prom queen, she’s not a gifted athlete, she could be one of millions of girls. In fact I would venture to say that’s why her story has reached millions of people.

I’ve noticed Edward gets called a stalker and accused of being abusive by his detractors. I guess I’m terribly short sighted because I didn’t really see that either. He seems moody at times, but he is eternally a teenage boy so that seems fitting. He watches over Bella, but I never felt threatened by his presence in her world – on the contrary it seems to help her for more than hurt her.

I’ve heard complaints about Meyer’s reinvention of vampire lore. Chief among them seems to be “vampires shouldn’t sparkle” to which I would maturely respond with an exasperated whatever. The beauty of being an author is that you can create your own world and people it with whoever you want, as readers we have a choice to read or not to read. If your vampires *have* to be blood thirsty creatures, why would you even bother picking up the series? (I, personally, found John Carpenter’s Vampire Lore to be much more offensive…really, ask us to believe that vampires are hundreds of years old and yet sleeping in the dirt and hardly able to string a cohesive sentence together, please! He made them glorified cockroaches! I digress…)

I asked Kim once before I read Twilight what the appeal was and she told me it was all about the love that Bella and Edward share, and that he would do anything for her. It’s simple and straightforward but I think for all the Twilight Disciples – that’s it, and in today’s world I think many girls need to believe that there is an Edward out there.

We live in a world where a girl was brutally beaten and raped, a few scant yards from her school. Young men kept coming outside, some of them to join in, and not one of them to alert the authorities or get involved. I wish there could’ve been a gentleman with a conscience among any one of those men, he didn’t have to love her or be willing to die for her, but how about recognize that she was a human being and this was a terrible act of violence.

How can you blame girls who live in a world where that kind of thing can happen for taking solace in a character who watches over the girl he loves? He risks his life for her. Once he reconciles his feelings for her he treats her gently and with respect. He doesn’t constantly try to maul and paw at her – he romances her.

Twilight extols the virtue of love and respect and while I am not a Twilight disciple – I am a disciple of love and a firm believer in respect as it applies to humans, undead, and immortals alike.

There are so many things I love about Halloween – pumpkins for soup, bread, and even lattes; children living out their fantasies of being superheroes, pirates, and fairy princesses; candy, candy, candy; trying out a different persona for a night.

Last year I finally got to have the blue black hair I always wanted, my friends wanted to be vampires and I used the opportunity to vamp out – waist length blue black hair, straight heavy bangs framing my face, and make up heavy on dark colors. I’ve always wanted to try out blue black hair, well more blue than black, the kind of hair that seems black until the sun hits it and then it has a beautiful blue aura to it. Unconventional hair colors have always been appealing to me but I understand that they are not particularly appealing to conventional workplaces but at Halloween I can dabble in the unexpected.

This year my friends decided that we would all dress as the cast of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty so I was Sleeping Beauty’s mother, who is merely referred to in the movie as the Queen. I got to wear a fabulous renaissance style dress and I was covered in “pearls.” All the costumes were custom made for us by a friend and they were amazing.

All the fuss about costumes is because every year I have friends who throw a HUGE Halloween party. (I am responsible for invitations since I am something of a paper and font snob!) I was excited about my beautiful and elaborate dress, I graciously greeted Trick or Treaters and the occasional party guest – it’s all alot of fun.

However this is the first year that I became aware that the Mean Girls’ Theory of Halloween Costumes is true. There are people who use Halloween as an opportunity to be as scantily clad as possible. Womens’ costumes tend to trend towards lingerie with assorted tails, horns, and whatnot, however I noticed that even some of the men were getting in on the action. I particularly “enjoyed” the fireman who went so far as to get actual fireman gear and yet went around shirtless. under his suspenders. There were also some shirtless doctors and demons running around and a gladiator in a spangly speedo.

I enjoy watching these exhibitionist on Halloween and I wonder what would Freud say? I wonder what kind of fantasy they are living out? Food for thought I guess…