By Mel Mazuc, Executive Editor
For my 16th birthday, I received a book from my aunt. But not just any book: it was the first “Twilight” book.
As a strict hater of all things supernatural and sci-fi, I was forced to read it out of obligation because she’d taken the time to buy me a gift. So I read it, and what do you know, I became one of millions of hormone-charged teen girls (and their moms), thirstily reading every book and anticipating the next book’s arrival, all the while proclaiming my love for Edward Cullen, the book’s main vampire.
Well, I guess I wasn’t that obsessed. I never attacked Robert Pattinson on a street corner, or plastered his face on my ceiling over my bed so he would be the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning. I certainly never bought fake fangs or tinkered with the idea of getting his name tattooed on myself. But overall, I plead guilty to becoming a crazy Twilight-lover.
However, I refuse to feed into the full-blown vampire mania. I just will not do it. I fully admit to enjoying the books, but I don’t feel compelled to say that the movie was as great as the book out of duty to Edward and Bella, because the movie sucked. It just did. I can’t figure out why we feel it’s necessary to bring back the entire vampire genre. I’m sick of hearing about the latest vampire soap on TV, “True Blood.” And I wait with absolutely no anticipation for the next one, “The Vampire Diaries.”
Senior Haley Johnson said she thinks “vampires are overrated. The vampire thing caught on fire because of ‘Twilight,’ and it’s kind of crazy.”
How does something that was meant as a crazy bloodthirsty creature become the world’s new favorite sex object? What’s next? Seducing Frankenstein? Romancing the Unicorn? I don’t want to hear about it anymore. Why are we so obsessed?
It’s the immortal life with that supernatural beauty, senior Alexandra Morefield said. She said the obsession has gotten out of hand.
“Where some people used to just enjoy the theories of vampires, the ‘fan girls’ are now trying to be vampires,” she said.
Some people seem to think it’s because vampires are immortal. I disagree. I don’t understand why it’s so great to live forever, and isn’t that a moral behind the “Twilight” books? It feeds into “Be careful what you wish for.” Immortality isn’t necessarily a gift, but a curse.
Personally, I think we just think they’re hot, because if you look at them, they are. The story line doesn’t have to be good, as long as the actors are pretty. Check out Edward Cullen from “Twilight” (I know I have) or Bill from “True Blood.” They’re hot. If you stuck Chace Crawford or one of the JoBros (as much as I despise them) in a vampire flick, tweenies would be flocking by the thousands to the theatre.
English teacher Patty Welker said she figured that the movies, books and TV shows “are so popular because, for girls, there just seems to be the interest in the ultimate bad boy. There’s this sense of this long suffering that comes with being a vampire, and that’s kind of attractive, that desire to fix somebody.”
There is also the element of courtship in the “Twilight” books, Welker said. Edward Cullen courts Bella in a non-physical way, showering her with love but refraining from sexual contact. This goes back to the Middle Ages, Welker said.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Louis VII, king of France in 1137 A.D., sat on courts of love. She and her ladies created rules of courtly love. To sum it up, we love vampires because they’re beautiful and kind… but aren’t there at least a few people who are both of those things? So let’s be realistic for a second. Vampires aren’t real, and they aren’t human. Stop pretending that they’re the greatest things since bread, because they really aren’t. It’s unhealthy, the level that this obsession has amounted to. They’re just nice to look at. And in order to ward off any desires to be with a vampire, remember: they aren’t human. They may look like us, only better, but they’re less related to us than monkeys, and we certainly don’t go gaga over them.