| Lust and Longing: Two Very Different Vampire Tales |
December 10, 2008 -- In October, before I began my 365 project, I read Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula is scary and riveting and well-written. It presents an appropriate parable for our times, a parable about greed. Count Dracula is not satisfied with living only one life; he wants to live the durations of a hundreds of lives. His greed grows and grows, and he feeds on the blood of the oppressed to further power his driving ambition. Greed begets greed and Evil begets evil. There is no end in sight until the forces of Good combine their faculties of intelligence, observation, and action to overcome the Evil and save the world from greed gone wild. As a political commentary, Dracula is frighteningly astute and makes a sound argument for intelligent reform of our financial systems based on close observation of what works and what (and who) doesn't, followed by firm action powered by bravery and perseverance. And as a horror story, Dracula rocks, building tension and fear steadily and creepily and certainly: I checked the locks on my windows for weeks after reading Dracula (although since I am not a maiden in the first blush of unsullied beauty, I have little to fear from Stoker's vampire).
Yesterday I read Twilight, the recent vampire phenomenon sweeping teens and their elders around the country (and bringing them into packed move houses, tweaking them to buy expensive boxed sets of the Twilight series, etc; in other words, a feeding frenzy). The book gets one thing very, very right, and all the other things it gets wrong just don't matter. The notion of "vampire" and all it connotes is the perfect metaphor for the uncontrollable hormonal longings of adolescence: passion tinged with fear, clothed in secrecy, lush with anticipation. If Dracula by Stoker is a parable about greed, Twilight by Stephanie Meyers is a parable about teenage sexuality: seething, barely controllable, and when unleashed, powerful.
Stephanie Meyers had her stroke of genius in making this vampire story a story for teens and about teens experiencing their first heady rush of sexuality. Her main character, Bella, feels the typical angst of teens, the aloneness, the "I'm weird and no one gets me", the awkwardness (to the extreme, Bella is the ultimate klutz). Bella is also put in the least desirable position of any teen girl: she is the new kid in school, odder out than ever, and her father, of all uncool things, is the police chief in the hick town she has moved to, in order to allow her mother space with the new hubby.
Bella finds school is not so bad after all and for some reason her attractiveness quotient is way up. No one quite strikes her fancy until the vampires show up. These vampires are every teens' dream: they are rich, slender but strong, well-dressed, gorgeous beyond compare, and they need neither to eat nor to sleep: what teen wouldn't trade life for such coolness?
The sexual tension begins and it is long and drawn-out and only gets to first base. Nevertheless, there is electricity between Bella and the most handsome of the vampires, Edward: electricity mixed with almost telepathic understanding between them and then total misunderstanding; awkwardness mixed with a feeling of complete surety and safety. In other words, the typical first relationship.
The book will get to anyone who remembers that first thrill of wanting more. Bella describes her "overpowering craving to touch him" and we all recognize that sensation; it is first felt in adolescence and it's scary but wonderful at the same time. First felt in adolescence, and if you're lucky, throughout life. There is no thrill as good as anticipating that kiss (although reading a book a day comes close). The appeal of this book is that sexual longing is like magic; it is also a monster, but a good monster, a monster you could love because you are just so sure it can be tamed.
Meyer's writing is not great but it is serviceable. Her language is barren but clear, moving the story along at a good clip. And it is a good story, one we can thrill to and identify with and then finish off with the ultimate cherry on top: going to prom with the best-looking boy at school.
I probably laughed more than Meyers intended and I never felt frightened. I just want to note for all those parents out there that Edward gives very good advice to Bella after Bella has made her decision to go all the way with him (not sex but death: what's the difference?): "Be Safe". So don't worry, your kids are learning about safe sex, after all.
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