To take on the dearth of a relative theme
Alright, so I already did the whole Why Vampires Suck thing on this community about a year ago in an essay entitled "Why Vampires Suck". Feel free to comment afresh on that article if you choose to, keeping in mind I've already been informed that vampire suckiness goes back even further than Bram Stoker! Anywho, since I've already tackled the subject, on to werewolves.
Right then. If vampires are eternal teenagers then werewolves make a great coming-of-age story, though in this case I have to admit that, uh, I haven't really read a whole lot of werewolf books. I'm referring to movies. Teen Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, etc. Good stuff! But so and so anyway however, the thing is, the reason why I haven't read a whole lot of werewolf lit is because werewolf lit ain't exactly given the spotlight vampire lit is. Which is tragic, considering
-Saying werewolves are unconscious of their actions provides quite a lot of drama between morals and remorse, something only tepidly attempted in most vampire novels (including, say, "vegetarian vampires".... uhhhhhgggghhh). To be sure, however, it's quite difficult to write a werewolf with morals and remorse because the werewolf has to be active enough to maintain a token bodycount, but unconscious of the actions enough to not self-prevent, but being unconscious is uncareful enough to easily be caught. In other words, a lot relies on chance as regards the werewolf's excursions, and it may be difficult to balance those issues out in a believable manner.
-Saying that werewolves are conscious of their actions provides either self-imprisonment (what, supernatural Crime and Punishment?) or a strange desire to let go previously aformentioned morals and remorse. Interesting. But here you either risk werewolves being not all that different that vampires (just more aggressive than the emasculated vampires of today?) or you have a supernatural AIDS Mary narrative. Either way, I've read no book that deals with these issues in specific. Please inform me of any that may exist. If they don't, I ask WHY?!
-Women. Is this a little too obvious? A little too "Shallow AND Pedantic"? I mean, we got once-a-month, strange growths, changing attitudes, suddenly feeling a bit harrier than normal? Again, if you know the book that takes this on, gimme gimme gimme. If you don't, WHY NOT?! It's so obvious! And yet werewolves are always men (what, is werewolf aggression just such a manly trait?) Okay, so we got cat women, but there's too much "exotic pussy" thematic punning in that crap (Hey the original Cat People was friggin' sweet, no lie, but more in how it was shot than what it actually sez).
Alls I'm saying is, for the most part the popular literature surrounding werewolf lore are young adult men living through basically formulaic plots about losing control of their testosterone--or they're thrown in with other supernatural lit as some all-encompassing democracy of phantasms given hardly the room or exploration for the personal characterizations. It's sad when the best werewolf character I'm familiar with in literature is Professor Lupin.
I think the reason why vampires and zombies are so prevalent is because they're easier to write, more adjustable to various needs of the author. Zombies have no dialog and symbolism can be projected straight onto them, vampires have a bit more character but ask any group of people what constitutes "vampire lore" and you'll find many disagreements and several citations, including simple common errors like believing that sunlight causes straight-up immolation in Dracula when it merely nixed his supernatural powers. Werewolves are not so adjustable, the biggest changes to their lore being an adjustment between changing at will or lunacy (in the original meaning of the word), the former usually at need whenever werewolves and vampires have to battle it out over doe-eyed dipshits (and I'm not only referencing The Series that Shall Not Be Named).
So where werewolf lit fails is in sheer exploration of themes. I'm not saying this stuff isn't out there, I'm saying its lacking big names, common references. Say "Lestat" and everybody knows what you're talking about, even if they didn't read it. Where are all the Interviews with a Werewolf?
--PolarisDiB
Right then. If vampires are eternal teenagers then werewolves make a great coming-of-age story, though in this case I have to admit that, uh, I haven't really read a whole lot of werewolf books. I'm referring to movies. Teen Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, etc. Good stuff! But so and so anyway however, the thing is, the reason why I haven't read a whole lot of werewolf lit is because werewolf lit ain't exactly given the spotlight vampire lit is. Which is tragic, considering
-Saying werewolves are unconscious of their actions provides quite a lot of drama between morals and remorse, something only tepidly attempted in most vampire novels (including, say, "vegetarian vampires".... uhhhhhgggghhh). To be sure, however, it's quite difficult to write a werewolf with morals and remorse because the werewolf has to be active enough to maintain a token bodycount, but unconscious of the actions enough to not self-prevent, but being unconscious is uncareful enough to easily be caught. In other words, a lot relies on chance as regards the werewolf's excursions, and it may be difficult to balance those issues out in a believable manner.
-Saying that werewolves are conscious of their actions provides either self-imprisonment (what, supernatural Crime and Punishment?) or a strange desire to let go previously aformentioned morals and remorse. Interesting. But here you either risk werewolves being not all that different that vampires (just more aggressive than the emasculated vampires of today?) or you have a supernatural AIDS Mary narrative. Either way, I've read no book that deals with these issues in specific. Please inform me of any that may exist. If they don't, I ask WHY?!
-Women. Is this a little too obvious? A little too "Shallow AND Pedantic"? I mean, we got once-a-month, strange growths, changing attitudes, suddenly feeling a bit harrier than normal? Again, if you know the book that takes this on, gimme gimme gimme. If you don't, WHY NOT?! It's so obvious! And yet werewolves are always men (what, is werewolf aggression just such a manly trait?) Okay, so we got cat women, but there's too much "exotic pussy" thematic punning in that crap (Hey the original Cat People was friggin' sweet, no lie, but more in how it was shot than what it actually sez).
Alls I'm saying is, for the most part the popular literature surrounding werewolf lore are young adult men living through basically formulaic plots about losing control of their testosterone--or they're thrown in with other supernatural lit as some all-encompassing democracy of phantasms given hardly the room or exploration for the personal characterizations. It's sad when the best werewolf character I'm familiar with in literature is Professor Lupin.
I think the reason why vampires and zombies are so prevalent is because they're easier to write, more adjustable to various needs of the author. Zombies have no dialog and symbolism can be projected straight onto them, vampires have a bit more character but ask any group of people what constitutes "vampire lore" and you'll find many disagreements and several citations, including simple common errors like believing that sunlight causes straight-up immolation in Dracula when it merely nixed his supernatural powers. Werewolves are not so adjustable, the biggest changes to their lore being an adjustment between changing at will or lunacy (in the original meaning of the word), the former usually at need whenever werewolves and vampires have to battle it out over doe-eyed dipshits (and I'm not only referencing The Series that Shall Not Be Named).
So where werewolf lit fails is in sheer exploration of themes. I'm not saying this stuff isn't out there, I'm saying its lacking big names, common references. Say "Lestat" and everybody knows what you're talking about, even if they didn't read it. Where are all the Interviews with a Werewolf?
--PolarisDiB