Vampires and the Zeitgeist

[sartorias]

I always feel a little frustrated when I'm sensing a commonality of some type, but all I'm getting is similarities of image from books/tv/whatever. It always seems to take me far longer to get the simplest clue than anyone around me, as well as to define it

Comments

[randwolf]

I'd say the "difference is not evil" theme is a response to the clamp-down on youth that we're seeing. That, in turn, is a reaction to the liberation movements of the 1960s, and especially the sexual revolution. The vampire stories, it seems to me, also express a desire for a social order. Both seem to me entirely normal. There's plenty of the "difference-is-evil" stuff still being published; it's just that most of it isn't general YA. Instead, it's thrillers and "romances" and "christian fiction" and so on.

[sartorias]

That's interesting about the social order, I resonate with that.

[rj_anderson]

I don't think that's facile at all -- or if it is, it's taken me just as long to perceive the obvious.

[sartorias]

Hey, two of us--we can form a Movement! *g*

[slobbit]

I think you need one more to form a movement. Or is that fifty? Hmm.

Anyway, count me in! That's a good observation you had.

[sartorias]

Hye, we can form a committee to determine how many make a Movement...or would that be, form a Movement to determine--no. Wait. Hmmm. Okay. I confused myself.

*back to find the map and flashlight that leads to my own toes.*

[sartorias]

Well, I've never been into vampires (still am not) but some people have written some mighty good reads.

on the facile aspect

[marycatelli]

Because yes indeed sometimes choosing difference is choosing evil

Charles Napier's famous comparison of Indian and English customs comes to mind.

Re: on the facile aspect

[sartorias]

I think I should have put 'necessarily' in there.

[lauroragirl]

So what is Miss Austen's castle tour about?

[sartorias]

I was issued a challenge by the editor: write a story about Jane Austen meets Dracula.

I did.

[19_99]

There are no words.

When does Lace and Blades II come out?

[sartorias]

Valentine's Day 2009. The lineup looks really nifty.