Rape-romance is a rather old and established genre; for those not familiar with it, it’s a subset of romance that involves things like ‘forced seduction.’ The basic storyline involves the heroine repeatedly resisting the advances of the hero, who eventually ‘forces[1. What a nice word for rape.]’ her, making her realise that she really does […]
Category: vampires
Human Monstrosities: Vampires and Villainism
The current iteration of vampire mythology has taken on an interesting twist by humanising the vampire. Rather than creating a purely monstrous entity of evil whom the humans in the story are supposed to fear because it is inhuman, creators have done something very different with the vampire. Some aspects of the legend are retained; […]
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Lady Vamps?
Bram Stoker’s Dracula set the tone for generations of female vampires to follow. Dracula may be sinister and evil, sauve and debonair, creepy and overbearing, but it’s his brides who create a particular spectre of terror. They are the realisation of all that is feared about women, with predatory appetites and an unabashed sexuality, a […]
Economic Vampires
The vampire trend, it appears, is dead. Well and truly staked. The market for vampires in pop culture is drying up, tastemakers are turning their interests elsewhere, and the new hotness is fairies and angels. Even zombies, poor dears, are lagging in the polls. It’s a tough time to be undead. But the vampire metaphor […]
Mad Mysticism, Vampirism, and Drusilla
Drusilla is one of the most interesting characters on Buffy and Angel. She flits in and out of storylines, often playing a very critical role, and she’s also one of Whedon’s Brunettes, the characters who recur over and over again in various forms in Whedon’s work. Fragile, but dangerous. Eerie, but in need of protection […]
Breaking the Mold
Note: This post discusses, in detail, Evernight (2008), Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (2009), Sunshine (2003) and Companions of the Night (1995). If you have not read these books and are planning to, you should probably not read this post, since it contains key plot information and spoilers. In my quest to attempt to understand the new […]
The Vamps, They Are A-Changin’
I’ve been watching The Vampire Diaries. I’m not going to pussyfoot around it. My interest is purely academic; sometimes I have to force myself to sit down and watch it. Because I’m interested in the contrast between the two different vampire dramas on television right now, and I’m interested in the evolution of the TV […]
1976: A Banner Year in the New Vampire Mythos
Many people argue that Dracula was a key work in the vampire mythos, consolidating legends thousands of years old and creating a unified vision of the vampire for the West. Dracula was adapted into countless films and plays throughout the 20th century, and over 100 years after it was published, copies of this book still […]
Bloody Conclusions
Read a Czech translation of this post, done by Vera! So, I have been reading a lot of young adult vampire fiction lately. And I do mean a lot. I felt like if I was going to talk about it, I needed to read a lot to do it justice; I’m not going to opine […]
SWV Seeks May-December Stalker-Romance
Gather ’round the campfire, homechickens, because it’s story time, and I’m pretty sure that none of you have heard this one before, so listen close. It all starts with an Ancient Vampire with poofy hair, drawn to a young human female by deep inner compulsion. She’s from a broken home, and has always seemed a […]