Why interspecies dating doesn't work
The Movie Whore 13 comments
It is opening weekend for Twilight and the film is running a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. Check out some of the reviews here. Without even seeing the film it looks like I may have hit this one on the head.
I am not talking about trying to marry a goat here.
I am however talking about films that involve a human falling in love with a Lycanthrope, Vampire or something else that is not human. We have all seen these movies and the relationships themselves often cause the conflict for the rest of the movie to play out.
For instance in the movie Blood and Chocolate (which I hated), this werewolf girl decides she wants to date a human. She is dating outside her species. It is actually this selfish act that leads to nothing but death for her species.
In this movie I found that the this girl was actually the antagonist and the leader of the werewolf clan is protagonist. There are just some things that one must learn to live with or without in this case, when they are not entirely human. It is not fair but life is not fair. This particular movie ticked me off and sent me on a rant that lasted for about 30 minutes and consisted of a lot of waiving my arms about and yelling at the top of my lungs.
Thankfully my future wife, The Queen of the Geeks, was amused by my performance. It is actually rants like this that have made me decide it is very important to get a new digital video camera so I can share these special moments with you. Really that is my way of saying "The Movie Whore needs a new toy to play with and if you hit the donate button on this page it will help me get that toy. In turn I will use that toy to entertain you. So really it is in your best interest to help me aquire said toy."
Can you blame me for trying? I knew you couldn't.
Anyway back to the problem of interspecies dating.
I am a huge Kevin Smith fan and in Mallrats he makes a very good point. There is no way Superman could ever mate with a human woman. The physics just don't work. I know we all point and laugh and say "what a geek?" during that scene but if you really think about it, Brodie makes a couple valid points.
This is yet another reason I was disappointed with the child aspect of the story for Superman Returns. Really I hated this plot point because it was cheap and obvious. I could give you a laundry list of problems trying to give birth to and raise the son of Superman for a mere mortal woman. Most of these issues would probably offend quite a few people but I am sure if you use your imagination you will find some disturbing possibilities of your own.
This brings me to the latest travesty of interspecies dating horrors.
If you have read anything about the plot of Twilight, you will understand why I will be going nowhere near this flick. You have vampires trying to not be real vampires. They have decided not to feed off human blood and the 100 year old teen age looking vampire falls in love with a human and then tries to protect her from real vampires who do not deny who and what they are.
I understand why vampires have been romanticized over the years in a plethora of books and movies. When you get right down to it the nature of a vampire is to feed off the blood of humans. I find stories of vampires that completely deny what they are as weak attempts at story telling.
I know some of you just questioned my love of the show True Blood but Bill the Vampire feeds off Sookie. He drinks the synthetic blood to mingle with humans but at every turn he reminds us that he is a vampire and he craves human blood. It is why the show works and why the original books by Charlaine Harris work.
Twilight and the books that follow it have become a hit. However keep your garbage out of my beloved medium of film.
What I see with this film is the dollar signs that the studio exec saw when they found out about the following of the books. There is no attempt here to make a good movie but only to cash in on the trash novel market using the vampire.
Really if that is the direction you want to go than I can think of several other series that you could bring to film that would be much more entertaining. One example of this would be the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. The vampires in these books never deny what they are. They revel in being vampires.
In closing I would like to say that Twilight is not for movie whores but instead is best viewed by the ignorant masses. They say ignorance is bliss and this has never been more evident than with the common ignorance of the casual film goer.
Check out True Blood on HBO. It is shows this relationship perfectly. I would never recommend checking torrents to find episodes. That would be wrong.
Jake
Tuesday 18th November 2008 | 08:03 AMDid you ever see the series 'moonlight'? What did you think of that?
Rodney
Tuesday 18th November 2008 | 08:17 AM
"Interestingly", it's been proven that vampires couldn't coexist with people anyway.
Assuming that 1 vampire needs to feed once a month, and the first vampire story appeared around 1600, when the human population was 536,870,910, then on January first there would be 1 vampire. On Feb 1st there would be 2, on March first there would be 4, etc... Following this exponentiation growth trend, in 3 years there would be no people left at all.
http://www.whatsnextnetwork.com/technology/index.php/2006/10/31/p3781#more3781
...in response to this comment
by Rodney.
Depends on your theory of how a vampire is made. In the True Blood world it is not just the bite that turns you and you don't have to bleed some one dry to feed. It just depends on the mythology you choose to go to by.
Jake I couldn't make it passed the first episode of Moonlight before forgetting it was even on. I thought it was that bad.
Rodney
Tuesday 18th November 2008 | 09:40 AM
...in response to this comment
by The Movie Whore.
Yeah for sure, there's as many different mythoses as there are movies & books!
I know it's probably considered trashy but my favourite is the Underworld series. I must have seen Evolution about 6 times at least.
If you think Underworld is trashy watch True Blood.
Laiste
Wednesday 19th November 2008 | 04:26 PM
1. I loved Twilight the book and I'm really looking forward to the movie.
2. I think you are missing the vampire/ werewolf/ superhero as metaphor point. These sorts of stories aren't about biology. They are about being an outsider, being different, lust, desire, human need vs animal want etc etc.
Vampires as characters can be anything you want them to be; sexy, creepy, brooding, strong, misunderstood etc. Actually, any characters can be anything the author wants them to be. But mostly, vampires represent the ultimate "unavailable" man/ woman. Twilight in particular works so well because it describes and brings alive that fantasy of being so deeply desired, wanted, needed by a male who is incredibly strong, incredibly male, but still a really nice guy who has perfect self control and doesn't take advantage of Bellas vulnerability. Edward represents the ultimate man- perfect in every way and totally and utterly unavailable. I don't know if I can really explain it well, suffice it to say, most females get it, even if they don't find Edward appealing.
3. The Underworld movies are awesome. I'm looking forward to Rise of the Lycans.
I dig Underworld and the second one and the prequel flick should be interesting.
I am not missing the point. I am saying I don't buy it. One thing that has always been agreed upon by every story of the beings that resemble the vampire that humans are food. Werewolves are solitary because when they change they become more animal than man. Kind of like a drunk abusive man.
My point with that last part is you can use whatever monster you want to represent whatever you want. That's the beauty of metaphor. It is flexible and hides can hide in the shadows. But a vampire that drinks animal blood is kind of like a gay man that marries a woman and has a family and is never true to what he is.
Laiste
Wednesday 19th November 2008 | 06:04 PM
Vampires were human. They have all their memories of being human. They have all they feelings from when they were human. Thats what makes the Cullens extraordinary, the fact that they can control that urge to feed off humans, the fact that their remaining humantity overrides their bodies urges. You have to bear in mind that Twilight was written by a Mormon woman. She wrote it for herself. So to her, the whole idea of being able to control uncontrollable urges is a Big Thing.
And you can't really say that "all vampire stories agree"; this is a vampire story that doesn't agree with that line of thinking. Nor does the vampire mythos of Sherrylin Kenyon. Twilight isn't a vampire horror story, its a paranormal romance.
I get why you don't like it, believe me, I simply disagree. :-)
You got me on that one. What I should of said is that the originating mythologies from around the world prior to the 20th century all have one thing in common. Vampires use humans for food.
You could also say that instead of resisting big urges the vampires in question refuse to change and become what they are. They cling to a life long since past that will never be attainable again. It is a refusal to acknowledge oneself for the person they are. Metaphors can change quickly based on the point the view.
Yes, we do disagree, as usual. haha
Laiste
Wednesday 19th November 2008 | 06:24 PMWell I agree with you about that. These vampires are clinging to a life thats gone and they are refusing to acknowledge the people they have become. But that doesn't mean its a bad thing. :-)
arthur
Sunday 22nd August 2010 | 12:28 PMI would like to see a scene where the dopey in lust female, bats her eylids at the alpha vamp and he just tears her throat out and says "stupid biatch"
Jake
Tuesday 18th November 2008 | 07:25 AMSuperman and wonderwoman maybe?
I don't mind this vivid aspect in films, especially when they involve vampires. To be honest, I've never really understood how drinking the blood of a person could be considered sexy, but it evokes such an inhuman lust and sexuality that the vivid anticipation of 'love' between a mortal and vampire can be quite titillating!