[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XueNm_GJk80]
Not even Anne Rice or Bram Stoker could possibly compete with this trend. Although both are years apart from one another, and their success is worth quoting for times to come, Vampire Fever has never been as vibrant as it is right now. Granted, the very essence of Dracula is owed to Mr. Stoker. Rice’s Lestat has been a successful Broadway Musical for quite a while now. However, those versions of the immortal monster are targeted to a more mature audience; a much more dramatic and aching population that is. Even if we add up their success in numbers, it holds no candle to what we are living right this moment.
Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight Saga of course would be the poster child to the genre. All those talks about Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and the rest of the cast, won’t leave anyone alone. But there’s more to it than just this story’s books and teen-love-screaming movies. There are franchises and other books that are overflowing the market with their own version of immortality.
The Vampire Diaries invades the CW network channel to awe teenagers yet again. (Finding any common denominator yet?). Other movies like Van Helsing, the Werewolf, The Red Riding Hood, Wolfman, and so many others talk about either Vampires or Vampires’ natural enemies: werewolves.
Never before had there been so many different plots to the same fantastical creatures. It’s like in the 80’s and early 90’s when movies were all about Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van-Dame and Jackie Chan trying to save the world or mobster films like the God Father. These examples were focused on the masculine desire of action. Now, they’ve settled with video games to feed on their action thrill.
Now what is it? At last! Tweens have found their calling. Yes, Tweens (it’s spelled correctly), what are they? Tweens are the little people in the middle of that weird age between being a small child and a teenager, roughly between 9 and 12 years of age. It had been a while now that they were weirdly settled in ages where they were embarrassed by their moms, but still not old enough to enjoy teenage stuff. Want proof? I got mine when I went to see the second movie in the Twilight series to the cinema. Lines were so long, they reached the lower floor of the mall. More than half the people in them were Tween Girls. Once we were seated and watching the film, their screams would fill up my ears every time the camera focused on Edward Cullen… true story. They would scream at a character played by a human being that cannot hear their screams…
So how’s life in the Time of Vampires? I would describe it as Augmented Reality. All these gadgets like smartphones, internet, and what not’s magnify the stories glory. It’s just as some of the versions of vampires describe: being a vampire, everything feels and is magnified. Well, being vampires fans all around us, it just gets magnified. How long will this last? It’s been more than a fad now… how much longer?