Quote:
Originally Posted by Youripper
I am so glad you made that point about Special Effects, it was something I tried to get across in my post but I should perhaps have said 'CGI and SFX are the tools of over-priced modern film making and creates lazy actors and screenwriters'.
I find your comment about the 'monstrous' depiction of vampires interesting as in many ways I agree. If you notice male vampires are now brooding sexual pitied beings who are only truly monstrous when they have to be, yet the females are 'vampish' as in predatory, sexual and corruptive. A softening of the 'atypical'.
I feel that sometimes its nice to have had a softening, or romanticising, of the genre as it makes peoples perceptions move towards tolerance, however why should it be something that (along with many other items) has to be explained and infused with modern pop-culture?
Let the monstrous, predatory and evil images reign, since afterall fiction is what its meant to be.
One element of course which has been missing in modern films is the essence of vampires, in the lyrical sence, the focus has been on the physical form rather than the psychological impact of the very terminology Vamp/Vampyr/Vampire has within cultures past and present to cause fear, violence, justification for action and other associated metaphors.
I would like to see more of that really, maybe i shall dig out some old old old script material I have on floppy disk  |
I agree. For hundreds of years, if not longer, vampires were monsters, plague bringers; decaying leeches with arms and legs. It was not until too recently that this image has completely changed, so it is with reluctance that I call the modern depiction "vampires" at all. Bram Stoker's Dracula was a good balance, if you ask me. Yes, there was the romance between he and Mina, but it wasn't forced, it wasn't something that didn't make sense. And besides, he was selfish throughout the whole film, the only exception being with Mina in a couple of scenes. Monsters are not made by deeds, but in the selfishness of them. And you don't get much more selfish than relying on stealing the life force of others to survive (before I offend any other real vampires here, take note of the word "stealing" in that sentence).
I prefer the true vampire, the stealer of life, the bearer of the plague, who sleeps in the grave. I prefer the blood thief, the immortal with a glorious past, and a future spent sleeping under maggots, worms, and earth. I prefer the Nosferatu of old. Some call it cliche. I call it tradition.