Thursday, December 18, 2008

Traditional.vampire != Twilight.vampire;

Before I hit the age of 17 or something closer I used to always wrap around my blanket or hair around my neck or sometimes I place my hands there whenever I sleep. I was always afraid back in those days that some sneaky creature would go inside my room and try to bite me in the neck. At least with something to cover it the creature might have a hard time biting it or at least
I would know… somehow.

Vampires. This kind of monster had scared the hell out of me as far as I can remember. Until now I am still afraid of them… I mean your blood being sucked to death is really a scary thing… but becoming one of them… bloodthirsty and monstrous… is even scarier.

I could remember myself back when I was still a child. I had written a story about vampires. After having consecutive nights of nightmares I burned it and scattered its ashes.

Knowing their weaknesses, as what books and movies had told me, made me feel at ease. They can’t hurt me when the sun is out (but what about fluorescent lights… maybe that’s the reason I don’t like sleeping in the dark… but that’s another story). They are afraid of garlic but I also don’t like to eat them. Crosses and prayers can kill them but some movies say they don’t… there goes my faith.

In the beginning I was truly scared of vampires… and then there was Twilight…

If you don’t know Meyer’s Twilight then you are really left behind. Even if you haven’t read the book or watched the movie… at least you might have heard of it… or have seen a crazy fangirl.

Twilight’s vampires are different from the vampires I had known and feared. They are not afraid of crosses. (sigh. I always believed that it could kill them. Sigh.) They don’t have fangs. They don’t turn into bats. (Yeah I watch cartoons… a lot!) They have venom in their teeth, which can be used to turn another person into a vampire (not the drinking of vampire’s blood thingy). Unlike a vampire story I know, they become more civilized when they drink animal blood and the opposite when they drink human’s blood. And the last one which I think differs them from the rest of the vampire world… they don’t die in the sunlight…they sparkle and shine. Nice eh?

Because of the story and the nature of the vampires in the story, Anne Rice babies (people who were raised knowing Lestat’s story) would think that Twilight is another fan fiction involving vampires… only proofread.

I once told a friend of mine the story of Twilight… he was rolling his eyes, looking at me incredulously and telling stories contradicting everything about the vampires in that story. He just asked me to narrate the story… we are not discussing vampire legend. I tried to not say anything that could lead into a serious debate. I had done that quite a lot before that encounter… and I don’t want to do it again.

I like Twilight and New Moon and Eclipse (especially Eclipse) and Breaking Dawn and probably Midnight Sun (if it would be published in this lifetime)… even if:

1) Their stories are somehow predictable. In Eclipse, I already know that it was Victoria
behind the newborns even before it crossed any of the characters’ minds.

2) Some of the characters lack development. Esme will forever just be a mother-figure… maybe because vampires are never-changing? And I dislike Bella’s clumsiness… it was as if she was born clumsy... she only became graceful when she turned into a vampire.

3) It’s a cheesy romance novel. If you don’t like this genre DON’T read any of the books!

4) It ruins the image of vampires. Most of my friends strongly agree with this.

5) The characters are Mary-Sue. *ehem* Edward Cullen *ehem*

Even with all these combined I still love the four Twilight books. I have to admit that I am an Edward fangirl and I’m proud of it. I love the way he cares about Bella. I love the way Edward overreact just so that she could be protected. Edward resembles all of my beloved characters thus, loving him more.

Every time I read the book I could almost see big hearts pouring from the story and hitting me. I like it. It was like cupid puncturing me with his heart arrows.
It is a good love story. I fell in love with the story that’s why I think it was well-written. Even until the end (Breaking dawn… also broke a lot of fan’s hearts) I still think that it was a good story.

Even though many people discourage me from reading Twilight I would still continue to be a fan of the movie and the books. I don’t care if they don’t like it whenever I squeal because of Edward or Carlisle Cullen. I don’t care… because I know that whenever I read the books I become happy. (happy can’t even cover that feeling) I know that whenever I feel sad watching the movie makes me feel a little better.

I am also grateful for Twilight because it made me less afraid of vampires. I am still afraid but at least I don’t wrap something around my neck anymore.
I had realized that vampires are truly fictional characters. They aren’t real... so people could create and recreate characters like that easily. We should not stick to believing that Lestat is the real vampire and Edward is a fake because we would never know who the real vampires are. We could never prove that either one is the real vampire. Maybe real vampires sparkle in the sun… we would never know. We just have to be open-minded. We may have our vampire preference but please try to respect other people’s reference. Humans are not the same… maybe vampires too.
So what if it’s not normal? So what if I’m acting like an addict? So what if I am a crazy drooling fangirl?

I know that when you have also found the story you would truly love you would understand how I feel. And if you ever find it I would not criticize or discourage you… because I know how you feel… we just have the different objects we focus this feeling on.

I respect the point of view of my friends regarding the whole vampire issue… but I sure hope that someday they would respect mine and leave my Edward alone.

This debate is not over yet. I know that there would soon be someone who would talk to me about this again… argh do I have to? I think this battle would only be over when reality would show what vampires truly are.

But I hope that would never happen.
--Ren