Writer's Block: The Eternal Nocturnal Struggle

[readingredhead]

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FOR SURE werewolves. I never got what the deal was with vampires. This is perhaps because it required Rebecca to introduce me to Laurell K. Hamilton and Buffy, and because there are no really important vampires in Harry Potter.

Really when I say "werewolves," it is my way of saying "Remus Lupin." Because seriously -- he is my favorite adult character in the entire series and I am still in denial of his death (on good days I pretend that the entire seventh book never happened and JKR is still working on a new one somewhere that will be SO MUCH BETTER).

But also now I have to say werewolves because of my personal werewolf, Roman Leroux from the Beauty and the Beast retelling that has also turned sligtly into a Jane Eyre reworking of its own accord (in which Roman was just outed as a werewolf).

This is a scattered post, but might I also add -- werewolves are fuzzy. 'Nuff said.

(And since when is drinking blood so sexy anyway? Why have we turned vampires into sex icons? Why are millions of rabid teenage girls reading AND ENJOYING things like Twilight? Any answers to these questions are very welcome.)

Unrelated but pretty darn awesome thought -- the condition of being a werewolf may be a male analogue for female menstruation. Think about it for a second: controlled by the moon, causes changes in behavior that escalate characteristics one would generally associate with the sex, essentially unstoppable by the person involved... The moon has just always been such a feminine principle, all the way back to before everything (thought right now I'm thinking of Paradise Lost because Milton has this way of piggybacking on all my ideas). So what does that mean about female werewolves?

Comments

[trexmaster.livejournal.com]

I too don't understand the sex appeal of vampires. They are DEAD. They are clammy, pale, rotting corpses. The only thing differentiating them from zombies is sentience.

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

It means that living with a female werewolf would be very difficult on any guy.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Haha, now I want to write a story about a bunch of werewolves... I actually wrote a Lupin/Tonks fanfic at one point in which Tonks is PMSing and Lupin is getting over the full moon. Now I want to go look back at that!

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

Hahaha what a great idea! I like that one... I can just imagine what a hectic few days that'd be.

[wax-wane.livejournal.com]

I remember being one of those embarrassingly lame vampire fangirls when I was in middle school. Don't judge! It was from reading Anne Rice religiously and basically falling in love with Lestat because he was oh-so-bad and bad boys were attractive to my lame middle school self.

Also, WHAT IS THIS TWILIGHT THING!?? You're referring to the YA books right!???? 'Cuz I swear, sooo many of my students write about this book for their reading journals and it gets reallyyyy repetitive. I was thinking of picking it up just so I could get "closer" to my students, but since you maligned it, I'm not so sure if I should. I'm the kind of person who wants to kill something fluffy when I read bad writing!

[itsumi-actius.livejournal.com]

I think I have a basic understanding of the whole appeal of vampires. I could be wrong, but if I understand it correctly:
1. Drinking blood is a metaphorical equivalent for sex. The whole blood lust thing essentially = lust and makes lust somehow acceptable by proxy.
2. Vampires are "bad boys". We all know girls love "bad boys".
3. Vampires are predators; they chase/pursue. Lots of girls like being pursued.
4. The swanky Victorian era clothing?
5. There is no five.
6. Vampires tend to be angsty wangsty, and that appeals to a lot of girls' nurturing instincts.
7. They're always written as hot guys.


But Remus Lupin for the win, yo.