Who cares about vampires?

[butterfly]

Well, I never did until Buffy.

I was a Sci-Fi/Fantasy baby. Raised on the stuff by parents who were very into it. I may have mentioned this before, but mom and dad were part of D&D groups when my brother and I were young, and they'd let us play sometimes. Of course, we always got to have amazing characters because we were kids and they wanted us to have fun. Unrealistically powerful characters.

But vampires were never my thing. Actually, I was never into the 'classics'. My brother was... is. He likes classical music and classical monsters.

I pretty much pegged vampires as a metaphor for sexual repression and went on with my life. Then came Buffy. Now, the first episode I saw didn't have any vampires at all in it (The Pack), but that definitely changed as I watched the rest of the season. And Joss' vampires were different. I really enjoyed the vamp face concept, as well as the whole 'soulless demon' aspect. Felt like it had more to say about people.

Love Joss Whedon's version of vampires. I can take them seriously in a way that I've never been able to take any other vampires. They feel real, for lack of a better word.

They aren't just people with bloodlust. They aren't just inexplicably evil. They're a twisted version of their human self with a demon in place of a soul. And I find that fascinating. I like having a reason. I like that being vamped affects some more than others. Everything we learn about Joss' vampires intrigues me and makes me want to learn more.

Also, personal fanwank - why don't more vamps use guns (Darla being the only one we see)? Because the demon likes the death to be personal. Like the assassins in Discworld - it doesn't count until it's up close. The demon likes to feel the life escape their victims and only a vampire with extreme control, like Darla, can overcome that instinct.

*fangirls Darla*

I love how who the vampire is comes directly from who the human was and I adore how they get twisted. And how the most evil vampires tend to be the humans who were unhappiest with themselves in life. That feels real - they get to remake themselves as Big and Bad. It makes sense that Evil!Willow was a lot like Vampire!Willow - both of them were pushing away that weak nerd that they'd always despised.

Buffy made me care about vampires. So that's a cool thing.

Comments

[montykins.livejournal.com]

Also, personal fanwank - why don't more vamps use guns (Darla being the only one we see)?

Doesn't Mr. Trick encourage someone to use guns the first time we see him?

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

He probably does... he was one of the vamps who tried to be modern. Spike also brings a gun with the intent to shoot Buffy in Fool for Love but ends up not using it.

I really need to rewatch S3. It's been too long.

[mekare-enra.livejournal.com]

lewarse says hi and he agrees with what you've said above, being such a big Buffy fan :)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Tell him hi back.

(And dude, I just posted this and got two responses. Are y'all living in the future and thus can read my posts before I send them because... wow.)

[starsprinkles.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with everything you said. I never really cared that much about vampires, thought the concept was pretty cool but I never read or watched vampire books/movies/etc. I think Joss did an exceptionally good job characterizing his world of vampires. I mean, they have no souls, yet feel so much (emotional pain as well as pleasure). He makes them so much more complex than just undead bloodsuckers.

Like, although I totally agree about how their vampire self is related to their human self.. sometimes it's the total opposite -- like in the way they kill. This came out particularly during Season 2, when Angel lost his soul. Everything he did to torture Buffy, and especially the way he killed Jenny, was so poetic. Killing is art to him. The way Spike kills is the total opposite.. it's primal, physical, instant gratification. But in life William was the poetic, soft-spoken one while Liam was drunken and violent. So it's almost like, the aspects of themselves they suppressed in life, what they viewed as unsavory or weak, were freed when they turned.

So complex. I love that.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

But in life, William hated himself. It's the same transformation that we see in Vamp!Willow. He remade himself because he finally had the power to. And yeah, exactly, it's everything that they suppressed coming out. Angel was a wastrel in life to spite his father, so when he became a demon, he finally took advantage of his inherent talents.

[thawrecka]

Ooh, that's interesting.

I was always interested in vampires, but even then Joss' vampires were still a cut above the rest. They are so cool and real and interesting and it's just good.

So, yes, I agree.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

They pretty much rule.

What brought this to mind was the fact that my brother was bugged because they weren't the 'classic' kind.

[soulfictionlady.livejournal.com]

Before Buffy existed I was already a big vampire freak... not in the way I'd dress in a special way and not in the way I'd start thinking about them as being saviors and such like in S2 Lie To Me but I was totally loving the whole vampire deal. And then Joss created Buffy and his own idea/concept of the vampires and I was even more drawn to them than to the others.

I don't think I can really express how I feel, what I think in other words than you already did but I like that Joss's are different than in all those other movies and books and what not. They are soulless and a part of their human nature but somehow changed due to the demon inside but still can feel pain and plaisure and all other feelings we usually have inside of us.

I also love the fact that some things like sleeping in a coffin and wearing capes are not a part of them and letting them have sex... all those classics have them not being able to do so... and I also like the fact that each one is different from the other in all that they do. In most of the classic they are all the same... bloodsucking fiends that don't really have any feelings and the only thought they have is the kill for the blood and... yeah...

In Joss's world, all vampires are different and have feelings and... I don't really know how to say it but I'm hoping I get myself understood :)

Joss's world made me discover some kind of other level to the whole vampire deal and I'm even more drawn to them for that. Still in the way of them being intriguing and not in the way I wanna be one *g*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Totally. They're individually fascinating, not just interesting as a group anymore. Makes total sense.