I was in a bookstore the other day checking out the D&D selection, when I glanced over to the left. The rest of the entire wall was nothing but vampire novels.
While I will gladly beat up Twilight, I should admit that I've so far been lucky enough to avoid seeing it, and I certainly won't read it. However, my wife is my "authority" on vampires, since she's a huge fan. So when she says it's terrible, I take it at face value that it's terrible.
She''s a huge fan of True Blood, and currently waiting for the next book to come out. In the meantime, I suggested she pick up another vampire novel (NOT twilight. I like my food untampered.) while she waits. Enter aforementioned wall of vampire novels.
You'd think with such a wall there would be at least something interesting and non-Twilighty. But no- all of them were Twilight knock offs. And that's saying something.
There's been quite a bit of vampire activity in popular culture. My wife is watching Blood Ties- and without knowing anything about it my guess on what it's about is an old vampire doing good by being a cop/detective. I'm sure I'm not far off the mark.
I did like Angel, even if it was campy. But Angel didn't pretend vampires (in general) were not monsters.
Which brings me to my point of Twilight and other "That's not really a vampire" ilk. I can allow for some deviations from "standard" vampire lore. Surviving in sunlight (assuming one has enough blood) as in Vampire: the series (Based on the roleplaying game.) is one example, because it explains why.
But it seems the movement of turning vampires into wimps has been going for some time. Angel, while he could be dangerous was still just a big teddy bear. Forever Knight was another vampire detective show where the main vamp wasn't scary or dangerous.
Vampires are supposed to be big scary monsters. Folklore about them might not be true or serve more as warnings than actual powers/restrictions. (I.E. Vampires can't enter unless invited may be nothing more than just a warning not to open the door to strangers.) But they certainly aren't lovers. The romantic aspect was more hypnotic to keep the prey from escaping rather than "Let's fall in love".
One doesn't fall in love with one's lunch.
