What’s with all the love?

So, tonight I’ll be watching a bunch of old Buffy Episodes with a good friend of mine.  Believe it or not I also Tivo’d two movies yesterday (not realizing I’d be watching Buffy at the time) – Underworld: Evolution and Van Heilsing.  Which means today is all about Vampires.

This isn’t a bad thing for me.  They may be blood sucking “evil” creatures but I’m a huge Vampire fan.  I love movies, books, theories.  Maybe I need to start a new question.  Instead of Pirates vs. Ninjas it should be Pirates vs. Ninjas vs. Vampires.  Hellz yeah.

But it brings me to my thoughts this morning.  What is up with how much our society loves the idea of Vampires?  A friend once told me that a good friend of hers was writing her thesis on where the idea of Vampires came from.  Per this thesis sometime back in history a group of people got very much into biting each other.  So much that there were even some deaths due to all this biting.  Thus was born the “urban legend” of Vampires.  Supposedly from there on out people with imaginations took on the rest.  Again, all per this thesis.  I don’t know if it’s valid or not, I personally have not done the research.

Back again to my main question – Why do we love Vampires so much?  Most of the people I know, if they had a choice, would not want to become a Vampire.  My fiancee and I are freaks – we’d both choose the life if it were available to us.

I am also part of the Twilight phenomenon, not to mention have always been fascinated by and loved vampires.  I think some of my first recollections would be The Lost Boys, Once Bitten then onto Kindred: The Embraced and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Blade… I could go on for a long time.

So – what makes Vampires so attractive to us?  I have some theories and ideas I want to through out there:

1. Money.  Rarely do you see a Vampire with money issues.  Usually they are rich from centuries of… something.  And they rarely have jobs.  They are just rich and living life, or death as the case may be.
2. Immortal.  Definitely a reoccurring trait with Vampires.  Now, I think that if #1 wasn’t true, I might have more of an issue with immortality.  Imagine working forever without ever feeling like you are getting ahead.  Egad.  Hell on earth.  BUT – to be rich and immortal.  To see the world change around you, I think that would be amazing.
3. Strong, fast and practically indestructible.   I love the idea of Vampire heroes.  Imagine if you could have a night-time police force of good Vampires.  They could really change crime in a city for the good of all the regular people.  I would be bent on saving people, if I could.  No more rape, murders, muggings on my watch.  Not to mention being able to zoom around the city and not have to worry about a car or traffic.  NICE.
4. Never tired.  When was the last time you saw a tired Vampire jonesing for a coffee hit?  Man, would it be nice to wake up and always feel fully awake until you go to bed again?
5. Attractive to everyone.  Need I say more?  Vamps are ALWAYS gorgeous.  Who wouldn’t want to join that league?
6. Never an outcast, just a loner.  It’s rare you see a dorky/geeky Vampire.  If they are on their own, it’s usually by choice.  Not because they need to be.
7. No food.  I admit the life of a liquid diet appeals to me. Now, I don’t want to kill things.  I am not a killer.  It’s just that I have crazy food issues and it would be attractive to be able to quit food cold turkey and not ever have to track my “points” again.

What do you think?  Any other reasons that Vampires intrigue and fascinate us?

~ by alie0bronwynn on May 7, 2009.