Lejla Panjeta: Monster as a Superhero: an Essay on Vampire Vogue in Contemporary Film Culture
Studii si Cercetari de Istoria Artei. Teatru, Muzica, Cinematogr;2011/2012, Vol. 5-6 Issue 49-50
* Lejla Panjeta, Ph.D., is an Associate
Professor at the International University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Arts and
Social
Sciences, Visual Arts and Communication Design. E-mail
address: panjeta.lejla@bih.net.ba.
Abstract
The worldwide popular series Twilight is
the mixed genre phenomenon in literature, media and
cinema. After monstrous cinema interpretations
of vampires, Edward Cullen becomes a vampire that
women fall in love with. Narrative draws on the
legend of vampires as well as on the fairy tales
archetype of the love between The Lady and the
Beast. Sexual connotation in the stories of vampires
are not new, but the global identification of
the audience with the main characters in the romantic-
horror plot in this series needs to be analyzed
through the evolution of the vampire genre and
psychology related issues. The popularity of
this series and blossoming hybrid genre is related to the
artificial catharsis and fulfillment of the
market demand. Contemporary audience demands “to be
special” and these profitable narratives are the
fulfilled promise to the audience.
Keywords : vampire
legends, teen vampire genre, abstinence narrative, vampires in cinema,
catharsis.
INTRODUCTION: ROMANTIC MONSTER OXYMORON
“And so the lion fell in love with a lamb… What
a stupid lamb… What a sick, masochistic lion”. 1 One
of the omens from the Book of Revelation that
the world as we know it will come to an end is described when
the lamb lies down with the lion. The story of Twilight
categorized as teen vampire romance genre is the
apocalypse of opposite genres: romance and
horror. The horror genre as we know it and the romance genre
have reached the point where their elements need
to be combined together in order to survive the market
demand of a consuming audience that desires more
catharsis induced by adrenalin and romance ecstasy. 2
Judging on the gained profit, this planetary
popular series is a phenomenon of the 21 st century.
Over
17 million copies of Twilight Saga have
been sold and translated into 37 languages. A graphic novel has
been issued, and the first three books of the
series have been made into movies. According to the box office
reports from the American and international
market, the movie Twilight 3 made
approximately 400 million
dollars, 4 New
Moon5 over 700 million dollars,6 Eclipse7 700
million dollars,8 and Breaking Dawn I 9 over
700 million dollars. 10
1 Stephenie Meyer, Twilight,
Vol. 1, London:
Atom, 2006, p. 240.
2 On this matter, see also Lejla
Panjeta, “Popularni kinematografski vampirizam”, Hrvatski filmski ljetopis,
No. 69, 2012.
3 Director: Catherine Hardwicke.
Release year: 2008.
4 See “Box Office Mojo: Twilight”,
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=twilight08.htm; last consulted in
December 2011.
5 Director: Chris Weitz. Release year:
2009.
6 See “Box Office Mojo: New Moon”, at
<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=newmoon.htm>; last consulted in
December 2011.
7 Director: David Slade. Release year:
2010.
8 See “Box Office Mojo: Eclipse”, at
<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eclipse.htm>; last consulted in
December 2011.
9 Director: Bill Condon. Release year:
2011.
10 See “Box Office Mojo: Breaking
Dawn I”, at <http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=breakingdawn.htm>; last
consulted
in December 2011.
Salomé Guadalupe Ingelmo: Stale Aftertaste
Dedicated to all victims of the unbridled greed
Times
have greatly changed: now even people of his rank may fall from grace.
He looks at the peeling walls of the small apartment. From the former
glory he only retains the titles, his foreign accent and his servant,
faithful even though he has never taken a salary. He would cry. Not
because of grief, but anger, this insolent world does not nourish
respect for anything. Far from reverential fear of former times, they
just reserve for him indifference and oblivion. He would cry, but "men
never cry," use to say his father. And as he suspects, neither do the
monsters. So he drinks to forget, rather than because of true gluttony.
Life bores him: time is a prison for those who have nothing with which
to fill it.
“Renfield”... he calls as he tends the luxurious goblet, a family keepsake.
The
dense liquid leaves the body of the girl. He will take her back to the
streets where he found her later, when she no longer has anything to
offer. Homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes ... perfectly dispensable
people. He realizes it is unwise to act in this way, but these times are
not the times for squeamishness.
He
thinks of his beloved Tokay and all reputed wines he enjoyed during
that other warm life he barely remembers. Of all the things he will
never taste again, wine is what he misses more. He would sell his soul
in exchange for leaving the disgusting diet to which he is subjected.
But he no longer has a soul to sell. More than five hundred years eating
this rubbish, he tells himself unable to repress a grimace. While he
observes mesmerized how, in the screen of a television almost as
obsolete as he, a colorless woman uncorks a bottle. Everyone toast with
unconscious enthusiasm to the new year.
“Enough?” asks his servant confused by the ambiguous expression.
“Yes,
enough” he confirms absent. He knows what lies before him: only the red
thirst, eternal. A tiny tear, a nearly imperceptible black drop, slides
down his dry cheek.
.
.jpg "Alfred Kubin, Vampire (1910)")
We Are The Night (director: Dennis Gansel)
Starring
Karoline Herfurth
Nina Hoss
Jennifer Ulrich
A young woman who gets bitten by a female vampire and drawn into her world. She falls in love with a young police officer who investigates a murder case involving the vampires.
Mary Elizabeth Frye: Do not stand at my grave and weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
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