Twilight (SPOILERS) v Harry Potter WAS: Re: Torrents

[dumbledore11214]

> Alla:
> > But since you mentioned them, I mean Meyer's vampires are really
> > really not vampires, no? I mean Cullens, what features do they 
have
> > that one can recognize them as vampires? To me the main appeal of
> > vampires had always been you know, taming the monster within, 
these
> > are 
 "vegetarians" that sparkle, lol.
> 
> Ali:
> Ah yes.  Glitter boy. :)
> 
> How does one define vampire?  It's an interesting question, really.
> Are they the fallen?  The evil undead?  What's the common thread
> between all the "vampire" folklore of the world?  As far as I can
> tell, blood.  There's no agreement on whether vampires can transform
> into another creature, whether they can tolerate direct 
sunlight/holy
> water/crosses/whatever, whether they can read minds/fly/whatever, or
> even whether they are created or born or what.  The only commonality
> is that vampires need blood to live, and human blood is best.
> 
> The creation of glitter boy definitely verges on the "not quite
> vampire" thing, but hey, can't say that Meyers didn't make things 
her
> own.


Alla:

Oh, I don't know. To me the fact that vampires do not have souls is 
also significant and yes, I know about Angel and Spike, but still 
their situations were exceptions, not the rule, no?

And yes I agree that writers may not agree about a lot of things, but 
to me the thing in common is that vampires are always monsters and 
even the ones whom we know as good guys always struggle with taming 
the monster within.

I have not noticed much erm... struggle in Cullens. I mean, was the 
fact that they hunt animals supposed to count as such? But then, at 
least in the book I read I have not noticed them really WANTING to 
drink human blood. Yes, Bella's smell excited Edward, but did he want 
her blood? I do not remember, I could be wrong.

And of course we have Bella's attitude and that is why while I liked 
the first book at the end I wanted to strangle her.

It just felt so wierd to me that the twit wanted to become a monster, 
instead of say wanting her boyfriend to become human, you know?

But of course in Meyer's verse it is not wierd at all, because 
vampires are so much better than humans and they ALL have souls 
(Cullens) and I understand, but I cannot call them vampires, I do not 
think.

 
> 
> 
> Alla:
> > I mean, I know writer has to make creatures of folklore their own,
> > but to me they still should be recognizable as having some 
connection
> > with folklore, like JKR did with werewolves for example. I think 
what
> > Meyer did is a mockery of vampires. IMO of course.
> 
> Ali:
> Mockery?  You'd be more lax if you sat in on the "vampires,
> werewolves, and zombies" (which I liked to call "zombies and other
> stuff") panel at NYC Comic-Con this year.  The single guy there who
> wrote about vampires didn't know the mythology at all, didn't seem 
to
> care, and I do believe his vampires were thus due to a virus from
> outer space or something.  It wasn't terribly exciting, trust me, 
and
> I promised to be more tolerant of anyone who at least acknowledges 
the
> vampire mythos in their books (which Meyers does, even if she 
doesn't
> quite go with it).
<SNIP>

Alla:

LOL. Yes, that sounds pretty bad, however we differ as to how well 
Meyer acknowledged the mythology even if she definitely acknowledged 
more than this guy, it seems.

JMO,

Alla