Is the Vampire Genre Overdone?
The genre within the Science Fiction and Horror has evolved from its inception to what? Who know? It’s so convoluted now that you can use any backdrop and add in vampires to it and the public eats it up. The first literary account of vampires can be traced back to the 1700’s when vampires were referred to soldiers that fed on humans and drank their blood to stay alive. Then you had Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula, which helped propel the genre a step further, many of the characters from his book taking on forms today such as the Harkers. What has happened since? Well for starters, over 30 countries have their own accounts of vampires. Some are immune to garlic and crosses, while some get hurt eating a certain type of food. The genre’s boomed. However, how far is too far? Anne Rice once said, “The vampire classic should be put to rest.” I think she’s right. Today, not only do you have vampire love stories (Twilight) and vampire action flicks (Underworld), but you also have vampires who want to live normally amongst the populace and you have those that want to destroy humankind (Blade). What’s common about all the scenarios above? You can use the same plot without the vampires and can do just as well if you didn’t add the supernatural element to it. Everywhere you turn there’s one form of vampire culture in society be it in film, books, or clubs that are devoted to it. IS it overdone? From this observor’s point of view, it is. Today, there are over 121,000 books devoted to vampires. On the film side, since 1923 (Nosferatu), there have been 19,002 films about vampires. Can we give these guys a rest? Sure I like the vampire genre, but it’s like an annoying salesman in today’s society. They get thrown in your face and never let go.
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