A poll is like positivity, but easier

[megwrites]

Since I'm (foolishly) secretly working on a Vampire Novel of Doom, I had to post this poll. Because I need to know the trufax about vampires.


[Poll #1492062]

Comments

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Three vampire cliches/trends you can't stand

There's really only one vampire characterization that I can't stand, which is when "vampire" is used as short-hand for a "dark and dangerous" character, often as the bad-boy type. I'm very tired of the "sexy (usually male) vampire" theme, especially when the vampire part is glossed over or somehow instantly redeemed to make way for a HEA. I kind of feel a vampire story should end tragically or at least ambiguously.

So, with that in mind, my ultimate vampire is either Robin McKinley's Constantine (because he's not at all physically attractive, and other reasons) or Cassidy from Preacher because he kind of fails at life. Heh. I like Whedon's vampires, too, but not so much for their vampireness.

Incidentally, did you ever see New Amsterdam? It was a short-lived TV series about a guy who was immortal - though not a vampire and didn't have any supernatural powers, aside from not dying - until he found his One True Love. Okay, the last part is a little *handwave* whatever, but I thought the show was exploring some interesting ideas about immortality (like, seeing your wives/lovers and children grow older and die) and history (John Amsterdam has lived through a lot, and they reference this) and even love (I'm not sure how the series would have ended if it had continued, but I thought they were possibly heading in the direction of not giving him a One True Love, which is sort of unusual for network TV.

I really liked that he fell in love before - everyone he married, he loved, and that he loves his children, too - and is willing to fall in love again, partly to break the spell/curse and partly because that's just who he is, or how life works, maybe).

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I rather liked New Amsterdam, for much the same reasons. An immortal who wasn't all super-tragic! Just a little bit normal-tragic! It worked pretty well.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Yes! Like he was a bit cynical because of how long he's lived and his experiences with love, but still very hopeful. I also loved how badly he kept his "I'm immortal" secret; it was like he wanted to be found out. Heh.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

It was *barely* a secret!

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

I'm very tired of the "sexy (usually male) vampire" theme

Me, too. Especially since it seems like the sexiness is limited to a certain kind of attractiveness.

I saw most of New Amsterdam before Fox gave it the axe. I wanted to like it SO BADLY because I completely think that Nicolai Walder-Costau is awesome and have mercy he rocked me when he played in Wimbledon, but the show failed for me in several ways.

I got a little upset with the premise, because it really bothered me that his immortality came because he was a little less bad than all the other Dutch invaders and so a Native woman gave him immortality. Because if she had that power, then why didn't she give all the Native warriors immortality so they could defend themselves?

And the whole "I must find my one true love" thing actually irked me, because it meant that no matter who he fell in love with, he was always going to be searching just so he could use her to undo his curse. And the woman who played his supposed "one true love" (I saw the finale) annoyed the heck out of me. And um, what about the woman who knows that her job is to help him die? I wish they had explored how fucked up that actually is.

But his son, I totally loved. I thought he was very awesome. I mean, what do you do when your dad is immortal and kind of not a good dad? I would also have appreciated if he wasn't a cop, because I liked that show better when it was Forever Knight, yanno.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, the origin of John's immortality is definitely full of fail.

I'm okay with believing that John believed every woman he fell in love with was "The One," and that even when he realized she wasn't "The One," he didn't just fall out of love with her, even as he started to look for the next The One. But, yeah, definitely problematic, and I don't think the show explained his curse very well -- like, when he found his OTP, was he going to drop dead on the spot? Or finally become mortal again and age normally. At times, I thought the actor was playing it like it was the former, or maybe it was the plots with him getting shot and stuff. I don't recall the finale; I'm not even sure I saw it, but I'd be totally okay with him not ending up with anyone, or only breaking the curse when he stops looking for love or something other than OTPness.

Omar was fantastic! His relationship with John was by far the highlight of the show.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Thinking about this a little more, I think why I like that John has fallen in love a few times, and that he possibly does not/will not have a One True Love, stems from reading too many romance novels in which the characters only fall in love once (and if you were a woman, you didn't have sex before that person, while the standards were vastly different for men). So anything that was even a little more complicated than OTPing to such a degree was something I tended to like.

And in regards to vampires, if they've lived for a long time, I think it's possible they'd have more than one "love of their life" too. Or other types of tangled relationships, like when characters have a lot of history together (which, huh, explains part of my love for the X-Men -- the not aging thing or very slowly getting older since their creation is a bit vampiric).

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

So anything that was even a little more complicated than OTPing to such a degree was something I tended to like.

I agree that I'm tired of the HEA endings, or at least what the current definition of "happily ever after" entails. I also hate the idea that anyone has just one love of their life and will never be happy again.

I think my grandmother's a good example. She's been married three times. One she divorced, the other passed away and the third she's still with. And yes, she loved her second husband - but she also loves her third (who she knew from high school but never dated, oddly enough) and they're both the love of her life in a way. And I imagine she thinks about the husband she lost every day, but she also thinks about the husband she has and loves every day, too. Life happens and you do have to get back out there again and live.

I come from a family where everyone has been divorced, so I resent any implication that somehow you can only have one love of your life or that if you marry again either you're marrying someone who's second best or your previous relationship "didn't count" or "wasn't real love".

I think I would've liked the premise of John's immortality in New Amsterdam if it a) hadn't come from such a problematic place and b) had examined and owned up to it's fuckedupness (not a word, I know).

And if they hadn't tried to stick a mediocre cop show in the middle of it, that would've helped, too. :)