A slight issue I have with vampires

[megwrites]

I won't pretend I'm not a fan of some vampire novels, TV shows, and movies. I am. I like the idea of vampires, I like the rather strange, twisted places you can go with them.

But one thing that no writer, creator, artist, moviemaker or other such creature has explained to me is why crosses are deadly to vampires, but no other religious symbols are. A Star of David, a Star and Crescent, the image of the Buddha and all the other sacred icons of other religions are completely ineffective, but the cross does the magic trick where the undead are concerned?

Does anyone else taste the rancid flavor of bigotry inherent in that? Because I do.



Furthermore, if crosses really are the only religious symbol that can hurt vampires, why don't all the vampires just move to, say, India or China or something? They have just as much night time there as we do here. It's not like the sun doesn't set in Calcutta. And bonus, not only do they have large populations of people, but most of them are not likely to be wearing or carrying crosses.

I know the reason for the whole cross thing, in reality. The reason is that most of the vampire literature I'm exposed to is created by people working from a European and Christian mythology, most of whom, if they are not personally Christian, at least have that cultural background.

And frankly, it really bothers me. It bothers me because I really don't like one sided, monocultural mythologies in my books. Even outside of the vampire genre (and yes, vampires are their own genre), it bothers me when somebody does urban fantasy world building and only uses creatures and legends from one part of the world.

I've seen the tired old recycling of Celtic mythology more than I care to. And frankly, I think there's more than a little xenophobia inherent in it.

More than that, I get tired of seeing fairies, witches, vampires, and werewolves all recycled over and over again to the point where we've got books like Twilight (yes, let me go on the record as saying I think it's a terrible book) while the very fascinating myths and beliefs of other cultures go completely unexamined in the various genres where vampires pop up.

Speaking of Twilight and it's kin: America is becoming an increasingly diverse place, and it'd be really nice if the vampire literature moved on from the same tale of angsty white middle-class teenagers that writers have been telling for ages.

I caught the whole Outcast White Teen Girl and Her Sparkly Vampire Boyfriend Show when it was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it bugged me then, too.

Wouldn't Twilight have been a far superior book if, say, Bella had been a black teenager finding herself transplanted out of the environment she's usually used to? Or from a family of recent immigrants struggling to get by in their new country?

I think it would be fascinating to tell the story of a teenager dealing with straddling a cultural divide between what's seen as "American" and her family's original culture and finding love with someone who, being a vampire, might understand being caught between worlds? Or, scrap the vampire even - what if a mythological creature from her native culture followed her family to America?

What if Bella had been a lesbian teenager trying to figure out her sexuality? Or if Bella had been a teenage girl coming to terms with the fact that she really wanted to be a boy? What if Edward liked her better when she was a boy? Teen romance with a transgender twist would be unbelievably awesome in my book.

Or, what it Bella had been in some way disabled? What if Bella had even just been really overweight?

So while everyone keeps harping about how Twilight is "every girl's secret fantasy", they neglect all the girls who aren't like Bella at all. They neglect the girls of color, the girls who aren't straight, the fat girls, the girls who don't fit into the Bella box. What about their fantasies?

There are mythologies out there for them, but somebody has to write it. Somebody has to stop rehashing the same old material.

Maybe it's just that writers feel they need to write what they know, after all that's the old standard that gets beaten into our head in every workshop and "how to write" book out there.

But if that's so, why not go out and learn about another culture - if only their mythology - so you can know?

Why is it that all these people who are supposed to be so creative and imaginative can't break out of their cultural boxes?

Comments

[wisdomeagle]

Have you read Peeps by Scott Westerfeld? (Full disclosure: I never finished it. But I am not a horror fan and it definitely verges on horror. Though it has sci-fi and fantasy elements too.) It has a neat explanation for this.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Nope, I never even heard of the novel. Do tell, what is his explanation for it? :)

[wisdomeagle]

Well, basically vampires have a natural aversion to everything that they especially liked pre-vampirism, and so naturally in medieval Europe, with the big honkin' crosses everywhere, crosses could ward off most vampires, hence the legendary belief that vampires are allergic to/scared of/etc crosses. In modern times crosses don't have that effect on most vampires, but like, one is allergic to Elvis paraphernalia.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Hmm, not an entirely bad explanation, and one that could be multi-cultural easily.

Okay, so there's at least one person out there who's given it some thought. Good to know!

[ladyslvr.livejournal.com]

Cultural xenophobia aside, the cross thing arises from the old tradition of re-burying suspected vampires at a crossroads to prevent them from finding their way back to the village. That's why crosses are repellent. The religious link was added during the middle ages, courtesy of the Catholic Church. So, really, it's an example of borrowing a trope and adapting it without really understanding what you're doing.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Cultural xenophobia aside, the cross thing arises from the old tradition of re-burying suspected vampires at a crossroads to prevent them from finding their way back to the village.

I'd heard about the burial at a crossroads thing, but didn't know if that came before or after the link to the sign of the cross.

So, really, it's an example of borrowing a trope and adapting it without really understanding what you're doing.

True, but it bothers me still that it seems like nobody's really thought to question this trope, or adapt it to a world that has clearly expanded beyond just the influence of Christianity.

And it still doesn't address why the large majority of vampires and their angsty girlfriends tend to be white and of the middle class. Blade and the L.A. Banks books aside, it seems like vampirism is still a rather socio-economically and racially restricted place. I'd like to see that change. And I'd like to see vampires adapted to fit with other religions and mythologies besides the Christian one.

[ladyslvr.livejournal.com]

it seems like nobody's really thought to question this trope

Of course they haven't. Too many people are too thoroughly brainwashed into the "all things Christian symbology are good, holy, and deeply meaningful" mentality and "all things not Christian aren't real or don't count" mentality.

And it still doesn't address why the large majority of vampires and their angsty girlfriends tend to be white and of the middle class.

Because the largest majority of the people writing those shows/books are white and middle class and that's the world they know/see/and think interesting.

Also consider that a lot of people are uncomfortable writing main characters that belong to groups the writer doesn't because they fear they'll do it badly, and that's just worth the flak.

Personally, I would not want to see a transgendered person as the vampire or vampire's lover because that would be too much unusual in the story for my tastes. One or the other. Not both. And I absolutely could not write either.

[denoue-moi.livejournal.com]

Oooh, FtM transsexual character FtW.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

INORITE!

Someone totally needs to write that novel one day, especially for teens. Because I think a lot of teenagers who may be questioning their sexuality and gender identity would get a lot of comfort out of knowing that just because you're transgender and/or queer doesn't mean you CAN'T KICK ASS UNDER THE PALE MOONLIGHT AND FALL IN LOVE WITH A SPARKLY VAMPIRE ALL YOUR OWN.

I had to all caps that, because it was what was in my soul.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Richard Matheson's I Am Legend has a Jewish vampire who's repelled by a Star of David rather than by a cross.

It has occurred to me that a vampire who was a Communist in life might be repelled by a hammer and sickle. The hammer could also be used alone to repel vampires who used to worship Thor.