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Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: Christopher Lee

[Vampire Month] Still a better love story than Twilight

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Vampire Month

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alien, Ann Rice, Anthony Stewart Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christopher Lee, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Dracula, Geek, geek culture, Interview with the Vampire, Lestat, Morganville Vampires, Olivia Williams, Rachel Caine, Ridley Scott, Romeo and Juliet, Still a Better Love Story than Twilight, Twilight


‘Still a better love story than Twilight’ seems to be a common refrain on the internets at the moment. Twilight has been a book and film series that seems to have polarised geekdom, turning many against the idea of Vampire fiction while, at the same time, bringing a horde of teenage girls into it.

Many misunderstood Ridley Scott’s reimagining of Romeo and Juliet

Geeks are a weird bunch. We hate change. We like routine and things to be as they have always been. We recall the ‘good old days’ like dear old grannies recall the casual racism and horrors of the past – through spectacles so rose tinted we are practically blind. We remember how great things used to be without recalling some of the really awful things – shoddy special effects, awful dialogue, overacting. When something new comes along claiming to be ‘geek’ we hate it and the ‘johnny come lately’ fans that come with it. They aren’t real geeks, we complain. They weren’t there, man, in the trenches in the days when they cancelled Doctor Who, they call themselves Vampire fans and they don’t even know who Christopher Lee is. I mentioned Lestat to them and they looked blank. THEY HAVEN’T EVEN READ DRACULA!

Of course, in 20 years time those same teenage girls who are the target of all this ire, will be there themselves –  hating on some other new trend. Sneering at some young newcomers at a con and complaining into their brown ale that these new Vampires don’t sparkle and that this entirely detracts from the whole angsty drama of the inherent horror of the vampiric condition because it juxtaposes the darkness of their soul with the light on their skin thereby providing a visual contrast the reader can identify with. This is how it goes in the cycle of geek. By then, of course, I will be an old man laughing at both groups, knowing that I am still far more geek than either and safe in the knowledge that the previous generation of geeks is not in any position to contradict me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Twilight is good. There are many flaws in it and these do not include the ludicrous ‘glowing in sunlight’ nonsense which seems to be one of the main foci for attack. The heroine is far too passive, for example, which gives the whole love story angle a stalkery feel and, as the indoctorwhotwilightternet has reminded us repeatedly, undermines almost 40 years of feminism by convicing a new generation that all they need to be happy is to find an older man to look after them. This, above all others, is the main reason why the phrase ‘still a better love story than Twilight’ has been applied to a number of crazy pairings. The very fact that Fifty Shades of Grey started out life as a Twilight fan fic should tell you the inherent nature of the relationship here.

So, Twilight is certainly not flawless but I am not sure that the level of hate is quite to scale here. I think it is largely because it is such a big target – a massive fanbase who are intensely fantatical, the amplification of that fanbase through the films and a number of glaring flaws that even the dumbest geek can spot. At the moment it seems as if the entirety of geekdom is kicking into the franchise with big bovva boots because they have nothing else to do. And, yeah, I’ve done my share of that too. In geekdom the roles are reversed. It’s the big kid who gets attacked. And while I am not sure it deserves all the hate, it is equally undeserving of all the popularity.

However, it is worth considering what Twilight has actually achieved. Just as Interview with the Vampire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, it has yet again put the Vampire in the forefront of publishing. Like the creatures themselves, it seems the vampire phenomenon is a hard one to kill – just as interest wanes something comes along to ressurect it. It is, I feel, a fitting concept. Plus, as Harry Potter did for fantasy, there is also the fact that more children/teenagers/adults reading is a good thing. Even if they begin by reading Twilight, many move onto to other things and the Vampire renaissance has led to such things as the Morganville Vampire books, which are in my opinion superior in many many ways. If only because they feature an insane, Welsh, medieval alchemist character by the name of Myhrrin who really should be played by David Tennant when they make the movie.*  So, maybe we should let the Twilight franchise alone for a little bit. It’s over with, the last film has been released. There is sure to be another thing we can enjoy hating along very soon.

*Yes, I have in fact written the cast list for the Morganville Vampires series in my head. It’s what I do. It also, by the way, includes Olivia Williams and Anthony Stewart Head as Amelia and Oliver. Please do not judge me in my insanity…

Bram Stoker (1847 – 1912)

20 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

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Tags

Ann Rice, Blade, Bram Stoker, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christopher Lee, Demeter, Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Oldman, Godfather, Hammer Horror, horror, John William Polidori, Joss Whedon, Lestat, Lost Boys, Tony Lee, Twilight, Vampires, Vietnam movies, Whitby


I was reminded by the inestimable Tony Lee that today was in fact the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker, who died following a series of strokes on the 20th April, 1912.

Though he is not credited with the creation of the literary vampire (that credit goes to John William Polidori, one time  personal physician to Lord Byron) he certainly did his bit to ensure that the Vampire became the enduring myth we know and love today. Without him there would have been no Lestat, no Lost Boys, no Blade, no Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and, of course, no Christopher Lee or Gary Oldman as Dracula. In fact, Hammer horror would have spent the entirity of the 70s having nothing good to make films about and Francis Ford Coppola would have been stuck making endless sequels to the Godfather and Vietnam war films.

Of course, there would also be no Twilight. But I feel we can forgive the old chap for that one.

I would like commemerate this occasion by talking about something else which was instrumental in the creation of Dracula and hence all of the above… the town of Whitby. Whitby is the place where Stoker may have got the inspiration for Dracula – at least the evidence suggests this to be the case. Based on the notes he left, the only mention of the name ‘Dracula’ comes from a reference to a book called  ‘An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia’by William Wilkinson (1820) which he found in Whitby library.

Whitby Abbey

Of course, Whitby is also the place where the Demeter, the ship that brings Dracula to England, lands. I suspect this was by way of crediting the contribution the town made to his work.

It is easy to see how Whitby can inspire one of the greatest horror stories of all time. While the inspiration for the character came from Wallachia, the moody and misty atmosphere of this little Northern port town must have had some influence on the feel of Stoker’s writing and, indeed, the interpretations that followed. I remember my own visit to Whitby with fondness. I was a teenager, taking a yaught trip down the north east coast with a group from college, and we stopped overnight in Whitby. We visited the Abbey, went to the Dracula Museum and spent a fun day wandering aroung the place. The Abbey alone is an imposing and grand sight and I have always had a love for dynamic coastal views.

And Whitby is not shy about crowing about its connection to Stoker. Not only is there the Dracula museum and the blue plaques commemmorating his visit but it also welcomes the many goths who congreate there twice a year for the Whitby Goth Festival. And personally, I do not see why they shouldn’t be proud of their role in creating a character who is promising to be almost as immortal in popularity as he was in actuality.

*There is absolute evidence which suggests that, had Bram Stoker not written Dracula, Joss Whedon would never have been born.

Death and taxes

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings, Wierdness

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Tags

Benzene, Christopher Lee, Danny DeVito, Death, DNA, inspiration, Neil Gaiman, Ouroborous, Taxes, Taxi, utter rubbish.


It is sometimes strange where inspiration might come from. For example, today I got a letter from the tax office. I happened to be musing on that letter (mainly confused thoughts about what the hell they were talking about and what particular confused comments I would make when I rang them to say ‘Eh?’ a lot) when a funeral crawled slowly by. This, of course, made me think of Benjamin Franklin and triggered the following inspiration in me:

Death and Taxes – he’s an accountant working out of an office above a funeral home, she’s a mortuary assistant single mother. Together they fight crime…

I got as far as working out characterisations for the main characters and some concepts of how plot would develop before common sense kicked in and told me it was a stupid idea. Besides, the one that followed it was even better:

Death and Taxis. Starring Danny Devito and Christopher Lee. He’s the manager of a New York cab company, his partner’s the anthropomorphological manifestation of the end of life. Together they fight crime.

I, of course, blame Neil Gaiman entirely for the whole ‘they fight crime’ trope. I still find it hilarious even many years after he used it in the Kindly Ones. This is probably why I am not likely to ever be a writer of sit coms or TV drama.

This incident did make me wonder about inspiration and what can cause it. It is basically what happens when our brains make connections between things which might not normally be connected and derive from them some epiphany – often a clue as to how to progress something that was causing problems. Whether it be a difficult scene in a story or cracking the structure of benzene, as humans we pay attention to external stimuli and if we see something inspiring we often interpret it in light of whatever problem we are currently working on. It’s a symptom of our ability to pay attention to things. Sometimes it is not an obvious inspiration, the universe can be subtle and a number of small stimuli add up to one great idea. Other times it is a blinding flash – a road to Damascus moment. You see the spiral staircase and think about the structure of DNA or dream about Ourobouros and wonder if Benzene might be a ring structure or see a funeral procession and think up a crap TV Sit com concept.

Sometimes I wonder if the key to being a good writer is understanding this process of inspiration and learning how to use it effectively. But then, I am a scientist and my first impulse is always to try to analyse everything…

If you feel like commenting, feel free to share any experiences or thoughts you have had with inspiration…

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