As I don't mean to take offense by anyone's religious views, I unfortunately felt confused by that statement. I had never considered that what I was reading, was sinful. So as my husband and I have discussed this for the last few weeks, I wanted to shed some light on the topic for all of you. Only as food for thought. BTW, I am a practicing Catholic, so please understand, religion is strong in my home as well.
Why Vampires? Is it because they appear demonic in nature? Are we talking all supernatural beings, including witches, werewolves, etc..? The reason I ask, is this. Is not the unknown, symbolic for something? What that may be, is up to the author, correct? In other words, these creatures don't exist, yet they do in the mind of the reader and for what purpose? What message is the author conveying? Example: The whale in Moby Dick represents God, as written by Melville. I think it's simply symbolism.
So for you to say that reading about Vampires is wrong, well then. Have you not read the fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson? Or The Brothers Grimm? Their original fairy tales are actually very dark in nature. Walt Disney, a fan of such, incorporated the Queen (somewhat of a witch by her actions) in his 1938 Snow White and who could forget, the Devil himself made an appearance in the 1942 movie Fantasia. But did you notice something? When the devil comes and summons his demons, this is represented as darkness, but then what happens? There is light. The light always follows the dark.
"I realized something I've always known but had never been consciously aware of, the Catholic Church makes a place for darkness and, in doing so, provides a place for redemption. Darkness is the entry point of redemption and I am beginning to think that is a large part of its allure.
Throughout the centuries the redemption that pierced so much of the literary and cinematic darkness was, of course, love. This dark and brutal creature, hideous in all his perversity, is saved by love - “'Twas beauty that killed the beast.” And whether it is a damaged man with the power to enter into the mind of serial killers, a handsome vampire who longs to be good, or an assassin like Toby O'Dare, we are tantalized by the darkness. Darkness is not the same as blackness. Blackness is full rejection of everything redeemable. But darkness longs for redemption. Darkness is lush and sensual and filled with transcendence. Darkness is infused with Eros and, though in recent decades Eros has come to be synonymous with sex, that is not its full meaning."
To read her full article, please visit Parlez Moi Blog. It's very well written and I enjoyed it immensely.
I also wanted to leave you with a quick interpretation of the love of Vampires from Anne Rice herself. So where I do leave you with all of this? To me, it is an individual journey. I can not dare tell you what is right and what is wrong but I know that I truly love reading and would never suffer myself from limiting which books I would be allowed to read. After, all. Judge not lest ye be judge. So please enjoy your books!
9 comments:
I'm so glad your migraine is gone, HG, and that your head is clear, because as a fellow practicing Catholic, this is a pretty powerful post. Bravo!
Lisa
@Lisa Thanks! *big hug and kisses* It's been bugging me for a few weeks. The person who posted that statement is a close family friend and knowing that my daughter has read Twilight and Vampire Diaries had left me wanting to defend her.
I think I've got all the rants left in me out. *whew* Thanks for reading.
@HG - I love your blog, rantings and all. Don't change for anyone.
And because of you, I'm like "this" close to renting Season 1 of True Blood on DVD just so I can see what the big deal is. I have no emotional connection to that show or those actors, so when I see pictures of them, they do nothing for me. Which, in turn, makes me ALMOST understand when someone says Rob doesn't do anything for them because they've never seen Twilight, etc. And I know how that makes me want to tie them to a chair and make them watch it and join me in my Robsanity :)
*big hugs and kisses back at you*
Lisa
HG! Have I told you how much I love your new layout? It is srsly gorgeous, and I love all the little details.
this is a great post, and something I have been trying to understand as well. I've always been intrigued by vampires, and love vampire movies. I love what Anne Rice says about how vampires out of all the supernatural creatures is the one humans would be able to interact with the most. They look human, act (for the most part) human and can feel love like humans. One of the best things about Twilight is the constant struggle to be good. Even when they don't have any proof that it will make a difference, they still try. There's still hope there. And that is something I think we all deal with. I can't speak for everyone, but I believe there is a heaven, and I am going to do the best I can in this life to get there. And although these vampire stories are fiction and vampires arent real, its the underlying theme of being damned but still striving for salvation. I mean, if you were almost 100% sure you were damned, would you still try? maybe not. I don't know.
Basically, what I am trying to say is, its a pretty deep concept to try and be better than what the world expects you to be. like Edward says "The odds are always stacked against us." but fight to be good is still present. and that right there is the light in the darkness.
(and I am only talking twilight because I haven't read the sookie stackhouse books or any anne rice) Boy, I ramble a lot.
Glad to see you are feeling better HG. My husband was raised Catholic & he says he'll watch anything except "vampire shit" & I think it harks back to his upbringing however, he loves Harry Potter, which was banned by the Church, which has always amused me as Harry is one of the most moralistic stories I've ever read!I've never been a vampire fan & I only read Twilight as I read that Rob was in the movie & I watched True Blood on the recomendation of a friend and thoroughly enjoyed it, not just because vampires are in in but because it's entertaining (and Eric is hot & I'm dying to see more of him nekkid). I wasn't even aware that TB was adapted from books but I bought,read and enjoyed tham aswell as I'll basically read anything with writing on it. For me it all comes down to entertainment and escapism. I think it's a bit sad that any church feels threatened by fiction. I mean, I read the DaVinci code and thoroughly enjoyed it (the book NOT the movie) and even though it made me think, it never made me question my belief in God. Sorry for my rant but we should be able to read watch & enjoy whatever we want.
Oh yeah, I forgot but I saw that you are currently reading Dead to the World and as it is my favorite of the SVM series, I was dying (ha ha)to see what you thought of it.
Hiya HG, hate migraines (get them myself, take to bed, darkened room, throwing up type gah!)
Anyway as an extremely lapsed catholic but retains the guilt factor as was dragged for years by crazy, mentally abusive mother I have no practising religion now. I tend to say I believe there is something higher than us, that we go on, I like to believe that this life isn't just IT.
I've always been attracted to Vampires and the Dark side mainly I think because I was so pushed into the church, its probably how I ended up a goth/metalhead but I've never thought of devil worshipping or witchcraft which people used to think went along with what I was into music wise.
I've said before Vampires, the ones we read about or started out with Dracula, Anne Rice were all about the romance mainly because they were old and old time manners and courting rituals remained in place. Also everyone is a little attracted to the bad boy which vampires are, even if they're good like Edward, Louis, Stefan to name a few Vamps.
I just like reading the books and day dreaming about the characters er and the actors who portray them lol.
I don't think God would be unduly bothered by what we read and I think the person who wrote the article should have more faith that whatever a person reads they have the presence of mind to do the right thing and if they don't then they are beyond fifty shades of fucked up already!!
@17foreverLisa OMG. *whispers* "rent Season 1 on DVD" I need you to see Eric too! Come on. I see your on the fence. You can love Edward and Eric.
Edward is love and Eric is just plain sex. Hehehe. See?
@KG I know. If I really wanted to debate a fundamentalist, oh God. I would need to write an essay. I mean, it's just irritating that people are talking about Twilight being bad for children. But these are probably the same people that say you shouldn't dance. (Ok, I just watched footloose the other day. LOL! It's stuck in my head)
@Stacked Like Sookie I agree with you on your point as well. It always came down to entertainment for me as well. I guess, maybe not all authors are trying to be symbolic. Definitely SVM books are not, I don't think that's Charlaine's intent but they are pure fun! Maybe Eric is symbolic for my Vagina? I dunno. Do you think they would be mad if I said that in church? Ok, I promise I won't! Oh and yeah, book 4. Eric lost his memory? Witches? I'm loving it!! Half way done!
@NibbleitPattinsonakaNebilit
Thank you for commenting *big hug*. I totally agree, it's entertainment and we are all different. What entertains me today may not tomorrow. I think it's safe to say that most Twilight readers (and SVM) are not demon worshipers. We just fell in love with the characters. Charlaine said it herself in an interview. She wrote other books but they didn't do well, but the minute she wrote a book with a Vampire, it was a bestseller. Anne Rice probably sums it up best. We just like reading about them, (well not all of them) because they used to be us, they look like us and in our hearts, we're hoping still good like us. So maybe we're just a bunch of romantics.
What a great discussion - I'm surprised most blogs haven't had it already, but it's definitely been in my mind for a while.
I believe in God, though my spirituality is not totally a traditional Christian one, and I actually haven't heard anybody speak against this wave of vampire craze (I would just assume those were extremists.)
I always love when the Dark gets some spotlight (heh heh). I went to graduate school for psychology; it was a really hippie-dippie woo-woo program, and we spoke a lot about the job of healers and therapists to embrace the shadow side - very Jungian.
I think I like how Sookie embraces the shadow side with her utter acceptance of the supernatural community. (even before her own personal discovery - oops spoiler)
I see it as a metaphor for embracing the darkness in ourselves, which is necessary to see the light.
Amen. :P
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