I’ve had reasonable amount of exposure to speculative universes which contain vampires. I’ve read Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’ve watched the Bela Lugosi movies. I’ve watched the more recent versions. I’ve seen the play. I’ve watched all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all five seasons of Angel. I’ve read Interview with a Vampire. I’ve watched Underworld and Nosferatu and Blade. I’ve read Kitty and the Midnight Hour and Kitty goes to Washington.
The universes where vampires are monsters to be fought by humans do not upset me. The universes which glorify sex, blood, and violence, tangling them all up together, repulse me. It is the universes that portray vampires as sometimes unwilling monsters, redeemable monsters, that both fascinate me and make me uneasy. Perhaps that uneasiness is a good thing because it means I have been drawn out of my comfort zone and I must analyze my reactions. But I consistently feel that while these vampire universes are interesting places to visit, it would not be good for me to allow them to capture my imagination. They should not be where I allow my mind to dwell.
I worry about the effect the portrayal of repentant vampires can have on young girls who are forming their picture of the ideal man. A vampire who turns away from his monster nature is indeed doing a noble thing but invariably the monster appears and menaces the love interest. That hint of danger is part of the appeal of the vampire hero. He could be bad, but chooses not to be. Unfortunately in the real world the men who radiate that “could be dangerous” vibe tend to actually be dangerous. Abusive men are generally very repentant, until the next time.
But my unease with vampire universes is more central that a concern over vampires-as-heroes. It has to do with the fact that people are made into monsters by the choices of others. Then once they have become monsters, there is no redemption. I am a big believer in personal choice. Most of us are where we are because of choices we have made. I want to believe that all of us are reaping the consequences of our own choices, but that is not true. Some people are reaping the consequences of choices made by someone else. For them the plight of the vampire has great resonance because they have landed in a horrible place that they did not choose and have to learn to live with it. They have to strive to make the best of what they have. But see I am also a big believer in redemption. I believe there are few acts which can not be redeemed and all of them are choices you make, not choices that someone else makes for you. I want to believe this is completely true. I want to believe that we can always make the world right again despite what other people may choose to do. I do believe that on an eternal timescale this is completely true, but for here and now, it isn’t. If I accidently strike a pedestrian and cripple him, I can only do so much to make it right again. It is this fact that Vampire universes force me to face. Sometimes people are landed in deep unscalable holes by other people. I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.
Fortunately I don’t live in a vampire universe. Instead I live in this one where I do all I can to make sure that my choices make the world a better place instead of a worse one. I try to convince others to do the same. And I have faith that all the unfairnesses that I am unable to correct will be balanced and made better hereafter.
Go find the Kushiel’s series by Jacqueline Carey. Skip the first three books, they’re about something different[1]. The second trilogy[2], is about Imriel trying to make choices that are the right ones, despite being in a situation where he was landed in a deep, unscalable hole by other people, some of which happened before he was even born. There is a line in there, “Even the most stunted tree reaches for the light” that resonated incredibly deeply with me, for reasons that I won’t go into here. But, the books are all about that desire to make things *better*.
[1] They’re quite good in their own right, but they’re more about the concept of suffering for the greater good.
[2] Of which, to be honest, the third book hasn’t been written yet. Also, fair warning, they are fairly graphic in nature, both violent and erotic. But still incredible for it, and IMO, none of it seems gratuitous.