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My True Life Obsession… With Bloodsuckers

Lexi Preiser ’10
Web Editor-in-Chief

I can admit it: I’m addicted. I have fallen prey to the vampire obsession that has been sweeping across the country for a few years.

It started out innocently, I swear. A six-hour bus ride, a drained iPod battery and my sister’s copy of the first “Twilight” novel…what was a girl to do? I had sworn to myself that I would never read “Twilight.
 I placed it in the same pubescent category as High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers (my apologies to any Disney fanatics).

Alas, 300  pages later, I found myself completely immersed in the complicated relationship between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. I couldn’t blame Bella —Edward was “impossibly beautiful,” with skin “like marble,” and “eyes the color of liquid gold.” Damn.

Next thing I knew, I had devoured all four books in the series and seen the first movie three times. As I sat in the movie theatre surrounded by screaming 13-year-olds, I knew that was unequivocally and irrevocably in love.

The next phase of my addiction came in the form of a television show, “True Blood.” The show is definitely geared towards an audience of more mature vampire-lovers (imagine trading in Stephenie Meyer’s Mormon values for HBO’s penchant for graphic nudity), but it presents the same conflict: can humans and vampires really fall in love?

This question is perhaps one of the reasons why so many people have become obsessed with the current vampire trend. The relationship between a mortal and a vampire is the epitome of forbidden love—a subject which teenage girls love to fantasize about. Move aside, Romeo and Juliet, because Edward and Bella have arrived as the world’s most famous case of illicit love.  But this cannot be the only reason. Personally, “forbidden love” pisses me off, so why am I so infatuated with the vampires that have entered so many aspects of pop culture? Off the top of my head, I can come up with at least three explanations.

First of all, vampires are gorgeous. From Bram Stoker’s title character in “Dracula” to Stefan Salvatore in “The Vampire Diaries,” vamps are always depicted as flawless, beautiful, and glamorous creatures. Sure, they might drink our blood—but their fangs are so pearly white, who really cares?

Secondly, they’re dangerous. Take southern darling Sookie Stackhouse, token human of the “True Blood” series, for example. She has never even left Louisiana when hot, dangerous Vampire Bill saunters into her restaurant and orders a bottle of Tru Blood (AB negative is his preferred blood type). He’s irresistible to her, and why? Because he is the consummate combination of southern gentleman and risky bad boy.

Thirdly, vampires are, simply put, not human. The added factor of fantasy, plus the whole immortality thing, gives vampires a mysterious and intriguing persona. I can safely say that I swooned once or twice when just as I begin to worry that Bill Compton is truly dead, he emerges from the grave alive (mostly) and well.

With the November 20 release of “Twilight: New Moon” quickly approaching, I am worried that my vampire addiction has escalated to new levels, or lows. I dressed up as one for Halloween—red contact lenses? Check. Fake fangs? Check.  Bottle of ‘Tru Blood’ beverage ordered off of HBO.com? Sadly, check. The symptoms are evident: I recently joined the Facebook group “Because of Edward Cullen, Human Boys Have Lost Their Charm,” along with 165,500 other girls. The complete second season of True Blood has already been pre-ordered. I’m even beginning to see Count Dracula from Sesame Street in a whole new light…

I have come to terms with my love for vampires, as it was unavoidable. From the moment I first opened the first Twilight novel, it was love at first sight. Or should I say…bite?

 

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