From Disney To Vampires

She’s pierced and dyed and scarified
She hates Tom Cruise, she loves Anne Rice
-The Mr. T Experience, “Alternative Is Here To Stay”

I’ve always found the appeal of “vampire” stories, particularly the appeal to females (many of whom, in my high school days, could be seen perpetually toting Anne Rice around), befuddling. Not only their appeal but their supposed sexyness. For some reason we were always meant to think of vampires, vampire stories, and vampire movies, as somehow sexy. But vampires are basically sickly leeches who prance about in antiquated dress. Their central defining trait is that they drink blood. Which part is the sexy? Is it just that they’re all metaphorically gay?

I once asked a female acquaintance about this. The only thing she could come up with is that, well, there’s penetration. Of course, it’s entirely the wrong kind, seems to me, thus doesn’t refute the ‘gay’ hypothesis. Whatever the case, I have a long history of finding something vaguely and amorphously sick about the whole vampire phenomenon, without exactly being able to put it into words.

That’s where Whiskey comes in, because he explains it all. Go read the whole thing.

I’ll only add that his post touches on two themes that I see as recurring in some of my (meager) writings on politics here:

• modern politics being plagued by a reversion to high-school-clique mentality that places a premium on “coolness”
• a subtle, perhaps ebbing and flowing but always present, connection between leftism/socialism and monarchism.

A final thought: the (female) fantasy of being a perpetually young-and-in-love celebrated princess at the head of a frozen-in-place kingdom is, essentially, the Sleeping Beauty story – particularly in the Disney version. From Disney to vampires? It would seem so.