Sunday, November 23, 2008

America was awash in blood at the weekend

Telegraph UK

America was awash in blood at the weekend. Even Freud, who had strong views concerning vampires and the oral stage, might have been stroking his beard in perplexity over the nation's love affair with bloodsuckers.



Twilight, a film version of Stephanie Meyer's best-selling book about young vampire love, is the box office's latest mega-hit, expected to take $75 million here on its first weekend.

More drippy than rippy, it's about a teenage high-school girl who falls in love with a young vampire who is almost as wet as she is.

She wants to be with him rather than her own kind, which, given that she lives in Forks, Washington - "logging capital of the world" - is not incomprehensible.

The current hit television drama True Blood is also about a decent, misunderstood vampire trying to rub along with intolerant rednecks without going for those necks.

There are already American academics out there trying to understand the US vampire thing. I can find two leading schools of thought: the first - and it bears the mark of Left-wing creatures of the night - is that Americans subconsciously empathise with a creature that survives by sucking the rest of the world dry.

Less sharp-toothed, and the theory I'd plump for, is that Americans still crave the wicked European aristocracy they fled.

Old World charmers with extensive knowledge of French wines, fine features and sophisticated foreplay are simply thinner on the ground here.

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