- Vampires that don't sleep at all
- Vampires that can move around in the day
- No fangs
- The venom thing
- No acknowledgement of garlic, silver, crosses, stake through the heart, etc.
My personal take: before I read Twilight, all I heard was that it was a vampire romance story. I was actually very intrigued by the changes she made to traditional vampire lore; it made the story more interesting to me.
How do you think her vampire mythology compares with traditional mythology?
I'll go ahead and add here: I love it when someone who doesn't like Twilight comes up with an intelligent criticism. I just don't get the criticism that she changed vampire lore, so her books are bad. The same people who complain about her taking liberties with the traditional mythology also accuse her of being unoriginal, which seems contradictory. I liked her vision of vampirism, and though there were some inconsistencies, I think her version of vampire myth is as credible as any.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting. I've read a good number of vampire novels, and I think every vampire author takes some liberties.
ReplyDeleteGranted, Stephenie Meyer takes more liberties than many of them, but generally, as long as they're immortal and drink blood, I'm happy :) They're all made up, anyway, so you might as well have a little fun making up even more stuff.
I found it refreshing to have something a little bit different, to have a vampire story where the vampirism was an important plot element, but not the entire story. As much as I love senseless violence in a book, I liked having a little extra.
I personally loved it. It was differnt take. And honestly, if they were real, I bet traditional lore WOULD get a lot wrong. If you think about it, in Stephanie's world, they're like a secret society. Not many humans know about them, so what they have to go on are hints and rumors. Those rumors would become myths that are probably really far from the truth. That's why I liked it anyways - it wouldn't make sense to me that myths DID get everything right, kwim?
ReplyDeleteI also loved it. I remember thinking, when I first read the whole "sparkle" thing, "How creative, that's really a neat twist on the traditional lore." It didn't bother me at all, I found it to be one of the more charming parts of the book.
ReplyDeleteActually I think Meyer did some solid research. She has incorporated elements of the legends of the undead from as far back as Ancient Egypt. The sparkly skin is new and very ingenious but the transformation into animal thing and the turning into vapor thing, sleeping in a coffins, etc., really came from the mind of Bram Stoker after he read something call the Golden Bough. I don't think Meyer is really that far afield in what she wrote.
ReplyDeleteI Thought it was way more logical than the traditional laws. For instiance. I never turly understood why garlic and the wooden stake were what HAD to be used. Stephenies way of writing vampires is makes much more sense & i truly Admire her creativity.
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