[iamzack]

That out of the way, the Twilight series of novels really isn't that bad, considering the audience it's written for.  I'm not really surprised the majority of comments around here are negative - it's not written for males in general, teens or otherwise.  Hell, I read it purely out of literary interest to see what all the fuss was about, and while I generally found the books enjoyable (excepting New Moon) you can tell throughout exactly who the target audience is, and the books are written solely for them.

This is the worst part about Twilight.

[NGTM-1R]

The fact that you excuse the crazy stalkingness and literary failure and failure to do the research when writing about a real place and insanity of the characters and everything else with "oh it's for girls" is disturbing.

[SpardaSon21]

So is there any vampire fiction out there that isn't for teenage girls or females in general?

[NGTM-1R]

The original Dracula. They were writing female-oriented heavily sexualized "penny dreadful" vampire stories back then too. Blade, I suppose, and perhaps the UK version of Ultraviolet are the most recent "serious" takes on unsexualized vampires.

Oh. And Buffy should probably get an honorable mention since viewership was hardly exclusive to teenage females. I know I liked it. (Eminently quoteable for the time.)

[Rian]

I can think of a few more recent than that, actually. Thirst is supposed to be very good, though I haven't seen it yet, and my personal favorite is Let the Right One In, which is stunningly gorgeous and quite disturbing.

If you're counting Ultraviolet, then Underworld probably also counts. Though both of those are pretty dreadful in their own charming ways.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

Kate in black leather is hardly dreadful.  lol

[BloodEagle]

So is there any vampire fiction out there that isn't for teenage girls or females in general?

There may be a reason for that link. [/offensive]

[Rian]

Kate in black leather is hardly dreadful.  lol

Oh, of course. Sexualizing vampire dudes is trashy, but if they're women it's par for the course.

I can appreciate an attractive woman as well as anyone, but man, you guys should listen to yourselves.

[General Battuta]

Blade, I suppose, and perhaps the UK version of Ultraviolet are the most recent "serious" takes on unsexualized vampires.

Let The Right One In was really, really, really good.

[Ford Prefect]

Oh, of course. Sexualizing vampire dudes is trashy, but if they're women it's par for the course.

I can appreciate an attractive woman as well as anyone,  but man, you guys should listen to yourselves.

I love how that works. When it speaks to your own childish fantasies or fetishistic imagination, it's awesome. When it appeals to someone else's-- say, a 13-year-old girl-- suddenly it has poor characterization and shoddy research and just generally makes a mockery of its genre and medium.

So is there any vampire fiction out there that isn't for teenage girls or females in general?

I think "True Blood" is pretty popular across demographic lines.

[Wobble73]

If you're counting Ultraviolet, then Underworld probably also counts. Though both of those are pretty dreadful in their own charming ways.

He was talking about the UK version of Ultraviolet, the tv sereis, not the film.

Of course, the film Ultaviolet had nothing to do with Vampires really.

[Commander Zane]

Oh, of course. Sexualizing vampire dudes is trashy, but if they're women it's par for the course.

I can appreciate an attractive woman as well as anyone,  but man, you guys should listen to yourselves.

I love how that works. When it speaks to your own childish fantasies or fetishistic imagination, it's awesome. When it appeals to someone else's-- say, a 13-year-old girl-- suddenly it has poor characterization and shoddy research and just generally makes a mockery of its genre and medium.

Has nothing to do with fantasies or fetishes, they're simply BAMFs (Badass mother****er), even Blade has a BAMF main character, and that appeals to us. Sparkly faiery vampires aren't going to appeal to us. For the audience of the opposite sex typically, this will be vice-versa.

[General Battuta]

"Has nothing to do with fantasies or fetishes, they're simply [a fantasy] [that appeals to our fetishes]."

Nice generalization about women there. Loving the 'us-them'. 

"Kate in black leather" has nothing to do with BAMFery. Ellen Ripley is a BAMF and she's not wearing black leather.

And god knows why you think you need to define BAMF for people on the Internet.

[Commander Zane]

Because I've seen some people who don't understand Internet ancronyms.
I'm making generalizations about women when I include a movie series with a male main character?
They're action videos, guns and explosions, killing and violence. I could care less if the characters are male or female it's the genre that attracts the audience.

[General Battuta]

Sparkly faiery vampires aren't going to appeal to us. For the audience of the opposite sex typically, this will be vice-versa.

You're making generalizations about women. Not the characters, the audience.

Anyway, you're just proving Ford's post.

[Ford Prefect]

Has nothing to do with fantasies or fetishes, they're simply BAMFs (Badass mother****er), even Blade has a BAMF main character, and that appeals to us.

They need not be sexual to be fantasies. The appeal of violence is just as much a vicarious thrill as the appeal of sex.

Sparkly faiery vampires aren't going to appeal to us. For the audience of the opposite sex typically, this will be vice-versa.

While I wouldn't make this particular generalization, as I know many girls who enjoy violence as much as I do, this is essentially my point. We all have our own equivalent of Twilight. There's nothing wrong with entertainment that satisfies our taste for junk. I probably see more ****ty movies in the theater than good ones. What I take issue with is people holding certain junk films to the standards of serious films because they're someone else's junk. I know it's cool to have contempt for adolescents, but they're entitled to their fun as much as anyone else.

[Commander Zane]

Why I said typically, it's not guarenteed everyone voices the same opinion about a genre.

[General Battuta]

The fact of it is that Twilight is no better or worse than the action movies that the stereotypically man stereotypically loves. Robert Pattinson is, as a great column put it, simply the female's equivalent of Megan Fox.

Yet geeks jump all over the dumb action movies while scorning Twilight as something stupid and irredeemable. I don't like Twilight, I have no interest in reading or seeing it, but I can see the double standard there.

(Now, the gender politics that Twilight describes are problematic on their own, but that's not generally what the scorn is focused on.)

[ShadowWolf_IH]

Women went ga ga over Brad Pitt playing Louie, and men go ga ga over Kate.   Women thought stewart townsend (iirc) was sexy as hell in Queen of the Damned.  Brad Rocked, Townsend was everything that I thought Lestat should be (which happens to be everything that Tom Cruise lacked playing the part), and Kate rocks in her respective role as a hunter.  Vampires are supposed to be sexy, as part of the allure. 

Unfortunately Twilight makes a total mockery of what a Vampire is.  Think about your own psyche after 400 years.  You fell in love to watch someone die, and then did it again, and then again.  You've witnessed man's own atrocities toward mankind, and in the end somewhere lost your humanity.  People are nothing but cattle to you.  Sometimes one may come as close as a pet, but in the end, you look for and find companionship in your equals.  Because you've figured out after all this time that even if you decide to give the dark gift of immortality to someone, 99 out of 100 times they will come to resent you for it, and then come to hate you simply because they can not handle true immortality. Not to mention the thought of killing their fellow man in order to survive.  Most people on earth would end up walking all night out into a desert, and falling asleep while the sun rises.  In order to truly be immortal, one would have to lose a sense of humanity, or lose the sanity that they cling to so precariously. 

Even with all of this, we find the Vampire sexy.  Could I be immortal and make it through somewhat intact?  Probably not, I like to think I care too much.  Trade spaghetti for blood in an attempt to live forever?  Bite me here please.

[Rian]

Anne Rice took some liberties with vampire lore too, you know. She invented an entire backstory rooted in (wholly invented) Egyptian history and turned them into incestuous, whiny angst-machines. I’m pretty sure not a single one of her vampires turns into a bat or flees from crosses or the smell of garlic.

You could say that this makes a mockery of what a vampire is, now couldn’t you? But instead you're holding this up as an example of vampire lore done right, because it appeals to your particular tastes. Now, obviously Anne Rice is a better writer than Stephanie Meyer is, but since that wasn’t the focus of your complaint I think it’s beside the point for me to address it.