"New Moon" Pushes Teens Farther into the Twilight

At the risk of sounding like a stick in the mud or an old fuddy duddy, here I go...

I am uneasy and concerned about the current wave of mania about all things vampire. "New Moon," another movie in the Twilight Series, from the books by the same name, is getting a reaction similar to that received by the Beatles in the Sixties. Everywhere you go, people have been talking about reading these books for a good while now. It is not just kids, either! While, adults can certainly read whatever they want, the thing that bothers me is the submersion of many teens and tweens into the dark side.

You are probably already thinking I am over analyzing this fad as a phenomenon. You can certainly cite examples of literature and movies dealing with the dark side of the paranormal down thru the years. Dracula is only one example, of course. There are countless examples both serious and comical, and this is not a new genre. And there are countless books and movies that could be considered inappropriate for young audiences, even by those who are not religious-minded. Why do I feel a sense of real apprehension over this Twilight Series and the scores of young females with vampire-lust?

The constant media blitz concerning "New Moon" has brought the intensity of this craze out in the open. Most of us thought it was just a book series, not unlike Harry Potter books, that had captivated people's reading list for a season. I fear it might be more than that, and I hope, honestly, that I am wrong.

I am not just a middle-aged woman with no involvement in pop culture. I have kids who are young adults, I am a substitute teacher, and I recently returned to college to finish some coursework. There is a trend among our young people that is often referred to as "Goth," being short for Gothic. You have seen these kids, maybe in your own house! They wear black all the time, along with severely black hair, piercing, and very ghastly made-up faces, for the most part.

While no classification like this can be an absolute, some of these kids are just "posers," which is what the kids call someone who just dresses a cerrtain way. However, many of these kids are into the dark side of things. These kids do not fit the bill of typical teen rebellion, in my opinion. Most of the time, they are into many unhealthy preoccupations and very negative attitudes, but the one that concerns me the most is the fascination with death and bloody images. I became acquainted with a young girl in college who drew such disturbing drawings, that I really worried about her. This was before the Twilight Series was written, but she was already reading vampire romance literature, if that is what you want to call it. She was showing me a purse she wanted to purchase that looked like a Coffin. And, she was probably more mainstream than many "goth" kids I have encountered!

However, now the trend is hitting all segments of our youth, teens, and adults. Why would someone be totally mesmerized by blood-sucking vampires? There have been some recent articles in the Wall Street Journal concerning the release of the latest Twilight movie, "New Moon." In one of these articles by Julie Steinberg, "The Lure of the Vampire," she seems to relate the attraction to vampires as being based in lust and fascination. Lust , not romance, she sees as the main catalyst. She also explains quite well the sense of eternal existence and knowledge that is credited with a vampire's immortality. She thinks women are attracted to their immorality and immortality.

Another article in the same publication, "Real Men Have Fangs," by Laura Miller, credits the attraction to modern woman's need for an alpha male. She feels that women are able to reconcile their need for equality and their need for a powerful male in the timeless persona of a vampire. They remain in this world, a strong, liberated woman, but they justify the powerful male role to the reality of another age.

I really hope that all of this crushing on vampires is either an admiration for their knowledge and experience or a need for more traditional sex roles, I fear that is not so. I do think it is a lust that skirts the edges of bizarre and deviant. Many years ago, I heard a psychologist talk about the danger of movies that combined violence and sexual stimulation. This professional, and many others saw a danger in attaching the two together in the mind of anyone, but especially a young person. Pardon me, but wouldn't blood be considered a violent imagery? Combining blood and sexual lust is very dangerous, too, then, right? Sure seems that way to me.

I am not preaching, and I am not being a old-fashioned, Henny Penny. (For those of you who are not old or Old-fashioned, this means someone who goes around crying, "The Sky is falling, the sky is falling!" ) I am genuinely concerned for a whole generation of young people who are forming ideas and making life choices without any normal mode of thought. There is no hopeful looking for a bright, happy tomorrow, but more than a passing fascination with death, blood, and all things dark and dreary. And, now, their sexuality is being transferred to this realm, too. Aren't you even a little concerned?

Julie Steinberg, The Lure of the Vampire, Wall Street Journal.

Laura Miller, Real Men Have Fangs, Wall Street Journal.