Twilight The Movie - A New Generation of Vampires

For those of you who have caught the ''Twilight'' fever, Twilight the move and Twilight the book are sweeping the nation like a phenomenon as large and sweeping as ''Harry Potter''.

The Twilight Movie Introduces Vampires to a New Generation

Bram Stoker's horrifying publication of ''Dracula'', in 1897, introduced the world to a character based on a cultural myth as old as time. Stoker's Dracula, a terrifying, undead creature has captured the imagination of multitudes and has terrified generations.

Over a hundred years later, movies, video games, and books have been based around the creature known as a "Vampire" - a beautiful beast that is more evil and more insatiable than any that ever came before it. Each generation of vampire literature has followed the basic architecture of what each culture has established is a "Vampire." That is, until ''Vampire'' the movie came along.

What's Twilight the Movie?

Stephenie Meyer provides readers with a wonderful description about how her brilliant novel was born. According to her website, it was based primarily on a short, vivid dream she had one night. She describes it as follows:

I woke up (on that June 2nd [2003]) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately. For what is essentially a transcript of my dream, please see Chapter 13 ("Confessions") of the book.

The following months left Stephenie, one of the best new writers of this generation, struggling with months of an obsessive-compulsive literary fugue. The characters of Edward and Bella had introduced themselves to Stephenie, and she was captured by the terrible beauty of their relationship. She couldn't stop writing her novel just as readers, now, are not able to put the Twilight the book down. Speaking of which, don't forget to order your copy:

• Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
  
• New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
  
• Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
  
  

What Is a Vampire?

Bram Stoker's character, Count Dracula, was based on the Hungarian ruler known as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad "Dracul-a".

He was also known as Vlad the Impaler because he became famous for torturing people by impaling them on stakes and letting them die slowly as they bled to death from their injuries. Rumors spread that Vlad even killed children by drinking their blood and forced the parents to watch, or reducing the surplus poor population by locking them in a building and burning them alive.

The Vampire Legend Spreads

Just as with werewolves, though the idea of vampires came from such a legend, the following centuries brought a multitude of very real sightings of blood-sucking creatures which became known as "vampires."

A famous example was that of Arnold Paole, who was reported to have been bitten by a vampire while he was serving in the Army. He returned as a farmer, and life was supposedly fine until he died in a tragic accident while cutting hay. Immediately following his death, people in the same area began dying from blood loss, leading the locals to believe that a vampire was on the loose.

Since Arnold had just died, speculation started that he was really the vampire. Several witnesses soon reported seeing Arnold alive, confirming suspicions that he really was the undead creature sucking blood from victims. Locals believed that he was the culprit so strongly that they unburied his corpse and, according to their accounts, found him in his grave without decay, and with fresh blood on his lips. Following cultural believes regarding vampires at the time, they hammered a stake through his heart, and allegedly heard the creature scream in agony from the attack. Once they'd killed the beast, they cut off his head and burned the body. Afterwards, no further blood-sucking murders occurred, and belief in vampires was strengthened.

Twilight the Movie

I have personally never had an interest in Vampires. I avoid Vampire novels and Vampire movies. But Twilight the book has changed all of that. Stephenie has transformed the old stereotypical character of the evil and vicious vampire into one that is beautiful, has heart, and is capable of an undying and painful love so deep that it consumes him even as he struggles not to consume her (and to protect her from others who wouldn't hesitate to kill her.) This novel is a one-of-a-kind story that comes along very rarely in ones lifetime. I will certainly see this movie, that much is certain.