That's Not a Hickie

What's up with the vampire craze these days? It seems like everywhere I turn there is a poster or commercial or magazine article about the latest book, movie or tv series about these demons. Dark Shadows was a bit before my time, but I remember watching the occasional rerun of an old movie, reading the book during my high school years, and later, renting the Winona Ryder version. Which I wish I hadn't seen. Obviously sex is the major draw to the story of Dracula, but this attempt to portray him as an historical figure with a tragic past that moves him to defeat death in order to find his lost love again, is ludicrous. As if that excuses the atrocities he commits. As if his actions are in any way romantic or a portrayal of true love. As if allowing someone to feed off you like a leech can in any way be interpreted as noble. This attempt to remove the evil qualities from later vampire 'heros' is extremely disturbing. There are countless books and movies where the blood-sucking protagonist feeds only on animals, not humans - in fact, he protects them from other truly evil vampires. Not to digress too much, but this is another strong trend in recent years, to blatantly strip villians of their villany, and hold them up as pitiable, victims of a cruel world, and really not all that bad. Remember that movie about Hitler the artist? The play Wicked? How about Hellboy? Or the tv show that features a serial killer who helps the police? When we blur the lines between good and evil, we put ourselves at great risk. Remember, in Dracula (the book), the window has to be open in order for him to enter your room. Demons have no power over us beyond what we allow them to have. So...don't open the window. Understand that there is a critical difference between having compassion for your fellow man, and condemning truly evil acts. Don't allow someone to convince you that a story that clearly defines good vs. evil is really just all shades of grey. Remember the quote from The Usual Suspects: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." Judging by today's entertainment industry and the fans who support it, he's been pretty successful.