Queen of the Damned–A Look At The Current Vampire Trend

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Is the day of Anne Rice over?  The once reigning Queen of the Damned hasn’t been on the pop culture radar of late, as a large portion of her fan base consists of older readers who are not as heavily catered to by the entertainment industry.

It can be argued that, in the mid nineties, vampire lore and Anne Rice went hand in hand.  The high profile release of 1994’s Interview with the Vampire, the star studded adaptation of her signature novel, signaled a shift in the perception of the undead.  Slick, dangerous, beautiful, and contemplative, Mrs. Rice’s vampires were a sophisticated lot, carrying the themes of philosophy and theology with them.  She struck a chord in the hearts and minds of Generation X by presenting her vampires as creatures who questioned their existence while lashing out against the concepts of civilized society.  This was a solid representation of Generation X’s dogma.

Mrs. Rice’s stories also touched on a social taboo, homosexuality.  The vampires are characterized as sexually inhibited beings prone to lovers of both genders.  Traditional male and female relationships often held no real interest for many of her immortals.  They forged liaisons by examining the traits of the individual.  In many of Mrs. Rice’s plots, men desired men and women desired women.  Such was the source of both allure and repulsion towards her tomes.

But while immortality lasts forever, trends can die as quickly as they’re conceived.  Public lust for vampire chronicles has migrated into the realm of the young.  Today, the mass appeal resonates from youthful vampires that deal with adolescent issues.  Publishers and film studios are mining a veritable gold claim, with teenage immortal love stories as their hammer and chisel.

The angle that so appeals to the kids involve fairly straight forward fantasy romance with soap opera style twists and turns.  The complexity of existence is abandoned in works such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, for than main reason that the whole of today’s youth is not interested in such issues.  They cannot relate to what Mrs. Rice offers because her concepts do not relate to this generation’s mindset.  With this change in perception comes the public’s hunger for a more sophomoric blood sucker.

Even the more adult vampire yarns have been geared for the less contemplative viewer.  HBO’s Trublood, though bloody, vulgar, and sexual, still maintains a more forthright approach to its content.  Little deliberation is given to the meaning behind the weight of immortality or the thin line between good and evil.

Mrs. Rice has still etched her place in the scribe’s universe.  She will forever be approached with a sense of respect, even awe, for her exceptional abilities as a writer.  However, it is those very abilities that will keep her from returning fully to the lime light as it currently shines.  She pushes the envelope in her stories, building intricate plots filled with equally intricate ideas that cause her readers to exert effort in comprehension.  Such is a concept that repels that mainstream of today.

But perhaps Mrs. Rice doesn’t really care. She’s made her mark in the history of the author; nothing more is required of her; she need only continue crafting magnificent stories.  Her immortality is assured.

As always, I encourage you to draw your own conclusions.

 

Lord of the Ringtones–The Cell Phone Epidimic in Public Schools

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It’s been debated countless times as to the effect of technological advances on American as a whole; is it negative?  Is it positive?  Is it a hodgepodge of the two?  As an educator in the public school system, I find myself at a crossroads.  Personally, I love the innovations mankind has constructed for itself.  Professionally, technology has made my job extraordinarily difficult.  One particular device that has become the bane of my working life is the cell phone.

Ironic, isn’t it?  The mechanism devised for increased correspondence has decreased that very element it was created for in the first place.  Mobile communication is not only convenient, in many cases it’s a must have.  In the hands of the mature, the cell phone can be an asset.  In the hands of the sophomoric, the cell phone can be the end of teenage verbal transmission.  How many parents, teachers, and adults in general, have tried to speak with a kid, only to be dismissed when said kid heeds the call of the cell phone?  Looking out at the sea of eyes consistently twitching towards the incandescent screens baring text messages from friends during my classes, I’d venture to guess such indifference happens more often than not.

Teenagers are difficult enough with which to establish communication, and attempting to teach them a curriculum they have no desire to learn is almost impossible.  Tossing these powerful cellular distractions into the mix only moves the odds further out of our favor.  And for those readers questioning the effectiveness of teacher classroom management, know that there is some truth to your query.  Please also note that, while discipline techniques are always in play during school hours, there are upwards of thirty students in any given classroom.  And in any given classroom there are one or two teachers standing vigil over them.  And nine out of ten students have cell phones.  Does the name Custer mean anything to anyone?

Cell phones provide the young with a path to their much sought after Grail-freedom.  They are what the driver’s license at sixteen was to my generation, only in greater abundance because there is no real age restriction involved.  To snatch away a teenager’s phone may be a cogent discipline tool for parents, but it can have a rather grievous effect in the classroom.  The teacher confiscates the cell phone and the student, through sheer spite, makes it a point to become a greater nuisance than before or just shuts down completely.  Imagine a classroom of thirty angry glares all cast in your direction.  Not a pretty picture.

There is a wide assortment of approaches to the cell phone epidemic available to educators, some of them efficacious, some of them not so much.  I have a colleague that requires his students to surrender their cell phone every time they go to the restroom.  Upon their return, the phone is handed back.  He swears up and down that this tactic works as a preemptive strike in the war on spending fifteen minutes texting in the bathroom, and I have no reason to doubt him.

But the overall problem still swells; take away the cell phone and deal with reproach that can last an entire year.  Leave the cell phone and get caught up in a never ending battle for the student’s attention.  For those saying deal with the reproach, teachers aren’t there to be liked, just educate; try educating a collection of teenagers who don’t like, or at least respect you, then we’ll talk.

So what’s the solution?  How does this conflict get brought to a close?  At this juncture, I don’t believe there is a solution; at least not one most public schools can afford.  A campus wide confiscation of all cell phones, iPods, etc. would require a security infrastructure for each school that is far too costly and time consuming.  Administrators would spend the majority of their day hunched over some filing system in an attempt to keep track of hundreds of personal devices.  And the teenagers aren’t going to give up their phones willingly.  They’ve been raised with one in their hand; it’s ingrained in their culture.  And with each new development in the field of communication and entertainment, it’s only going to instill itself deeper.

I repeat, technology is not a bad thing in my opinion, but it has placed as many hurtles in our path as it’s removed.  As youth marches forward, so does the universe of the hi tech, and the effect on American is not positive, not negative, but a hodgepodge of the two.  The battle rages onward.

As always, I encourage everyone to draw their own conclusions.

-Michael Bommer

Adolescent Twilight-A Teacher’s Examination Of The Affects The Film Twlight Has On Certain Teenagers

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What areas of adolescence does a movie like Twilight affect?  Why do the majority of young men react in a more negative fashion to the material than young women?  As a high school teacher, I have been privileged enough to overhear several conversations regarding the subject of Twilight in my classes, and once I cut through all the prepubescent jargon, it was perfectly clear that the girls like the movies because the two male leads are “hot”, and the boys hate the movies because they’re “stupid”.

Okay, on the surface these seem like the usual teen arguments.  But when I make it a point to actually observe my classes-consisting of freshmen with one sophomore level-I see a collection of kids facing the same issues everyone faces during those turbulent times known as the teenage years: self image and the desire to experience what the fantasies promise.  It’s in light of my observations that I find myself reexamining the previous arguments.

A film like Twilight can feed one of the aforementioned issues while detracting from the other.  Consider that most young females spend the majority of their childhoods planted in front of Disney style fairy tales where the dashing prince whisks away the beautiful princess.  Is there anything wrong with this scenario?  No there is not, however it would be foolish to believe that these girls are not going to fancy the same scenario for themselves.  At the same time, most young males are watching childhood versions of violence; their shows depicting fearless warriors defeating heinous villains, all with a hint of rebellion tossed in.  These stories fuel the male longing to stand tall and defend while acting macho and tough at the same time.  Such influences are often carried by both parties into their young adult stages.

Along comes Twilight, an adolescent fantasy that depicts the story book romance more than a few young ladies covet.  Bella is the beautiful princess, Edward is the dashing prince, and Jacob is the rebellious bad boy with a golden heart.  Such is the very epitome of many female fantasies; it’s the Disney fairy tale of their youth packaged in a set-up they can relate to now.

Also, one must not rule out the impact of fantastical physical appearance.  As the male leads, actors Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner make quite a pair of specimens for the girls to take in, thus elevating the fantasy to a higher plain.  Twilight does not only accommodate the fictional romance, but the glossy depiction of the perfect boyfriend: handsome, sensitive, protective, and gallant.

The flip side of the coin involves the self image of the young males.  It is mind-numbingly difficult contending with the ups and downs brought on by puberty, both physically and mentally.  Teenage boys are often caught in a tidal wave of personal doubt that many mask with the same tough, macho exterior delineated by the heroic characters of their youth.  Twilight takes away from those males’ already erratic egocentricities by giving the girls exactly what they cannot; that dreamlike beau.  Competing with figments such as Edward and Jacob is impossible for adolescent males because they will never be able to bestow a Twilight level of fantasy upon the ladies.  Such realizations give many boys pause, force them to re-evaluate their own worth-often with a negative view, and thus create cynicism in many of the fledgling masculine circles.  These boys don’t like it when the girls fawn over what they can never be, so they attack the source.  Twilight becomes the target for youthful jealousy, and is therefore thought of as “stupid”.

Are the Twilight films bad movies?  Of course not.  Do they have a deeper affect on certain areas for teens?  Yes they do.  Should these affects be cause for adult concern?  That all depends.  I suppose there’s no harm as long as the ones buying the fantasy don’t delve so deeply into it that they are incapable of coping with reality.  And I don’t see much impending damage as long as those opposing the fantasy don’t do so in ways that could be considered unhealthy.  In the end, Twilight is another work of fiction where the interpretations must be left to the individual; only they can decide how they want to deal with it.

I’d like to end by stating that it’s not my intention to place males and females on either side of the proverbial Twilight line.  It’s certainly not black and white; there are many shades of gray when it comes to the popularity and disfavor of Stephanie Meyer’s series.  My stance comes only from my observations of the public high school scene, and I encourage everyone to draw their own conclusions on the subject.

-Michael Bommer     

 

The Director Rises-A Take On Christopher Nolen’s Work

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While the acceptance of any motion picture is certainly left to the individual, it is difficult to argue the merits of a film director when their critical acclaim and box office success is indisputable.  Christopher Nolan is one such director, who has been at the top of his game right out of the gate.  Memento, though a small scale independent film, was embraced by the majority of the critics and garnered a sizable fan base.  It was Nolan’s first notable production, inevitably placing the writer/director on the cinematic radar.  Since then Nolan’s solidarity has steadily risen; the man has staying power.  He directed one of cinema’s greatest actors, Al Pacino, in the superbly atmospheric 2002 thriller Insomnia, crafting an unnerving face off between Pacino’s protagonist and a surprisingly effective antagonist Nolan molded out of Robin Williams.  And lest we forget how Nolan resurrected the Batman franchise with an astoundingly gloomy vitality, not to mention his other thrillers, The Prestige and the brilliant Inception.

So when a director repeatedly hits the mark, the question must be asked; how long can he or she keep this up?  Can he or she maintain the staying power that has been so very elusive for many of the industries’ flash in the pan directors?  In Nolan’s case, there has yet to be a project that has not received a massive measure of respect.  But even he has cracks in his armor, and they were reveled, all be it slightly, in his latest endeavor, The Dark Knight Rises. 

The third and final installment of Nolan’s Batman vision is not a bad film; in point of fact it’s very admirable.  Unfortunately it has not been as well received as his previous works, due mainly to the fact that the first half of the film crams in a deluge of characters and sub plots which weigh it down immensely, and the chosen villain, a hulking brute with intellect called Bane, is not up to par when compared to the previous libertines.  The late Heath Ledger’s Joker set the bar so high it’s practically futile attempting to leap over it.  These issues are self inflicted wounds; by achieving what many consider near super hero perfection with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Nolan has created a wall that he must scale, and even though The Dark Knight Rises comes close, it doesn’t quite make it to the top.

So is this the beginning of the end for Nolan’s string of victories?  Has his perception of a dystopian Gotham City turned on its creator?  Probably not, for the main strength that could keep Nolan from sliding into the celluloid abyss is his ability to keep his own ego out of his projects.  No matter how large and in charge Nolan has become, not one of his pictures strays into “Nolan Territory”.  What I mean by that is Nolan focuses on the movie itself, and all of the intricate pieces accompanying it.  He never utilizes the film as a sounding board in which to scream “hey, look at me!  I’m a genius!”  The movie posters do not read Christopher Nolan’s Inception; he stands back and lets the work speak for itself.

Ego has not been a career mutilator for some.  Film giants Stephen Spielberg and James Camron have been able to interject a bit of their pride into their productions without losing face at the box office or their industry clout.  Ego has viciously smashed others against the rocks.  M. Night Shyamalan was swinging a big stick with 3 back to back achievements.  Then, after a less than favorable reception of 2004’s The Village, Shyamalan decided to infuse Lady in the Water with a collection of passive-aggressive strikes at those who refuted his feature.  His ego caused a backlash from critics and fans, and his subsequent projects have steadily declined, along with his reputation.  Nolan has yet to weather such circumstances, hopefully he never will.

Again, The Dark Knight Rises is not a bad film, far from it.  It’s just not the highlight of Nolan’s career.  Every director has one-or more-conventional piece on their resume; the question is how many more conventional pieces are to come and how will they affect Nolan’s standing?  No one can keep running at full speed; there will always be projects awarded the bronze instead of the gold.  But if Nolan continues to take the bitter with the sweet in the same elegant fashion he’s shown thus far, it is my prediction that he will eventually be inducted into the Pantheon of cinematic legends.

This is only my opinion; I encourage everyone to draw their own conclusions.

–Michael Bommer