Are these monsters the manifestation of our own demons?
Vampires have become very popular. I recently watched
New Moon for a second time. I finished reading
Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas, the first and second books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I watch Vampire Diaries, a show that sucked me in without warning. I love the
twilight series and
True Blood has done nothing but left me wanting more.
Shape-shifters are present in all these series (with the exception of Vampire Diaries - though, they already have witches and ghosts, so it's only a matter of time). Werewolves on the other hand are something even more scary... but let's step back.
We love vampires because we want love. If a being without a soul can love, then love can triumph all. We want their love to live because it represents an ever-lasting love. It represents a love that breaks all rules of life, because in honesty, life is love's greatest enemy. Love can live forever, but life... it stops. As a vampire, love can live forever and when it exists in a soulless entity, we realize just how powerful love can be.
Of course, vampires are also superhuman. Every iteration has their own strengths and kryptonites (so we can relate better to them). They're faster and stronger. Some can glamor us and persuade us. Others have special abilities that allow them to read minds. They can fly. They can shape-shift. Yet despite their immortality, they are truly mortal - they can die. Not to mention their curse and thirst for blood, which makes them monsters.
Though again, we love vampires because this blood curse is a metaphor for our sins. As humans we constantly want to give in. We create a character that does exactly that, shares our vulnerabilities, embodies our desires, and prove that love exists.
Werewolves do not see much limelight. We've seen shape-shifters really take center stage in our modern vampire stories, but werewolves (not so much). That is because we cannot relate. They are the divine protector. If vampires represent the darkness and the pleasure we seek, werewolves are the rage we keep to ensure our loved ones are protected.
Werewolves are a different type of monster because their humanity is lost to rage, but their humanity still exists. Somewhere in that monster is a human heart beating. They have souls that give praise to the beauty of the world - the moon; arguably one of life's greatest beauties. A werewolf is a being with a soul and with a rage.
But this is why we love werewolves, because the way vampires represent love in death, werewolves represent rage in life. Rage is the ultimate weapon against rules. In life, we have love but it ends with death. What we don't have is the freedom to feel completely. Rage is the opportunity to feel without limitation. Now imagine a love with the passion and limitless possiblity that rage has. Death almost seems inconsequential. It seems as if death after a feeling like that, may be worth it.
However, this lost of control and rules come with a price. Werewolves cannot function in a society. Society requires that we control ourselves. In order to feel that rage, we must give up control and ultimately give up our role in society. Werewolves do not fit in our paradigm.
We follow their stories, because their potential almost makes their monstrosity worth it. If we could create this monster, we would.
That is perhaps the scariest notion one can find in a monster. If we had a choice, we would choose monstrosity, because it allows us to break the rules that make us feel vulnerable. If we had a choice, we would be the monster we fear. We would take in all the good - with the bad.
These monsters aren't manifestations of our demons. They are manifestations of us - at our best... and at our worst.
