Going through the book store today something occurred to me. And it concerns vampires. So here's a few thoughts.

There seems to be a silent understanding that in both television, film and literature there will be a male vampire and a woman or girl attracted to him (or if she's not attracted to him, she teams up with him at least). Everywhere you look there are stories based on that principle--there are the Blood Books by Tanya Huff and the tv show Blood Ties which is based on the books, there's Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, don't forget tv shows like Moonlight and Angel and even if you go a hundred years back, you will find the same scheme in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I'm not saying all these stories are the same, because they are not, but I do think it's weird the man always gets to be the vampire, and the woman to be the mortal.


My guess is that stories like that are primary written for women or girls, probably because let's face it, especially in literature girls read more than boys do. Until they grow up when things balance out more.

In television those vampire-meets-mortal stories seem to address women mostly, too. Why else would we get all those half-naked scenes with David Boreanaz or Alex O'Loughlin? (Not that I'm complaining or anything ;-) )

So we want good looking, mysterious and dangerous vampires. Vampires who will eventually suck your blood. The kiss of a vampire has always been something very intimate and also very erotic. I guess the sole reasons why Anne Rice wrote her Chronicles was so that she could have hot men sucking each other's blood :-)

Women have always felt attracted by poor tortured souls who've seen too much in their lives already (we dig angst ;-) ), and in the case of vampires they still happen to look good because they don't age. It worked in the early 19th century with Lord Byron and it still works today. I'm no exception to the rule, I always instantly sympathise with characters like that.

What I wonder is: would this also work the other way round? If the girl was to get the poor tortured soul meeting a young mortal man? Could that ever be successful in literature or on television? Has it ever been successful and I just don't know of it? Would women bother to watch, or would they rather retreat to Twilight and Angel?

And: could men ever be the demographic target of stories like that?