Obama's Election Means a Return of Vampire Flicks 97
gyrogeerloose writes "In a column in Saturday's San Diego Union Tribune, Peter Rowe makes a connection between the popularity of horror movie genres and the political party in the White House. A Republican administration presides over a period of zombie movies while a Democrat in the Oval Office brings on a cycle of vampire movies. Why? Possibly because the two genres 'are really competing parables about class warfare.' Hmmmm, maybe. On the other hand, it might just be a coincidence." Socialists are best represented by lycanthropes, and the Libertarians are most closely tied to any sort of horror from space.
Re:Genius. (Score:1, Interesting)
//Thinks the vampire movies have been coming out for a while now, actually.
That's because because Bush was pretty much as big a socialist as any Democrat, despite having an R next to his name...
Re:Genius. (Score:3, Interesting)
Really?
I'd think that as zombies always come in hordes (Night of the Living Homeless &c), so they represent the mob of the working class. If vampires expose their skin to sunlight, they turn to dust, and likewise with the... "paperless administration work" of socialist governments.
Werewolves never use contraceptives or do abortions, but they do mate when they take a human form; just look at Oz and the red-haired sexy geeky wonderful Willow; *sigh*.
Where was I? Oh yeah, werewolves! They're clearly the republicans. And Libertarianism is so pie in the sky and alien to most Americans that we really, really have to try out plan A through plan H before jumping to Libertarianism.
Re:This makes more sense than I expected (Score:5, Interesting)
During the 90's, there was a lot of what I call "gnostic cinema" - films like The Matrix, Truman Show, Dark City, eXistenZ, and such were all about radical Cartesian doubt ("is the world all lies? Can I trust my senses? etc.") I really do connect them with the Clinton era, and also with the apparent unchallenged dominance of what was called the Washington doctrine. Although Clinton was a Democrat, the idea that unfettered markets worked best and that we were on the road to permanent prosperity was very much the consensus, far more than under Bush. After all, the Cold War was over. With that consensus came gnawing doubt - expressed in those films - that perhaps things underneath the gleaming, shiny surface weren't so good after all. When the dot.com crash came, and then 9/11, such Gnostic doubt was no longer necessary: that optimism disappeared.
As far as why Democrats are vampires and Republicans are zombies, remember that culture trumps economics in representation. The Democrats are still considered the party of the cultural elite. The Republicans are the populists, at least at the base (so much of the last election was a demonstration of the contradictions between the Republican base and the Republican elite.) Democrats may tax you more, but they also, ironically, believe in a heirarchy of cultural values: that a salad at Chez Panisse is superior to a cheeseburger at McDonalds. Republicans like uneven economics, but flat cultures (which make, after all, simpler and bigger mass markets, which creates economic elites like Sam Walton.)
Re:This makes more sense than I expected (Score:5, Interesting)
I would say that the villain in each movie reflects the type of character most likely to be demonized by the administration. Vampires are ancient, aristocratic white people who suck the life from the young and vivacious- in other words, the dessicated plutocrats that liberals blame for worldly ills. Zombies are poorly dressed unintelligent masses that want to eat the brains of the small number of intelligent protagonists who had the 'good sense' not to become zombies- in other words, the masses of the urban poor who are leeching off of a small number of productive citizens. Zombies are, to a conservative, just brain welfare queens.
Look at the financial crisis: was it the fault of a few Wall Street fat cats getting greedy (Dem view), or financially unfit masses dragging down the economy by not paying their bills (Republican view)?
Socialists I would think would be associated with 1980's teen films and episodes of Scooby Doo. The real villain is always a real estate developer interested in making a public good (teen center) into private property.
Libertarians would be bondage torture movies like Saw or Hostel. The enemy wants to tie you down and dismember you, just like the state wants to restrict your freedom and steal your property.
Re:This makes more sense than I expected (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, vampire movies are about the fear and/or admiration of elites, whereas zombie movies are about the resentment of conformity.
Re:This makes more sense than I expected (Score:1, Interesting)
Personally, I think it a much more compelling notion that they appeal to the dominant fears of the majority of the voting nation, and as such to the party in power.
Republicans are typically the 'haves', as well as more socially conservative. As such, among their greatest fears is socialism, or communism. The seizure and destruction of life and property by mindless, short sighted hordes. ( zombies )
Democrats are more socially liberal. The bulk of their social fears are centered around the unjustly powerful exercising power and authority over the weak in an irresponsible, or evil manner ( vampire ).
I dont think we ever have to worry about the majority of the nation being libertarian. If that somehow happened, and I had to guess, I would say we'd see a huge spike in movies about orwellian states, government witch hunts and religious crusades run amok.
They have it backwards (Score:3, Interesting)