Moonlightaholics

Through literature and film, the vampire myth runs the gamut from vampires being purely evil, supernatural creatures, to being a totally different species, set apart from human beings.

In the fairy tales I grew up with, there were clear lines of division between good and evil supernatural beings. The former included elves, fairies, and sometimes humans with special powers. The latter included vampires, werewolves, goblins, trolls, and evil wizards / witches.

Even in the 21st century, some tales insist that vampires are part of a larger “network” of supernatural creatures, including werewolves.

Do you prefer the idea of vampires being a part of a whole preternatural network? Or do you have little or no interest in other branches of mythology?

Personally, I love that our (Moonlight) vampires are people of both light and darkness; that vampirism is an issue of biology and not a corruption of the soul. I adore that they “hide in plain sight” and have careers and cars and homes that need cleaning.

As much as I enjoy the fantasy genre, I am totally enthralled with the recognizably human Moonlight world.

Phee, I tried voting and get this message "The submitted form was invalid. Try submitting again", then it takes me back to the thread/poll.

VAsusieQ18 wrote:Phee, I tried voting and get this message "The submitted form was invalid. Try submitting again", then it takes me back to the thread/poll.

Susie, it worked for me. I'll use our forum guinea pig and see if she can cast a vote.

ETA: it worked on the first try for our board ghost, so I'll have to do some digging to see if I can get to the bottom of the problem. Sorry for the delay.

#2 ETA: Susie, it all appears to be in working order. Can you try again, please? (btw, which skin are you using? Some of them are not designed to be used with the current board software, so that could be a problem.) And if anyone else is getting the same error message, please let me know.

I don't believe in any of these creatures, but I like to have a little escapist "what-if". I grew up with a lot of Tolkien. Other than that, Grimm's fairy tales have not many mythical elements except for dwarfs, witches and lots of animal magic (frogs turn to princes, goats can talk, people become animals).

I like the approach in Moonlight that there's a kind of blood desease that's vampirism. It was never spelled out but it's kind of fanon that it's a virus of some sort, with the blood lines being different strains. I like that idea.

At first I was totally opposed to even the thought of having werewolfes in that world. Meanwhile I think it depends on how it would have been done (and I didn't have much faith in them getting it right).

I'm glad they don't demonize the vampires, that they show clearly that being a monster or a human depends on your behaviour towards others, and that vampirism is kind of like an addiction/allergy that you can't shed but have different means of living with it. It worked well for interesting backstories and they are much more capable of fitting into the human world. Especially as they tolerate some sun.

I switched skins and that seemed to work!

So for those voting, the GlossyPurple doesn't seem to want to work.

And by the way, I totally agree with your post, Phee. Growing up, vamps were definitely put in the non-mythical category, and more in keeping with scary, otherworldly beings with evil intent. The fairies, pixies, witches, warlocks, trolls and other similar type creatures were considered magical and mysterious, while the werewolves and vamps were considered just plain evil. And like you, that's exactly the reason why I love Moonlight so much. Our vamps suffered emotionally and physically, just like humans.

Susie, I'm glad the skin change worked. The "Glossy" skins - blue, green, purple, and red - are completely out of sync with the new board software and cannot be upgraded, unfortunately.

*****

Now, back to our vampires: Mick Josef Coraline Logan Ryder Cynthia Lance and last but never least, Guillermo

What ARE you smoking, our dearest darling Phee?????????
Yet I LOVE your poll... and clearly many many folkses believe in fairies!


And I'm with you honey... I LOVE that our vampires lived amongst us, without other supernatural beings; that vampirism is a matter of biology, as you put it... and that vampires come in light and dark and in-between, just like the rest of us. SUCH a cool idea! SUCH a cool show, wasn't it?

Oh phee!
I voted for the 'all of the above' and the 'I'll have what she's having' option!
I love believing in these things, it keeps the child alive.
Werewolves are a recent conversion thanks to Jacob Black in the Twilight series!
Such a cutie!

I chose Bigfoot! I'm not really sure they exist, but I also am not convinced they don't. The proven hoaxes don't mean everyone who claims to have seen one is a liar. The persistence of stories of man-like apes around the world is fascinating.

By the way, around here (Florida) they are called Skunk Apes.

Oh dear, I just don't know. But I do like the Moonlight Vampire premise. Seems a lot of us do.

Interesting that only werewolves have a 0% in the vote. Poor puppies. No one loves them

I don't believe in any of them. Well, not really. But I wouldn't be shocked if any of them were discovered to be real. Think of the things that people are discovering. Or the animals we thought were extinct and are found.

I love fantasy and fairytales and myths. I grew up reading them and I still enjoy them to this day. For many years, I'd reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy every single summer. So I said "all of the above," because I frequently go into the wonderful world of books, where gods, goddesses, fairies, elves, witches, wizards, and other supernatural creatures live.

But...

Moonlight is my favorite vampire story ever, and in many ways it's because it lacks the supernatural element. Vampirism is a physiological thing that can happen to anybody, and doesn't change a person's nature. I always found it to be a major cop-out that the simple act of being made into a vampire could somehow destroy a person's soul, make them evil--in fact, irredeemably evil. I vastly prefer the Moonlight version of the vampire. After all, being irredeemable makes you into a pretty two-dimensional character, doesn't it? It's so much more interesting to imagine how living a very long time, especially having to subsist on blood in order to do so, can affect a person's nature. Moonlight characters, especially the old ones, were fascinating to me. And they were all very different. Not two-dimensional at all.

Oh, leave it to you to get all deep on us, Alle. And here, I was just gonna ask Phee to pass the bong because clearly we all think she's been holding out on us, considering how lopsided the poll results are!

No, seriously, I can really relate to what you said, Alle. I too loved reading those kinds of books and imagining those worlds when I was a kid, but I also was drawn to Moonlight for its 'minimalist' take on vampires. I liked how it wasn't the focus of the show, but rather took a backseat and became sort of just another aspect of the already strongly defined characters. For me, it helped to legitimize Beth's view (make it more believable to me) and make Mick's angsty obsession with how vampirism supposedly affected or changed his 'life' seem more neurotic. 'Cause other than the aging/dying thing (a biggie, no doubt), the rest is not as big a deal (many human couples can't have children, lots of people have restricted diets, my mom always complains about my dad's cold feet , etc.). I think that's why I was hooked from "the interview." I liked how sarcastic his responses were to the reporter's stereotypical questions about vampirism. "... repels my dates sometimes."

ETA: to fix a typo and to add:

Which is also why I wouldn't have liked the season 2 that Harry talked about at the Con... no werewolves for Moonlight. Although I do enjoy the supernatural and horror stuff... Uh-uh, no way. Not in Moonlight. Even the legion was a stretch for me, because it's so typical of the genre. I was really into the historical stuff, though. I would have loved to have seen history re-told with Josef and Coraline and Lance and Cynthia and vampy King Louis in it. Sort of a Quantum Leap meets Anne Rice type of show to go along with the continued telling of the Mick/Beth story.

For the benefit of the ten people - so far - who want what they imagine I'm having.

It's part nature and part nurture. I was born and raised in Australia, but genetically I'm a mutt with quite a bit of American Indian and Irish blood. For practical purposes, that meant that I was told from birth that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were just myths, but that totem animals, sympathetic magic, leprechauns, and the Sidhe [fairy folk of Ancient Ireland] were real. I also had the Lord of the Rings read to me as a bedtime story when I was eight. Stories of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian deities always fascinated me. And most recently, I spent three days re-watching the extended versions of the LOTR movies.

Tolkien's Middle Earth is so rich in history and detail, that it just seems perfectly natural that the elves and trolls and wizards exist there. I started thinking about the clear lines that separated the "good folks" from the "bad folks" in Middle Earth...

Then naturally ... for me ... my thoughts turned to Moonlight.

From the first five minutes of the first ep of Moonlight, I was just captivated with the idea that the vampires were not soulless monsters. They had friends and enemies, bills to pay, jobs, and very human likes and dislikes. I had been an avid fan of Buffy, [the TV series - not the movie], but I was just captivated by the "regular world" feel of Moonlight. It was the first time I'd ever seen vampires presented as being more-or-less regular people, and I adored the lack of supernatural elements in the show.