2 Comments

  1. Bryan Ray

    I think the Twilight novels work at least a little better if you replace ‘vampire’ with ‘fae.’ Creatures of Faerie are permitted to sparkle, to have melodramatic romantic entanglements, and some of them do still drink blood.

    While I generally agree that modern vampire stories lack theological weight, there’s still some good story to be had there. The TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, for instance, explored some interesting themes with the ‘good’ vampires Angel and Spike. Is evil purely a matter of what we do, or is it who we are? If we change, how much responsibility do we still bear for the sins of the past? How do we learn to forgive those who have done us harm? How do we relate to them after they’ve been regenerated?

    White Wolf games, played properly, present us with the dilemma of learning to live in a state where everything we do to survive makes us a little more monstrous. How do we live in this fallen world without allowing it to taint us? Granted, I’ve not encountered many players who really Embrace that theme, but it’s there and, in my opinion, foundational to the game.

    It’s true that these aren’t stories about the dichotomy of good and evil that earlier vampire myths gave us, but that doesn’t mean the modern takes are devoid of meaning useful to Christians.

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