Mass culture- meaning culture that’s for everyone. Everyone being the common people. We learned about mass culture in class this week and it made me think about the recent influx of vampire related things.
Not even a couple years ago, back when Buffy the Vampire Slayer had just gone off air, and the spin-off series, Angel had too, movies and TV shows about vampires had relatively simmered down. Even books about vampires stopped being so popular. Then came Twilight. Twilight is about a girl who falls in love with a boy. But not just any boy. A sparkly, 108 year old vampire boy. Twilight immediately becomes a big hit, getting on bestseller lists and making Stephanie Meyer rich. But why is Twilight such a big hit? Is it because the books are so well written and are literary masterpieces? Certainly not, and I say this from experience having read the books.
Twilight is probably as big as it is today because it appeals to the masses. Who doesn't want to read a love story, especially one with mythical beings in it? In today’s culture of anything supernatural being immediately big with teenage girls, its no wonder Twilight is what it is today. The first movie made millions, as did the second and third ones. And ever since people in Hollywood realized just how into vampires people in today’s society are, they have been cranking out TV shows, movies and books by the minute.
True Blood is an example of a TV show that came after the Twilight saga did. While they were books before Stephanie Meyer ever released Twilight, they were never as big and kind of just flew under the radar. That is, until vampires became the next big thing. I personally don't watch the show, but according to my friends, its basically glorified porn, with vampires and somewhat of a plot. Back to what the professor was talking about where you have this big idea and the network executive’s just change it up until it will appeal to the masses. True blood is like that. While it was a book to begin with, they deviate from the plot and since it’s on HBO, they can get away with showing whatever they want, and boy do they do just that.
Vampire Diaries, another TV show, this time on CW, is another example of books that were out before Twilight and did not get big until after the success of Twilight the movie, and books. This show basically has the same plot as twilight- girl falls in love with a vampire, drama ensues. Just goes to show that there really is no originality left. It’s the same formula, different plot sometimes, and in this case vampires are added just to make it appeal to the teens more.
