{"id":9785,"date":"2014-05-08T12:53:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T10:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/?p=9785"},"modified":"2014-05-09T19:18:03","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T17:18:03","slug":"why-i-dont-mind-sparkly-vampires-pretty-aliens-or-30-year-olds-playing-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/why-i-dont-mind-sparkly-vampires-pretty-aliens-or-30-year-olds-playing-teenagers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Don\u2019t Mind Sparkly Vampires, Pretty Aliens or 30-Year-Olds Playing Teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"matt-lanter-star-crossed-roman-emery\"<\/a>
Matt Lanter, born in 1983, stars as the lead alien Roman in the TV series Star-Crossed.Image via justjared.com. Pretty alien, and a 30-something playing a high school kid. I approve, though:)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if the ratings of a supernatural TV show with pretty supernatural characters is high or low. It doesn\u2019t matter if the book about the love between a shining pretty vampire and a human girl tops the bestsellers list or is published into oblivion.<\/p>\n

If the said creatures were formerly written as ugly, weird and vicious at one point, there\u2019ll always be people complaining about the beauty of these characters.<\/p>\n

If you are lucky and have hooked your audience with your actors, stories and characters, the vamps looking gorgeous won\u2019t be a problem. True Blood (yeah, yeah they show teeth but Billy and Eric aren\u2019t your average-looking guys, let\u2019s be fair.) and The Vampire Diaries<\/a> managed to bypass the problem. While watchers, fans and haters critique the hell out of the show (Vampire Diaries), they\u2019re concerned with plot points, and not beauty issues. They\u2019ve accepted the fact that the cast members look like they have sprung from a fashion catalogue<\/a>. They can act, and they fit their roles.<\/p>\n

So whether I like the episodes of a certain supernatural show\/movie or not, it feels refreshing when the criticism focuses on plot, and not looks.<\/p>\n

As much criticism as Stephenie Meyer faced about the quality of her writing, people were a lot more passionate about the \u201cshining\u201d vampires. How dare she make a vampire not burn in the sun? Frankly, I embrace vampires who don\u2019t burn in the sun. It\u2019s refreshing. As a 29-year-old entertainment\u00a0addict, I\u2019ve seen enough ugly-ass vampires who couldn\u2019t go out in the light.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan<\/a>
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula in NBC’s Dracula. Image via fandomobsessed.com. Jonathan is one hot vampire, and he doesn’t even look his best in the show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dracula (starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers<\/a>) series got its fair share of the complaints, and Star-Crossed series discussion boards are filled with people comparing it to Twilight. Yeah because why should other writers explore a love story between a supernatural creature and a human? And how could a writer allow himself to envision an alien without disgusting features? Yes, I\u2019m being sarcastic.<\/p>\n

Man, writers can\u2019t catch a break. We sweat and bleed to get our work sold. And if we\u2019ve managed to sell it to TV, have it made into a pilot and have that pilot picked by a network, we then have to struggle week after week to not just create an enticing story, but to try to create an enticing story that will bring high ratings.<\/p>\n

As viewers, I get \u201cwe\u201d don\u2019t care about the writer\u2019s (hard) work. We demand compelling, fun work. Fair enough. There might be writers out there who give in to the popularity of a certain (sub-)genre, but in general, writers write from heart, mind and soul. I know I do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image via ign.com. Vamped-up Angel (David Boreanaz – pre-Bones days). Not the ugliest undead guy out there, but he has looked better See the pic. below:<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"David<\/a>
Image via comicvine.com. David Boreanaz with Sarah Michelle Gellar. And people are complaining Twilight vampires are pretty?:)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One writer depicts vampires are sparkly creatures, one with ridiculous fangs, one with a made-up ugly face (Buffy The Vampire Slayer<\/a> and Angel, anyone?).<\/p>\n

One writer can make a serial-killing psychotic couple protagonists (Natural Born Killers), and one can choose to make a hitman protect a 12-year-old \u00a0at all costs (you know this one too well).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t care if a vampire looks horrendous or gorgeous. I don\u2019t care if an alien is a green reptile or birth-marked teen or just a regular-looking human with special powers. Do I care for the story? Am I invested in what they do? That\u2019s all that matters.<\/p>\n

So yeah, as a writer, I\u2019m completely on the writers\u2019 side.\u00a0 Yes, it helps that I don\u2019t mind attractive characters. You can go all the way to my childhood and blame it on my parents for taking me to see Dirty Dancing at the age of 3. When you introduce Patrick Swayze to a girl, it\u2019s unsurprising she\u2019ll grow up to have a thing for good-hearted rebellious hunks (and romance and dancing). Don\u2019t almost all the male protagonists of mentioned shows\/films\/books fit this criteria?<\/p>\n

But my tendencies aside, this is the writer\u2019s child. Their story. Yes, they want to be read\/watched and admired. But from idea inception to the end product, it\u2019s the writer\u2019s baby. It\u2019s her choice if she wants to go with Bram Stoker\u2019s baby-eating dracula, or she wants to make him a tortured, a handsome, revenge- warrior like the series (Dracula).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The “ugly” leads of Supernatural: Jensen Ackles (on the right) and Jared Padalecki. Image via supernatural.wikia.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s their choice if they just want a show on vampires, or if they want to add all sorts of creatures we have never heard of (Supernatural<\/a> introduced some bizarre stuff). And despite being created by a guy, the two human leads of Supernatural are not exactly ugly. (Yes, major understatement here.)<\/p>\n

A Note on The Cast Ages:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course the other famous complaint is the casting of \u201colder\u201d actors as high school peers, but I for one can speak for myself: they are possibly doing it for the \u201colder\u201d crowd like me. I like romance and supernatural stuff. But I don\u2019t write YA, and I don\u2019t particularly seek to watch\/read YA. So what can you do to make it more appealing? You cast actors aged 20-30 so we get to be \u201cattracted\u201d to the leading character. I see the logic, since at 29, I find Dylan McDermott way more appealing than, let\u2019s say, Taylor Lautner. OK, I find Dylan McDermott more appealing than a lot of people, but that\u2019s another issue.<\/p>\n

\"dylan-mcdermott\"<\/a>
Dylan McDermott image via tvguide.com. A terrific actor who happens to look awesome. Did I mention he is over 50?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t watch shows because they are set in high school. I watch them despite of that.<\/p>\n

Besides, actors playing younger characters is such an old tradition. Michael J. Fox was born in 1962, so in the first Back to the Future film, he was 23. Grease is a favorite across generations, with high school students Olivia Newton-John being 29 and John Travolta 24. Would you even consider replacing them with actors at the \u201cright\u201d age? I wouldn\u2019t dream of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your take on pretty creatures and \u201colder\u201d casting?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It doesn\u2019t matter if the ratings of a supernatural TV show with pretty supernatural characters is high or low. It doesn\u2019t matter if the book about the love between a shining pretty vampire and a human girl tops the bestsellers list or is published into oblivion. If the said creatures were formerly written as ugly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[831,543,781],"tags":[4556,3203,4559,4554,4555,4558,4557,4552,4553,2934,2935],"class_list":{"0":"post-9785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-books","7":"category-movies-and-actors","8":"category-tv-series","9":"tag-david-boreanaz-angel","10":"tag-dylan-mcdermott","11":"tag-jonathan-rhys-meyers-dracula","12":"tag-matt-lanter","13":"tag-matt-lanter-star-crossed","14":"tag-pretty-aliens","15":"tag-sparkling-vampires","16":"tag-star-crossed","17":"tag-star-crossed-tv-series","18":"tag-supernatural","19":"tag-supernatural-tv-show","20":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pI4PB-2xP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9785"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9804,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9785\/revisions\/9804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}