Edward, the undead hero of the "Twilight" movies and books, broods and simmers like a James Dean starter kit. Jacob, his werewolf foil, sports six-pack abs and looks as if he's been bench-pressing pickups. But they might as well be hanging out in a nunnery for all the action they get. Their chaste love interest, Bella, can only pine.
Then there's Sookie Stackhouse, the spitfire waitress at the heart of HBO's cult series "True Blood" (based on novels by Charlaine Harris). As Bella chills in the Pacific Northwest, Sookie gets hot and heavy with her vampire beau Bill in steamy Louisiana. No repression here: The deliciously campy "True Blood", which enters its third season next year, just says yes. (It also indulges in every last one of HBO's relaxed content allowances. As the ads say, it's not TV.)
Sex was at the root of vampire mythology even before 19th-century novelist Bram Stoker sent unwitting Jonathan Harker off to Eastern Europe to close a big real-estate deal with that mysterious Dracula fella, only to find the Count was after his woman.
But desire can be handled in different ways.
And as "Twilight" creator Stephenie Meyer has discovered, along with the "Twilight" film team, vampire chastity means big business with teenage girls. The "Twilight" books have sold more than 70 million copies. The first movie, released last year, made $384 million worldwide. And the second one, "New Moon," took in $72.7 million on Friday, its first day, to break the single-day domestic box office record.
"Vampires are metaphors for sexuality, but one of the reasons they're so popular in the "Twilight" universe is that they're safe," says Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter for the first two "Twilight" movies. "They're safe but tantalizing in their sexuality. Edward protects Bella from her own raging hormones."
Yes, one of the hunky stars (Robert Pattinson) plays a vampire, and the other (Taylor Lautner) is a werewolf. But sex appeal knows no such species boundaries in the "Twilight" world. And the "Twilight" world, not coincidentally, knows no sex.
Ah, repressed desire. Ah, unattainable monsters of my dreams.
Bella has to stifle her urges because she's a good girl. In "Twilight," a reflection of Meyer's Mormon faith, sexual impurity is a no-no. The hot boys are vampires and werewolves; you don't want to get them too excited or who knows what might happen. Best not to find out. Even kissing is a dodgy proposition.
Past vampires might scoff at the "Twilight" gang's restraint. Vampires, after all, are known for their libido; when they drink blood they're not just quenching their thirst. Witness Dracula's three comely brides in the classic 1931 Bela Lugosi movie.
"That sexual connection has been there from early on in vampire stories," says Sean Griffin, an associate professor in Southern Methodist University's cinema-television department. "Our fascination with vampires has always been tied to a fascination and repulsion over sex."
How that fascination plays out depends on the vampire story. It can be as subtle as the admiration of a luscious neck in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu. It can be comically lurid: Recall the "Oops, I spilled red wine on my white shirt" scene that precedes Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's hook-up in The Hunger. It can be the point of the whole movie: The European erotic vampire film (West Germany's Vampyros Lesbos, the Dutch Daughters of Darkness) is a subgenre unto itself.
Women looking for a good time in "True Blood" frequent a vampire bar. (The subsequent encounters don't always end well.) Guys looking for a boost in the bedroom can score a vial of illegal vampire blood, or V, which makes Viagra seem like Kool-Aid. One of the show's non-vampires, Sookie's hot-to-trot brother Jason, drinks too much V and suffers consequences that should ring familiar to anyone who has seen a Cialis commercial. There's also the legal version, sold over the counter and at bars, which gives the show its title.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is "Twilight'"s "No sex please, we're vampires" stance. Sure, other bloodsuckers want to sink their teeth into Bella. But they're bad vampires. Edward is a good boy. He even spends most of "New Moon" in a far-away world that plays like a series of outtakes from "The Da Vinci Code." That way, he can't even touch his beloved.
"It is chaste," says Rosenberg. "But there's always a smoldering sexuality under the surface. To me, anticipating the act is more tantalizing than actually seeing it, and more erotic."
Maybe "Twilight" and "True Blood" say as much about us as they do about vampires. America's sexual attitudes are conflicted to say the least. On the one hand, we cling to puritan notions of virtue. Meanwhile, the commercial culture of beer ads, sitcoms and Viagra sales pushes libertinism to extremes.
The middle can be a lonely place. Even for a vampire.
The sexual attitudes of "Twilight" and "True Blood" extend to other differences between the franchises. For instance, both franchises deal with notions of assimilation, or what it's like for vampires to live in a human world. "'True Blood' creates a more complicated view of what assimilation means," says Griffin. "For 'Twilight' it means white family, white clothes, white home, playing baseball. But 'True Blood' is trying to make the metaphor to actual social situations very explicit."
The vampire population of "True Blood" has "come out of the coffin," as the show puts it. Characters are white, African-American, Latino, straight, gay. Bill's vampire friends ask where he's been keeping himself; he explains he has been "mainstreaming." Vampire rights advocates debate anti-vampire missionaries on talk shows. The show's opening credits show a sign that reads "God hates fangs," a reference to real-life anti-gay propaganda. Assimilation and identity are explored as political issues.
Tensions and blood run thick on the show — as thick as the repression in "Twilight" and its universe of idealized purity. As "Twilight" plays it safe, "True Blood" keeps engaging the outside world — a world where sex isn't a four-letter word.
FIVE MORE FILMS TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO
Five cool vampire movies that have nothing to do with "Twilight" (in alphabetical order):
"Let the Right One In" (2008) — Being a vampire can get awfully lonely. This little Swedish gem tells the tale from the perspective of a weary little girl. Dark, bloody and tremendously moving.
"Mark of the Vampire" (1935) — Like 1927's "London After Midnight," Mark has more fun with the threat of vampires than with the actual bloodsuckers. It's too chatty, but Bela Lugosi is a hoot in a deliciously self-aware role.
"Near Dark" (1987) — Redneck vampires run amok in Oklahoma and Texas, courtesy of action master Kathryn Bigelow. But this one is really about the importance of family. Bill Paxton, in flat-out-nuts mode, steals the show.
"Nosferatu" (1979) — The 1922 silent version is also superb, but it's hard to beat the rodent-like Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's update. Warning: Lots of rats.
"Thirst" (2009) — Equal parts delirious fun and genuine pathos, Chan-wook Park brings the sex and violence front and center and never looks back. If you find yourself wondering: Yes, it's supposed to be funny.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.