What's With the Vampires?

So lately I've been wondering about the latest craze in teen television... vampires. What is it about the blood-sucking, super-natural, albino creatures of the night that makes for such popular fiction? I'm going to start with a list of recent vampire-related shows and movies and see if I can come up with a reason why we seem to love vampires.

1. Obvious but the Twilight series... This book/movie franchise seems to have launched the new vampire craze with the tale of Bella Swan's paranormal love triangle.

Via... www.imdb.com 

2. True Blood... This HBO paranormal drama follows the same general story line as Twilight. A poor, innocent human girl, Sookie, gets caught up in a world of vampires by falling in love with the tragic, tortured vampire who really just wants to cuddle. 

                                                               

Via... tvlistings.com

3. Vampire Diaries... Another television show based on a tragic love triangle, this time between high school teen Elena Gilbert and Stefan and Damon Salvatore, vampire brothers who've been feuding since the Civil War.

Via...vampirediaries.wikia.com

Here's the trend I'm seeing.

• Each of these stories feature female leads, which we at Tune In obviously love to see. Unfortunately, these shows focus more on the tragic love triangles that these characters end up in rather than the women themselves. 
• The female characters usually lack any sort of career ambitions, talents, or interests besides their love-lives. 
• These women are young, usually relatable to the average teenage girl, and possess some quality that puts them in constant danger. 
• That's where the handsome yet dangerous, brooding vampires come in to save the day. These vampire bad boys have taken over for Prince Charming in their role as saviors of pretty girls. 

It's understandable that we get caught up in a lot of these shows, believe me I've been addicted to them myself. They draw you in and then all of a sudden you have to keep watching to see what happens next. But its important to understand that women today don't need the vampire in shining armor to save us. We can save ourselves. That's why, if you are still thirsty for some vampire television, we recommend...

Via... www.ew.com

Buffy the Vampire Slayer... This successful television show from the '90s that featured a heroic female vampire slayer who fought evil while still rocking her black leather boots. Props. Buffy may be old but it was one of the first shows with a female main character who got to be the hero and save the day. 
Check it out on Netflix.