I’ll be a little light on posts for about another week, and then I will be back with my discussions on wedding ethics and the dialectics of Twlight. But for everyone suffering through finals, here is a little Zombie Apocalypse-inspired singing:
Jonathan Coulton’s awesome song is licensed under Creative Commons. So he is doubly fabulous.
I remember an insightful New York Times Opinion article back in April about how people scare themselves with zombies when they are anxious and with vampires when they feel flush. The writer argues:
Monster stories are a projection of our collective anxieties — and that may explain why in the current economic downturn, zombies are starting to catch up with the long-fashionable vampire. Vampires are sleek demons for good times. They suavely leach off society — like investment bankers who plunder outsize shares of deals for themselves or rapacious fund managers.
I guess Edward Cullen’s awkward, understated wealth makes him less of a “sleek demon”, and his vegetarian diet makes him less of a “leach” (no matter what Jacob Black says). Thus the success of Twilight as a blockbuster. Can anyone tell I saw New Moon this weekend and enjoyed it? 😀
Inspirational Quote:
“Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit”—P J O’Rourke
I’m glad to see that you’re a Jonathan Coulton fan. He does a lot of great stuff, and he’s one of the best examples of a niche artist using the internet to find an audience and make a living.
I think Twilight does speak to the times in a couple of ways, even though he doesn’t fit the usual vampire pattern. In tough times, we want to be told that we can have it all, and Edward says that by being a vampire without any of the usual vampire drawbacks. We also want to be told that we can have it all without having to work for it, and Bella tells us this by having supernatural boys sparring over her without her having to actually do anything.
Incidentally, Jonathan Coulton recently did a song about a vampire. It’s called “Blue Sunny Day”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQtZJQtBe8E&feature=related
Neat song! One might way that Jonathan Coultron is exactly kind of artist The Economist was talking about in its recent briefing on media:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14959982
While Stephanie Meyers is the other. He serves the tail while she fuels the head of the popularity graph. Cool stuff–thanks!
I sure don’t miss finals lol. Good luck