Question Do vampires fail to mature?

[ashleigh]

I wasn't really sure which forum to put this in...but anyway:

Do you feel that vampires, whether in BtVS or other programs/films fail to act according to their age? Obviously I don't mean their physical age, but the amount of time they've been around as vampires 😛

By this I mean like...say...Stefan being attracted to Elena in The Vampire Diaries. It'f forgivable in the show, since she is more mature, but in the books I find Elena really frivolous and annoying. Why would someone that's supposedly been around for centuries be interested in, well, teenagers? 😛

I'm gonna answer my own question and say that it's done to be pleasing to viewers, but it still annoys me sometimes 😱

 

[Raki]

Yeah, it seems pretty common with vampire stories to have a vampire attract a younger character, usually teens. I guess it's rarely dealt with on a literal level, but it seems to me to be a use of vampire mythology to create a "growing up"/loss of innocence metaphor. It gels with the sexual undertones that could come with the typical traits of vampirism "“ creatures of the night, old and experienced yet eternally beautiful, biting necks, blood, etc.

I think Buffy and Angel tie into this theme, but also subvert it quite a bit "“ compare it to Bella/Edward where she is literally consumed by him and their love is only properly consummated in her death, i.e. vampirism, while in BtVS, Angel is killed by being penetrated with her sword, and then he can come back anyway. It's played a bit more straight when Buffy gets bitten by the Master in a white dress in a dark place underground and is then resuscitated, although she does get reborn more resilient and beat the crap out of him.