Monday, March 18, 2013

A Confession



Those of you who know me well already know this, but it might come as a surprise to some of you to learn that I have a guilty pleasure.  And I’m going to confess it now!  I love vampire stories.  There, I said it…and the world keeps turning, although you may already have suspected as much from the way I went to see the marathon five-film premier of Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2.  I tried to pretend it was something I was doing for my daughter’s sake but really she came along as my carer!

Needless to say, this on-going fascination with the supernatural/fantasy genre has caused me much reflection: Is this right?  Can it be appropriate for someone like me to like such a thing?  Isn’t that what fourteen year old girls do?  Maybe…but I think there is something about these stories that conveys some profound ideas that interest me, and they interest me because I’m a Christian…or I’m a Christian because these ideas interest me.

My latest musing about the genre (fuelled at the moment by The Vampire Diaries!*) is on the scene that occurs in most of these stories.  It’s the scene where somebody ordinary, a ‘muggle’ to use a term from another incarnation of the genre, is suddenly faced with the reality and truth of the existence of the supernatural.  They get a letter to Hogwarts, fall in love with a vampire, discover they are actually a Shadowhunter, and suddenly they have to look at themselves and their world with new eyes.  I had an experience similar to this when I first realised that Jesus was real, and that he did love me, and that he would give up his own life to save mine.  This realisation then sent me on an epic quest, to be part of a Fellowship, to face up to the reality of the existence of the Volturi.  

Having seen the new reality I couldn’t go back and pretend it wasn’t there anymore.  When I watch Bella Swan, or Elena Gilbert, or even Bilbo Baggins as they negotiate this paradigm shift, I’m reflecting on my own journey into a new story, and that’s why it’s fascinating.

*OK for the genre-not high art but entertaining. 


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:46 am

    Great analogy, and aren't we all still 14 years old inside anyway?

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    1. Hi Nathan, thanks for stopping by. I find the supernatural genre fascinating and have wondered often if it's popular with young people because it allows them to explore questions about life, death, body and soul, good and evil, faith and love in a safe space that isn't caught up in prescriptive religiosity.

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