Is it just me, or has MTV been covering Joss really well lately? Seems like they've had a lot of articles about him lately, often covering his less mainstream stuff (Serving Girl, Cabin).

Jobo | October 29, 13:46 CET

Jobo, the combination of Joss and Twilight seems to be a guaranteed click bonanza these days :)


Haven't met Angelus in a playful mood have we ?

When "Let the right one in" have been seen by more people I hope to see that film added to some vampire comparisons, not Hollywood slick but a really dark and well done little vampire story.

ETA: An old but noteworthy joke.

What do you call girls who love vampires, star crossed lovers. What do you call boys who love vampires, lunch.

[ edited by jpr on 2008-10-29 14:25 ]

jpr | October 29, 13:56 CET

For a second I thought the title of the post was revealing that Twilight from season eight is actually a vampire Buffy is in love with. Which would be, er, a spoiler?

WilliamTheB | October 29, 14:13 CET

A few days ago, I got a chance to watch a Swedish movie called, Let the Right One in (LÅT DEN RÄTTE KOMMA IN), it was an interesting and dark take on a teenage vampire, it got something missing from a lot of Hollywood take on it, not only because in this movie the one with longing eyes is the male kid, while the vampire is the girl.

Numfar PTB | October 29, 14:27 CET

Haven't met Angelus in a playful mood have we ?

Buffy didn't date Angelus though. Angel had his darker moments too though in fairness.

Bought 'Let the Right One In' months ago but haven't read it yet, now that I know there's a film coming out I may try to read it beforehand (just in case it's as good as it sounds like it could be - that sort of "kitchen sink" vampire story is a really nice idea and original too, AFAIK).

(dunno what it is - maybe greater closeness to English - but I often feel like i'm missing something reading a translation from a romance language whereas translations from Germanic languages don't seem to suffer as much. "Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow" is great for instance - though in that case maybe a slight distance and coldness to the language helps the story)

Saje | October 29, 14:28 CET

Not to diss Steve Niles, but originally, vampires served as a metaphor for the repression of sexuality.
That continued to be a theme in Buffy and Twilight, inasmuch as both (young, teenage, alienated) protagonists face the choice of choosing the 'dark side' (by being penetrated by their mysterious, unreadable vampires in, well, a number of ways) or fighting against it. And if he sees that as being fluffy, then he's not watching closely enough.

Monsters can be scary, but there's nothing scarier than being of an age to make choices that can have dire consequences- even death. As a viewer/reader, I'll take the blood, darkness and the lurking vampire in the alley, but I want to know what happens next, why, how did they feel, and then some.

I commented on 'Twilight' in another thread, can I just point out that my mother, a 'Team Edward' obsessive, somehow managed to raise a Buffy-loving, feminist daughter.
(But we have managed to come to terms with each other through our shared love of 'Supernatural'.)

missb | October 29, 14:38 CET

"Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow"
That's funny. The English (OK, American) version I read was called "Smilla's Sense of Snow." So much more alliterative. :)

I'm dying to see "Let the Right One In," so I didn't read the spoiler tag above. Unfortunately, it's not playing in many theaters & none near me.

Also, I understand why they refer to Angel as the Edward Cullen of his day, but it still made me shudder.

jcs | October 29, 14:57 CET

Saje, Yes but since Angel and Angelus shared the same body Angelus helped to make Angel less of a cheerleader-dating wuss, later on in the story the whole lawyers-in-cellar-with-vampires incident helped to establish Angels darker side. :)

The book is well worth a read and as usual goes into more details that the movie glosses over due to constraints of time and directorial choices.
The American remake seems to be in the works already, will be interesting to see how they (hmm) improve on the first movie, more special effects for sure. Not hard to see they would like to do a remake, the underlying story is strong enough to warrant the Hollywood treatment.

jpr | October 29, 14:57 CET

Didn't know about the book, now I have to find a translated version either in English, mandarin or Portuguese so I can read it, because the movie was very enjoyable, and I'm intrigued about it.

Numfar PTB | October 29, 15:00 CET

If you liked that one it might be worth it to take a look at his other book "Handling the Undead" ("Hanteringen av odöda") as well. Once again not the big action story but a nice take on a zombie story in a Swedish setting.

jpr | October 29, 15:13 CET

OK, i'll give you that re: Angel/us jpr. Angel was nicer but even with a soul there was, indeed, the whole lawyer/cellar/Darla/Dru interface scenario he engineered.

... in English, mandarin or Portuguese so I can read it ...

OK, now i'm jealous Numfar - I mean, not so jealous that i'm actually gonna get off my arse and learn not one but two foreign languages, obviously but still, the green eyed monster lurks ;).

That's funny. The English (OK, American) version I read was called "Smilla's Sense of Snow." So much more alliterative. :)

Heh, interesting jcs. As it turns out, if Wikipedia is to be believed the UK translation is actually slightly different (to the extent that the translator wanted her name removed because she disagreed with the changes). I like 'feeling' better personally, alliteration with sibilants isn't always as satisfying and 'feeling' seems closer to the intuition Smilla actually had (even though 'sense' can mean that too, in one sense of 'sense' ;). It'd be super cool if any Danish speakers on here could tell us whether 'fornemmelse' is closer to 'feeling' or 'sense' in their opinion.

Saje | October 29, 15:41 CET

Not a trublu Danish speaker but in my (Swedish) dictionary both works as a translation to 'förnimmelse' with a possible small personal preference for 'sense', as usual it's all in the context and what the writer intended to convey.

jpr | October 29, 15:58 CET

I thought this thread was about S8 with the mention of Buffy and Twilight. I was so excited I didn't even read the quote between the quotation marks. Color me disappointed. :(

Sosa Lola | October 29, 16:10 CET

I was so scratching my head with the mention of Joss' character, "Twilight". Then, I saw it was part of the comic series, part eight I believe? I'm so behind with the story here.

Madhatter | October 29, 16:28 CET

missb -- It sounds like you like to have your monstrous characters humanized as much as possible in that that you'd like to know what they're feelings are or how they, too are affected by something. To me, it's usually more scary to come up against something that is a complete mystery or where you don't really know what one's motivations (if any) truly are. I'm not sure that the vampire legend started as a means to express repressed sexuality (since it's been around for scores of centuries and every locale has their own tweaked originating take on the subject) but regardless I don't think that is its most interesting or engaging metaphor, exactly.


jpr -- Hammer Films is developing a remake of "Let the Right One in" with "Cloverfield" helmer Matt Reeves set to direct. It's already on the schedule for release Fall, '09.


Jobo -- "Cabin in the Woods" is fairly mainstream given that it's backed by a major-like studio.

J Linc | October 29, 18:16 CET

I like Joss' attitude towards the vampire love stories we're getting, and the fact we'll keep on getting them. It's just up to th epublic to decide which are worth supporting. "True Blood" is getting praise, and not just for Sookie, while I suspect "Twilight" will do just fine when it reaches a theater near us next month. Maybe it will lead to another movie franchise.
Meanwhile, some of us will prefer the bloody love stories that have been part of the Buffy-Angelverse.

impalergeneral | October 29, 18:19 CET

No mention of Nick and Natalie? *sigh*

redeem147 | October 29, 19:05 CET

I was so scratching my head with the mention of Joss' character, "Twilight". Then, I saw it was part of the comic series, part eight I believe? I'm so behind with the story here.
Madhatter | October 29, 16:28 CET

You mean ses. 8? Or did he appear in issue 8? lol.

druzilla | October 29, 22:00 CET

I think that naming the big bad "Twilight" was purposeful on Joss's part. Just wait for Buffy to fall in love with Twilight, but their relationship can never work, because he's bad, but still she pines for him. But in the end they get married and Oz does a weird imprinting thing to their love child. On their love child. With their love child?

Likewithpie | October 29, 22:07 CET

Yes, but of course the difference here is that Buffy is good and Twilight is bad.

Isn't it weird that Twilight started to get fevered mainstream popularity once the final book came out?

(For a very long time I've been chuckling over the fact that the S8 Big Bad is named Twilight. Yes, I chuckle.)

UnpluggedCrazy | October 30, 00:52 CET

It had fevered mainstream popularity before the final book came out since there was TWILIGHT THIS and TWILIGHT THAT everywhere in anticipation of the final two books.

ShamelessSingingRennie | October 30, 09:03 CET

There's a nice review of "Let the Right One In" movie from TvGuide's ex-columnist Maitland McDonagh in her site.

Numfar PTB | October 30, 10:05 CET

I guess I must've missed it, ShamelessSingingRennie. I first heard of Twilight a few years ago, and instantly dismissed it, and then I started hearing about it again in the run-up to the final book and was dismayed it had become popular.

UnpluggedCrazy | October 30, 18:53 CET

Heh. I'd never heard of "Twilight" til I heard the movie title earlier this year, and learned of the book series only a few months ago. :)

LKW | November 02, 02:59 CET