Formula vs. Genre

There is Bram Stoker's Dracula and then there is Twilight.

One is a critically acclaimed vampire film co-written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

The other,

a shitty tale of hormonal, love-starved teens who, oh ya, happen to be vampires.

The vampire genre is nothing new. It has been around as long and as far back as the original Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in 1931. Technically as far back as Nosferatu even two years before that. Many creative and enjoyable films spawned from this love affair with vampires. Some are, Fright Night, The Lost Boys, 30 Days of Night, and The Blade Trilogy. All of these adaptations on the vampire genre are well thought out and well executed movies.

There does come a time, however, when profit, not quality, dictates the media world. Ever since Twilight came out, only two years ago, the media world has jumped on the vampire bandwagon and shouted, "Yee-Ha!" Specifically television. The vampire genre has become the vampire formula. A formula able to solve any financial burdens of television studios. Any sort of decent production value is tossed out the window. I'm speaking of the new drama series, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.

Now some may point out, "Hey man. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is probably one of the most lucrative shows of the late 90's and early 2000's. And it was spawned from the movie of the same name released in 1992."

Noted.

But, depending on who you talk to of course, this series was actually good.

Not like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries which are so obvious in their attempts to follow the new formula of the vampire genre, set by Twilight, that their production quality such as their script suffers. Think Laguna Beach with vampires. Whiny, emotional young adults who spend more time screwing each other that attending to important vampire business.

This formulaic result of the vampire genre is not the first time this has happened. The idea of formula vs. genre can be applied to numerous genres throughout film and television history. Westerns, Gangster flicks, the Space Race: These all have had a period in time when they have been churned out like there is no tomorrow.

In my opinion, I hope the Twilight craze dies soon. However, when that happens it will be interesting to see which genre will get 'formu-lized' next. Hopefully it is something better than vampires. Sorry, let me rephrase that,

hormonal, teen vampires.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_%281992_film%29