This Sucks: Why We Will Never Tire Of Vampires
In this session, authors Trent Jamieson, Kelly Link and Holly Black discussed the eternal popularity of vampires in our literary and screen culture. All vampires seemed to be popular with this crew, from ‘Buffy’ fan favourite Spike to the ‘Vampire Diaries’ gang from teen-skewed TV. Even 'Twilight' was praised, if not necessarily for its narrative merit, than for its beautiful and innovative vampire lore (stone-hard bodies that sparkle in the sun, rather than collapse into a puff of dust) and for making the vampire genre accessible to mainstream audiences again. One panellist included Malcolm from BBC’s ‘In The Thick Of It’ as one of her all time favourite vampires, something that perhaps others following politics can relate to.But it wasn’t a purely young adult (YA) fiction-orientated session. Sex was another major theme of the authors’ discussion. When asked why vampires were so compulsive, one panellist said, “we have managed to take our fears, and have sex with them.” The vampiric penchant for swinging all ways was also discussed, and concluded with “well, if you’re going to be alive for all eternity, limiting yourself to one gender would be kind of boring, right?” Well said.
Other themes explored by the panel were perhaps not so often associated with the genre. Vampire stories as superhero stories were discussed, with the proviso that authors can do more interesting things with vampires than they can with often-pious super heroes. Vampires versus werewolves in many current stories (‘Underworld’, ‘Twilight’) were unpacked as being a class clash, with the blue-collar werewolves being the perpetual underdog (no pun intended!) to their more aristocratic opponents.
This was an insightful and funny panel, which bought new perspectives to what the audience thought they knew about vampire stories.
Sexy Texts
Authors Anne Buist, Krissy Keen and Susan Johnson pushed the envelope of what can be defined as sexy stories, each approaching the topic from a very different perspective. One considered herself to write more about relationships, one wrote to challenge the traditional conception of sexuality and attraction, and the last considers herself to be more of a detective author, who happens to write great sex scenes.While only one author engaged in erotica per se, and then in a subversive manner, all three had a very interesting insight into the genre. When trying to draw the line between erotica and porn, the general consensus among the panellists was that erotica was socially acceptable, whereas porn remained taboo. What was considered pornographic and dangerous in times gone by – such as the novel ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ – is considered erotic today.
Speaking of banned books, who knew that ‘American Psycho’ was still officially banned in Queensland! Although some stores delight in selling it anyway. It is the sex scenes, rather than the violence, that titillated the censors, which the panel agreed was generally the case.
An interesting discussion was the difference between reading sex scenes, and watching them in movies, on TV or on your credit card-enacted lap top screen. The authors concurred that watching porn puts the viewer at a remove; they remain outside the action as an observer. In contrast, with books, readers can immerse themselves into the scene, and almost experience it for themselves as a part of the narrative. They can use their imagination more freely, without the mediation of a director.
One issue emerged for the authors that made sex scenes more difficult for writers rather than for visual media: orgies. Orgies, it was proclaimed, are the great leveller. “You could be the Queen or a cleaning lady, but in an orgy, you’re just a mouth or a vagina. The choreography of an orgy is a very difficult challenge.”
And there you have it folks, you learn something new at the Brisbane Writers Festival every year.
Dietland
This book sounds exciting. The protagonist of 'Dietland', Plum, is overweight and waiting for bariatric surgery to take place so that her 'real life' can begin. Then Plum notices she is being followed, and she soon discovers herself in the underground world of fat liberation, where converts are forced to witness the horrors that befall women around the planet every day: rape, humiliation, abuse and objectification. It’s a humorous book of the blackest variety.Author Sarai Walker has written for women’s magazines from a very young age, and has witnessed the objectification of women’s bodies is a variety of cultural contexts: from the lofty halls of her professional home, Harvard, to the streets of London where she undertook a prestigious writing fellowship. The themes of the book are provocative, occasionally wince-inducing, but remain entertaining.
The conversation with Sarai suffered unfortunately from an interviewer who seemed to prefer her own opinion on Walker’s book to asking the author probing questions. But some interesting themes that emerged from the session included the true health impact of obesity, compared to social impact and of course the constant pressure on women to be perfect.
