Obsession: Twilight

Magic realism:Fiction which displays a mingling of the mundane with the fantastic, giving the narrative dual dimensions of realism and fantasy. One of its purposes is to draw attention to the fact that all narrative is an invention.

I am fascinated with this genre, and I am starting to write a treatment/screenplay something or another that is quite heavily influenced by the different fantastical works I have enjoyed so long. I have also introduced my World Literature students to the study of magical realism for our Latin American works, because of my love of Marquez.

I love Marquez (the Father of Magical Realism), and I love X-Men, superheroes, twentieth century, vampire movies... it just makes sense that I would follow magical realism. I even realized (as far as I can tell) that most children's literature follows the definition of magical realism, as we were discussing whether or not "SpongeBob" falls into the genre, and we discussed Twilight a lot. My students are OBSESSED!

I am going to have to read it this summer, but it brings me to wonder: Why is vampire literature so enticing? Or more so, as a film genre? Thomas Foster points out the symbolism behind vampirism, that it is sexual and at the same time represents our egocentricism. As I re-read what Foster has to say about it, I understand now why this is so intriguing to teens. I remember watching Interview with a Vampire over and over as a teen, and I understand why it is so alluring to teens. But is it magical realism? It mixes fantasy and reality, it addresses social issues (in a very broad sense), it uses the supernatural, all the issues surrounding MR. But there is never any feel that the work understands that it is just a narrative, and so one wonders if it stiill counts. And then the larger issue at that point is, now that CG is so advanced, and our children watch more TV and have no lines between reality and fantasy, is it in any way not real? Where is the line now? I need to know. I'm going to think about this one some more, and by think I mean go see X-Men Origins.