Popular vampire series teaches some life lessons

The ‘Twilight’ series, meant for young adults, is finding a much wider audience.

Toronto Globe and Mail

Even though he is only 19, Kaleb Nation says his mother raised him to treat the ladies right.

But if he needs another model for a healthy approach to romance, he has one: Edward Cullen, a dreamy 17-year-old vampire from Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series of young-adult novels.

“I think more guys should read the books,” Nation said. “They might not enjoy the romance parts very much, but there’s a lot to learn.”

The Texas resident, who maintains a blog about the series at KalebNation.com, is definitely on to something.

“Breaking Dawn,” the fourth book in the “Twilight series,” has been selling strong since its release earlier this month.

The books are a publishing sensation, due in large part to a devoted following of female fans from all age groups. But most women are not drawn to the genre out of a desire to see bared fangs -- they want to see emotion laid bare.

The only stakes being driven through hearts are the pangs of teen-age heartbreak.

“Only a vampire can love you forever,” said “Twilight” fan Mahdis Aruni, a 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The appeal of this kind of undying (but usually unconsummated) love has caught the eye of Hollywood.

A movie based on the series will make its debut in December, and 2009 will see the release of “Jennifer’s Body,” a teen-age-vampire flick written by “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.

And next month, HBO will launch a vampire series called “True Blood,” directed by “Six Feet Under” creator Alan Ball.

At the recent Comic-Con convention in San Diego, Ball and the show’s cast discussed “fangbangers” — humans who have a thing for immortal bloodsuckers.

Nicole DeCaria, a 22-year-old from Oakville, Ontario, began reading the “Twilight” series after working her way through a series of Anne Rice books, and said she has been into vampires since she was a child.

“As I got older, it’s more the sexual aspect of it,” she said. “They have that seductive side but in an instant they can be all, like, feral. You secretly want something a little dangerous, a little exciting to spice up your life.”

DeCaria is not alone in her romantic obsession with the vampire set. The Internet is alive with talk of the undead, with groups such as TwilightMoms.com, a Web site where older women discuss their crushes on Edward.

Aruni is one of the administrators for a group called “Because I read ‘Twilight’ I have unrealistic expectations in men,” which has more than 55,000 members.

Nation said many readers of his blog are 12 or 13 years old and looking for a hopeful model of romance, and see themselves in the series’ female main character, Bella, who is 16 when the books begin.

“They see a girl that’s clumsy and depressed and they think, ‘I’m better than she is,’ “ he said. “It’s a boost of self-confidence to see that someone like Bella can get someone like Edward who’s good and true and unselfish.”

And he does not believe it is incongruous to put so much romantic stock in a character that drinks blood to sustain his own life. Edward, he notes, only consumes animal blood. And his love affair, while supernatural, is also chaste.

“You would think that a vampire’s evil, but he actually has morals,” he said. “He could very well do what he wants with her, because she would let him. He’s set on doing what’s best for Bella.”