I
will probably spend more time on obvious rock/comic connections later, but
today I'm starting with an article I read a long time ago. It was about movie
adaptations, and that it made more sense to adapt short stories than novels.
With a novel you end up having to cut things out, and fans of the book get
angry, but with a short story you have room to fill in.
A
music video is already a film, but because of its short length, there may
indeed be room for expansion. I find this especially true of "A Little
Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me".
I
can't rule out that there could have been plans for a sequel. The ending is so
up in the air, they might as well have left Joe frozen in carbonite. Even without
the lack of closure, there are a lot of questions about what we do see that
could be filled out.
Not
everything is a question. I did initially think it was odd the way the first
attacking vampires are doing their moves instead of actually attacking, and who
was that one guy walking around spying on the street vampires, but then I
realized the video was probably funded by phone product placement, and it made
sense.
(I
figured that one out after seeing the video for "I Wanna".)
Still,
there are many other things that I do question. For example, with those street
vampires, are they living in their cars? In some ways based on their activities
it seems like they are, but I can't imagine that would work well in the
daytime. Are these vampires vulnerable to sunlight? I've written vampires who
weren't, but based on Patrick's words about shadows, I'm kind of assuming that
the sun still kills.
The
other thing that's surprising is that the foppish vampires seem to have such a
strong fighting advantage over the street vampires, who look a lot tougher,
however, I think it could be explained by the period clothing indicating that
the fops have been vampires longer, and are thus more experienced.
That
does lead to other questions about exactly how widespread the vampirism
epidemic is. Are there strong rivalries, beyond dress code, among the various
vampire factions? Can those rivalries be exploited for the greater good, or are
there just too many vampires for it to matter?
That
leads to another excellent point; how is vampirism transmitted in this world? Patrick
gets several bites at the end, but does not appear to be vampiric - which is
good. That was generally how vampires were made in "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer" but they did have some people get bitten without turning, so it's
not impossible that it is usually instantaneous.
If
it is something where turning comes from prolonged feedings (like Dracula)
or various arcane rituals (like The Lost Boys or The Vampyre), then
do normal vampire feeding victims just die and stay dead? It has a big impact
on the environment, but it also raises questions for the existing vampires. How
did they get the priest? Was he conspiring all along? Was he good and then
corrupted? How did they get Pete? Was he imprisoned? How long has the police
force been compromised? Because the idea of everyone around you turning into
vampires kind of reminds me of Rhinocéros. Je me défendrai contre tout
le monde!
There
are questions with the girl. You see her at the end, but they don't show fangs.
Can she be helpful? Because one thing I have wondered about is that in the
earlier scene she looks a little more street-walkery than at the end, but maybe
it is really only that she looks more '80s; how much time has passed? How long
has Pete been undead?
If
he did save her in 1985, and then she still looks the same age in 2006, she's
totally a vampire, though she could be a reluctant one, but there are other
things that make that timeline unlikely. Did the incident change her? If
nothing else, I hope she at least took some self-defense classes and started
carrying a stake. Once you learn that there are gangs of vampires on the
streets, it's just common sense, and even more it's common courtesy for those
who might try and save you.
The
reason I don't like the extended timeline is that I think it feels more
powerful if Pete became undead after the relationships were established with
the other hunters, as opposed to him having been a vampire for a few decades already
by the time they become adults. It would better explain some of the tensions
that I have possibly only imagined.
Conversely,
becoming a vampire and not wanting to be a vampire could give strong motivation
to Pete to become a hunter, otherwise, why did any of them? There would be
interesting back stories there with their unusual skills. Patrick is clearly
the man of science and reason, but how do figure out how to develop a serum to
keep a vampire from losing total control even as his anger grows?
Where
did Andy learn those moves? Seriously, if we are splitting into groups to go
patrol, I want to be on team Hurley. Unless he didn't tell his date why they
were going to park on the ridge. That would be seriously uncool.
I
think they are making Joe the heavy artillery guy/ heavy hitting guy, and that
works, but they didn't show it enough. (I feel that you don't get full Joe
power with short hair though; I have similar issues.)
Finally,
with Pete, what is the burning hand of death thing and what's with the sparks? Establishing
the full range of vampiric powers, and if there are variations, and the most
effective means of killing them, are all important things. Sometimes there is
more variation than you would think.
Also,
okay, this isn't so much a question as a statement, but that puppy better be a
calming agent and not a snack. There are lines you simply do not cross.
Basically,
there is just a lot to work with here, and I think it could be good in comic
book form. And yes, I have spent too much time thinking about this video, and I
do over-analyze things. I thank you for not blaming me for being me, and I don't
blame you for hating it, though if you do hate it this is totally not the right
blog for you.
Regardless,
I like my clocks to be set to the exact time, and punctuality is quite
important to me.
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