Werewolves: They Just Can't Help It

 

The very nature of urban fantasy means an interaction with the supernatural. Regardless of the supernatural creature that the author chooses to focus on, the one thing is certain, unless an author is making up a brand new creature from thin air, there will be a strong lore in existence, which will highly influence how the character is written.  The vampire has most certainly taken a lead in terms of representation. The werewolf is far less popular but when it does make an appearance, regardless of who the author is, the characterisation is nearly uniform.  In many ways, the werewolf can be understood as a metaphor for hyper masculinity and violence. Over the years, werewolf nature has become commonplace to explain away abusive relationships and a forced submission upon their partners.  That this is romanticized is one of the largest issues with how lycanthropy is constructed today.

Perhaps the most common werewolf trope is extreme possessiveness to the point of jealousy. These wolves demand to control and own their women and defend them like an actual wolf would its hunting territory. I still await the story when a werewolf actually cocks his leg against his woman, but I won’t be surprised when it happens.

This overwhelming possessiveness and control is constantly presented as romantic. In the Otherworld Series when Elena returns to Stonehaven, Clay simply will not accept that she won’t be with him and considers them married, despite her objections. Even after she is reconciled to their relationship, he demands near constant attention from her. Other men cannot even look at Mercy from the Mercy Thompson series with Adam growling, roaring and coming close to attacking and he is extremely reluctant to ever let her out of his sight. In the Caedemon Wolves, the fact Devin feels possessive of Tamara and is jealous when she speaks to other men is the very first sign that he actually has feelings for her - before love or affection or kindness, it’s possession. Even in Twilight Jacob forces a kiss on Bella despite her objections - to say nothing of imprinting, including small children and even eggs in the womb; marked from the womb as owned! Taking, controlling and owning their mates is an incredibly common theme.

Dominance issues are nearly synonymous with werewolf stories today. It is based in the false idea that because werewolves literally have an animal nature that they will behave like wolves in a pack.  This would be a fine assumption, if this is what actually happened but that is not the case in most stories. In the books that I have read, alphas are almost always male though we know that in real packs there is an Alpha female or male or both.

The constant jockeying for position as Patricia Briggs portrays in the Mercy Thompson series is non existent. In Briggs’ world two wolves can barely stand to be in the same car with each other simply because they haven’t figured out who is the most dominant. Dominance in this way is more of one male testing his masculinity against another through violent means.  Because the violence is happening in a werewolf pack, it is never questioned and always rationalised, as though these men don’t spend more of their time in human form.

It’s also telling how so many of these dominance games put women at the bottom of the hierarchy - a major contrast to the lives of actual wolves. In the Mercy Thompson series, women are given the same rank as their mates, no matter if they were far more dominant than the men they were with. In The Protector female werewolves are sheltered and protected and often forced to take mates for their “protection.” In the Anita Blake Series just about all the shapeshifter packs are dominated by men, female heads are remarked upon for their rarity and the main source of influence for female shifters is as mate to a male leader.

A Weapon Is Not a Strong Female Character

One of the reasons that fans continue to regard Buffy the Vampire Slayer with  a sense of epic nostalgia is that in many ways, she broke the mold for what a female protagonist has historically been .  With the introduction of Buffy, we moved from having women featured as desperate damsels in distress waiting to be saved, too arse kicking in control female protagonists, though it would three seasons, before Sarah Michelle Gellar learned to deliver a decent kick or punch. What at one time was extremely liberating, has become limiting, in that now the arse kicking archetype has become so common that it has become trope laden. Now we have these arse kicking protagonists, with absolutely no depth, to the point where they have become cardboard cutouts.

And we can see why slotting your female characters into this role is so tempting, especially since the role of ‘woman,’ (particularly White womanhood) as some precious, special object to be protected and preserved but with little actual capability in her own right is still very prevalent in the genre - and wider society. We have a number of female protagonists in the genre who are treated as special by all and sundry for no apparent reason, such as Bella in Twilight. Or because they have the Chosen One Woo-woo, which doesn’t really give them power, but makes them oh-so-special and desireable. Like Elena being the doppleganger in The Vampire Diaries; Sookie’s fae blood in True Blood (and the books); Chyrsabelle’s special comarré     blood in Kristen Painter’s House of Comarré series; Anna Strong’s chosen one status in Jeanne C Stein’s series (note: until book 6); Tessa’s shapeshifting in Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices - these women have  special natures that make them desirable as possessions, but don’t give them any particular power or strength in their own lives. They’re desirable trophies, something to value, something to own - but their special nature is passive. It just adds to the endless trope of the woman being the damsel to rescue, the hand to win, the prize to be contested.

So from this, the woman who can kick arse and take down everything around her seems awfully attractive.

If you closely examine this new archetype, it is clear that these women have been reduced to weapons, with things like dead parents tossed in to give a veil of characterization.  In M.L.N. Hanover’s Black Sun’s Daughter Series, Jayne (Pronounced zha-nay and yes, for some reason the author thought this was a good name) spends most of her time travelling around the world to look for riders to battle. This has become her special mission, which fits because she is little more than a weapon, with the social skills of  a concussed penguin.  There is also Mira from Jocelynn Drake’s Dark Days Series.  Yes, Mira is the oldest vampire in the Americas and can set people on fire with her mind, but when she is not fighting or intimidating someone, she has no idea what to do with herself. But hey, why have quiet time when you can threaten those stronger and older than you? Kellie Independence wins everytime. Sabina Kane of Jaye Wells’s Sabina Kane series, is an assassin (nope, none of these women can ever have a career that involves desk work) who struts through life with pride over the vampires she has killed. She would much rather fight and kill, than have a conversation and always has a punch ready for any superior who crosses her.  This is all explained by the fact that Sabina is a half breed (half mage and half vampire). Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake, is perhaps queen of this trope, with the ability to spawn a new super-power every week (or, rather, pull a new super power out of her vagina since they all manifest during sex); her constant power creep making her the most powerful of them all and vanquishing all enemies without any real development. This is only a small example from a genre that is far too overwhelmed with this kind of protagonist.

Absent Mothers in Urban Fantasy

This piece was originally posted at BitchFlicks

Urban Fantasy is here to stay

Urban Fantasy -- the bringing of the fantastic (vampires, werewolves, magic, fae and so much more) to a modern, real world setting -- has become ever more popular as a mainstream genre. From Twilight to True Blood to The Vampire Diaries, it is now firmly entrenched on our televisions. The books regularly reach the best seller lists - this isn’t a fringe genre. It’s here, it’s huge and it’s here to stay.

This means the portrayals represented matter. Any popular media has the power to shape culture and society; any stories that are consumed by a large number of people are going to draw upon our societal prejudices and, in turn, feed and encourage those prejudices and portrayals.

Urban Fantasy is a genre that seldom gets critical examination. At first blush, the opposite would appear to be true when one considers the social conversation around Twilight or True Blood, but these are only two examples within an extremely large genre. It is interesting to note that much of Urban Fantasy contains female protagonists and is largely produced and consumed by women. Considering the ongoing gender divide, it is hardly surprising that this immensely popular genre is being ignored by critics.

Just because Urban Fantasy is largely produced by women and consumed by women does not mean that it is free of sexism and misogyny. When it comes to motherhood, a role that most women will one day assume, it is hardly surprising that within the genre most examples are highly problematic --  when they appear at all.

The lack of representation of motherhood is so extreme that the viewer is forced to ask is, “where are the mothers?”. It seems like such an odd question, because you’d expect most characters, like most people, to have a mother lurking around somewhere; especially since most of the heroines in these stories are young women or even teenagers. Search as we might, the mothers are conspicuous by their absence.

The most common cause of the missing mother seems to be death -- indeed, it is almost mandatory for an Urban Fantasy heroine to have a tragically dead mother. In The Vampire Diaries Elena’s mother is dead. True Blood has the orphaned Sookie; Charmed killed the sisters’ mother off before the series even started; Cassie, Diana, Melissa, Jake and Adam all have dead mothers in The Secret Circle. Buffy’s mother died part way through the series. In The Dresden Files, Harry’s mother died before the series began. In Grimm, Nick is yet another protagonist with a dead mother. The whole beginning motivation of Supernatural revolves around their dead mother. In Blood and Chocolate, both mother and father are brutally murdered. In The Craft Sarah Bailey's mother is dead. In Underworld, Selene’s mother is murdered by Viktor.

This list is extremely -- even excessively -- long but it’s shocking that we looked through all the shows and movies that we’ve watched and actually found it hard to find a series where the mother was alive and present.

Even in stories where the mother is lucky enough to have dodged the bullet and is actually alive, she is still often absent. In Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, Renee, Bella’s mother, is absent, living in a completely different state. In The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie’s mother, Abby, is absent through much of her childhood and, when they are finally reunited, Abby not only presents Bonnie with a child that she raised as a replacement, but quickly disappears after becoming a vampire. Abby is well aware of the pain that her absence has caused Bonnie and yet she steadfastly finds a reason not to engage with her daughter. Once Upon a Time sets records for absent mothers -- Augustus never had one, Snow White and Ruby’s mothers are dead, and Emma grew up in the foster system without her mother.

I suppose we should be grateful these mothers ducked the Urban Fantasy plague that has put so many parents in their graves, but they still have little to no actual influence and presence in their children’s -- the protagonists' -- lives.

With such a massive pattern, we have to ask why. Why is it almost a requirement in Urban Fantasy for the young, female protagonist to be lacking a mother (and often a father too for that matter)?

One reason seems to be to make the characters sad, relatable and, frankly, angst ridden. It’s quick, cheap and easy characterisation to establish a sad, tortured or otherwise issue-laden character with “depth” to kill off a parent and have them be sad about it. These dead mothers are sacrificed for quick and easy back story for the protagonist. Take a heroine, load her up with a shiny ability, a bit of snark, a love interest -- now kill her mother so she has “depth.” The back story is established: we have a “3-dimensional character” who has suffered (which seems to be shorthand for an established character in far too much fiction).

Wednesday Reboot: Vampiro

Vampiro was released in 2009 and stars, Vida Harlow, Damian Chapa and Leslie Garza.  I was attracted to this movie because the majority of the cast is of colour.  In most vampire movies, the stars are White and it is rare to even see a person of colour as a sidekick. Unfortunately, the change in racial dynamics was not nearly enough to save this film from itself.

The movie begins with the rape of Casanova's Mexican mother by a vampire. This results in Casanova a dhampire who turns human during the day and becomes a vampire at night. When Casanova is ten years old, his mother shoots herself in the head and this is Casanova's first real exposure to a massive quantity of blood.  Though the blood was the result of his mother's death he was still attracted to it.  From there, he is hunted by three vampires that Casanova's fathers send to either kill him or torture him.

Somewhere along the line he meets Alma, a young woman who is dying of a terminal disease.  He offers to save both Alma and her mother but before he can save Alma's mother he is attacked by vampires.  He manages to save Alma and they stay together for over a hundred years, with her providing him blood through a connection she makes at a blood bank.  Something does not go right with Alma's conversion and she remains in the body of a 13 year old girl, though she does get the bonus of being able to see the future.

Casanova's love interest in this movie is Bianca.  It is worth noting that Bianca is the only one referred to as White in the movie. Bianca is beaten and kicked for refusing the advances of a man at a party and so she joins what I can only believe is an all female gang. For some reason Casanova develops a connection with her and watches her surreptitiously at work. Bianca has a lesbian lover named I shit you not, Sexicana.  When Sexicana and Bianca are almost raped by cops, who should show up but Casanova to save the day. Sexicana of course wants her lover back and so she makes a deal with the vampires stalking Casanova, but it turns out that by time Bianca is to enthralled with Casanova to return.

Review of Blood Bound By Rachel Vincent Book 1 of The Unbound Series

 

Vincent created a very interesting work in this book.  Basically, there are normal humans and there are enhanced humans.  One is born enhanced or one can have an infusion of enhanced blood to temporarily gain extra skills.  These skills include: tracking people through their name or their blood, binding (the ability to enforce a contract in which default can lead to pain or even death) the ability to walk through shadows,  blocker (someone who can hide the presence of a gifted person) and a seer (someone who can see the future as well as the repercussions of decisions).  As you might imagine these beings are very powerful and they are made even more so because the government refuses to acknowledge their existence.  This means that crimes committed by them don't get investigated by the police, thus giving them the ability to create massive underworld crime syndicates. 

Liv's problems begin when she is approached by Cam and Anne about a missing it child.  Cam is her ex boyfriend and true love whom she left in a lurch after being told by a seer that one of them would kill the other.  Anne is a former childhood friend whom she was accidentally bound to.  All Anne has to do to get her to comply is to ask her for her help.  It seems that someone broke into Anne's house and killer husband and now the widow wants justice. Anne chose Liv because she is one of the best blood trackers and because the binding means that she is unable to say no.

Everyone has secrets in this world and everyone has past actions that they are trying to hide.  How can anyone truly be responsible for their actions when they can be compelled to do anything at anytime? How can anyone ever be trusted? Even as Liv is being compelled by Anne she is simultaneously being compelled by Cavazos the crime bus to find his missing child. This is why it is hardly a surprise when both acts of compulsion lead to the same child.  

Wednesday Reboot: Vampires

Every Wednesday, we will bringing you an urban fantasy reboot and this involves taking a critical look at movies from the genre across the decades. This week, we will have a look at the 1998 movie staring James Woods, Daniel Baldwin and Sheryl Lee: Vampires.

This movie could easily go down as one of the worst films, I have ever had the misfortune to see.  For the purposes of full disclosure, I am going to admit right off the hop that James Woods is one of my least favorite actors of all time.  From the beginning, I could see why he was attracted to this role.  He got to play an ass kicking vampire slayer with a gun and a cross bow.

The basic premise of the movie is that a group of vampire hunters assembled by the Vatican roams around the states clearing out nests of vampires.  James Crow played by James Woods, was actually raised to be a vampire hunter after he killed his parents because they were bitten. In the first nest that Crow and his crew attempt to clear out the miss the master vampire but manage to get all those whom he sired.  This of course is cause for celebration and that means getting a hotel room, getting drunk, playing loud music and using the services of sex workers.  Crow is approached by Katrina played by Sheryl Lee for some one on one time and he hands her his key to wait for him.  While she is waiting, Jan Valek the master that he missed in the raid comes looking for his revenge. Valek bites Katrina on her thigh in a position that looks like he is going down on her and the proceeds to kill all of Crow's crew including their in house priest Father Giovanni.

American Horror Story, Season One, Episode Two: Home Invasion

 

Once again, this episode begins with a flashback. The year is 1968, and a few young girls are getting ready to go out.  A young girl named Maria is asked if she would like to go and see The Doors, but she turns down the opportunity in order to study for a test.  A young nurse walks in and tells the group to leave Maria alone, and then sneers that she hopes they get the clap. This comment is met with, "Right, I guess you lessies don't have to worry about that."  I wonder if it is going to be a tradition to start each episode with a touch of homophobia?  I suppose not having any gay characters thus far, this is their version of GLBT inclusion.   After they leave, a young man knocks on the door asking for help because he is hurt.  Maria lets him in and after treating him and discovering no wound, he knocks her unconscious and chases after the nurse.  When Maria awakens, the man tells her to strip and put on a nurses uniform.  He then hog ties her on the couch and then stabs her in the back.

In the present day, Ben is once again counseling Tate. In the middle of the session his phone goes off, and Ben excuses himself to turn his phone off.  This week, Tate wants to talk about fucking Violet and this does not agree with Ben at all.  When Tate tells him that Violet is a virgin, and virgins get wet so easily, Ben tries to redirect the conversation by asking if Tate turns to these thoughts to get rid of the stress.  When Tate tells Ben that Violet told him about the affair with the girl in Boston, and that she was not much older then Violet -- Ben ends the session. As Tate walks out, Ben's phone rings again. He answers threatening to change his phone number, but the voice answers back, "I'm pregnant".

Violet and Leah sit by an abandoned pool, and Leah tells Violet that she cannot sleep.  Leah believes that she was attacked by something that wasn't human, but Violet tries to assure her that Tate was wearing a mask.  Leah is wearing big dark glasses and a huge floppy hat to cover her new grey hair. Leah believes that the grey hair is her body's response to being terrified.  What I don't get, is why these two are suddenly buddy buddy. It makes as much sense as their earlier animosity.  Whoever is responsible for writing this section of the story is dropping the ball big time. 

That night, Tate stands at the foot of Violet's bed watching her sleep.  I wonder if he was taking tips from Twilight's Edward?  Yeah, I couldn't help it sorry. The house alarm goes off, and Ben hops out of bed to see what the issue is.  When he gets downstairs, the front door is wide open. When Ben goes to the basement,  he finds Adelaide playing with a ball, but what he does not realize is that she is playing with some entity that he cannot see.  He quickly escorts Adelaide to the door, and goes upstairs to tell Vivien that it was only Addy -- and that they need to call someone in to check all of the windows and the doors, because "if that little freak can get in, anyone can."  Vivien tells him that he should not call her that, which was a bit of a relief but honestly, I am starting to believe that where addy is concerned, we are going to see nothing but disableism.

Ben then asks Vivien if she is okay, because he notices that she is shaking him. Vivien tells him that she has not been sick with this pregnancy, and that when she was pregnant with Violet, that she was sick for two months straight.  Vivien tells Ben that she is worried that something is wrong with the baby, but Ben tells her that this baby is why they moved there, and that the baby is their salvation.

The next day, Ben is in a session with a young woman named Bianca, who complains of having a dream where her body is sliced in half by an elevator. (This involves some truly gruesome imagery.) Ben tries to counsel her, but she asks him if it is "weird living in a murder house?".  Ben then asks if she was aware of this when she came to see him, and she tells him that he is on the "murder house tour" Ben tries to bring the conversation back to the counseling session. At the end of the series, Ben calls Tate's mother to say that Tate has cross the line with his daughter, and that he wants to recommend a new psychiatrist. Ben says he understands Mrs. Langdon's concern, but he is just not comfortable continuing treatment in his home. Okay, does this mean that Tate is not a ghost after all?

In the next scene, Adelaide is looking through a fashion magazine and she asks Constance, who is baking, why she does not look like the other girls.  Constance replies, "Cause you don't; it's just the way you were born. Accept it, you were born with other gifts."  Constance asks Adelaide to hand her the ipecac syrup from the cupboard.  Ipecac is used to treat an overdose because it induces vomiting. Constance puts a healthy dose into what she is making.  Constance then encourages Adelaide to spit in the mixing bowl.

Ben is out for a jog, but when he runs through a tunnel he stops to cry.  Larry Harvey comes out of the shadows saying, "people will say we're in love." When Ben asks him what he wants, Larry tells him about a desire he has to act, and that he wanted to pursue it before, but was worried about what it would do to his family.  When Larry asks Ben what is wrong with him, Ben answers nothing. Larry tells him that the house is tearing him apart. Ben tells Larry that Hayden, the woman that he cheated with is insisting that he go and see her. Larry tells Ben that he is trying very hard not to judge him.  Ben is shocked and points out that Larry murdered his entire family but Ben responds, "yes, but I was never unfaithful."  Larry tells Ben that he is going to have to do the honorable thing to save his family, he is going to have to lie. This by far was the best scene this episode. How can anyone not love Denis O'Hare?  The description that I wrote, most certainly does not give it justice.