Is it just me? Or are you getting as weary of the vampire invasion as I am?

They’re everywhere! Pale . . . perfect . . . powerful . . . and (though it doesn’t start with a "p") ubiquitous. There are the books, of course—you’d be hard pressed to find a novel aimed at young adults where a vampire does not figure prominently. (Twilight, anyone?) There are dozens of TV shows (HBO’s True Blood) and movies (I Am Legend) attempting to bring the undead to life. You can purchase vampire accessories online: fangs, gothic costumes, and coffins.

Our culture has gone crazy for these little blood-suckers. They have become the modern equivalents of James Dean: troubled, gorgeous, dangerous "bad boys"(or girls); fast-livers; raw and edgy and alternative. They are the anti-heroes we love to hate . . . or hate to love . . . or wish (in some secret part of ourselves) we could become.

The latest incarnations of the living dead seem tailor-made to appeal to the prurient and the base. They are sensual, violent, narcissistic, and amoral. They have the sexual ethics of predatory animals. They are selfishness defined. They observe no laws beyond their own insistent needs. They are, in fact, a kind of cultural Rorshach test—an ambigious blot onto which people project their own hungers, desires, yearnings, and unrestrained fantasies. They—in all their buff perfection and limitless hunger—are objects of a vast cultural voyeurism, allowing viewers to feast their eyes and imaginations on creatures who have managed to break all bounds and ignore important taboos, to live above the law. It is an illusion many in our culture find deeply compelling.

And if the result of this lifestyle is not exactly happiness (vampires are nothing if not tortured souls!), they can at least lock themselves in their crypts each night with the grim satisfaction that they have managed to survive and feed their insatiable need for one more day. The vampire becomes a tragic exemplar of life in a purposeless, morally-indifferent universe.

Could there, on reflection, be a silver-lining to this Nostafaru-cloud? This spate of insatiable sanguines may tell us something more hopeful, more positive, than first appears. At the very least, the current obsession suggests that the people of our culture are still drawn to mystery, to the notion of a life-beyond-this-life, to the idea that there may be something besides possessions and job descriptions that defines us. This "openness to mystery" may be expressed superstitiously in the present fiend fad. But it does indicate a continuing yearning for "something more" in life. A crack in which to insert the gospel?

It also suggests an ongoing hope for life-beyond-death, for the possibility of the eternal. Vampires live forever. They never die (unless some fatal stake, driven—like the unforgivable sin—through the heart, brings eternity to an end). Surely one thing that fuels fascination with the vampire is the idea of a life that transcends death, that conquers death. Again, I see here echoes of the yearnings only the gospel can truly feed.

Finally, it is interesting that, in the mythology of the vampire, only death makes possible a new, eternal life. A mere mortal must die, drained of blood and will, before a new existence can be experienced. Death, an end to the old and the normal, is followed by transformation, changes (often painful) that usher the novitiate into a new life. Once again, there are many parallels to the gospel and to the story we have to offer a lost world.

In fact, when you consider it, the gospel and the myth have much in common—except for the end result. The vampire is a creature of the night; we are children of light. The vampire is by nature self-preserving; we are self-giving. The vampire victimizes others; we serve them. In this parallel and in this difference, there may well be opportunity for people of faith to interact meaningfully with the culture in which we live.

The Twightlight books and movies have captured the attention of readers of all ages. When discussing with Christians, consider:

OTHER COLUMNS:
February 21, 2010 - The new buzz in Narnia
February 7, 2010 - Counting the cost of influence
January 24, 2010 - Clone Wars:
morality tales for parents and children
January 10, 2010 - Christians and Culture
December 23, 2009 - Bad Movies vs. Movies that Are Bad
December 6, 2009 - Unless they hear
November 22, 2009 - Why fighting for sexual truth still matters
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells