Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Werewolf?

Why is it that Werewolves never get a fair shake? Almost every movie you stop and watch, the Werewolf is always the underling or, pardon the pun, he's the underdog? Do they ever get the girl? I didn't start out my life liking Vampires. As a kid, I was always more into werewolves. Maybe I thought they were cooler, I'm not sure. After all, back in the 60s there were no hero Vampires. All we had was Bela Lugosi as Dracula. You couldn't watch him and think he was a good guy. Sure, Lon Chaney was scary when he turned into the wolf man, but before that you felt sorry for him. He didn't choose to be what he was, and usually he hated it.

So for me, Vampires were never the good guys. Even the comic books I read always pushed the werewolf as the good guy. Marvel's Werewolf by Night, was basically the incredible Hulk, with fur and fangs. I always loved watching the bad guys get it when the werewolf would show up and kick their super-powered butts. Ah, the good ol' days.

Today, however, you can't turn around without finding the Werewolf either an uncontrollable monster like in the latest movie, The Wolfman, or a slave or servant, as in Van Helsing or Underworld, or even True Blood. Poor Lycans have a seriously bad rap they need to shake off. I'm at a loss as to why a Werewolf would ever be a slave or servant to a Vampire. Vampires are tough and powerful, usually having magic powers of some sort. Werewolves usually have near invulnerability. Only silver can kill them, and even then you have to hit them with a mortal wound if you don't want them to recover.

Do I think they're more powerful than Vampires? No... But neither are Vampires a Werewolf’s master. Someone needs to make a hit book and then movie where the Werewolf Is the good guy. I mean a real hit that everyone remembers. Then maybe Werewolves will finally be rid of their bad rap once and for all.

Until then, I'm just going to have to be a secret admirer of all those abused Lycans out there.

1 comments:

Luna Corbden said...

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs just may fit the bill. The lead character is not a werewolf, but she was raised by them, so most of the main side characters are. All but one of the vampires are actually evil. And the werewolf gets the girl, which isn't a spoiler, since the real question is WHICH one gets her?

There's also a side-series just about the werewolves, but I haven't read it yet. :)

Post a Comment