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[personal profile] rfmcdonald
With Halloween behind me, I've started to wonder about the deeper meaning of supernatural creatures for human beings, vampires and werewolves and the like. John Reilly wondered in his review of World War Z whether the prevalence in popular culture about supernatural humanoid entities indicates some deeper concern about human survival. I can buy this: The idea of people and entire cultures being replaced by things that look like people, act like people, but aren't people is certainly unnerving and fits with any number of popular culture themes out there.

I'd add to this the suggestion that, for many people, an interest in supernatural humanoids might also be influenced by feelings of envy at these creatures' existence as creatures of pure of id. Look at Angel in Buffy, who morphed in the space of three seasons from Buffy's brooding yet attractive and ultimately to brutal monster willing to literally destroy the world and back again in the course of three seasons, regaining his hero status with only a few things like Giles pointing crossbows at him to remind the viewer that things weren't always pleasant. Forget his dead; they were in the past.

Thoughts?
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