Broders S (2011)
Publication Language: English
Publication Status: Accepted
Publication Type: Journal article, Online publication
Publication year: 2011
Original Authors: Broders Simone
Publisher: Mount Royal University
Journal Issue: Summer
URI: http://centennialreader.ca/bitten-is-the-new-black
Open Access Link: http://centennialreader.ca/bitten-is-the-new-black
Women in a cultural context appear to be trapped between different life-concepts and thus diverging roles in society; even though feminists have struggled for equal education and career opportunities, these careers still have to be built during the mid-twenties to early thirties, which is also the average time for marriage and first children.
Simultaneously, advertising and the media confront women with images of youth and beauty they are supposed to attain by using a certain product or undergoing a certain beauty regime. Integrating all cultural and social expectations into one life plan seems to require superhuman strength – ironically, being a vampire fulfills all requirements. A vampire is extraordinarily beautiful without any efforts, surgeries or beauty products – similar to the glossy magazine covers of digitally enhanced celebrities; she is faster and stronger than the average human; she has offspring not by a nine-month pregnancy, but by simply biting a mortal. Her mental abilities give her a considerable amount of power, often mind-reading or manipulating the human brain. Above all, she does not age and will thus never run out of time to attain all of her life plans. The fascination of female audiences with the vampire theme may thus be regarded as a product of the time of crisis that traps women between the conservative and the contemporary.
APA:
Broders, S. (2011). 'Bitten Is the New Black' – Images of Women in Canadian and US American Vampire Chick Lit. The Centennial Reader, Summer.
MLA:
Broders, Simone. "'Bitten Is the New Black' – Images of Women in Canadian and US American Vampire Chick Lit." The Centennial Reader Summer (2011).
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