Friday, September 11, 2009

Vampire Diaries on the CW

One thing I like to do is review things that originated as books.

Last night I caught the pilot of Vampire Diaries on the CW. I have to say I was loving it. As a die hard Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan I am excited to see another vampire show on TV that will most likely make it. (There have been some that have come and gone, and let me tell you I am always sad when they go.)

Now I have to admit, amongst my pile of books the Vampire Diaries sits in the mess. I have wanted to read them for a long time because I LOVE Vampires, I have just been too busy reading other review books to get to them. So I am not the best person to say whether or not the actors and things match the books, but they certainly made me want to pick up the books again. I think they are all beautiful and I am loving this traditional vampire legend so far.

One pet peeve. While watching the show, I was reminded of something that has been greatly bothering me in YA literature lately. Why do we as adults need to write in the glamorization of having teenagers drink alcohol at parties, do drugs and have sex? Even if it happens, it should not be glorified, normalized or talked about as though teens should behave that way. If it is in a book, show the negative consequences because honestly those are many and are an important thing to show teenagers who read literature. That is my opinion. I know that my opinion will not get rid of the glorification of these bad behaviors in literature, but I still don't have to like it.

So...for those of you who HAVE read the Vampire Diaries series, I wonder what you thought of the pilot if you caught it. If you didn't, you can watch it check it out on the CW next Thursday.

3 comments:

Ratliffs said...

I knew knew this series existed!! I did see the billboards in L.A. this past weekend, and I have to admit that I was initially intrigued, but upon looking closer at the billboard, I my worry was that sex and drinking would be heavy in the show. Is the book any better?

Aubrey said...

I will say that although drinking was downplayed and sex and drug abuse existed in this pilot, it was also a dichotomy. The main character Elena hounds her brother for his drug abuse, and then is drinking at a party later. As I said I haven't read these books yet, but I want to...and I don't think I'll stop watching the show unless it gets gossip girl bad.

Larissa said...

I didn't watch the pilot - I missed it, but I'm not sure if I want to watch it. I wasn't a fan of the books. I really like some of LJ Smith's other books - actually, The Secret Circle was one of my faves in high school, and I recently read her Night World series and I like that.

Oh, and check your link in your signature on the blueboards...