293: Contemporary Immortality
- Thread starter Karloff
- Start date
Dracula is a figure of horror, but not all vampires are. Lately the concept of becoming a vampire via bite has been less a metaphor for rape in which the victim's will is brutally subjugated and more of an opportunity for a Changeling fantasy where a world full of magic and mystery is suddenly visible. I mean, that's fine, but that kind of fantasy doesn't sit well with me, in which superhuman power is obtained by birth or accident rather than by the exercise of the character's will or choice. Dracula had to sell his soul for that shit, y'know?
G-man shows emotion and concern.
Emotion when the Vorts interrupt you in Episode 1, and concern when he says he would intervene and help you if he could in I think episode 2.
And, let's not forget his saving of Adrian Shepard's life by opening that door in Opposing Force.
To say he revels in bloodshed is a bit of a leap of logic - where on Earth is that indicated in half-life lore, beyond speculation?
This is especially considering G-man works for a body, he refers to as 'his employers'. His actions are orders, not his own whims.
Emotion when the Vorts interrupt you in Episode 1, and concern when he says he would intervene and help you if he could in I think episode 2.
And, let's not forget his saving of Adrian Shepard's life by opening that door in Opposing Force.
To say he revels in bloodshed is a bit of a leap of logic - where on Earth is that indicated in half-life lore, beyond speculation?
This is especially considering G-man works for a body, he refers to as 'his employers'. His actions are orders, not his own whims.
I've never gotten very far in either Half Life though I still found G-Man deeply disturbing in his first few appearances *shudders*
Excellent article and I agree with most of it, the only point I have is that religious horror still exists though is mostly restricted to exorsism and/or possession based films with The Rite being the most recent example. But other than that your description of vampires is brilliant and I like how it didn't stray from Dracula into other specific narratives or it could have taken forever and caused all kinds of flaming.
Excellent article and I agree with most of it, the only point I have is that religious horror still exists though is mostly restricted to exorsism and/or possession based films with The Rite being the most recent example. But other than that your description of vampires is brilliant and I like how it didn't stray from Dracula into other specific narratives or it could have taken forever and caused all kinds of flaming.
Vampires survive because they are iconic representations of things we fear. It's not so much because they're real or not, but instead because of what they mean. Vampires can exist as both allegory for the horrors of man or as a tangible representation of the "evil" we fear in the night. One is very real, the other less so, but they both hold sway over us.
Well i am not saying vampires are real but saying something is fact due to an arch bishop saying so a few hundred years ago is rather stupid.As why would a arch bishop know if vampires were real did he ask any or something "no he can not as they dont exist"
Excatly you can only claim fact by things that are irrefutable.But as gods,some myths and destiny having irrefutable evidence against there existance will be near on impossible.These things would be very easy to prove but they are supposed to remain hidden so disproving them is alot harder.As vampires are surposed to hide on the fringe of society and remain hidden within the human race makes the myth of the Vampire one of these nearly impossible things to disapprove.
That is one of the reasons why they still are around they have adapted to the world as your not supposed to tell if someone is a vampire so if you do walk past them on the street your not going to give them a second glance.Also another reason is the vampire feeds into the worse fears creatures that want to kill you but you dont know who they are.Creatures that have no consience(evil) and will kill you within seconds just because your full of blood.It is fear of you family and friends being able to be turned into monsters that will fight against you.Also it the real basic fear of things coming back from the dead.
I would explain more and go into more detail but i would be here all night lol
Excatly you can only claim fact by things that are irrefutable.But as gods,some myths and destiny having irrefutable evidence against there existance will be near on impossible.These things would be very easy to prove but they are supposed to remain hidden so disproving them is alot harder.As vampires are surposed to hide on the fringe of society and remain hidden within the human race makes the myth of the Vampire one of these nearly impossible things to disapprove.
That is one of the reasons why they still are around they have adapted to the world as your not supposed to tell if someone is a vampire so if you do walk past them on the street your not going to give them a second glance.Also another reason is the vampire feeds into the worse fears creatures that want to kill you but you dont know who they are.Creatures that have no consience(evil) and will kill you within seconds just because your full of blood.It is fear of you family and friends being able to be turned into monsters that will fight against you.Also it the real basic fear of things coming back from the dead.
I would explain more and go into more detail but i would be here all night lol
"Vampires survive in our mythology precisely because they are creatures of fantasy,"
Really? What about all those other mythologicial creatures which aren't mythological then? Are they all fucked?
And, yes, for a monster to stay in popular culture, it has to stay relevant to that culture. I don't see anyone fainting with amazement at that revelation. Nor the idea that a monster you can see is much less frightening than one you don't. Everyone knows this, you don't need to tell people.
Really? What about all those other mythologicial creatures which aren't mythological then? Are they all fucked?
And, yes, for a monster to stay in popular culture, it has to stay relevant to that culture. I don't see anyone fainting with amazement at that revelation. Nor the idea that a monster you can see is much less frightening than one you don't. Everyone knows this, you don't need to tell people.
Right here was where you lost me. This isn't how I would define a vampire at all. When I think of vampires, I don't think of them as inherently evil or having "abilities far outside human experience".Karloff said:
To me, vampires are just humans with the breaks off. That's what makes them scary. They're off the grid. By virtue of being officially dead, they face little to no consequences for their actions.
I think the highly sexualised nature of modern vampires, the good looks, the eternal life, the super strength/senses/powers... it's all just a reflection of what we humans want for ourselves. We want to be the super hot douche strutting about like nothing can touch us. We want superiority over our peers. We want to be able to do whatever we want, take whatever we want without getting arrested or executed.
So do I think that if vampires were real, they'd only be as evil as the individual humans who became them were predisposed to be? You betcha. Of course, I also think that once you had enough smug, self-loving cocky little vampire berks running around they'd face the same problem that humans have. Their own society. Before you know it there'd be vampire police, vampire governments and VETH groups (Vampires for the Ethical Treatment of Humans).
Boring.
Wow. You're really wrong.Karloff said:
Vampires are real.
We see them every night and even in the day.
We just call them "aristocrats" when they walk off the page.
Tell me I'm lying, wrong, or joking.
To a certain extent, the G-man is evil sentiment comes from three sources.Trolldor said:
1)The way in which he is opposed by the Vortigaunts. The Vorts are, at least apparently, good guys. They prevent him from doing what he wants to do, ergo he is, apparently, not a good guy.
2)He lacks empathy for anyone who does not directly advance his goals. Example:
He would have left Alyx behind on an exploding tower at the end of Half Life 2
either agrees to help the G-man or is killed.
beefpelican said:
Don't forget that towards the end of Half Life 2 Breen takes Gordon aside and says he's been negotiating for Gordon's services. The only person he could have been negotiating with is the G-Man. Of course, Breen could have been lying, but to what end?
I must admit, I only see two ways forward for the Gordon/G-Man relationship.
Option 1: Gordon tries to do the G-Man in, with whatever one-shot-kill weapon (or stake, as the case may be) he thinks will do the job.
Option 2: Gordon gets subsumed by the G-Man, and becomes a willing partner in the 'family business'.
I was finding this fairly interesting, up until you tried to present the G-man as a vampire. Firstly, let's take a look at your definition of a vampire.
"looks human, but isn't; eternal life; abilities far outside human experience; revels in suffering and often causes many deaths. The outside evil who destroys without remorse."
Ok, that's a pretty vague description. There has to be 50 different kinds of monsters that could fit that description. A lot of people give Stephanie Myers crap for "getting vampires wrong" but at least she got the hole Undead bloodsucker thing down.
Then there is that G-man doesn't appear to fit most of it. Ok he definatly comes of as evil but I'm not sure how you came to the "causes many deaths" part. As fare as I can tell in HL1 you see him walking around every once in a while. Then in HL2 he seems to have even less to do with what is going on. You see him at the begging and the end and... that's it as fare as I can remember.
Also, even if I were to grant you that he is causing a lot of deaths somehow, and enjoying it, you don't need to be a vampire to do that. As for eternal life and abilities far outside human experience, I'm not sure what your basing that claim on. I mean Gordon Freeman, the character you play, looks pretty much like he did in the first game. At least in the artwork anyway. So it's not like the first HL takes place in the 1300's or something and then we skip forward 700 years. As for that bit at the end, Dr. Breen didn't seem to have any trouble using advanced alien technology why would you assume G-mans "powers" were magical?
Not to mention that Half-Life as a game is sci-fi and, to my knowledge, has no supernatural elements.
All in all I've seen nothing that would even remotely point to the G-man being a vampire, an alien conspirator maybe but not a vampire.
Other than that I thought the article was good.
"looks human, but isn't; eternal life; abilities far outside human experience; revels in suffering and often causes many deaths. The outside evil who destroys without remorse."
Ok, that's a pretty vague description. There has to be 50 different kinds of monsters that could fit that description. A lot of people give Stephanie Myers crap for "getting vampires wrong" but at least she got the hole Undead bloodsucker thing down.
Then there is that G-man doesn't appear to fit most of it. Ok he definatly comes of as evil but I'm not sure how you came to the "causes many deaths" part. As fare as I can tell in HL1 you see him walking around every once in a while. Then in HL2 he seems to have even less to do with what is going on. You see him at the begging and the end and... that's it as fare as I can remember.
Also, even if I were to grant you that he is causing a lot of deaths somehow, and enjoying it, you don't need to be a vampire to do that. As for eternal life and abilities far outside human experience, I'm not sure what your basing that claim on. I mean Gordon Freeman, the character you play, looks pretty much like he did in the first game. At least in the artwork anyway. So it's not like the first HL takes place in the 1300's or something and then we skip forward 700 years. As for that bit at the end, Dr. Breen didn't seem to have any trouble using advanced alien technology why would you assume G-mans "powers" were magical?
Not to mention that Half-Life as a game is sci-fi and, to my knowledge, has no supernatural elements.
All in all I've seen nothing that would even remotely point to the G-man being a vampire, an alien conspirator maybe but not a vampire.
Other than that I thought the article was good.