Under-Used Tropes, Part One

Last night I learned that a lesbian werewolf movie is the works. Now, that idea is just plain cool (and I can hardly wait to tell my friend Ruby about this--she loves werewolves, plus has a wicked sense of humor). Jack and Diane tells the story of two teenaged girls in love, one of whom isn't really human. Or not completely. It was supposed to have co-starred Ellen Page, but there was a delay and now other commitments interfere. Oh, well.

But I was thinking about how some tropes go under-used, especially in genres that I enjoy. For example, it has become a staple going back to Dark Shadows that a male vampire has a female human love interest. Nick Knight had Natalie. Edward has Bella. Angel and Spike both have Buffy, while the former also had Cordelia. And so on. But what about a female vampire and her male human lover? Not quite as rare as one might think since it was prominent in both Dracula's Daughter and Hammer's Lust for a Vampire, but has been fairly rare ever since. Until recently. True Blood has actually introduced two compelling stories about a female vampire and her male, human lover. The more prominent involves Jessica, a teenager "made" only a few weeks ago, and having already fallen for a nice young man named Hoyt. Plus there is Isabelle, the Texas elder heartbroken over events involving "her" Hugh, whom she clearly loves very much indeed.

Now, if we could just see a female vampire detective on a show, involved in some way with a human man! A sort of Nicole Knight, or Angela the Vampire-With-A-Soul. Some part of me really would enjoy seeing the unearthly loveliness of Edwina Cullen falling for a shy nerd named Ben. Or what if the upcoming CW series Vampire Diaries were about a sad young man who becomes the focus of good and evil vampire sisters?

While in general I'm not in favor of doing anything creative by rote, using a formula, I do think creating something new by breaking the formula--at least as a starting point. The image of the wise witch Gandalfina comes to mind, or the lost Hammer classic The Grooms of Dracula.

Something to think about.