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HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART ONE
Oct. 16th, 2013 02:20 pmBlood Noir is still in the dollar store. I again flipped it to a random place...I came to a scene with Anita, Jason, and a bunch of blonde girls ("they looked like Barbie clones, or Paris Hilton clones") and I think it's a party or something and they're begging Anita to stay and the one with the biggest fanciest hair is all "if you leave now you'll think we're terrible" and oh my gosh, this is totally teen!LKH fantasizing about the popular kids inviting her to a party and caring immensely about what *she* thinks about *them* instead of vice versa.
I know this is such a small, small thing. But the whole 'werebeasts tied to the moon' that everyone and their cousin in modern media of all types uses...is not from folklore. It's from The Wolf Man, or rather, it's sequel. and that's fine. But LKH claims to do so much research, and she also claims she doesn't use anything that's not from folklore or from her own head, that she refuses to get any ideas from any other source (White Wolf, Buffy, etc.). Soooo....how'd you wind up with the moon situation in your books then, Laurell? Someone doesn't do as much RESEARCH! as they claim.
Speaking of that, since I did undead folklore trivia, how about some werewolf trivia?
* As I just mentioned, the idea of werewolves being tied to the full moon was also made popular by The Wolf Man; there is little to no mention of such a connection in any traditional werewolf folklore that I am aware of. This is due to the "gypsy fortune teller" stock character telling the protagonist a rhyme about werewolves that includes the phrase "when wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright". This was originally not meant to indicate the full moon (which is not portrayed in the film as having any influence on the werewolf) but to imply that it happens in autumn, which is when wolfbane does indeed bloom. It was the 1943 sequel "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" that made the full moon connection and changed the rhyme to "when the moon is full and bright". This is what led to the 20th century "full moon transformation" idea concerning modern werewolf depictions.
* The first werewolf film was not, as many people think, The Wolf Man (1941) but a silent film made in 1913 called The Werewolf. It was only 18 minutes long, and featured a Navajo woman as the titular monster who uses magi/witchcraft to shapeshift. This in keeping with Navajo folklore about such shapechangers, and which is more common in traditional werewolf lore on the whole than the biting scenario used almost exclusively in modern media (due, most likely, to its use in the popular 1941 aforementioned Wolf Man film). In fact, it was the only werewolf movie featuring Native American werewolves that transform via witchcraft like in their actual legends rather than through other means like non-Native werewolves are portrayed as using/having. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a 1924 fire.
* During the time that werewolf legends were originally being told, dogs and real wolves came into conflict often in real life because dogs were guarding flocks of sheep that wolves would want to attack, as well as protected human travelers that wild wolves would also prey on. As a result, some legends depict dogs as hostile to werewolves, sometimes even being able to detect them in human form. The first film example of domestic dogs disliking werewolves (even while they are in human form) was in the 1974 movie "The Beast Must Die" and has been commonplace in media ever since. The movie "Monster Dog" (a 1980s werewolf movie from Spain starring Alice Cooper) turned this on its head and had its werewolf able to control dogs instead.
* The hostile history between dogs and wolves is also the reason that many non-werewolf wolf-monsters are depicted as the enemies of dogs in their respective legends, such as the American shunka-warakin and the crocotta of India and Ethiopia.
A word of warning before we begin this next spork: I called the previous chapter "soul-destroying" and that was wrong. This has shown me the true meaning of the word. It is thirty pages. Thirty pages of destroying my soul and brain. Thirty pages all about Anita. Anita and her thing with Nicky, Anita and Olaf, Anita and how much Edward cares about her and how deeply, Anita and how Lisandro inexplicably wants her to help him stay faithful to his wife (yes, really) and like...there's some that doesn't focus on Anita, in the beginning with Olaf scoping out a new victim, but it just spirals downward and oh my god you guys it's terrible I think I died a little inside.
And I'm taking you with me. Ten pages at a time.
( HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART ONE )
I know this is such a small, small thing. But the whole 'werebeasts tied to the moon' that everyone and their cousin in modern media of all types uses...is not from folklore. It's from The Wolf Man, or rather, it's sequel. and that's fine. But LKH claims to do so much research, and she also claims she doesn't use anything that's not from folklore or from her own head, that she refuses to get any ideas from any other source (White Wolf, Buffy, etc.). Soooo....how'd you wind up with the moon situation in your books then, Laurell? Someone doesn't do as much RESEARCH! as they claim.
Speaking of that, since I did undead folklore trivia, how about some werewolf trivia?
* As I just mentioned, the idea of werewolves being tied to the full moon was also made popular by The Wolf Man; there is little to no mention of such a connection in any traditional werewolf folklore that I am aware of. This is due to the "gypsy fortune teller" stock character telling the protagonist a rhyme about werewolves that includes the phrase "when wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright". This was originally not meant to indicate the full moon (which is not portrayed in the film as having any influence on the werewolf) but to imply that it happens in autumn, which is when wolfbane does indeed bloom. It was the 1943 sequel "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" that made the full moon connection and changed the rhyme to "when the moon is full and bright". This is what led to the 20th century "full moon transformation" idea concerning modern werewolf depictions.
* The first werewolf film was not, as many people think, The Wolf Man (1941) but a silent film made in 1913 called The Werewolf. It was only 18 minutes long, and featured a Navajo woman as the titular monster who uses magi/witchcraft to shapeshift. This in keeping with Navajo folklore about such shapechangers, and which is more common in traditional werewolf lore on the whole than the biting scenario used almost exclusively in modern media (due, most likely, to its use in the popular 1941 aforementioned Wolf Man film). In fact, it was the only werewolf movie featuring Native American werewolves that transform via witchcraft like in their actual legends rather than through other means like non-Native werewolves are portrayed as using/having. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a 1924 fire.
* During the time that werewolf legends were originally being told, dogs and real wolves came into conflict often in real life because dogs were guarding flocks of sheep that wolves would want to attack, as well as protected human travelers that wild wolves would also prey on. As a result, some legends depict dogs as hostile to werewolves, sometimes even being able to detect them in human form. The first film example of domestic dogs disliking werewolves (even while they are in human form) was in the 1974 movie "The Beast Must Die" and has been commonplace in media ever since. The movie "Monster Dog" (a 1980s werewolf movie from Spain starring Alice Cooper) turned this on its head and had its werewolf able to control dogs instead.
* The hostile history between dogs and wolves is also the reason that many non-werewolf wolf-monsters are depicted as the enemies of dogs in their respective legends, such as the American shunka-warakin and the crocotta of India and Ethiopia.
A word of warning before we begin this next spork: I called the previous chapter "soul-destroying" and that was wrong. This has shown me the true meaning of the word. It is thirty pages. Thirty pages of destroying my soul and brain. Thirty pages all about Anita. Anita and her thing with Nicky, Anita and Olaf, Anita and how much Edward cares about her and how deeply, Anita and how Lisandro inexplicably wants her to help him stay faithful to his wife (yes, really) and like...there's some that doesn't focus on Anita, in the beginning with Olaf scoping out a new victim, but it just spirals downward and oh my god you guys it's terrible I think I died a little inside.
And I'm taking you with me. Ten pages at a time.
( HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART ONE )
