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This is an actual class at my college.

Posted by Xaeraz , Nov 15 2012 · 228 views

Gender and Sexuality in Vampire Literature

3 credit hours

Study sociological and literary issues of gender and sexuality in vampire literature, from its beginnings through the current phenomenon initiated by the Twilight books.

Hahli Husky

Nov 15 2012 06:09 PM

My sister-in-law is actually having to use the Twilight series as a teaching tool this semester. She had to read the books and watch the movies; she's been in a pretty bad mood ever since.

Chols

Nov 15 2012 06:13 PM

Is it bad if I am curious if there's a comparable course for werewolves? :B

Ballom

Nov 15 2012 06:32 PM

That's absolutely terrifying. :blink:

~B~

BioGio

Nov 15 2012 06:40 PM

Please tell me this is at some bizarre community college--preferably in an alternate universe--and not a state institution.

Judge Alex Humva

Nov 15 2012 06:45 PM

I'm make a suicide joke, but that'd be in bad taste. By a hair.

That is utterly disappointing. I weep for humanity.

Cosmic Titan

Nov 15 2012 06:49 PM

This is not a stretch at all, various literature and sociology classes already exist and it looks to just be a hybrid of the two. And colleges are greedy, greedy things that will do anything more money.

The Inquisitive Automaton

Nov 15 2012 06:56 PM

http://www.majhost.c...ons/no_more.gif

I'm done. I'm...I'm just done.

Xaeraz

Nov 15 2012 08:04 PM

Please tell me this is at some bizarre community college--preferably in an alternate universe--and not a state institution.

I go to the county community college, so...

Obsessionist

Nov 15 2012 08:05 PM

Seriously? Why would anyone make an academic course out of this? At least broaden the subject a bit.

Parugi

Nov 15 2012 08:37 PM

Not really that surprising when you consider that one college whose name I'm forgetting that had/has a course on Harry Potter.

Which isn't to say that it's not ridiculous, but still.

Nukaya

Nov 15 2012 11:41 PM

Seriously? Why would anyone make an academic course out of this? At least broaden the subject a bit.

I feel like some people are overreacting to this just because it says it includes Twilight? The course info says it covers all of vampire literature, not just Twilight.

Vampire literature started really getting popular in the 1700s, which means there is over 300 years of stuff to cover! The Twilight books (however bad they are, I wouldn't know), are really just a drop in a very long and extensive history of literary work. Just skimming the wikipedia article about vampire literature shows some very interesting information and *gasp* doesn't even mention Twilight beyond two links at the end under examples of juvenile fiction and graphic novels.

Also, another thing that is included in vampire literature is Bunnicula, and that was a pretty awesome book.

Scanty Demon

Nov 15 2012 11:43 PM

Believe it or not this doesn't suprise me, I've seen a class that involved Twilight (and not the pony one ;( ). Difference was that the one I saw apparently wanted to analyze religious themes such as angels and demons, bible references, etc. Granted this contribute to my gradual loss of sanity and losing sanity hurts!

Spink

Nov 15 2012 11:56 PM

Well, it does say from the beginning to the current vampire trend. Additionally, Twilight is/was a big success (at least in the United States) and looking at it from a sociological perspective would make sense to see what people, well those who bought the book, value in terms of the issues being covered by the course. It would also show the evolution and alteration in vampire literature over a period of time, and also the variance in the societies throughout history (as the fear and perpetuation and depiction of vampires has changed, drastically at times, and contains different aspects that speak to the societies that dreamt them up).

When studying a subject with a particular scope, one can't just read and look at what one specifically likes to get a comprehensive understanding of the material. And Twilight did have an impact, so it does make sense that it would fall into the course.

I mean, that's my opinion, but yeah.

**Of course, the actual course could be a little broader... but I'm not sure how well that would fit within the actual teaching of the material. On vampire information alone, as Nukaya said, there's over 300 years of stuff to sift through -- that alone is a lot to cover in a semester, or a year (however long the course is) and broadening it might've brought complications in with extending it (such as, the sheer volume of material that would have to be sorted through).

Lyichir

Nov 16 2012 07:30 AM

Actually, I think that could be a very interesting class. Sexuality has been a strong theme in vampire literature even since Dracula, which operated largely on Victorian-era fear of female sexuality (in addition to a strong isolationist subtext). It'd be interesting to track that to modern vampire fiction, much of which which replaces that fear of the unknown with an attraction to the unknown.