The Obscure and Forgotten - Speculative TV Fiction

Our TV in the 1980s didn't quite look like this but was similar in several ways - it had push-buttons for each channel, stood on four legs, and had a brown faux-wood finish. Up until the late '90s TVs and other entertainment appliances were often referred to in the retail sector as 'browngoods' due to this plastic-wood trend.

I love television. You probably love it too, right? I have a longstanding committed relationship with the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, which originates with a childhood obsession with Doctor Who that was facilitated by the television. My love for Doctor Who will never die but over the years it has also broadened to encompass a lot of other stuff.

In the 21st century Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans are pretty much spoilt for choice. Star Trek and Star Wars have become huge franchises. Doctor Who has been rebooted to become a BBC flagship series. And then there's the Marvel and DC universes, which are this whole other thing. There are second tier telefantasies as well (remember the term 'telefantasy'? No? Just me?) - The X Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Red Dwarf, Babylon 5, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, and all the stuff that's found on the SyFy network.

What I find endlessly fascinating though are the 20th century diversions that explored the genre for relatively brief spans of time. The TV series that were weird and wonderful, that failed because the market they were tapping into weren't interested in another X Files ripoff, or the shows that continue to command a cult following. How many of these do you remember?

British Telefantasy

The Prisoner

Did you ever see The Simpsons episode where Homer starts a website under the name 'Mr. X' and begins exposing Springfield conspiracies? He ends up on an island with a guy called Number 6, and gets chased by a giant sentient ball when he escapes by sea. This whole bit is lifted straight from The Prisoner, with the actor Patrick McGoohan (perhaps best known to more modern audiences as the evil English king from Braveheart) basically reprising his role as Number 6 from the original TV series.  

The Prisoner went for just 17 episodes and dealt with a British secret agent who wakes up in a mysterious village by the sea after he attempts to retire from the business. Each episode 'Number 6' would attempt to escape from the Village and enter a duel of wits with Number 2 (a rotating roster of characters who work as administrators of the bizarre prison). It was kept ambiguous as to whether the Village was controlled by the Russians or the British, and Number 6 would contend with all manner of Cold War Sci-Fi delights - hallucinatory drugs, identity theft, mind control, and Rover (the surreal giant ball that prevented escape via sea). A true one-of-a-kind series.

The Tripods

I only caught The Tripods occasionally. This was a 1980s British TV series that ran for two years and was based on a trilogy of books by John Christopher (he later wrote a fourth and final prequel book in 1987 after the TV series finished). In this series the human race has been enslaved by aliens who pilot giant three-legged machines (the Tripods of the title), society has regressed to a medieval state, and a human resistance force secretly plots the destruction of their alien masters. Primarily marketed towards a kids' audience and featuring teenage protagonists, The Tripods is something I've been meaning to revisit because I've been on a bit of a post-apocalyptic kick at the moment.

Survivors

There's this writer called Terry Nation who wrote the second ever Doctor Who story and due to this he's officially credited as creating the series' most famous monster, the Daleks. The rights to the Daleks have remained with Nation's family ever since and the writer even briefly took them away from Doctor Who for a few years in the late 1960s so that he could use them in their own spinoff series. This never eventuated but Nation would use his Dalek-profile to create other science fiction TV series for the BBC in the 1970s. One of these was Survivors, a post-apocalyptic series about a Cold War bio-engineered virus escaping from its lab and wiping out the majority of humanity. For three years, Survivors tracked the ongoing efforts of a small group of surviving Britons as they navigated their way through a lawless post-virus landscape. I watched this on and off when I was a teenager and there was always something about it that was both unsettling and compelling.

Blake's 7

After Survivors wound down, Terry Nation went on to create a more popular series, Blakes 7, which he pitched as 'the Dirty Dozen in Space'. In this show a political subversive named Roj Blake is arrested by the totalitarian Terran Federation and deported to an offworld penal colony. Blake manages to escape with his own ship, assembling a motley crew of seven, and begins a campaign of interplanetary harassment against Earth's authoritarian government. What sets Blakes 7 apart from its most similar contemporary, Star Trek, is its gloomy dystopian themes and cast of roguish antiheroes. Whereas Star Trek presented a utopian view of a future human civilisation focused on exploring the stars, Blakes 7 depicts a brutal and exploitative regime that must be fought against by its own oppressed citizens. And whereas Star Trek's characters were idealistic and of generally sound morals, Blake's crew of criminals are often outright immoral or - at the least - incredibly bitchy towards each other. If you can get past the very British 1970s production values this is a great antithesis to Star Trek with some fun, memorable, and highly quotable characters.

Ultraviolet

Back in 1998 there was a single series UK television show in 1998 called Ultraviolet, a show about vampires that quietly came and went before the market became completely oversaturated with vampire fiction in the 2000s. This six episode police procedural took a sleek, technological view of vampires - never once referring to the undead by the 'v' word but instead calling them 'Code Fives'. It's a creepy, well put-together time capsule of 1990s genre television, hybridising the crime and horror genres and featuring early turns from Idris Elba and Jack Davenport as the stressed out detectives who find themselves increasingly out of their element. Ultraviolet is a welcome and stylish diversion in an age when original takes on vampires have become increasingly hard to come by.

American Telefantasy

Alien Nation

Starting as a 1988 movie set in the 'future' of 1991, Alien Nation was a buddy cop/science fiction film that paired up a veteran police officer with a rookie 'Newcomer' cop. The Newcomers are a race of alien refugees who have integrated into American society, and the film generated enough interest to be spun off into a TV series - albeit one that lasted for only one season and a couple of TV movies. It's basically a police procedural show with an added sci-fi element used to explore themes related to xenophobia, migrant narratives, multiculturalism, etc. It's a decent concept and the culture and biology of the Newcomers is explored enough to warrant the sci-fi tag, even if the rest of the framework remains firmly rooted in the lighthearted tone of an early 1990s buddy cop show.

Quantum Leap

Unlike most of the other series in this list Quantum Leap is one that mum, dad, and the grandparents can enjoy due to the lack of obvious science fiction elements like aliens, spaceships, or lasers. For five seasons Scott Bakula played physicist Sam Beckett, a man who becomes unstuck in time and 'leaps' into the bodies of different people throughout the 20th century. In order to move on from each time zone Sam must 'correct' something that went wrong in this period of history. It's a great show and, as mentioned, it tends to have wider appeal than most sci-fi due to its focus on social commentary and drama rather than predominantly science fiction conceits.

Earth 2

Earth 2 was a one-series wonder that aired in 1995. Ambitious in scope, Earth 2 is set in the 22nd century when Earth has become uninhabitable and humans live mostly on space stations. A small group of colonists escape their space station to start the colony of New Pacifica on a planet with Earth-like conditions and, after becoming marooned and scattered across the new world's surface, they begin to pioneer a new beginning. There are a lot of good ideas in Earth 2 and enough angles to build a solid mythology that could have given the series longevity and depth - the colonists find themselves contending with two indigenous races, an Earth government resistant to the idea of the colony, shifting dynamics within the colonist group, and the planet's legacy as a secret penal settlement. At times the series could be a bit hokey and a little too American but I have to admit that I was quite bummed out when it was prematurely cancelled as it promised to explore some pretty interesting territory.

Dark Skies and American Gothic

Remember the mid-'90s when The X Files was a huge hit and the world seemed gripped by Muldermania? There was an X Files soundtrack with a secret track hidden at the start of the CD, a movie released at the show's height of popularity, and two spinoff series (Millennium, The Lone Gunmen). But perhaps the most interesting impact of the show was how it shaped a new wave of American television series. The X Files dealt with two completely separate strands of speculative fiction loosely aligned under the catch-all term 'paranormal': one being aliens and the other being supernatural events. Few shows seem able to explore both the fantasy and science fiction genres with as much balance and success so it was inevitable that the various imitation shows would opt to choose one or the other.  

Dark Skies was a science fiction series developed by a rival network as a direct competitor to the The X Files. Set during the 1960s, Dark Skies explored the idea that an alien race known as the Hive had infiltrated the American government and were manipulating human history in order to pave the way for invasion. It was basically like all the story arc episodes of The X Files but tied into real life events from the recent past, and it only lasted one season.

American Gothic was another series developed by a rival network in the mid-'90s, also only ran for one season, and leaned into the Americana-based horror aspects of The X Files. It focused on the evil machinations of Lucas Buck, a small-town sheriff with supernatural powers whose hobbies included rape and murder. I remember watching a few episodes of this show when I was 15 and felt very creeped out by it.

Space: Above and Beyond

Another mid-'90s one season effort, Space: Above and Beyond was created by two regular writers from The X Files but has more in common with Star Trek and Starship Troopers than the paranormal. Set about 70 years into the future, this series presented an early Earth Empire coming into conflict with a more experienced space-faring alien race called the Chigs. The writers had a plan to unfold their narrative over five seasons, with various subplots put into motion throughout these first 23 episodes. Fans were understandably frustrated when the show was cancelled before it had a proper chance to get going, however, I can't say I was ever particular enamoured with this one. Being a '90s show created by the same production team as The X Files, the lighting was incredibly dark and shadowy, and the militaristic aspect of the storyline gets kind of old when it takes 21 episodes to get around to even showing the audience what the aliens look like.

seaQuest DSV

Marketed as 'Steven Spielberg's seaQuest DSV' (though he had little to do with it other than chucking some money at it), this series basically became an underwater version of Star Trek despite initial intentions to do something a bit different. 

I don't know what it was about the 1990s but there was this brief moment when everyone in Hollywood seemed to forget how expensive it is to film on water. Waterworld and Cutthroat Island were two films from 1995 that blew out their budgets due to the difficulties involved with water-filming and seaQuest was reported to be quite expensive for a television series too. That said, it managed to stay afloat (sorry) for three seasons. Roy Scheider signed on as the lead but became angry when the focus of the show shifted from realistic near-future science fiction in Season 1 to things like aliens, water monsters, and psychic powers in Season 2. The third season limped along with new cast members and further efforts to 'retool' things with a new lead actor, Michael Ironside, who stipulated in his contract that his character would never be seen talking to Darwin, the ships' talking dolphin. I watched seaQuest on and off when I was a teenager and even back then I could see that the show was a mess; unable to settle on a consistent tone or purpose.

Sliders

Finally a TV series about tiny burgers. The impact of Sliders on fast food cuisine shouldn't be underestimated.

As usual with these sort of things the above list is by no means complete. Other shows I've heard of but never had a chance to watch include: The Last Train, Space: 1999. Star Cops, Tomorrow People, Doomwatch, Sapphire & Steel, V, UFO... at one point these shows felt like points of interest and were just a little bit lesser known than the more popular ones but, as time marches on, some of them seem to be becoming increasingly obscure and less spoken about.

Which is inevitable. But also sad.

Dracula Term 2: Texts, Culture and Value

At the start of the year I consolidated the first term's lessons for a revised unit of work focused on Dracula for the Year 11 Extension English 1 module Texts, Culture and Value. This first term focuses on Dracula itself, an introduction to important contextual information for study, and interacting with academic paratext to build a level of understanding suitable to an Extension English context (and hopefully prepare students for university-level study!).

In continuation of this, the second term of the module addresses a modern text (The Lost Boys) and introduces material that supports students in their undertaking of the Related Project. Without further waffle, here's the resources for the term in a single document for easy access:

• Dracula Term 2: Texts, Culture and Value

And here's the associated PowerPoint, some of which was adapted from ideas shared by Eva Mayes in mETAphor Issue 2, 2012, in the article 'The Language of Comparison' (hence why the PPT is mislabelled - a fair bit of it has been changed from the original DoE document that was initially shared with me):

• 9-1. Utilising Sophisticated Language PPT

And the two video clips referenced in the program:

As stated in the previous blog, the main document is designed to be printed as a booklet and given to each student. There's a section in the front of the booklet that explains how each of the resources work. It's more for the teacher but it doesn't hurt for the students to see it and track their progress. The document also includes a formal assessment task (the Related Project) and an informal assessment task (a proposal for the Related Project presented in viva voce form). You can teach the whole unit as it is, or pull it apart and use bits and pieces, rewrite stuff from it, etc.  

A reiteration of the caveats I mentioned last time too:

• The module has been designed from a place of non-assumption; that is to say, everything is laid out for the students as if they are coming to everything in this for the first time because, well, they probably are. Some material has also been included to build skills that should assist students in their HSC year (without touching any of the HSC content, of course).
• One of the larger parts of the booklet is the Study Guide to The Lost Boys (Resource 3-1). I've posted an earlier version of this document on this blog before but the version in the updated module now includes student questions in the analysis column. I don't expect students to answer every question but, as a form of differentiation, students should aim to answer at least one question per page. 
• The readings included are mostly extracts sourced from online. Sources have been included on all of these except for one. The one with no author attributed to it was written by myself, adapted from a review I wrote in a previous life as a film reviewer. I've included each of the readings here because, as you'll probably already know, things on the internet have a tendency to disappear sometimes! Incidentally, if you're reading this and happen to be the author of one of these online pieces and would like it removed from this not-for-profit educational document then please just let me know and I'll take it out.

If you have any questions please fee free to contact me by commenting below, or using the email address in the booklet.

The Lost Boys: A Study Guide

Kylo Ren in his teenage days...

The Lost Boys is a perfect companion to Dracula for use in the Preliminary English Extension 1 Text, Culture and Value module, in that it both parallels and offers alternatives to Bram Stoker's seminal text. Below is a study guide resource that can be used to support teaching The Lost Boys.

The first section of the guide provides a Cast of Characters that will assist students in establishing who's who in the film. There are essentially 9 characters of note (10 if you want to count the rest of David's gang as a single character).

• Michael: The protagonist.
• Sam: The deuteragonist (secondary protagonist) and Michael's younger brother.
• Lucy: Their mother. Note: her name has deliberately been borrowed from Dracula.
• Star: Michael's love interest.
• David: The antagonist and leader of the 'Lost Boys' gang.
• Grandpa: Lucy's father.
• Edgar and Alan Frog: Supporting characters; they are the film's equivalent of Dracula's 'Van Helsing' character.
• Max: Lucy's love interest and quite a significant character in the film's climactic scenes.
• The Lost Boys: David's gang of vampires.

Also featured in the film but not mentioned in the document are:

• Laddie: A boy vampire and companion to Star.
• The Surf Nazis: A local (non-vampire) gang that the Lost Boys feud with throughout the film.
• Nanook: Sam and Michael's dog.
• Thorn: Max's dog. 

The rest of the study guide looks at the film by providing a series of sample shots with accompanying analysis. I've arbitrarily broken the film into 8 sections (a prologue and seven 'chapters') to help students think of the plot elements in regards to the narrative. The analysis is unpacked in the following fashion:

• Example - a shot that can be analysed in reference to the module.
• Description, Techniques - describing what is happening in the shot and what techniques have bee used to communicate ideas to the audience.
• Context, Values - subsequent analysis linked to the film's context both in terms of the vampire myth (Dracula) and its own time/place. In addition, where possible, the film's communication of key values is identified as well.

Example 1

Description, Techniques: Camera pans up as David walks out of the mist between disaffected teenagers riding the merry-go-round. Note his scruffiness, swaggering body language, and the cigarette behind the ear.

Context, Values: David and the other Lost Boys move between the static horses on the merry-go-round, which establishes how they don't quite fit in with other teenagers. David stops at a girlfriend of another local hoodlum and caresses her, echoing the mesmeric effect that Count Dracula and the Weird Sisters have on characters in Dracula. This sequence (and his costume) also demonstrates that David is not bound by social conventions attached to other people.

Example 2

Description, Techniques: Michael struggles to wake up in the morning and now needs sunglasses to protect his eyes against the sunlight. To an outsider he seems hungover, and the idea of teenage surliness in the morning becomes an allegory for his transformation into a vampire.

Context, Values: Note that Michael now has his ear pierced - symbolising his rebellion against adult-enforced gender norms. Sam asks Michael, "Are you freebasing?", a reference to doing cocaine and an echo of the words that many anxious parents ask sullen teenage boys exhibiting drastic changes in behaviour. In this case, as with previous examples, Michael's anti-social behaviour is in reality a result of vampirism. This is exemplified further when Michael is rude to his grandfather.

Resource: the full Study Guide can be found here.

This Looper-created video above is also helpful for providing some analysis of the film's context and how this shaped its representation of the era's values. Not all of the video will be completely relevant but students may still find it of interest. 

That Bloodsucka Blackfella Dance!: A Study Guide for Chapters 1-3

I'll preface this post by saying that I think, without a doubt, that this might be the most obscure resource I've ever made and shared on this blog. 

The attached resources concern That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! by D. Bruno Starrs, a vampire text recommended by NSW English teacher Bernadette Therese (see here for a Youtube channel, and here for a Twitter account). The relevance of the text pertains to the Year 11 Extension English 1 module Texts, Culture and Value as a reiteration of Dracula's vampire myth that manages to parallel and challenge Stoker's narrative. Starrs is an academic writer of Aboriginal and European background, and he offers a contemporary Indigenous take on the vampire mythos. His irreverent novel That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! can be found in the usual places - Amazon, Bookdepository, etc. - and tracks the journey of complex gym junkie and would-be academic Sterling de Bortoli from the streets of Melbourne to the sweltering marketplaces of Morocco. The resources below concern the Prologue and first three chapters (this extract is all I covered with my class, hopefully leaving enough time to cover other texts in comparison to Dracula).

Resource 1

Here is a study guide. The analysis is broken into four columns: Example > Technique and Analysis > Cultural Value > Maintained or Changed?  

• Example: Quote or textual example that demonstrates the way the text reflects its context.
• Technique and Analysis: Some analysis of the example to show the way that Starrs has used language to construct his discussion of theme, cultural value, etc.
• Cultural Value: In what way does the example reflect the values of Starrs' context?
• Maintained or Changed?: How does it compare to the way Dracula deals with the same (or a comparable) contextual value?

Resource 2

Here is a comparison table. Students use their textual knowledge (plus the study guide) to write down their own observations of how That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! compares to Dracula. The table breaks student analysis into six themes that could be broadly linked to both texts, and would allow for the construction of six separate thesis statements based around said themes. These themes are:

• Non-White ethnic groups: I'm loath to characterise Aboriginality as one and the same as the 'foreign other' discussed in Dracula but, then again, that's kind of the point. These two texts deal with non-Anglo cultural groups in very different ways and the way these authors represent these groups can be used as a jumping off point for discussion of what mainstream Western society classifies as 'the other'.  
• The Canon: As a 'canon' text, Dracula commands a certain kind of power, and Starrs' novel deals directly with this through its direct referencing of Stoker's novel.
• Religion: This relates directly to the way That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! deals with Catholicism, as well as Dracula's integration of the Catholic Church into its narrative as the antithesis of vampirism.
• The Spiritual / Supernatural World: Compare Dracula's use of the supernatural through its depiction of superstition and vampiric lore, and Starrs' utilisation of the Dreaming to explore the Indigenous spirit world.
• Science: Stoker positions science as a reflection of the Victorian era's increasing trust in rationalism (note Dr Seward's use of the phonograph, and the blood transfusion technology Van Helsing uses to fight against Dracula's 'infecting' of Lucy and Mina). The theme of science is less obvious in That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! but still appears in figurative form as a motif that Starrs' frequently revisits to describe the world around his protagonist (note the use of terms like 'micro-organisms' to describe the Arabic plane passengers he encounters).

One more note before I go - watch out for the very last page of Chapter 3, which could prompt some challenging conversations. I've included some appropriate analysis in the study guide to help steer the conversation towards relevance.

The Lost Boys - Critical Readings

I'm currently in the midst of teaching Bram Stoker's Dracula for Preliminary HSC Extension English 1 as part of the module Texts, Culture and Value and really enjoying it. At the crux of the course is the idea of exploring a key text (in this case, Dracula) and the subsequent reiterations of its ideas in other media and contexts. For most of Term 1 my class looked at Dracula and a range of critical readings that deal with the vampire myth promulgated by Stoker's text. Finding academic texts related to Dracula wasn't difficult, in fact - the difficult part is sifting through the muck to find those two or three diamonds that fit my educational context and aren't going to just leave my students feeling confused. 

The tricky part is looking at a text that parallels, challenges or offers alternatives to the key text. Vampires are everywhere in our culture, and I settled on the 1987 film The Lost Boys as a different enough take that comes with its own set of values, but then finding some non-fiction writing that explored these values was the harder part.  

Two good ones that present very different interpretations on the film can be found here:

• Boomers, Neglect and 'The Lost Boys' at 25 - this criticism focuses on Lucy's characterisation as a neglectful mother who has been corrupted by the wave of feminism that empowered women in the 1970s and '80s.
• 'The Lost Boys' Subtly Radical Vision of Family - an opposing and more positive viewpoint offered on the same online news source, albeit published five years later.

Here's another piece that discusses the way the film uses vampires to explore the values of its time:

The Lost Boys as Dark Future: The Anxieties of the 1980s Immortalised

The film's prologue plays out like a silent film with its minimal dialogue, broad action conveyed through body language, and self-contained narrative. It also acts as a summary of one of the film's overarching themes; society's increasing fear of wayward youth, exemplified by this sequences's depiction of David's gangs of 'Lost Boys' as violent, animalistic, scruffy, uncontrollable, and (with their long hair, piercings, and midriff-baring tanktops) somewhat gender-fluid.

The anxiety of the older generation had been on the rise ever since teens had emerged in the 1950s with an explosion of motorbikes, leather jackets, rock 'n' roll, and the apathetic retort of "what have you got?" when asked what they were, exactly, rebelling against. In the 1980s this fear hit an all new high with the skyrocketing divorce rates of America's post-feminist landscape provoking increased concern over the demise of the traditional family structure. Suddenly youth culture never seemed more dangerous.

Lucy and her two sons, Michael and Sam, arrive in Santa Carla (the supposed 'murder capital' of the world), in a freshly father-free state. Mention is made of an unpleasant separation and neither boy  seems overly concerned with the absence of their dad, though both seem resentful of having to move in with their Grandpa. The film's theme of disaffected youth becomes amplified during the opening credits as the viewer is treated to a montage of unkempt and nameless teenagers lazily holding up walls while smoking cigarettes and aggressively gazing off into the middle of nowhere. This is quickly followed by some shots of a wall plastered in a multitude of missing posters - a sad but familiar sight to Americans living in the Reagan era with ubiquitous materialistic pressure and rising crime rates.

By night, Santa Carla transforms into a heaving mass of teenage flesh, hundreds of bodies pressing against each other in an insatiable urge to party while a muscular chain-wearing saxophonist gyrates suggestively on a stage. It's a mildly disturbing sight, perhaps for all the wrong reasons, but the sexual undertones are made obvious enough to highlight every parent's worst nightmare regarding letting their teenage kids out at night. It's all too much for Michael and he becomes mesmerised by Star, a homeless girl with mysterious connections to the Lost Boys. In the words of his younger brother, he is now at the mercy of his sex glands.

From here, Michael is lured into David's gang of vampires through a series of initiation rites that mimic the bonding rituals of teenage boys. Step by step, David pushes Michael closer to becoming a vampire - testing his resolve in an allegorical fashion that demonstrates the seductive power of peer pressure. Michael is unable to resist and he becomes a vampire. He gets his ear pierced and, much to the annoyance of his mother, begins wearing sunglasses inside. (This is where divorce will lead you! Your kid will become a vampire!) The relationship between mother and son becomes strained, and the distance between them grows as Michael becomes closer with David and Star.

Nearly every element in The Lost Boys can be seen as reflective of the breakdown of the nuclear family. The Lost Boys are the metaphorical forgotten boys of parents no longer able to able to provide guidance or responsible supervision; a twisted take on the Peter Pan narrative that sees David and his crew taking great delight in flying from victim in exchange for staying young forever. When local video store owner Max comes on the scene as a potential suitor for Lucy, her younger son Sam becomes obsessed with trying to prove that the man is a vampire, an allegory for the resent felt by children for adults who seek to replace their absent parents. The idea of the blended family - a unit made up of two single parents and their own sets of kids - is revealed as the ultimate horror in the film's final scenes. And the role of Grandpa in saving the day at the very end of the film also demonstrates the shifting nature of the family unit, with those in extended family roles now playing a bigger part in the lives of their children - helping to care for their grandchildren while single parents work to make ends meet.

As far as new takes on the vampire myth go, The Lost Boys provides a new perspective that represents the concerns of its time. David both adheres to an subverts the conventions associated with the vampire, providing the gender-fluid mesmerism of Count Dracula whilst subverting the stoic nature of such a character. These 1980s vampires are immortalised in teenage form, and so it makes perfect sense for the Lost Boys to seek nothing more than to party every night and revel in being forever young. The seductive nature of this lifestyle is understandable and makes it easy for the audience to buy into Michael's quick transformation. 

What's less palatable, however, is the idea that a single parent automatically seals the fate of their children as doomed figures. The fact that Michael's redemption at the film's end primarily comes thanks to the intervention of his younger brother and grandfather speaks volumes about the filmmakers' lack of faith in the ability of teenagers to advocate for themselves in this bold landscape of crumbling morality. Lucy's resignation to becoming undead when faced with the threat of vampirism is also similarly problematic.

The above reading is provided here as a PDF. Students can read this as a 'primer' before watching the film so that they might actively look out for particular values and ideas while they watch.