Do we really need a movie version of The A-Team? Seriously. What is this rehash trend? Is there no sense of creativity left in Hollywood–or in publishing?
What happens in films happens in publishing too. An audience it targeted. One portion of an audience. It’s most obvious with action movies where things blow up and lots of people die. Crime TV shows are all the rage. So are crime novels. These days, in Romance, once smokin’ hot Chick Lit has moved over for Paranormals. Chick Lit used to be everywhere you looked and it got tiresome reading about drinks, clothes, the boyfriend who wouldn’t commit, the boss who was a dragon…Now that urban angst has been transferred to Vampires, Werewolves, witches, zombies…you name it. Now Paranormals have become the action movie of the Romance genre.
I’m not knocking paranormals completely. I’ve read several that are innovative (Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series) and it’s interesting how they span Horror and Romance. However, my point is this: Chick Lit and Paranormals are two good examples of jumping on the publishing trend money train much the same way TV shows into movies have flooded cinemas. The sad truth is, the bottom line is, everything is about money.
All hail the almighty buck.
Hey greedy movie makers and publishers! I’ll happily line your pockets, but you’ve forgotten the largest demographic! You hide behind myths (like vampires) and buy into that idea that youth is beauty (like vampires). You slay our muses with a stake made of money. You blooksuckers!
Ahem. Now buy my book. Please. It’s vampire free.
Or is it?
My theory of why paranormals sell so well is simple; it revolves around the very nature of vampires. It’s all about the youth-fixated, youth-aimed, youth-embracing media. Vampires perpetuate a big ol’ myth. Gee, if you’re a vampire, you get to live forever. You get to be ageless and beautiful forever. Hell, no wonder paranormals are hot. At $20 a book, reading about a gorgeous, thin person with a fabulous night life is a cheaper fantasy than $300 a pop for Botox.
Of course, It’s a trend that’s going to fade like a vampire in the sun.
So what comes next? Seventy-eight million Baby Boomers (and the entering their 40s Gen-Xers) with money to burn. Make the movies, like Nancy’s Myers’ Something’s Gotta Give, publish stories with heroines over 40. Read about beautiful 50 somethings falling in love.
Wait a second. Once you’re over 50 you’re supposed to be dead. Who needs romance when you’re heart’s stopped, you only look good in the dark, and you’ve sprouted hair all over you body?
Oh dear, God, You’ve turned into a vampire or werewolf.
So I guess that means you’re part of the trend already!
I hear a sequel comin’ on.