While it was much more popular in the 2000s-2010s, I still gravitate towards those small towns coated in milky fog, with spooky forests and mysteries revolving around missing townsfolk.
Recently, I had a discussion at work regarding my love for the supernatural, especially romances including vampires, werewolves, and even ghosts. We all bonded over shared beloved media like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles,” Underworld (2003), True Blood (2008), and Van Helsing (2004). While the genre is still being published today, I wouldn’t say it’s as booming as it was during the release of Twilight, The Mortal Instruments, and Vampire Academy. I was recommended a few films and books; however, I still don’t feel as satisfied. Personally, in terms of what I look for in a supernatural story, I’ve always favored the atmosphere, characters, and romance in Twilight, which balances the lightness of a sweet and romantic yearning that accompanies far darker themes of obsession, danger, and passion.
Since I was on the search for something similar, I read a book titled Blood Moon, by Britney Lewis, which I recently reviewed. While I chose it for its similarities to Twilight, I found myself cringing at the lack of originality, the insta-love theme, and the reveal of the love interest being a hybrid werewolf/vampire. When I first read the synopsis, it hinted at a werewolf love interest so I was thrilled until I got further into reading and realized the author had other plans for the love interest. This is simply a preference, but I think making the love interest a hybrid was done to compensate for poor character development, especially since Julian being a hybrid had no connection to the plot and he was already a flat character. It reminds me heavily of other authors’ attempt to beef up their love interest by making them dark haired, 6 ‘3, and jacked, with no real human flaws, to make up for the lack of character.
This change in Julian’s character prompted me to believe the author didn’t feel that a werewolf love interest would attract enough attention to readers, so making him part vampire would guarantee higher reading rates. During my conversation with my coworkers, we discussed whether we liked vampires or werewolves more, and the majority of the group favored vampires, while I sided more with werewolves. Since I was younger, I always preferred the idea of being in a pack, having a powerful, yearning connection to the moon, and a painful but beautiful transformation into a “beast.” The idea felt so freeing to me—running in the woods and having this intense bond with others like they do in packs. It dawned on me that there aren’t many YA werewolf fantasies or romance books. I went on an extreme Reddit search and mostly found erotica, so to my disappointment there are very few YA novels, and novels in general, written about werewolves. But in all honesty, I believe this lack of werewolf media comes from deep-rooted racism and classism.
While vampire media is much cheaper to create in film, in a novel, any supernatural is fair game; however, most authors will still choose to write about vampires. Vampires are known to have pale skin and generational wealth, and are commonly Eurocentric. They are known for their immortality and the allure of their youthful appearance, which society tends to idealize. They are also known for their ability to take what they want by force, never suffering from many consequences. Vampires are meant to be perceived as romantic and tragic, which makes them much more captivating to readers. But werewolves are a much closer reminder of humanity in a beautifully grotesque and messy way. While vampires typically represent a “sensual violence,” werewolves represent a harsher violence towards ourselves, mirroring insecurities and self-hate. Werewolves are depicted to hate their “curse” and suffer, unable to maintain control of themselves at times, similarly to humans, especially when sparked with anger. Werewolves are portrayed as much more “monstrous,” with an insanely brutal transformation and a rage so violent it tears the living to shreds, similar to how humans hurt others, which may seem unappealing to audiences.
Werewolves are also typically represented as minorities, natives, and poor people, especially in older media. They are much closer to nature, giving them a stronger connection to the lower class. For instance, Jacob from Twilight doesn’t go to school with Bella; instead, he studies on the reservation, and is usually seen fixing cars, like a mechanic would. In the film Underworld, werewolves have a past of being soldiers and slaves for the vampires. In the video game, The Wolf Among Us, Bigby Wolf is a sheriff and lives in a smaller apartment that marks him as part of the lower class. All of these occupations and living conditions point out that werewolves are typically working for others, whether it be humans or vampires, and never have the same wealth and comfortability as vampires do. Vampires are seen living in mansions, while werewolves are much closer to the woods, for instance cabins and trailers. Casting only POC as werewolves has created a bias within society, representing minorities as threatening and animalistic, which is problematic, and while I don’t think most vampire lovers have a prejudice against werewolves due to underlying colonialism, I do think it’s a reason as to why there isn’t much werewolf media—especially in the publishing industry, which already faces its own problematic lack of diversity.
I do hope that there will be a shift in stories and I’ll find more werewolf books to read, but so far, I may be out of luck.
Anasofia Alejandro, Pine Reads Review Writer