4.17 - VAMPIRE’S KISS (1988) and Parasitism

This week’s film is the 1988 vehicle for a young Nicolas Cage: VAMPIRE’S KISS. After some mixed reviews (this episode is basically one of us trying to persuade the other of the merits of this film…), and a little discussion of aesthetics versus narrative, we talk about misogyny, corporate greed, and the changing symbolism of vampire movies.

Next Time Next up in our journey through the vampire genre is another film led by an iconic personality of modern Hollywood: the 1998 Wesley Snipes feature BLADE.

Recent Media
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2014): Matthew Vaughn, Colin Firth, Taron Egerton
THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF (2010–): Anna Beattie, Sandi Toksvig, Noel Fielding

Recommendations
KICK-ASS (2010): Matthew Vaughn, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicolas Cage
FLASHDANCE (1983): Adrian Lyne, Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri
THE RUNNING MAN (1987): Paul Michael Glaser, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso
RUSSIAN DOLL (2019): Natasha Lyonne, Greta Lee, Yul Vasquez

Footnotes
This is good on the concept of aesthetics on film, a la Rob: www.filmtheory.org/aesthetics-films, while this is more in Sam’s wheelhouse: www.study.com/academy/lesson/narrative-film-introduction-history.html. Here’s more about the idea of the yuppie, which we talk about quite extensively: www.study.com/academy/lesson/narrative-film-introduction-history.html/terms/y/yuppie.asp. Finally, having talked a fair bit about misogyny and masculine identity in crisis this week, this is a good book: www.books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=G5ll1ykr2IkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=info:heSUVrsrwmgJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=zEb85PzLPu&sig=jl1rG0bwlzsqs65WYODUD5U2SeE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.