I heard it joked about once that the reason they had to end Buffy the Vampire Slayer when they did was that half the plots wouldn't work if the characters would just carry cellphones
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Regarding cell phones, there's a pretty easy solutions. Cell phones don't tend to work in unpopulated underground locations. They only work in subway tunnels if specific equipment has been installed. I'm sure they don't work in sewers or the basements of abandoned factories on the outskirts of town
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My point wasn't to dismiss the mutant enemy creative team.
And the power of people to not believe in things is a persuasive one.
That said, if dozens of people captured cell footage of men and/or women changing from human to animal or back again, it'd start to gain credibility.
The fact is that people's minds can be changed by evidence, and the way technology has moved provides such an astonishing ease for collecting evidence that everything is moving into the public sphere, whether we want it to or not.
Privacy feels like it's evaporating, and in it's absence, I'm not sure how we imagine secret societies moving undetected.
The conflict between old-fashioned horror and modern technology has been going on for a long time. Dracula is about people fighting a monster with cutting-edge tech like typewriters and blood transfusions.
I've never thought about it that way. I suppose in some senses most of modern horror is about technology and changing society in some way or another. It's such a major force in our lives that it's hard to ignore.
Still, I can't get over the feeling that there's been a really fundamental shift in how we relate to the world brought about by convenient, nearly instantaneous information exchange.
It's hard for me to imagine any large group of influential individuals going unnoticed, truly unnoticed, in this day and age.
But if the heads of ConAgra glowed in moonlight, regularly drank the blood of children and couldn't pronounce the letter J properly, they'd be a bit harder to hide.
I guess the real questions are 'how flashy the supernatural power suite' and 'how cautious the supernatural group'. Also, the size of the population matters. If there are ten guys in the world with a third eye that looks like a scar when it's closed, no problem. If there are dozens or hundreds, it's going to be a lot harder to keep under wraps.
As for "evidence" -- I don't see any reason why your vampires should show up on a digital camera or security surveillance or heat-sensing night vision gear. They don't show up in mirrors, do they?
I have yet to come up with a convincing rationale for why Vampires, in particular, should not reflect. Worse, if they don't reflect then it's pretty trivial to spot them. Create a set of glasses, with one that mirrors the image twice and one that permits in unmitigated light. Anyone who doesn't show up in stereo is dead.
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And the power of people to not believe in things is a persuasive one.
That said, if dozens of people captured cell footage of men and/or women changing from human to animal or back again, it'd start to gain credibility.
The fact is that people's minds can be changed by evidence, and the way technology has moved provides such an astonishing ease for collecting evidence that everything is moving into the public sphere, whether we want it to or not.
Privacy feels like it's evaporating, and in it's absence, I'm not sure how we imagine secret societies moving undetected.
Reply
The conflict between old-fashioned horror and modern technology has been going on for a long time. Dracula is about people fighting a monster with cutting-edge tech like typewriters and blood transfusions.
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Still, I can't get over the feeling that there's been a really fundamental shift in how we relate to the world brought about by convenient, nearly instantaneous information exchange.
It's hard for me to imagine any large group of influential individuals going unnoticed, truly unnoticed, in this day and age.
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"It's hard for me to imagine any large group of influential individuals going unnoticed, truly unnoticed, in this day and age."
Can you name the current heads of ConAgra?
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But if the heads of ConAgra glowed in moonlight,
regularly drank the blood of children and couldn't pronounce the letter J properly, they'd be a bit harder to hide.
I guess the real questions are 'how flashy the supernatural power suite' and 'how cautious the supernatural group'. Also, the size of the population matters. If there are ten guys in the world with a third eye that looks like a scar when it's closed, no problem. If there are dozens or hundreds, it's going to be a lot harder to keep under wraps.
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