1. An air of compelling charm, romance, and excitement, especially when delusively alluring.
2. Archaic. A magic spell; enchantment.
It is really the second definition of glamour that I want to talk about, although it is interesting how it evolved into the first definition of “delusively alluring.” I first ran across the archaic use of the word in a book by Katherine Briggs, one of several she wrote about magical critters. The word originates in Scotland and is a corruption of “grammar” meaning special learning or knowledge possessed by the “educated.” It reminds me of J.K. Rowling’s educated wizards and their Latin incantations. Glamour is magic, magic often used to create illusions. A troll might steal your baby and then leave a log in its place, glamour being used to make it look like your baby. Better yet, a troll might take your baby and leave a troll baby in its place, with glamour leading you to see your baby in the cradle. Only later do you discover that you have a troll baby, a “changeling.”
Vampires are very much creatures of glamour in both the modern and archaic sense of the word, in fact they are famous for it. How else do we explain how a blood-sucking undead monster could be seen as so very sexy? It is their glamour, their power to enchant their victims. I have been thinking for a while about how this works in Let the Right One In. Glamour is definitely a part of the story. More recently I have read Twilight, another vampire story where the glamour is very striking. Both novels feature vampire glamour, but they use that glamour to very different effects and for very different purposes.
In Twilight the vampires are the very definition of glamour. Edward Cullen appears as the impossibly perfect stud muffin. In one scene Edward sees Bella being sucked in (so to speak) by his overwhelming glamour and remarks “I really am the perfect predator.” Perfect indeed. Edward literally reeks sexy, as well as talks sexy, looks sexy, drives sexy etc. What part of Mr. Edward is not sexy? There is the lack of body temperature, and then there is that whole “I might kill you” thing, but that does not seem to be a problem for the giddy Bella. “Oh, well I guess you might kill me, maybe. Tee Hee!” Which brings me back to my original point, Bella’s attraction to Edward is unnatural, supernatural to be precise.
By making Edward so “glam” Stephanie Meyer creates a problem for me. Does Bella really love Edward, or is this all just an illusion? How can Edward tell whether Bella’s attraction to him is real, or just the result of his supernatural adaptation as a blood sucking predator? This creates a problem in my mind at least, but it does not seem to be a problem that Meyer is worried about. What Meyer is interested in is the idea of vampire glamour as a metaphor for sexuality. Twilight is really a very mild moral tale about adolescent sexuality to help proper young ladies and gentlemen to deal with the powerful urges that over take them when they come of age. You can give yourself over to your animal lust and “fatal attraction” or you can be civilized about it, courtly actually, like the Cullen family. That was what Meyer was trying to do, and that is why she does not really go any further with the problem that I see in vampire glamour: Is this love for real, or is it all a matter of glamour? Glamour is sex for Meyer and that is as far as she wants to go with it.
Let the Right One In also features vampire glamour, but in this story it serves a very different purpose. Where Meyer is really uninterested in the illusory nature of glamour, John Lindqvist is fascinated by this particular question and makes it a central, and disturbing theme in his story. This is because, leaving aside any questions of writing skill, or lack thereof, Lindqvist is a more ambitious writer than Stephanie Meyer. Where Meyer wants to write about the problems of adolescent lust, Lindqvist is posing universal questions: What does it mean to love someone? What does it mean to be a human being? Most disturbing is this question: how do we know when illusions end and reality begins?
Lindqvist is deeply interested in what James Barrie described as “the film that obscures the Neverland” and what happens when that film is rent. Vampire glamour is present in Let the Right One In, but not as a matter of simple attraction. Instead the illusory nature of glamour becomes central to the plot, a troubling enigma. Early on Oskar notices this as Eli gives him the advice to hit back:
That “someone else” haunts both the reader and Oskar as the story unfolds. Is Eli a friend, or a “nursery goblin” come to steal away the innocent Oskar? Is Eli a boy or a girl? Is Eli a child, or an ancient demon? Is Eli even human? In the movie, as all this sinister enigma dawns on Oskar he asks: “who are you?” In the novel Oskar demands:With her other hand she touched his wound and that strange thing happened. Someone else, someone much older, harder, became visible under her skin. A cold shiver ran down Oskar’s back, as if he had bitten a Popsicle.
Is Oskar’s love a true love, or is it simply demonic glamour? Oskar is tormented by this kind of doubt. Eli is also tormented by Oskar’s doubt to the point where it becomes an absolute nightmare for this vampire crouching alone at the very edge of humanity.“Prove it to me.
“Prove what?”
“That you are. . . who you say you are.”
I have already written too much. Hopefully I have made my ideas clear, but if not feel free to disagree or ask questions.
I will finish with a quote that illustrates a different type of glamour, the one that most interests Lindqvist:
Here again is a magical transformation, a transformation that is not simply glamour, but the real magic of true love.For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli’s eyes. And what he saw was . . . himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love.
For a few seconds.