Oddly enough, I think that Anita acts YOUNGER. Hear me out, now, please.
1-Even early on, her entire badassitude was classicly teenaged bravado on steroids. Even when I liked her, half the time I had to shake my head over how damn STUPID it really was to be saying half of what she was..and unecessary to still prove, woah, I am not afraid/will not give you what you want you bastid...Not that I don't love the snark, far from it, but c'mon...Much of it is the reaction a teenager would THINK a badass would cop. 2-She cannot accomplish a genuine, mature relationship with a man. Early on, she was even still agonizing over having sex at all, then at the same time, having sex with two men, and being completely unreasonable about the entire affair. 3-Many of her arguments and peeves and so on are quite childish. 4-Deep down, the Anita character was a nerd. Now, there are various forms of nerd, of course. Some are just bookish, but otherwise normal, some just more intelligent, some even don't LOOK like nerds on the surface. Still, Anita was at the least a 'good girl' nerd. Not that socially apt, truly, at all. 5-Anita's core of self loathing over thoughtless family comments, and things that cannot be changed. By the time most of us hit our twenties and thirties, we stop the hell worrying about whether or not we're blonde like our stepmother/sister, whatever, and are far more accepting of who we are. In short..ANGSTS like a teen.
Good and bad, and with the massive 'tude, the OLD Anita actually reminded me quite a bit of MYSELF at about 16 on several of those points...That's before life has the tendency to kick that shit out of you, and teach you it's too damnes short, to boot. (Some of her expressions and style likewise, as an aside, though frankly, back in the eighties (When I was a teen) and since, I personally was pretty damned STYLIN', SO not the prep variety, and wouldn't be caught dead in one of those windbreakers OR an Izod shirt...The nikes with the swoosh were mostly for gym class, and when I dressed it up straight, it was jeans and concert and cigarette (Yes, it was still cool to smoke) tees, or if I dressed androgynous, it was black leather, or military surplus, thank you.
I only did the Miami vice froofroo colors when I LIVED in Miami, and then rarely. Head to toe black, and admittedly by college, a good five ten years beyond my time (Which would put my fashion sense at least firmly in the nineties). NOT all eighties fashions were the worst, though. Some of the fringe stuff was pretty damned cool. You got elements of grunge before there was grunge (It was called not giving a damn if you wore your hiking clothes to school), goth, and punk that weren't at all bad, and fortunately, fads like the tuxedo blouse passed quickly.)
What LKH seems to have picked up on for her vampires is straight out of a Poison or early Adam Ant video. I'm not even sure it's really Goth.
Now, I'd actually say that LKH was a teen starting in the early EIGHTIES, and aging out by about '87..so there you go on the fashion, and expressions. Not only was she an eighties teen, but a MIDWESTERN one. ANY cool factor you'd really find would be on the coasts, just like now, and much of what you see now of eighties fashion is the creme de la crap they were pushing in romantic comedies. Figure Laurel for 3-5 years BEHIND whatever would have been avante gard at the time, and a dumbed down version to boot, and there you go. She'd also be stuck with expressions that would have filtered down 3-5+ years late, and since more kids still listened to their parents and grandparents back then (Or had to in circumstances like around the table more often, where such things are more likely to come up), it's not surprising she'd pick up some bizarre slang from other eras. There's also the chance that some of what she's got is specifically regional. St Louis, ie, is big on Blues.
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1-Even early on, her entire badassitude was classicly teenaged bravado on steroids. Even when I liked her, half the time I had to shake my head over how damn STUPID it really was to be saying half of what she was..and unecessary to still prove, woah, I am not afraid/will not give you what you want you bastid...Not that I don't love the snark, far from it, but c'mon...Much of it is the reaction a teenager would THINK a badass would cop.
2-She cannot accomplish a genuine, mature relationship with a man. Early on, she was even still agonizing over having sex at all, then at the same time, having sex with two men, and being completely unreasonable about the entire affair.
3-Many of her arguments and peeves and so on are quite childish.
4-Deep down, the Anita character was a nerd. Now, there are various forms of nerd, of course. Some are just bookish, but otherwise normal, some just more intelligent, some even don't LOOK like nerds on the surface. Still, Anita was at the least a 'good girl' nerd. Not that socially apt, truly, at all.
5-Anita's core of self loathing over thoughtless family comments, and things that cannot be changed. By the time most of us hit our twenties and thirties, we stop the hell worrying about whether or not we're blonde like our stepmother/sister, whatever, and are far more accepting of who we are. In short..ANGSTS like a teen.
Good and bad, and with the massive 'tude, the OLD Anita actually reminded me quite a bit of MYSELF at about 16 on several of those points...That's before life has the tendency to kick that shit out of you, and teach you it's too damnes short, to boot. (Some of her expressions and style likewise, as an aside, though frankly, back in the eighties (When I was a teen) and since, I personally was pretty damned STYLIN', SO not the prep variety, and wouldn't be caught dead in one of those windbreakers OR an Izod shirt...The nikes with the swoosh were mostly for gym class, and when I dressed it up straight, it was jeans and concert and cigarette (Yes, it was still cool to smoke) tees, or if I dressed androgynous, it was black leather, or military surplus, thank you.
I only did the Miami vice froofroo colors when I LIVED in Miami, and then rarely. Head to toe black, and admittedly by college, a good five ten years beyond my time (Which would put my fashion sense at least firmly in the nineties). NOT all eighties fashions were the worst, though. Some of the fringe stuff was pretty damned cool. You got elements of grunge before there was grunge (It was called not giving a damn if you wore your hiking clothes to school), goth, and punk that weren't at all bad, and fortunately, fads like the tuxedo blouse passed quickly.)
What LKH seems to have picked up on for her vampires is straight out of a Poison or early Adam Ant video. I'm not even sure it's really Goth.
Now, I'd actually say that LKH was a teen starting in the early EIGHTIES, and aging out by about '87..so there you go on the fashion, and expressions. Not only was she an eighties teen, but a MIDWESTERN one. ANY cool factor you'd really find would be on the coasts, just like now, and much of what you see now of eighties fashion is the creme de la crap they were pushing in romantic comedies. Figure Laurel for 3-5 years BEHIND whatever would have been avante gard at the time, and a dumbed down version to boot, and there you go. She'd also be stuck with expressions that would have filtered down 3-5+ years late, and since more kids still listened to their parents and grandparents back then (Or had to in circumstances like around the table more often, where such things are more likely to come up), it's not surprising she'd pick up some bizarre slang from other eras. There's also the chance that some of what she's got is specifically regional. St Louis, ie, is big on Blues.
-Dira-