5 Reasons Mermaids Are the New Vampires

Splash and the Little Mermaid were two of my favorite movies growing up. I always wanted to become a mermaid and swim for hours upon hours exploring the bottom of Lake Michigan or the nearby lake.

Mermaids were cool and I was a bit old to develop an obsession with vampires like the younger tweens of today. Lindsey Weber and Lisa Amanda Dobbins of Vulture, recently talked about why mermaids are more awesome than vampires. Here are some more reasons:

1. We have movies like Splash and Little Mermaid

Who wouldn’t love these two movies from the 1980s? Not only are these family friendly (Splash should be watched with parents), but they are classics. You have Daryl Hannah as a gorgeous blonde mermaid and young Tom Hanks, mermaid-struck and sick of where he lives. The Little Mermaid captures any person’s love for the sea as well gives us numerous awesome songs. There are some pretty cool movies with vampires, but most of them tend to be more violent and geared towards the adult audience.

2. Mermaids can stay out in the sun

Everybody who knows vampire folklore understands  that vampires may not go out in the sun. Mermaids have the ability to go out in the sun, provided there is water near them. I can imagine pictures of mermaids laying out on the beaches whereas vampires have to stay out until the dead of night. Granted, I am a night person myself, but we all need Vitamin D.

3. Mermaids can be bad or good

Most people associate mermaids as peaceful creatures of the sea. Of course, mermaids can are sirens of the sea. Multiple stories have mermaids luring unsuspecting sailors by singing, only to kill their prey. Vampires can definitely be good or bad, but honestly, the good vampires are only sparkly. That doesn't really qualify as a good feature.

4. Real life people aspire to become mermaids    

I recently wrote an article about two individuals, Linden Wolbert and Eric Ducharme trying to become mermaids. You have a huge community of people who love mermaids and everything about them. Not only have these two made a successful living from their love, they facilitate and cultivate an amazing community. I know there is a huge community formed around the love of vampires, but the mermaid community is cooler.

5. Mermaids have great back stories and folklore

So many stories involve mermaids, ranging from Hinduism, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Arabic, Greek, and Roman cultures. What’s awesome, if you read the original Little Mermaid, is that it’s more violent than the original. I will not deny that vampires have wonderful stories and awesome movies, but the existence of mermaids and the desire to relate to such characters keeps people interested throughout time.

Mermaids and vampires vastly differ and while the Twilight Saga and Vampire Diaries make vampires sexy, mermaids still rule out. We’ll all have to catch the newest Animal Planet’s  Mermaids: The Body Found to explore our fascination with mermaids.