Post by Lilia Rose Darkhome on Apr 26, 2010 12:58:46 GMT -5
Anita Blake a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures.
The series takes place in a parallel fantasy world where vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, faeries, etc. exist. Her night job, and primary source of income, is the legal profession of re-animating the dead. As an "animator" in a parallel St. Louis, her job entails using magical abilities to bring temporary life to dead bodies in order to question them for legal purposes. She is a necromancer, which allows her to control the dead, including vampires and zombies, but not ghosts and ghouls. She is also a licensed vampire hunter/executioner, with eventual empowerment as a Federal Marshal. In her world this profession involves tracking down and killing vampires who have murdered humans. She is also held in retainer for the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team (RPIT, pronounced Rip-it), which investigates supernatural crimes committed involving magic, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.
A strong protagonist in the series, Blake is very direct, flippant, and highly competent in the professions she is involved in. She is trained in judo, kenpo and knows how to use several weapons, but is most efficient with guns (as the series begins, the Browning Hi-Power is her carry gun of choice, though later in the series she switches to the Browning BDM). She is also a devout Christian which often creates moral dilemmas for the character. She is currently of the Episcopalian faith, having left Catholicism since the Catholic Church has excommunicated all animators. She is of mixed heritage, her mother having been Mexican and her father's family German.
The principal significance of Anita's name appears to be the Latin first name "Anita" together with the Anglo surname "Blake" representing Anita's mixed Mexican/Anglo heritage. Within the novels, this contrast, which also appears in Anita's mix of black hair and china white skin or in her combination of voudoun and Catholic upbringing, is one of Anita's key formative traumas. It should be noted that the combination of black hair and pale skin are not definite indicators of mixed heritage, as the Irish share such traits as well, nor are physical attributes the only indicators of being of mixed blood. However, Hamilton fails to define anything other than Anita's appearance and background as being 'interracial' traits.
Her middle name is Katerine, of Czech origin, taken from her father's favorite aunt.
Anita Blake (in the book Danse Macabre) is a twenty-seven year old resident of St. Louis. Born a necromancer with the power to raise and control zombies as well as power over other forms of undead, Anita leads a complicated life. Her main job is as an animator for "Animators, Inc.", a St. Louis-based business that raises the dead for the right price. Anita is also a licensed vampire executioner (known to vampires as "The Executioner"), a consultant for RPIT, the area's police division in charge of preternatural crimes. She has also been given the status of a federal marshal.
Anita is hardboiled, flippant and stubborn. Like Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski, she has major emotional issues, is frequently the only female in macho situations, and tends to come across as quite prickly and difficult. Like Spenser and Matthew Scudder, she plays knight errant, championing vulnerable characters who ask for her help. Anita also lacks tact, loses her temper, is insubordinate, and tends to be quite hypocritical in many regards.
In discussing the genesis of the character, Hamilton has said the following:
“ I started reading a lot of hardboiled detective fiction—Robert B. Parker in particular—and I read a lot of strong female protagonists. But there was one problem, a difference between the male and female protagonists of the different series—even the strongest of the women did not get to do some of the things the men got to do. The men got to cuss, the women rarely; the men got to kill people and not feel bad about it, if the women killed someone they had to feel really, really bad about it afterward and it had to be an extreme situation; the men got to have sex, often and on stage and very casually, but if the women had sex it had to be offstage, very sanitized. I thought this was unfair. "
The series takes place in a parallel fantasy world where vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, faeries, etc. exist. Her night job, and primary source of income, is the legal profession of re-animating the dead. As an "animator" in a parallel St. Louis, her job entails using magical abilities to bring temporary life to dead bodies in order to question them for legal purposes. She is a necromancer, which allows her to control the dead, including vampires and zombies, but not ghosts and ghouls. She is also a licensed vampire hunter/executioner, with eventual empowerment as a Federal Marshal. In her world this profession involves tracking down and killing vampires who have murdered humans. She is also held in retainer for the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team (RPIT, pronounced Rip-it), which investigates supernatural crimes committed involving magic, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.
A strong protagonist in the series, Blake is very direct, flippant, and highly competent in the professions she is involved in. She is trained in judo, kenpo and knows how to use several weapons, but is most efficient with guns (as the series begins, the Browning Hi-Power is her carry gun of choice, though later in the series she switches to the Browning BDM). She is also a devout Christian which often creates moral dilemmas for the character. She is currently of the Episcopalian faith, having left Catholicism since the Catholic Church has excommunicated all animators. She is of mixed heritage, her mother having been Mexican and her father's family German.
The principal significance of Anita's name appears to be the Latin first name "Anita" together with the Anglo surname "Blake" representing Anita's mixed Mexican/Anglo heritage. Within the novels, this contrast, which also appears in Anita's mix of black hair and china white skin or in her combination of voudoun and Catholic upbringing, is one of Anita's key formative traumas. It should be noted that the combination of black hair and pale skin are not definite indicators of mixed heritage, as the Irish share such traits as well, nor are physical attributes the only indicators of being of mixed blood. However, Hamilton fails to define anything other than Anita's appearance and background as being 'interracial' traits.
Her middle name is Katerine, of Czech origin, taken from her father's favorite aunt.
Anita Blake (in the book Danse Macabre) is a twenty-seven year old resident of St. Louis. Born a necromancer with the power to raise and control zombies as well as power over other forms of undead, Anita leads a complicated life. Her main job is as an animator for "Animators, Inc.", a St. Louis-based business that raises the dead for the right price. Anita is also a licensed vampire executioner (known to vampires as "The Executioner"), a consultant for RPIT, the area's police division in charge of preternatural crimes. She has also been given the status of a federal marshal.
Anita is hardboiled, flippant and stubborn. Like Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski, she has major emotional issues, is frequently the only female in macho situations, and tends to come across as quite prickly and difficult. Like Spenser and Matthew Scudder, she plays knight errant, championing vulnerable characters who ask for her help. Anita also lacks tact, loses her temper, is insubordinate, and tends to be quite hypocritical in many regards.
In discussing the genesis of the character, Hamilton has said the following:
“ I started reading a lot of hardboiled detective fiction—Robert B. Parker in particular—and I read a lot of strong female protagonists. But there was one problem, a difference between the male and female protagonists of the different series—even the strongest of the women did not get to do some of the things the men got to do. The men got to cuss, the women rarely; the men got to kill people and not feel bad about it, if the women killed someone they had to feel really, really bad about it afterward and it had to be an extreme situation; the men got to have sex, often and on stage and very casually, but if the women had sex it had to be offstage, very sanitized. I thought this was unfair. "
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