Entertainment Weekly is so wild about The Vampire Diaries that this week’s issue features three separate covers, which find Nina Dobrev snuggling up with Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, and both fang-wielding fictional brothers at the same time. As Pop Culture Brain has noticed, that final image — a scantily clad shot of two vampire dudes romancing the human lady the both love — is mighty reminiscent of Rolling Stone‘s 2010 True Blood cover (minus the Demoiselles d’Avignon-style stares and creepy blood splatters).
Although we admit to never having watched an entire episode of The Vampire Diaries, the cover got us thinking: What’s the deal with vampire love triangles? As we noted in our recent roundup of pop-culture love triangles where the girl should have stayed single, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight (where the conflict is between a glamorous vamp and a studly werewolf) also fit this pattern. There have already been endless think pieces on why teen girls find vampires so attractive. Could it be that the fantasy isn’t just about dating (or marrying or sleeping with) the undead, but also has something to do with being so desirable that two supernatural creatures are willing to fight over you? Readers, what’s your theory?