Writer's Block: Are Aliens the New Vampires?

Obsidian, Star Trek, Icons, The 5^th Wave, The Host, etc.  Aliens are popping up everywhere and people are loving them.  They’re the new play thing for those in the entertainment business.  Why?  Because they’re versatile.  They can be sexy (see Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, or the I Am Number Four series by Pittacus Lore) or they can be scary (The 5^th Wave, etc.).  Basically, there are no rules to aliens because there can be more than one kind and the speculation is endless.  Helpful and friendly, or take-over-the-world.  Heck, half of the superhero’s on the big screen are aliens (Thor, Superman). 

It seems they’re replacing vampires, who could be equally cool or creepy.  Vampires, as many variations as there are, do have some setbacks that link them together: drinking blood and some sort of weakness to sunlight.  Pretty much the drinking blood part.  Which is cool, for the first fifty times you see it.  After that you’re like.  Great.  Vampires.  Drinking blood.  Bo-ring.  The fad has worn off.

 

Next, Angels were growing in popularity.  But, again, there are setbacks.  They have wings (which is expensive on television) and they really don’t tend to be bad.  That’s demons.  Plus, there is always that small amount of religious context that goes along with them which is something a lot of people try to stay away from.  So, angels aren’t the next thing like most people were expecting.

Aliens kind of took us by surprise and I think they’re really just a branch of the really popular fad right now: Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic.  Everyone wants to tell Sci-Fi.  It’s exciting and it’s grimy.  It can parallel real problems and have some deeper meaning, or it can be fun.  Aliens are the perfect villain in post-apocalyptic stories because they are so other.

Anyways, I think Aliens are the next thing.  Slowly but steadily they’re becoming the go-to in books, TV, and movies.  What do you think?  Are they the next fad?  What is?