Another Opinion about Vampires

Okay, I'm going to lay off the vampires soon, I swear. I have opinions for things other than blood-sucking creatures of the night. Really. But, for the record, I have one last thing to say right now. I have recently been enjoying the HBO series True Blood, which is from the creator of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, and features vampires living amongst us, after they "come out of the coffin." Awesome.

Basically, the show stars Anna Paquin, Rogue from the X-Men series, as a young waitress in a small, rural swamp town in the Deep South. Her name is Sookie. Just bear with me, please; it's good--she even got a Golden Globe for her performance! Aaanyway, Sookie is actually telepathic, and constantly hears thoughts of all the creepy locals when she's doing her waitress thing, which makes her a little unstable. The locals all think she's crazy. Then a vampire walks in. They can now expose themselves to the public, because of a new synthetic blood drink (Tru Blood), created so they don't have to kill people. Sookie can't hear this vampire's thoughts, and is smitten soon thereafter. And her life, of course, gets increasingly complex. Plus people start mysteriously dying.

Now, I've been wanting to see this show for quite some time. I'll probably read the original books too. But I am very glad I saw this after reading Twilight. It's funny, actually. Many of the themes of the TV series are crazy similar to the Twilight series. I will admit that both Sookie and Bill (the main vampire) have some Mary Sue traits. The idea of telepathy that doesn't work with a love interest (although the "readers" are reversed in the two series) thereby increasing interest, a vampire and human falling in love against both of their kinds' rules, a "shapeshifter" ::coughwerewolfcough:: being the third party in a bizarrely fantastical love triangle, and so on and so on. But why do I love True Blood, and can't handle Twilight?

Sookie is, at times, a damsel in distress. Bill does try to protect her for her own good. Her blood is implied to be "special" just like Bella Swan's is. (could have something to do with her telepathy) But this doesn't make me angry, like Twilight does. Why?

Maybe it's because it plays with trope and convention, and almost uses vampirism as a metaphor for another social group experiencing prejudice trying to belong. In fact, one of the posters declaiming vampirism simply states "God Hates Fangs." Sound familiar? The reason that it's different, though, is because VAMPIRES ARE ACTUALLY SOMEWHAT DANGEROUS. And we very clearly see that vampires can be an actual threat. I mean, I know objectively that the vampires in Twilight are supposed to be a threat, because everyone says they are. I don't want to be told! I want to see how bad vampires can be. THEN let the main character make her life choice. And not have a spiffy vampire family all willing to die to protect her. Bill may be a tragic character in the vampire world, but can she hack standing up to real vampires who see her as just a "blood sack?" She actually does a pretty good job. By herself. Sookie Stackhouse is actually not a total Mary Sue, unlike Bella Swan.

I think, more than that, the reason I like this show much better is the depth and darkness of the world shown. All the characters are real people going through real things. The writing is far superior, and very bad things happen to all of these characters. Let me repeat, VERY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO ALL OF THESE CHARACTERS. There are no easy outs, and every person does good and bad things with actual consequences. Plus it's more, um, adult in theme. Since it's an HBO show, there has to be sex. I mean, it's like part of a showrunner's contract at HBO. But, in this context, it makes total sense. Vampires, like all other monsters which come from the id, are supposed to deal with these sorts of themes. Twilight tried to sidestep it, and pay brief lip service to the fact that vampirism (okay at least in modern interpretation) is basically a metaphor for sexuality let loose. (think about how vampires kill people, and tell me that doesn't represent sex) It didn't work, because Stephanie Meyer also wanted to showcase Mormon ideals, which, to me at least, are completely incompatible with what vampires really are. Plus, why are they high school students again?

In True Blood, vampires and sex and danger and blood are all rolled into one. It's very intense and scary and at times self-destructive. A whole subculture of "fangbangers" exists, who are looked down upon by both humans and vampires. The world just seems much more, well, complete. And I like that. I like seeing a real world integrated with vampires where everyone acts real. And different. Some vampires are good when people are bad, and some vampires are bad when people are good. And sometimes you can't tell. But every character is interesting, even when you can't stand them. That's what Alan Ball is good at.

So, yeah, I'm trying to see the differences. Maybe it's the fact that the vampires are scarier (also scarier, when vampires in the True Blood universe get staked. nightmare fuel unleaded), the characters are more flawed, or the setting is more real. Maybe it's the fact that the story exists outside of just being a vehicle for star-crossed lovers. I don't know. I just respond better to this TV show. Maybe I just don't like teen girl fiction anymore? That might actually be the main reason. Hrmm.

In the meantime, check out the opening title sequence for True Blood. I've had the song stuck in my head for, like, four days. It really sets the tone of the series extremely well.