Faulty Metaphors in 'True Blood'

*Originally published on 9/16/09



We recently watched the first season of True Blood by streaming it through Xbox Live and Netflix. It's actually a pretty good show. If you're a fan of Twilight, and you're old enough to handle HBO's original programming, I suggest you check it out as the two have similarities thematically. If you despise Twilight, I still say you should check it out because it's actually pretty well done.

My main beef is the anvilicious subtext that makes parallels between the gay movement and the vampire activist movement. It's made obvious from the get go, when the main character is watching a political talk show that features a vampire rights activist and a preacher who insists that vampires are abominations against God.

This is supposed to echo the rhetoric by old fashioned Christians. The problem is that vampires actually are abominations against God, ergo the metaphor falls apart. Vampires are, at the very least, quasi demonic by nature, so when the preacher says that they are unholy beasts and minions of Satan, he's right.

Even on the off chance that homosexuality is a sin, I doubt it qualifies as an "abomination", no more than any other sin that humans commit. Vampirism, however, is very much an abomination. That's what makes them monsters. They feed on human blood for crying out loud. It's like cannibalism, only more disgusting.

Oh, the show tries to circumvent this by saying that there is no mysticism involved. It's more of a virus or something to that effect, but the fact remains that they are undead abominations that go against the natural order of things. We've already established that 99 times out of 100, dead is better, so why would the idea of vampires not set off any alarms?

More importantly, they're cold blooded killers who drink the blood of the innocent. The activist makes a claim that with "Tru Blood", a synthetic blood designed to satiate the thirst of vampires, there is no danger. Only, it's made abundantly clear that vampires who "mainstream" by drinking Tru Blood are looked down on by other vampires for not doing what they're supposed to do and feed on living people.

Any time a character reacts with fear or trepidation, it's usually to point out how they "don't get it". This is even taking into account that the vampires in the show actually are sadistic monsters. It's still the fault of the human, who just needs to be more understanding and open minded.

Sookie, the main character of the series, even goes out of her way to say that were Jesus alive today, he'd be OK with someone being a vampire. Jesus was a pretty forgiving and tolerant person and for any other situation, I would agree, but not vampires. I mean, come on, he hunted them, remember?

Even Sookie's kindly mother has a general laissez-faire attitude about vampirism and how they're not really bad people. It's ridiculous.

Whether or not you agree with the message they're trying to send is irrelevant. Agree or disagree, the metaphor is faulty and it's made worse by the fact that they're so heavy handed about it.

I don't know whether it's better or worse than the faulty X-Men metaphor. It might be worse, actually, but it's up for debate, personal preference and ideas and all.