The show is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris and it is highly entertaining. Sookie Stackhouse who is telepathic lives in a world where vampires are able to coexist with humans as they can chose to feed on a synthetic blood called 'Tru Blood'. Aside from vampires the show contains a huge 'menagerie' of other supernatural creatures; there are witches, werewolves, shape shifters, were-panthers, fairies and maenads. The vampires in the show chose to 'come out', proving they have always existed hidden from humans and to try to coexist with them. The vampires chose two clans, they can chose to 'mainstream' by integrating in society and campaigning for citizenship and equal rights. The other clan rejects the idea of 'mainstreaming', because of the conflict between fearful humans and the violent nature of vampires.
What makes this show exciting is the that it explores contemporary issues such as struggle for equal rights, discrimination and persecution of minorities, homosexuals, drug addiction, faith and religion, hypocrisy, the control and influence of the media, politics, identity and family.
The vampires fight can be interpreted as an allegory for the LGBT rights movement. There are many phrases that are used today by hate groups and that refer to LGBT people which are reinterpreted in the show, such as 'God hates fangs' which refers to 'God hates fags' and 'coming out of the coffin' which refers to 'coming out of the closet.'
The road sign seen during the title sequence.
The vampires
Creator and Producer Alan Ball gives here his own views on vampires today:
'When you think about vampires, vampires basically are sex. They are the metaphor for sex: there is penetration, there are bodily fluids, it is a very erotic metaphor and so part of what I loved about Charlaine''s world is that there was a lot of sex in it.'
'Twilight is for tweens, for 13 year old girls. True Blood is for a different audience. It's for adults.'(SFX magazine special edition 48 February 2011)
Creator and Producer Alan Ball gives here his own views on vampires today:
'When you think about vampires, vampires basically are sex. They are the metaphor for sex: there is penetration, there are bodily fluids, it is a very erotic metaphor and so part of what I loved about Charlaine''s world is that there was a lot of sex in it.'
'Twilight is for tweens, for 13 year old girls. True Blood is for a different audience. It's for adults.'(SFX magazine special edition 48 February 2011)
The three main actors: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard
Hot location
In the vampire fiction of the 19th century and early 20th century, vampires mostly lived in dark castles in Transylvania or England, then they 'emigrated' to America. California seemed a nice place for them as depicted in The Lost Boys and Buffy. New Orleans in Louisiana proved to be a much nicer place to live and roam thanks to Anne Rice. True Blood keeps the characters in Louisiana but in a small fictional town instead. The town is called Bon Temps where as the title could suggest the vampires will have a 'good time'. The town is surrounded with swamps filled with alligators with werewolves roaming and vampires settling in. The location is a nice change to the 'dark and romantic New Orleans' The show is much more exciting when set in a town with a hot and sticky subtropical climate with a small and narrow-minded community.
Why the Deep South?
All the cool vampire action seems to happen more in the deep south of the United States and New Orleans. What is it about those places?
'New Orleans stands as a foreign enclave within a country dominated by English-speaking British influence. In the French Quarter, New Orleans is also a land separated from the present by its unique architecture and heritage.' (Melton, 1999)
The French quarter of New Orleans is full of stories of magic and haunted places. Together with the tales of voodoo witchcraft and ghosts there are vampire legends that have been told in the city for hundreds of years. These legends heavily influenced Anne Rice in her creation of the Vampire Chronicles.
Instead of the cold rain covered forests of Washington filled with moody Twilighters, the hot and steamy south looks like the best place to live and eat. But what is so attractive about it?
According to African Americans of New Orleans, there are many vampire myths and stories among the Western African folklore within the Haitian slaves who came to the city in the early 19th century.
New Orleans is full of turbulent history and different people and cultures who brought their own myths and legends when they settled there. The town was established at the start of the 18th century, during this time in Europe there was mass hysteria and vampire hunts. The Europeans who settled brought their superstitions and fears with them. Crimes and violent murders were common in New Orleans, most of the unresolved murders were blamed on vampire activity. In the 1930s there were cases of serial killers who drank blood from their victims before killing them.
People who lived malevolent lives were believed to come back from the dead as blood suckers. Much like hysteria, diseases where spreading just as quickly, diseases such tuberculosis, yellow fever and cholera. Evil spirits were believed to spread yellow fever while sufferers of tuberculosis who coughed up blood were believed to be blood drinkers.
Anne Rice's first vampire novel 'Interview with the Vampire' first takes place in New Orleans where the vampires witness the city change throughout history, though they leave the city to travel around the world and return to it during modern times.
George R.R. Martin sets his 1982 novel Fevre Dream in New Orleans. In the 1850s, Josiah Yorke is a vampire who owns a river boat and searches for the vampire community lead by the sadistic Damon Julian. Using the city as their headquarters, they move along the river and use the slaves as food. York seeks an alliance and offers his blood substitute to allow a more peaceful co-existence with the humans instead of killing them. Julian rejects the offer and the conflict between both vampires adds to the action of the novel.
Poppy Z Brite also sets her vampire novel Lost Souls in New Orleans where the vampires are in gangs, drink blood, consume candies, Chartreuse and party all night. The character Nothing is born from a sexual encounter between a human girl and Zillah, a 100 year old vampire. Jessy, the girl dies while giving birth and Nothing, now a teenager searches for his father.
'New Orleans' reputation as the vampire city was kept alive through the 1990s by numerous vampire fans who flocked to the city and joined in the various tours of the locations featured in the Anne Rice novels (and the movie Interview with a vampire) or take the midnight tour exploring the French Quarter's vampiric heritage. The most dedicated come at the end of October for the annual Halloween Coven Party sponsored by Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat Fan Club' (Melton, 1999)
The club sadly dissolved in 2000. By 2004, after her husband's death, Rice left New Orleans and put her property for sale.
New Orleans dramatically changed because of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Much of the city suffered floods, the French Quarter was above water and the Garden District was not so much affected than other parts of the city. As the city was rebuilt. the vampire aspect of life reappeared. Vampire tours focusing on the French Quarter were organised. There are tours around Oak Valley, the plantation outside the city used as a location in the film Interview with the vampire.
The place is one endless party as seen in the CW show 'The Originals' where Klaus and his siblings return to New Orleans where they lived many years ago. Klaus discovers that his protege Marcel rules over the city like a king and parties hard. The viewers are made to understand that vampire activity is controlled as Marcel insists his followers only feed on tourists. Klaus feels jealous and plans to destroy Marcel by allying himself with Marcel's enemies; the witches. Over the next seasons the story focuses on loyalties, family struggles and control between three supernatural groups, vampires, witches and werewolves.
A city full of rich, hot and delicious cultures and a state with a somewhat spooky and Gothic environment. Rice purposely placed her vampires in a city full of mystery and mystique and Harris chose the Bayou because it was an original choice as no other vampire author chose to do so before.
The city of New Orleans is still today a popular tourist spot
Elijah and Klaus overlooking the city of New Orleans in the show The Originals
Southern Gothic
Novels by Rice, Martin, Poppy Z Brite and, TV shows such as True Blood and The Originals are all set in Louisiana and fall in the Gothic sub genre of Southern Gothic.
According to Punter it;s a sub genre 'which appropriates elements of the traditional Gothic, combines them with the particular concerns of the American South and is characterized by an emphasis on the grotesque, the macabre and very often, the violent, investigating madness, decay and despair and the continuing pressures of the past upon the present, particularly with respect to the lost ideals of a dispossessed Southern aristocracy and to the continuance of racial hostilities.' (Amador, 2013)
Southern Gothic shares certain similarities with the European Gothic tropes, such as transgressions, extremes and excesses. Some tropes to point out in Southern Gothic are these:
. The abandoned plantation house on the bayou with a haunting history of slavery
. The Southern belle with a spine of steel and a healthy sexual appetite
. Swamps and the omnipresent Spanish moss dripping from ancient trees, giving the
environment a spooky and dangerous feeling.
Louisiana itself is a state filled with complex history of slavery, prejudice and discrimination, it is the perfect setting for suspense, crime and Gothic stories, most famously vampire stories. For many writers the environment contains rich history with 'distorted figures trapped in structures that had lost their authority but not their power'. (Amador, 2013)
The Gothicized version of the Deep South portrays the madness, decay and despair and the sins of the past still echoed and mentioned in the present. The lost ideals of a southern aristocracy are represented. Racism, discrimination and prejudice are themes heavily highlighted. In True Blood these themes are represented such as civil rights, and the 'coming out' of vampires. As mentioned before, the vampire is portrayed as an outsider, a new civilian who seeks legal rights in a world that rejects him.
Ironically in the show and in Southern Gothic the real monsters are not the vampires or the other supernatural creatures but the humans themselves. In a small town community rich in racial prejudices, lack of compassion, hypocrisy, religious radicalism and violence, some characters' actions in the show are downright 'monstrous'. For example in Season one, Renee is revealed to be a murderer, he kills women who have sexual relationships with vampires or 'fang bangers' as it is known.
The landscape of True Blood like in Southern Gothic is lush, beautiful, haunting, humid and claustrophobic, unlike dark caves, dungeons and castles typically seen in European Gothic.
The small close knit community of Bon Temps rather than an urban environment, is a perfect location for the representation of the mentioned Southern Gothic themes.
Alan Ball, producer and creator of True Blood was attracted to Harris' novel series because of the small town mindedness and the demonization and oppression of certain communities for political and social gains.
Oak Alley Plantation
References:
Amador, V. (2013) The Gothic Louisiana of Charlaine Harris and Anne Rice in 'The Modern Vampire and Human Identity'. edited by Deborah Mutch. Palgrave Macmillan
Cherry, B & Ruddel, C. (2012) The Southern Gothic Milieu of True Blood in 'True Blood: Investigating Vampires and Southern Gothic. Edited by Brigid Cherry, I.B. Tauris, New York.
Melton, J. G (1999) The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press
SFX magazine January 2012
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