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somebody justify True Blood to me

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KvP:
More like Sookie Stackedhouse lololol

Before Stephanie Meyer there was Anne Rice. It was eventual that vampire novels would be cleaned up enough for mass tween consumption. Besides, vampires have always fit neatly within the constricts of romance fiction because Bram Stoker's defining novel (along with many other defining horror novels, tellingly) was written in the Victorian era, and the threat and mystique of vampirism comes from symbolism rooted in a repressed conception of violent, immoral sexuality. Vampires are described as perfectly beautiful with a savage / vulpine quality (exotic!) and they only come out at night, being bitten by a vampire is often described as being something pleasurable that one submits to, etc. etc. They were basically begging to be included in guilty pleasure smut pulp.

Which Twilight is, just repurposed to a hilariously twisted degree. Vampires are still sexual beings preying on virginal girls, but Edward is made a hero by barely containing his desire to devour the protagonist. It's basically a really long screed meant to reinforce repression and promote abstinence. But that's common knowledge by now and besides, messages never really matter to anyone older than a certain age.

True Blood is trying to take a different path by making sex front and center (thus demystifying and disempowering it to a degree) and offering broad social commentary, which is usually the domain of, I don't know, zombie horror. It's an interesting way of doing things but I just don't think the show is any good (haven't seen the second season)

Nodaisho:

--- Quote from: KvP on 16 Jul 2009, 13:48 ---Vampires are described as perfectly beautiful with a savage / vulpine quality (exotic!)

--- End quote ---
Fun Fact: In Dracula, the eponymous character is described as actually being quite ugly, but when spoken about (or written about, as the case may be), the adjectives and verbs used to describe what he does sound like the kind you would use to describe some sort of godly creature. So he is actually incredibly ugly, but with so much charisma that people wouldn't notice. I wish that held over more.

Surgoshan:
All of the vampires (male and female) as I understand it, are so described.  They're repulsive on one level, but utterly, inescapably seductive.

Nodaisho:
Could be. I can't remember the description of the wives, and I never got around to finishing it before I had to take it back to the library. I really ought to check it out again, just skip past the boring crap with Mina and Lucy.

Yeah, I know, I should never ever read Les Miserables.

Surgoshan:
I hear War and Peace is a ripping good yarn.

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