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Vampire Conservatives
Courtesy of HBO
Beneath the HBO hit True Blood’s dark and sexy surface lies a reactionary, antigay worldview, writes Michelle Goldberg. Look closely at the vampires and you’ll see the right wing’s worst nightmares come to life.
True Blood, HBO’s lusty, lurid, and addictive vampire series, is, as The New York Times recently reported, the network’s most successful show since The Sopranos. On the surface, this seems like a triumph of the outré. Derided as gory soft porn in its first season, True Blood is a rotting-magnolia-scented brew of graphic, sometimes sadomasochistic sex and extreme violence. Only four episodes into the second season, we’ve already seen two house parties crescendo into supernaturally debauched near-orgies. Lafayette, the African-American part-time male hooker, part-time drug dealer who is the show’s most charismatic character, was chained by the neck to a work wheel in a basement dungeon, an image horrifically reminiscent of slavery. Then he dug a metal rod out of a severed leg in an attempt to escape. And that’s before he was shot, and before three hungry vampires descended on his prostrate body. This is about as far as you can get from the chaste, sublimated world of Twilight.
The show’s universe is like the right’s worst nightmare about post-gay-liberation America come to life.
But the show’s campy sensationalism isn’t the most interesting thing about it. What’s fascinating and disturbing about True Blood are the weird, seemingly reactionary politics underlying much of the mayhem. True Blood doesn’t share Twilight’s Victorianism, but in a way it’s even more anxious about sex. Indeed, the show’s universe is like the right’s worst nightmare about post-gay-liberation America come to life.
Based on a series of books by the mystery writer Charlaine Harris, True Blood draws a clear parallel between vampires and gays, one that at first seems reminiscent of the X-Men. As the show begins, vampires have “come out of the coffin,” demanding a proper place in society after endless years of existing in the shadows. A Japanese company has manufactured a synthetic blood substitute—called True Blood—removing the need to hunt humans. But not everyone is willing to accept vampires as equals—in the opening credits, we see a sign saying “God Hates Fangs,” while throughout the series, newscasts and magazine covers reference the fight for vampire marriage.
This conceit is cheeky and clever, but it has troubling implications, because the vampires, political rhetoric aside, aren’t really interested in joining human society. Unlike the misunderstood X-Men heroes, most of the vampires we meet are arrogant, perverse, and cruel—everything the far right believes gays to be. True Blood is set in the marshy milieu of small-town Louisiana; the local vampire headquarters is tawdry, decadent nightclub called Fangtasia, where human tourists come for the kink and some are ensnared and corrupted. The vampire leaders are voracious and vain; in one of this season’s most darkly funny scenes, one of them dismembers a man while getting foil highlights, then frets about the blood in his hair.
Of course, not all vampires are bad—hence the tragic romance between the series’ leads, the vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), and the psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin). But Bill retains his humanity through an act of will. He hates his kind and avoids their company, and even he sometimes loses control and turns violent. And as gallant as he is, he’s aggressive, even feral in bed, where his fangs come out.
Underlying much antigay literature is the unspoken assumption that homosexuality, while disgusting, is also unbearably tempting. And so, in True Blood, is sex with vampires. Sookie aside, those who crave it are somewhat pathetic—they’re referred to, derisively, as fangbangers. Human-vampire carnality is often rough and humiliating. When there is love involved, it’s laced with darkness, tragedy, and pain.
It’s hard to tell what creator Alan Ball, who also made Six Feet Under, is up to here. He’s openly gay, so he could be simply tweaking conservative fears. Or, like Rupert Everett, maybe he’s reacting against the domestication of gay life. Speaking to The Daily Beast in April, Everett railed against gay marriage, saying, “I want to be illegal. I want to live outside the mainstream.” In this spirit, in True Blood, the attempt to mainstream the denizens of a nihilistic demimonde is, at best, a bit of a farce.
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
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Michelle Goldberg is the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. She is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and her work has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many other publications.
crymeariver
Note to Michelle Goldberg and other commentators: why don't you actually read Charlaine Harris' books first before writing about her characters! The show is based on the Sookie Stackhouse book series, so far there have been NINE books published. The t.v. show has only covered the first TWO books.
If you take the time to read the books, you will soon find out that your article is a very SUPERFICIAL analysis of the series. It's a lot more complicated than you are making it out to be. Along with vampires are also wereanimals (also in the closet initially), Fairies, and the usual Black and White racism of the South. And yes, the Fellowship of the Sun soon become extremely violent. The Sookie Stackhouse series is much, more, complicated and interesting than the kiddy Twilight series.
http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Gone-Sookie-Stackhouse-Book/dp/0441017150/ref =sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247967384&sr=8-2
boatscain2003
Plug the books all you want, but HBO has found a gold mine with True Blood. The article isn't about the books, which as any adult should know and history has shown, have little to do with with what happens once a team of producers/directors get a hold of a script. You could cry a river about it, or just enjoy it for what it is.
crymeariver
I'm not plugging any books nor do I have a beef with HBO's version of the show, just pointing out that this writer is doing an analysis without first learning about the subject manner.
She watched a few episodes of the show and then decided to package it (kicking and screaming) into her one-dimensional world view. Her final product leads to a mis-characterization of the show and the series. I would make the same mistake if someone had asked me to make some grand social commentary about the Harry Potter series. I've only seen the 1st movie and have never read any of the books so any analysis I would make would be as superficial and distorted as this article. Thus I would respectfully decline the assignment and give it to someone else with more knowledge about the subject matter!
Charlaine Harris is a pretty nice person and very much into new media-she goes out of her way to communicate with her fans on the web. I'm sure she would have been happy to provide a quick 30 min. interview for this article. Additionally Alan Ball (creater of "True Blood") did an interview with Terri Gross of NPR this year. A quick review of the NPR's "Fresh Air" program would have pulled up the interview discussing "True Blood".
GatorColt
I have to agree with crymeariver, WTF have you been watching Michelle, not the same thing I have. I've enjoyed the books, as always, better than the TV show, but I don't know what you've been watching. Read Ms. Harris's books, they are wonderful.
elpolacko
ugh.. another forced, tortured article from goldberg's simple mind.
yes, ball has added cheeky analogies to the gay experience but this is a series about VAMPIRES. how funny that goldberg sees 'evil' republicans under every coffin lid !
unotherdj
Simplistic and pedestrian commentary. The show is layered and well-done, that is why it is popular--not because Alan Ball has created a self-hating screed.
clave54
Not like the two prior comments I have knowledge of this article's writer curriculum or have I read the books in which this amazing series are based on, but I can "sense' that this article is "much do about nothing". Actually I was almost expecting that something like this superficial was going to appear soon in the American media. Why? Because American likes to take "imagery without content" and make a huge big issue when so obviously there is none. Like a child will make a monster out of a shadow and go screaming his/her self into panic the American media will make fuzz out of a obviously out of the common narrative without bothering to check what is this about. Therefore this is just a simplistic "get into panic" article written by someone who didn't do her homework beforehand. I mean, to think that this program is homophobic is just ridiculous!
Banjo1
"Therefore this is just a simplistic "get into panic" article written by someone who didn't do her homework beforehand."
Tina's interns go for the cheap and sensationalistic whenever possible. If you insist on well-informed articles, be prepared to look at a lot of white space on TDB.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
MurrayAbraham
Ahem. I am speechless. Can't wait to read the political underlines of the Weather Channel.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
MaryLM
I'm not surprised by Goldberg's opinion, the far left find anything that accurately reflects the reality uncomfortable. Pointing out that the advocacy of extremist leftist academics have created far too many fascistic goose steppers, perhaps she doesn't care for depictions of left wing liberal arts students who are shutting down free speech on campuses across the US and in Canada, because they have been indoctrinated to hate, are incapable of respect for the civil rights of others. Or left wing social workers who are nothing more than parasites, not working to help the poor, especially poor children, but to exploit them for their own twisted agenda.
I'm sure Goldberg also doesn't find convenient the fact that the terms left wing and right wing are European constructs, and that both extremes sprang from Marxism, that they refer to left wing and right wing communists, that both extremes are actually the same thing, intent on the same dangerous, undemocratic and totalitarian outcome. They have nothing to do with democrat or republican.
Hitler and the nazis, just as the fascists, communists and socialists all sprang from communism and socialism, they reflect the true face of the dystopian world that results from application of Marxist ideology. We see the left wing extremists in the Obama administration attempting to impose eugenics, forced death, censorship, theft, suppression of free speech, suppression of religious rights, intimidation, control of the media. discrimination against free citizens, bribery and all sorts of corruption. Goldberg finds the truth inconvenient, but that doesn't mean she has the right to not be confronted by it, and her own hypocrisies.
tomforcomm
Im sorry but I dont see your point to be irrelevant and has nothing to do with the article, you seem to hate extremists but yet your comment makes you look like an extremist yourself. You are just looking for an outlet for your opinion and so happens to see this article first. nice try though.
About the article, good job Michelle, it is nicely written and I like analysis like this. Analyzing popular culture instead of just consuming it without thought is the only way people can be aware.
oldb4mytime
I have been enjoying a brief perusal of Ms. Goldberg's article, and most of the comments posted, as well. I am in agreement with "tomforcomm," however, in that I see your comments to be more than a bit over the top and quite off-subject.
More than that, however, I find your citing of "facts" that are hardly facts at all to be indicative of a poorly educated and closed mind. I will not waste my time refuting all of the simplistic and outright ridiculous ideological "talking points" you have obviously gathered from questionable sources and then posit here as "truth." But I would like to point out to you that a cursory study of world history would reveal that the terms "left wing" and "right wing" were used during the French Revolutionary period to refer to the different factions that arose in the National Assembly - roughly 100 years before Marx wrote "The Communist Manifesto."
Please don't toss simplistic, empty-headed tidbits of propaganda around as "facts." It only confirms your ignorance.
LuKahnLi
Maybe this will help the author of this article understand all of the elements of the series she is fretting about.
sat%u22C5ire%u2002%u2002/%u02C8s�ta%u026A%u0259r/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [sat-ahyuhr] Show IPA
Use Satire in a Sentence
-noun 1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------
Origin:
1500-10; < L satira, var. of satura medley, perh. fem. deriv. of satur sated (see saturate )
Synonyms:
1. See irony 1 . 2, 3. burlesque, caricature, parody, travesty. Satire, lampoon refer to literary forms in which vices or follies are ridiculed. Satire, the general term, often emphasizes the weakness more than the weak person, and usually implies moral judgment and corrective purpose: Swift's satire of human pettiness and bestiality. Lampoon refers to a form of satire, often political or personal, characterized by the malice or virulence of its attack: lampoons of the leading political figures.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Satire
LuKahnLi
The story elements that author is fretting about are not supposed to be metaphor, but SATIRE. Satire, which uses sarcasm and irony, rather than metaphor which draws direct parallels. While the entire series is a metaphor about xenophobia, it uses satirical elements, like the vampires to get its point across. By failing to detect the irony, the author has unwittingly become a victim of the satire. Which I think adds to the comedy of the show.
seeksense
Reading political ideologies from the script of a TV series is ridiculous.
Ms. Goldman needs to step back and give thought to why she is so obsessed with the picture box in her house that occupies so much of her time and thought.
It's a TV show, it's fantasy, enough said.
nedthered
Michelle Goldberg needs to touch up on her film analysis skills. I'm quite sensitive to the often-underlying messages sent through formula and character-development in many TV shows that portray sexism, racism and homophobia. But quite honestly, unless you just read some plot summaries, you have really missed something about True Blood if you think it is homophobic. (My partner and I both love it.)
To begin with, yes, the vampires represent that which is "other" and that which is feared - just as us queer folk are seen by the right wing. But the show actually makes the vampires out to be the ones that are the sympathetic characters - perhaps even more reasonable than the humans. It's the religious nuts that are portrayed by the show as the truly scary, illogical force. Every time the vampires go to a place of violence it is a response to either the religious freaks or being taken advantage of.
There is an underlying conflict here that is about queer culture: the push to make "the other" mainstream.It is clear that Michelle Goldberg clearly thinks the only ways for something to not be homophobic is to have it portray queers (or those symbolic of queers) as normative.
Conforming to the right wing's ideas of what is good is not victory for the queer community. It is our affront to the oppressive system of gender that makes us scary to the right wing. And that is a good thing.
Recently in my blog post about why I like Bruno, I named Layfatte, which is an amazing strong and 3-dimensional character as one of my favorite campy queer characters played by straight people. Read why here: http://nedtherednet.blogspot.com/
overdue
I got confused just by the byline:
The "right wing's worst nightmares" would be BAD things for the right wing, like a socialist becoming president.
Yet this show allegedly has a "reactionary, antigay worldview."
So which one is it? Hmm? Where's the proof reader?
bryanlevi
While all of this may be, it is really the incredible atmosphere & chemistry amongst the characters that makes it so hypnotic and addictive... much like Six Feet Under.
Thank you.
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