Joanna ‘Teahead’ Bogusławska is a published writer and college instructor and lecturer living in Gdynia, Poland. Having a Masters Degree in English and a fancy for True Blood she decided  to write an introduction to the show for all the non-viewers in her native land. This comes at an opportune time since the third season of True Blood will soon be premiering in Poland. Joanna was kind enough to translate her article for us.

THE PHENOMENON OF HBO’S TRUE BLOOD

In the past couple of years, especially since the publishing of Stephanie Meyer’s smashing hit series Twilight and its instant success among both readers and cinema goers, the worldwide popculture has been facing true vampire madness. It is safe to assume that the blood thirsty night creatures have never been better since the Dracula and Anne Rice’s novels. In this genre there are three projects that have been truly outstandingly popular: the already mentioned Twilight, a TV series Vampire Diaries based on the works of L.J. Smith and a TV show being massively recognizable and appealing to the public all around the globe, HBO’s True Blood. The show has been loosely based on Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels.

Broadcast all around the world, True Blood is undoubtedly HBO’s biggest success since The Sopranos and Sex In The City. It only takes the brilliant title sequence, showing the contradictory moral standards of the American South featuring Jace Everett’s ear-catching song Bad Things, to realize that we are dealing with something truly unique and uncommon. Being a part of a worldwide vampire obsession (it is worth to stress that Charlaine Harris’ books were published some years before Meyer’s ones), the show focuses on features and privileges of a horror genre and uses well-known schemes but winks an eye to the viewer proving that well-known and classical themes can be served again in new and truly delicious arrangement.

Alan Ball - Creator of True Blood

Alan Ball, the creator of True Blood has already had a reputation as a great writer (an Academy Award for American Beauty) and creator ( multi-awarded Six Feet Under) and it is obvious, while watching True Blood that he has an immense talent for making original and offbeat stories. The show already won a Golden Globe for Anna Paquin as the main female role, and it got it’s first Emmy nomination for the best drama series this year. Pretty good results for a show about vampires living in American province, isn’t it?

Apart from Alan Ball’s creativity, True Blood’s other characteristic feature is a superb, international cast. The main characters are portrayed by an ensemble of extremely talented actors from all over the world, including New Zealander Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) – an Academy Award winner for “The Piano”, a British Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton), a Swedish Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman), an Australian Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) and Americans: a Tony award nominated Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Nelson Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds) and Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), All of them create their characters with truly outstanding solicitude and commitment.

Fantastic script, superior acting, dynamic plot and episodes constructed in such way that you immediately want to insert another DVD into your player to see what happens next are great reason to love True Blood, but would not necessarily guarantee such irrefutable position of True Blood around the globe. These are the most important reasons that distinguish this particular show from other similar ones and suck every last blood drop from its viewers who are glued to their TVs until small hours of the morning eager to absorb one episode after another.

THE MINORITIES’ RIGHTS

The Japanese invented a Tru:Blood beverage, a blood substitute allowing the vampires to “come out of the coffins” and start living among the humans. They no longer need to hunt for people, they can drink the bloody drink in bars, straight from the bottle, warmed to the preferable 36.6 C. Not all people are happy about it. If humans had an alternative to drink a pizza-potion, or swallow ice-cream pills, would they resign from the original delicacies? Vampires pay taxes, have their own airlines, a hotel chain, pubs, they even established the American Vampire League, a party that is attempting to guarantee them the same rights the humans have. It is an obvious minorities’ rights movement allegory. Any minorities. A gay, a lesbian, a member of a religious minority, a vampire. The “coming out of the coffin” term is a reference to “coming out of the closet”, a situation when a homosexual person admits to his or hers sexual preferences in their environment. The message is clear and universal. But can vampires be trusted? Where is the borderline between tolerance and self- preservation instinct? After all, killing people is instinctual for a vampire. Do people not wanting any equality for vampires are vampophobic or maybe they’re right? Maybe people and vampires are just too different in nature to co-exist?

King Russell Edgington defying the Vampire Rights League by despining a news anchor live on TV.

A NEW POINT OF VIEW

So far, vampires, have been presented mostly as dark, gloomy and dangerous beasts, having no control over their bloodthirsty instinct. People have never been more than a prey. The image of a monstrous creature in a black cape, bending over an innocently sleeping virgin is the very first one that comes to our minds when we think about vampires, isn’t it? Well, those vampires are history. The ones from True Blood are sexy, seductive, passionate and intriguing. Women want them, men are jealous of them.The vampires create a very strict society, based on feudal rules where the older a vampire is, the stronger he is and the more powerful position he holds. There are kings, queens, sheriffs, judges. It does not mean that the bloodsuckers do not lust for power, conspire or play dirty to reach their goals. But their hierarchy is stiff and has its strict and severe rules and guidelines. In comparison to the vampire society, humans are undisciplined, they lack respect for one another, and their society seems to be out of any control. Suddenly it turns out that if there is anyone willing to save his or hers loved one, eager to sacrifice oneself or capable of altruism it is a vampire. People on the other hand, pride themselves on having moral and ethical standards and values, but they are weak, intolerant, betray each other and are often addicts. Their new stimulant is V, vampire blood which improves humans’ health, their sex lives and cures their wounds. As sources of the new stimulant, vampires are now the victims and it’s the people addicted to V that attack them. This is an entirely new, surprising twist in the human- vampire relations, their eternal roles are, up to a point, upturned.

The Magister - The Judiciary for North America

TRADITION CLASHES WITH INNOVATION

It is commonly known that vampires are not fans of silver and in True Blood nobody questions that. A thin silver chain paralyzes Bill Compton and makes him vulnerable to two drug addicts draining him and wanting to sell his blood. Also, a vampire must be invited into a human home, otherwise he or she cannot come in. An invitation can be rescinded any time and as a result a vampire has to leave the premises immediately. Older vampires can fly, however, all of them can glamour people, sleep underground and move with lightening speed. The True Blood vampires do not walk around during cloudy days and do not sparkle when they meet the sun, instead they burn and suffer horridly. Decapitation and wooden sticks are also reliable ways of proving that vampires are not really immortal. At this point tradition ends as the bloodsuckers from True Blood abolish many commonly known myths about them. They are visible in mirrors and in pictures, crucifixes are just geometry and holy water is just water. Garlic is only a bit irritating. New information is that vampires are susceptible to hepatitis D, it makes them weak for about a month.

All of this creates a great combination of traditions and myths that are commonly known and suit the literary and legendary myths about vampires, but are modified, modernized and refreshed, showing a new, 21st century quality of vampire stories.

MULTILAYERED CHARACTERS

True Blood is full of incredibly colorful and multilayered characters. Nobody in this universe is either black or white. Nobody is purely evil, and nobody is purely innocent. The viewer might have problems with his or her favorite character as the perception might change any time (and it usually happens so) once we get to know the character better, his secrets, motives and plans. Let us take a look at three main characters.

Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton

Bill Compton is a 173-year-old vampire who arrives in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where he used to live as a human during the American Civil War. He meets and falls in love with Sookie, a waitress who can read people’s minds. This relationship allows him to once again experience the humanity he has been longing for, for a century and half. Bill was turned into a vampire against his will and he has never fully accepted his new nature. He embraces his memories from his previous human life and tries to find the balance between the two worlds, He wants to live among people but his vampire instinct keeps reminding him of who he is. Thus, Bill can be a gentle and charming lover to Sookie and is ready to meet the true death for her, but he can also attack and kill people when he is hungry or when they hurt Ms. Stackhouse. He does not know how to be completely honest with Sookie, as he is afraid that his vampire nature might finally scare her off. Bill has a lot of secrets and does his best to keep her away from the vampire world and it’s politics, not fully understanding that the more involved they are in this relationship, the less possible it is to keep her safe. Bill endeavors to be a decent man fighting his vampire instinct on a regular basis, though at times he loses himself to his baser nature, his humanity tends to come through.

Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse

Sookie Stackhouse is a twenty-five year old waitress in a bar in Bon Temps, who can read people’s thoughts. This gift is rather a curse for her and is the source of great frustration and loneliness. She feels it is unethical to hear people’s thoughts and focuses on controlling it. That is why she finds Bill so fascinating right from the moment they meet – she cannot hear his thoughts, thus she can feel safe and completely free of any restraints when she is with him. Bill is her first boyfriend and her first serious relationship. She understands his alienation as she is treated similarly by the citizens of Bon Temps due to her unique ability. Sookie is brave, honest, has an immense sense of integrity and has a lot of love for other people. On the other hand, she is irresponsible, judgmental, whimsical and impulsive. The deeper she goes into the vampire world, the more dark secrets she knows about their existence, the more uncomfortable not hearing Bill’s thought becomes for her and she starts questioning her trust in him. She expects Bill’s full attention and wants him to be focused on her and their relationship and she does not understand that as a person belonging to two worlds, he also has other obligations and duties. She constantly forgets that Bill also needs time to learn how to be in a relationship.

Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman

Eric Northman is a one thousand-year-old vampire, a sheriff and Bill’s superior. He is a manipulator who detests humans and is interested only in fulfilling his own plans. Even though he feels that Sookie is more than just an average human he cannot come to terms with the fact that she is engaged in a relationship with Bill. Eric treats her only as a trophy and wants to show Bill his power over him by seducing her. Eric uses a dirty trick to do that and soon him and Mr. Compton come into conflict with each other. Even though he is almost six times older than Bill and has the position of a sheriff, Eric tolerates Bill’s insubordination and respects him as his opponent. His fascination with Sookie does not distract him from using her and endangering her life for his own profit. Eric also has a different countenance. He is very close with his progeny, Pam. Pam has been his vampire daughter for over a hundred years and both of them are extremely loyal and respectful to each other. They understand and complete each other perfectly and this side of Eric makes the viewers look at him in a different light than only a ruthless and manipulative vampire.

These three make a classical love triangle. The scheme is well known but in this case it has been greatly renewed and refreshed as nobody here has equal chances. Bill seems to not have any power over Eric in a physical sense, so he uses his smartness and intelligence to move Eric away from Sookie. Sookie, on the other hand, truly hates Eric, but her feelings start changing due to Eric’s tricks. The relations of these three are powered by love, trust, hatred, manipulation and cunning and the proportions of those ingredients are bound to change until the finale episodes of the series.

THE MIX OF GENRES

Another reason that justifies True Blood’s phenomenon is a mixture of different genres. The presence of vampires and other supernatural beings (werewolves, shapeshifters or fairies) obviously makes fantasy the main and dominative genre. But it is very easy to find romance, drama, action, and even comedy. Bill playing golf with Wii, Eric having his hair dyed, the characters of Jason or Lafayette are great examples of the writers’ sense of humor and a good occasion for a moment of relief after watching the gloomy and dramatic scenes.

I have a subjective opinion that the women are responsible for the whole vampire-mania all over the world. Women are the main authors of vampire fiction, they are also the ones who are mostly fascinated by Louises, Edwards, Bills, Damons, or Erics. The amount of subplots in True Blood and the plot that is not focused only on human-vampire relationships and romances guarantee great entertainment for both sexes. But the sexy, luscious vampires that personify pure evil that can be tamed by that special woman, who are their women’s protectors and are also gentlemen as they were turned in the long-gone epoch when men respected women in the old-fashioned, romantic way seem to be the visualization of fantasies of many women all over the world.

Summing up, everyone can find something attractive in True Blood. The multilayered characters, a lot of subplots (in season 3 almost everyone has their own story), fantastic soundtrack, up-to-date social and political subject-matters and a completely new way of viewing vampires should encourage everyone to get familiar with Alan Ball’s creation. It is a pure entertainment for adults; there is sex, there is violence, there is tension and dynamics. Who knows, perhaps during your next party you and your fiends will have a drink based on a Tru:Blood potion? Available in HBO stores.

Join Joanna ‘Teahead’ Boguslawska as she and her colleague create a innovative, interactive platform about English, treating the language as a source of cultural, linguistic and methodical knowledge. And hey, for someone as simple as me it’s fun listening to all the different accents. Check it out.

Posted in Alan Ball, Bill Compton, Eric Northman, Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood