Who Would You Let Bite You?
Michael Campbell
Monday 19th October 2009
Monday 19th October 2009
Created by the twisted genius Alan Ball ('Six Feet Under'), 'True Blood' is the dark new television series that follows Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin (X-Men), on her deepening relationship with 170 year old American Civil War veteran and vampire Bill Compton, and general decent into the vampire world. The series is set two years after the vampires 'came out of the coffin', choosing to live among humans, existing on the newly invented synthetic 'TruBlood' that replaces, for some vampires at least, the need to feed off humans.
It is not unfair to say that the recent explosion in all things vamp is due to the unexpected and exponential success of the 'Twilight Saga', written by Mormon housewife Stephenie Meyer. Meyer has suddenly made it OK for vampires to be sexy again to a new 'tween' generation, one that might not have experienced the tortured soul of David Boreanaz as Angel.
All four books have been number one, as well as the film adaption, the second of which is released next month. As proof of its success, the film has sent relatively unknown Robert Pattinson into the sometimes dangerous world of fame, which he found out to his cost when he was hit by a taxi whilst being chased by fans on the set of his new film 'Remember Me'.
All this is great, but what 'True Blood' does is introduce the element of sex, drugs and, well, more sex into the much saturated vampire arena. Sookie's sexual relationship with vampire Bill does what Twilight doesn't; it gives the audience some real sex as opposed to the sexual tension and tame one-time sexual encounter of Bella and Edward.
The rural setting of the Deep South which one normally associates with conservative, bible- belt narrow-mindedness is, it seems, not all that meets the eye. The well thought out juxtaposition between this and the murky world of vampire bars and 'fang bangers' is original and not at all seedy. In all truthfulness, it's what makes the series so successful.
To say that 'True Blood' is all about sex really would be doing it a disservice. It really is a spectacular series which is doing much to place a new spin on a genre which is so prolific at the moment that it is being saturated with re-printings of old novels, as well as the output of vast numbers of new vampire-related releases. If you are in any way interested in the vampire genre this show is a must see.
In an age where phases are short lived, wherewe demand more of the same for a short period of time, 'True Blood' fills a niche of a market that is having much demand placed upon it. It's not only the 'tweens' that crave more and more from the genre, for example Edward Cullen's side of the story in the much awaited 'Midnight Sun', but also the discerning adult viewer. Maybe new series such as 'True Blood' and also 'Vampire Diaries' are doing much to give the genre some kind of longevity. One can only hope.
It is not unfair to say that the recent explosion in all things vamp is due to the unexpected and exponential success of the 'Twilight Saga', written by Mormon housewife Stephenie Meyer. Meyer has suddenly made it OK for vampires to be sexy again to a new 'tween' generation, one that might not have experienced the tortured soul of David Boreanaz as Angel.
All four books have been number one, as well as the film adaption, the second of which is released next month. As proof of its success, the film has sent relatively unknown Robert Pattinson into the sometimes dangerous world of fame, which he found out to his cost when he was hit by a taxi whilst being chased by fans on the set of his new film 'Remember Me'.
All this is great, but what 'True Blood' does is introduce the element of sex, drugs and, well, more sex into the much saturated vampire arena. Sookie's sexual relationship with vampire Bill does what Twilight doesn't; it gives the audience some real sex as opposed to the sexual tension and tame one-time sexual encounter of Bella and Edward.
The rural setting of the Deep South which one normally associates with conservative, bible- belt narrow-mindedness is, it seems, not all that meets the eye. The well thought out juxtaposition between this and the murky world of vampire bars and 'fang bangers' is original and not at all seedy. In all truthfulness, it's what makes the series so successful.
To say that 'True Blood' is all about sex really would be doing it a disservice. It really is a spectacular series which is doing much to place a new spin on a genre which is so prolific at the moment that it is being saturated with re-printings of old novels, as well as the output of vast numbers of new vampire-related releases. If you are in any way interested in the vampire genre this show is a must see.
In an age where phases are short lived, wherewe demand more of the same for a short period of time, 'True Blood' fills a niche of a market that is having much demand placed upon it. It's not only the 'tweens' that crave more and more from the genre, for example Edward Cullen's side of the story in the much awaited 'Midnight Sun', but also the discerning adult viewer. Maybe new series such as 'True Blood' and also 'Vampire Diaries' are doing much to give the genre some kind of longevity. One can only hope.