Can The True Blood Metaphor Get Any More Fucked Up?
We all get that True Blood is supposed to be some sort of thinly (not so thinly) coded metaphor. In general, vampires represent "the Other," and in this show they seem particularly tied to the homosexual community. Between the Fred Phelpsian "God Hates Fangs" during the opening credits to the VRA legislation being pushed through Congress (Vampire Rights Amendment), the show's coded subtext is not really coded or subtextual at all. Now, as many people have already suggested, it seems kind of fucked up to have a metaphor for the homosexual community in which the metaphorical homosexuals are violent mass murderers. Hyper-sexualized violent mass murderers. Hyper-sexualized violent mass murderers with whom sex = death. Just a little fucked up. Just sort of super fucked up. But even assuming that we ignore that part of the metaphor, you know, the part that is the whole metaphor, and focus on how it's about a community struggling against ignorance and potential injustice, this week's episode took another dark turn.
As the show's main vampire, Bill Compton is our entry point towards sympathy for the metaphorical Other. He's the one who can teach us that vampires aren't all hyper-sexualized violent mass murderers with AIDS. They can also be gentlemen! Fair enough. Except that in a scene last night in which Bill confronts three of his fellow undead, he reveals his strategy for securing equal rights for vampires, and, like the metaphor itself, his strategy is kind of fucked up.
So, just to get this straight, Bill advocates the strictest type of assimilation by which the vampire community must accept the complete abdication of its cultural practices. In this way, he hopes to appease the rigorously intolerant human society NOT by opening up new avenues of understanding, acceptance, and shared experience, but by simply becoming something else. Bill suggests that the only way for vampires to be welcomed into society is to refrain from any behavior that would make them, well, vampires.
That's an abhorrent political position. It's self-destructive and only contributes to a culture of hatred and ignorance. The problem on True Blood, of course, is that the only other political option for the vampires that we are presented with is an over-indulgence in sexual violence. Even Bill describes his fellow vampires as "evil." So, it's either don't be a vampire in any meaningful sense of the word, or be a total nightmare.
You can see how this gets problematic for a metaphor about, well, a metaphor about anything. Surely Alan Ball could have found a simpler, less mind-fucky way to be a horrible homophobe.
Posted by Gabe at 3:00 PM in Everyone's A Critic
Tags: Alan Ball | Stephen Moyer | True Blood
Wow. I mean, wow.
I am gay and I kinda missed all that (i was drunk though), but when you put it that way, it does seem pretty fucking homophobic.
I guess since I read the books and was so much more into the story than the actual metaphors, I kind of missed that.
I mean I honestly look at them AS Vampires, not as a metaphor for gay people.
But when I think about it, in American Beauty Chris Cooper was a murdering gay guy who was fucking crazy. So maybe Alan Ball is a homophobe.
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You fell down the gay/vampire rabbit hole on this one and lost me Gabe. Bill is advocating assimilating to the human culture because the other option would be to kill you and I(assuming you ARE NOT already a vampire!). I agree with Bill's stance. I don't want him and his friends to kill me. Let's all just get along and drink that shitty Japanese fake blood together...and have gay sex...DAMN!, I've been outed.
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hey! hey! hey!!
i effin love True Blood... this sh!t is DEEP....
and alan ball is totally gay so the homophobe angle doesn't really hold.
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If someone had not already pointed out the fact that AB is openly gay, I was going to!!! You totally dropped the ball...No pu intended...on this one!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, I don't agree, either. I can see some parallels between vampirism and homosexuality on this show, kind of, but they're weak and only go so far as the "outsider trying to be accepted in the mainstream" thing. Being a vampire means murdering humans, which is harmful, whereas being homosexual means wanting to have sex with people of your same sex, which isn't harmful. Denying one's vampire urges--not murdering people--to assimilate with society is the only way to get all that Vampire Rights stuff. Society wouldn't be like, "Vampires are great, leave them alone, let them do whatever they want!" if they were still going around murdering people.
I don't think there's enough of a parallel between vampires and gay people to support an argument that the show is homophobic. I think the wordplay-ish stuff is convenient (coming out of the coffin/coming out of the closet; god hates fags/god hates fangs), but doesn't go so far as to actually make a statement about homosexuality.
I would say the similarities are more of a flimsy set-up for the viewer to swallow the idea that vampires might exist and would try to become part of society. But at the end of the day gay people are humans; vampires are undead monsters. I don't think anyone's going to be like, 'These nice vampires aren't murdering anyone anymore, so those gays should stop being so gay!'
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LET'S GO RAID A FRAT HOUSE
calling straight people BREATHERS (breeders) I mean come on
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Alan Ball is openly gay so any accusations of him being a "horrible homophobe" are nullified I would think.
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the show highlights the injustice of racism and homophobia in a very thinly veiled metaphor, yea... but they mean well.
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Queer here & I'm not seeing the homo/vampire thing like some straights are. I think it's a valid comparison to think of for a minute, but ultimately it's about vampires, not gays. I was there for the Comic-Con panel & that was brought up & I believe dismissed by Ball. I enjoy it for what it is, not trying to make contrasts to the queer community. Plus it’s not that good of a show to be writing a thesis on if you know what I mean.
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Can we get away from the subtext for a second and talk about the actual text? Why is nobody talking about how terrible that clip is?
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I think that maybe, rather than being a show about vampires as a metaphor for gay people, the show may just be a show about vampires, and the fear they're being met with may just be an attempt at realistic follow-through on that situation.
Mutants (the X-Men) are also said to be a metaphor for gay people, but that doesn't mean that Marvel Comics thinks gay people have powers. I think you're taking this way too far because you hate this show, and also really want to hate it and make other people hate it.
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I don't think the show is all that deep, but I'm enjoying it so far. This episode was the best of the three, deepening the shallow pool this has been for the last couple of weeks. Thank God those other vampires showed up to show how not all vampires want to conform to humanity.
I don't think the show is touting the "give up everything that makes you unique to join the gang" mentality as its go-to philosophy. If that was the case, i think every vampire in the show would be trying to fit in, trying to get equal rights, trying to be human. Bill's friends showed us this is not the case. In fact, Bill seems to be pretty rare among his kind. Plus, he's shown he's not completely in control of his vampire-ness, baring his fangs when he got close to Sookie.
Bill seems, to use your analogy, like a homosexual trying to pretend he's not gay in order to fit in with what he views as "correct" society. He may try and try not to be gay - not to be a vampire - but sooner or later his true nature will win out. That's what he is. He's a vampire. He drinks blood. In a more correct sense, he's more like a serial killer who's trying not to kill people. Will he succeed? That's the question of the show. At least, I hope it is. If you're right, then the show will just be crap.
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I think you may have a point, but somewhere along the process I think they got too caught up in trying to, uh, BE Buffy the Vampire Slayer to realize that they were perhaps garbling their pro-rights message. The even had one of the same actors playing a vamp as Buffy. Good idea gone wrong, if you ask me.
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I actually read the books and never caught the metaphor. Is it just because a group of individuals has announced their different lifestyle choice to the world and have to face the usual "humans don't like dealing with change" scenario? Is that what makes this series "homophobic"? People just don't like change. Sure, gay rights is a big issue now, but not everything relates back to it.
I read the books because they were about vampires. Vampires who announce that they are real to a world similar to the one we live in now and people everywhere have to adjust their way of thinking. Seems like a "realistic" enough scenario if it indeed happened to us. Ball is just putting on the screen what was already written by Charlaine Harris - he didn't come up with "God Hates Fangs" thing, or the AIDS-like blood disease, or any of that other stuff. It's in the books. And yes, if your society drinks blood, then problems with infected blood like STIs and STDs will most likely arise, but it's not a gay metaphor. Would YOU be tolerant of potentially vicious new neighbors with a bad rep if they announced themselves to you? Probably not at first (or at all), right? People's racism (a more appropriate word in this case than homophobia) is based on stereotype and fear. Loads of people are hurt by stereotypes, not just the gay community. Just... keep that in mind and remember that Ball is not the one coming up with all the material, he's translating it to a visual medium.
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God Hates Fangs?
Did anyone see the clip posted a week ago when Suki was talking to the sherriff? Almost every single word uttered is straight out of a shitty Logo drama? There's nothing subtle about the homosexual metaphor. And even if not, it's still in line with every group ever demonized and isolated by a majority. And it STILL would be taking a terrible, counterproductive stance.
I mean, the dialogue is terrible. Even if their so-called quips weren't lame as all hell, they still speak in extremely stilted TV speak. There's nothing lifelike about them. I don't for a second believe any of these people actually exist. Their relationships are forced and not dynamic at all.
I really don't like when opinions are stated as overbearing facts. It's overbearing and alienates all those who do not agree.
But oh my gosh, this is one of the least enjoyable shows I can remember ever watching. How in the world is this on HBO?
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Uh you do know that Mr Ball isnt a homophobe but in fact an openly gay man
and he is adapting someone elses work
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Another offensive thing is the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) never passed, but in True Blood world the VRA is going to?!
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