Gonna Do Bad Things to You

In honor of "True Blood's" new season, here's a cartoon I did about it during the 2008 election:


"The way you murdered that sheriff was downright disrespectful," pretty much sums up the show to me.

If you want even more "True Blood," here's a blog post I wrote about for The Daily's Dawg Blog, back when such a thing existed.



Everybody loves vampires! From "Dracula" to "Twilight", America’s fallen for our favorite bloodsuckers. This infatuation has certainly fueled the success of HBO’s vampire melodrama "True Blood" (now in its second season), but something else has kept the show from being just another vampire show.

"True Blood" is a prime example of using metaphor in social satire. Vampirism is depicted as akin to homosexuality as numerous references are made to vampires “coming out of their coffin” into mainstream society, and there is a growing vampire rights campaign, along with a growing anti-vampire movement. The Church of Fellowship of the Sun is of course a direct reference to the many evangelical movements dedicated to eliminating homosexual rights.

And there’s more: the young girl, Jessica’s, adjustment to becoming a vampire is a metaphor for sexual maturity, the sinister halfway house Tara stays at is a nod to the shadiness of self-help cures, and the drug made from vampire blood, “V,” is analogous whatever the hot new drug is flooding the market.

The point of all of these metaphors is to show that even with the presence of vampires and other supernatural creatures waiting in the wings, life isn’t going to be that different for American society. Americans are really good at getting used to just about anything, and a sudden growing vampire movement is not going to fundamentally change how we act. We adjust.

Now you may argue that the metaphors do not line up perfectly. “Are you trying to insinuate that homosexuals are as bloodthirsty and cruel as vampires?” you may write in the comments section. Well, that is part of the shows charm; "True Blood" is all about sudden tonal shifts, moving from horror, to romance, to comedy, to drama, to madness. Just when you think you have it all figured out, creator Alan Ball pulls the rug out from under you, leaving dazed and trying to adjust. But like any good American, you will.

That was written right before people realized "True Blood" is actually a comedy, and not a "Twilight" ripoff.