On December 8, The Atlantic published Alyssa Rosenberg’s “Fall TV’s 10 Biggest Disappointments”. link In her list, True Blood comes in for some scornful criticism, placed beside a picture of Lafayette:
True Blood goes bonkers, racist
Alan Ball may have tried to move away from vampires-as-sexual minorities metaphors. But his HBO fantasy hit still has ideas about sex and race—and some of them are pretty strange. After subjecting Jason Stackhouse to a gang rape at the hands of a clan of werepanthers, True Blood promptly forgot about it. And the show moved on from there to have an effeminate black gay man possessed by the spirit of an entirely stereotypical dead black woman in a plot-line that’s really about having a couple of literally magical Negroes feel better about their family life. Saying that you don’t have a political agenda doesn’t mean that your audience can’t judge you when you put junk ideas on screen.
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Not a fair criticism of True Blood. Understandable, but not fair. What I mean is, and I know regular readers of TBU and TAP have heard this ad nauseum, but basically most people are missing the subtle parallels within the narrative that fill in missing information for other characters; essentially, each character parallel acts as it’s own metaphor within the ostensibly straightforward narrative.
To wit, I find it absolutely mind-blowing that mainstream critics are blasting the writers for glossing over Jason’s gang rape, yet almost no one seems to think it is unusual that season 4 Sookie never once referred to the enormous revelation that her ex-lover Bill had stood by while two psychos beat her to within an inch of her life so he could literally force-feed her a mind altering drug. A drug that has proven time and again to be a tool of control and manipulation, not to mention the ball and chain of addiction which has served many a pimp very well. Did you think Sookie is immune to addiction? What, exactly, makes you believe this?
Why so much concern for Jason and none for Sookie? Why so much concern about the supposedly straightforward portrayal of ‘magical negroes’ [which doesn't include Tara] and none for the explicit portrayal of extreme abuse and victimization of women?
Is Alan Ball playing female victimization for shits and giggles or is there a point?
At the beginning of the season Sooke behaves exactly as though she and Bill have broken up due to some harmless indiscretion on his part and not as the result of finding out about his violent plot to attack and drug her. She runs to Bill for help with getting her house back from Eric when she should have been running and screaming to the police. She allowed Bill to lie–a lie that let’s HIM completely off the hook– to the whole town on her behalf when she should have declared from the rooftop that she thinks Bill drugged her and tried to make her believe she was on some fantastical Sid and Marty Krofft trip to Fairy World. It was a ‘trip’ alright. Later in the season after showing some sparks of independent thought, Sookie is conveniently and seriously injured again and is AGAIN force-fed [ she was out cold and had no ability to consent] a huge dose of his blood-drug. Imediately afterward she’s back to loving him ‘totally and completely’. At the end of the season Sookie asks BILL to forgive HER. For what exactly it is impossible to determine.
The mere existence of these inexplicable behaviors should be cause for concern yet nobody remarks upon the main character’s bizarre state that allows her to continue loving and defending her abuser. The ENORMOUS power and abuse issues are immediately apparent but are not worth analysis or even comment.
Is Alan Ball torturing Sookie Stackhouse so we can all get off on the fun of seeing a girl jerked around by a master manipulator who is out for her blood? Or is he illustrating a larger point the majority of the audience just can’t quite grasp?
To believe and to behave as though these issues are not worth discussing is to condone the torture of female characters for the titillation factor alone. GIVING THESE WRITERS THE BENEFIT AND RESPECT OF A DOUBT, a quick survey of all Sookie has been through can only lead to the conclusion that her PTSD must be severe. Yet all the critics and many fans can talk about is how stupid she is, how clueless and dumb and hysterical. The same goes for attitudes about Tara. Everyone sees the trauma she has been put through, on top of her life as a repressed minority, but all you hear from people is how annoying she is and how much they hate her quivering lips. Well, forgive Tara’s grief. Rejoice in her terrible death and ignore her bravery if you like but all you’re doing is going along with the Mob of Acceptable Opinion and perpetrating the demand for blood-thirsty entertainment completely devoid of redeeming compassion.
Rather than reflecting on what these widely held anti-feminist attitudes say about us as a culture and how we tend to blame the victim IF the victim is female, we blame it all on the incompetence and hatefulness of a top notch team of showrunner and writers. WE are not racist and anti-woman, it’s Alan Ball!
True Blood may seem weird and racist and loaded with misogyny but a deeper look reveals not tone-deafness, not sub-par writing, not exloitation for it’s own sake, nor pandering to the lowest common denominator. There is a method to the madness, a thoughtfulness, an intelligenct design, and a deep rooted compassion that so far it’s audience can’t keep up with or live up to. True Blood is merely holding up a mirror to our dominant culture and the reflection isn’t pretty.
I’m naming my next child (a.k.a. kitty) after you. I’m often moved to tears after reading your thoughts, for many reasons, but mainly because it’s so wonderful to see someone *thinking.* A rare trait these days.
You’re a love and I thank you for your kind words.
I’m not trying to talk people into liking these characters. You don’t have to like a victim in order to feel compassion or show understanding. Wanting an innocent victim dead because the victim is annoying sounds awfully familiar, don’t you agree?
Let the bad blood flow. It was never more evident than in Season 4. After Sookie professes her love to Eric, only to “change” her mind and forgive Bill and profess that she loves both. Even in her daydream, Sookie is well aware that the blood from Bill is causing her to be conflicted.
Thanks, as always Sunny. Keep the good times rolling.
From pbt at ericsarea5 and truebloodwiki
Oh and don’t forget that Tara, does hold the mirror up to Sookie and asks her look carefully at her actions in regards to the new “Eric” and her lies.
Great to see you PBT!
Right on with the bad blood. It’s so obvious I’m not sure why the resistence. I know viewers want Sookie to be in her right mind and make the best decisions possible in every situation, but that’s not the story AB is telling. There ARE women out there who are beaten down, abused, controlled, and exploited and their voices deserve to be heard. They CAN be heard through Sookie’s tragic story.
Great post as always sunny.
Re: Sookie’s addiction to V.
When I first got my computer, I found CH official site and asked the question, why wasn’t Sookie addicted to V they way other users apparently were. The answer I got was because the vampire blood came directly/immediately from the source.
According to the mod, addiction manifested after drainers bottled the blood, or words to that affect.
I think that is the primary reason people have a hard time thinking of her as being in the same category as addicts such as TB Debbie.
The answer didn’t make sense to me then and it still doesn’t, but since it came from the horses mouth, so to speak, I guess it’s accepted as cannon.
Yet there have been so many changes on TB from book cannon her addiction seems to have escaped notice or denied by viewers. They don’t see the same reactions shown by Andy, Jason, Debbie, Cooter and the rest of the Weres.
The answer I got was because the vampire blood came directly/immediately from the source.
That doesn’t make any sense to me either. TB has fully circumvented that little bit of nonsense by showing Debbie Pelt and the other weres getting high as a kite when drinking directly from Bill. They seemed to prefer it, thought it was a better high etc.
Just because we haven’t been shown neon signs of Sookie tripping after drinking Bill’s blood doesn’t mean she does NOT trip. She clearly did after drinking from Eric. And as we spoke about at TAP, she hasn’t shown any signs of withdrawal like Andy did because it’s doubtful she has ever off the junk for any significant amount of time. Which means, you know, that ‘trip’ she took to FL included regular fixes.
Tara’s death still makes me weepy when I’ve watched the final episode. Other than here or TAP, I don’t recall anyone in other fan sites making the connection that she [Tara] gave the ultimate sacrifice for her friend with no hesitation or concern for her own safety. What more could they possibly want?
I do not recall any such discussion either BG. Talk of Tara has mostly been about the entertainment value of the character or supposed lack thereof. There has been NO discussion of what Tara represents in our society. With three strikes against her–woman, black, poor, she represents the oppressed, the exploited, and the reviled. Even as a fictional character the Poor Black Woman just can’t catch a break.
“Even as a fictional character the Poor Black Woman just can’t catch a break.”
There has been much condemnation about the anger she displayed, but little about her strengths.
Sookie is condemned because she showed little or no reaction to the abuses she has suffered and Tara is condemned because she was righteously hurt, frightened even enraged. Do viewers expect a formula for how a victim of rape, kidnapping, force fed a drug is supposed to react?
Apparently, however they react they must remain pretty [no quivering lips or wonky eyebrows allowed], entertaining, and maintain a sparkling personality throughout.
It makes me wonder how these people treat real victims of extreme abuse. Actually, I don’t have to wonder. They are disbelieved, ridiculed, and marginalized by our ‘society’.
Amen. I have seen too many abused/rape victims whose cases were never pursued for the most ridiculous reasons including a ten year old girl that I had to remove gravel from her vagina whose case was never pursued because it would be too traumatic to testify in court.Too many times these cases are
written off because the circumsta nces are judged too ambiguous, that the victim asked for it. If I may also comment(medical issues
Oops got cut off. Can’t keep up on sites due to health problems. Has there been any discussion that even before getting bill’s blood after the shooting, once she had Eric’s blood she is worried about defending Bill? I have been asking myself if she is conditioned to respond to Bill’s influence when receiving any vampire blood as a precaution against Eric’s blood influencing her to be more attached to Eric than Bill.
So sad maryalma, and so depressingly true. I personally know of two children who were turned away from the criminal justice system under similar circumstances.
So glad to hear from you again. I’ve seen your recent e-mail but my computer has been out of commission for so long–just got it back last night– I’m having to sort through hundreds, it seems.
Bet I got you beat, 17,000+ in my inbox. I have pretty much written it off as a lost cause.
I hear ya.
You changed your name! That’s why your comment got hung up in moderation.
Didn’t mean to but using new keyboard app and made an error. Sorry.
Don’t sweat it. I’ve had more keyboard problems this last week or so while my computer was in the shop. I can’t see or type on my Blackberry and my husband’s laptop keys annoy me no end.
Hi Sunny…Tell me I’m nuts, but I just watched the YouTube version of the Tara shooting. Someone from outside the window shot Tara???? The glass is blowing in from the small window behind her. If it had been Debbie’s shot the glass would have been going the other way.
Indeed Hootiecat–check out this gif:
http://i55.tinypic.com/2m3si76.gif
We see that Tara is facing AWAY from Debbie yet the BACK of her head is blown out. This. is. impossible. A blow-out like that could only have come from a shot from the front. Shades of the Kennedy assassination. Here is part of our discussion of this issue at the TAP forum:
http://www.ancientpythoness.com/forum/episode-by-episode/4-12-and-when-i-die/page-30/
Bottom line, Debbie was the Oswald/Sirhan Patsy fall guy. In both historical instances the fall guy was in the wrong position to have fired the fatal shots.
Kennedy was shot with a rifle small point of entry and the blowout is at the back of his head. Tara was shot with a shotgun…which splatters at the point of impact the closer the victim, at the back of Tara’s head. Tara was shot through that small window with a shotgun. Debbie was holding a shotgun as well. The glass splatter is coming into the house, so Tara was shot by a person outside that is unknown at this point….bill anyone.
Why not get rid of the one sane friend Sookie has left.
Right, Debbie’s shotgun would have blasted Tara’s head to smithereens at that close range. Tara was shot with an assault rifle, leaving a neat entry but a huge blowout exit. Like with Marnie.
Was it Bill? Not personally, no, but he had it done.
Patrick= ghost from Terry’s past. He’s a ‘handler’ called in by Bill to do a little ‘clean up operation’.
Terry=sharpshooting Manchurian Candidate.
Is there a frame by frame of that particular gif? I’ve stared at it for so long my eyes are crossed.
None that I know of BG. The only thing for it is to keep rewinding the scene and advancing it frame by frame. [sounds terrible until you realize millions of people have done that with the Zapruder film.]
Yah, I’ve seen those frame by frame of the Zapruder film on various documentaries and it’s gruesome. Thanks for trying anyway.
Bringing it down her maryalma:
“once she had Eric’s blood she is worried about defending Bill? I have been asking myself if she is conditioned to respond to Bill’s influence when receiving any vampire blood as a precaution against Eric’s blood influencing her to be more attached to Eric than Bill.”
Yes, I think Bill plotted to get his blood into her again so as to counteract Eric’s donation. On top of which, we’ve noted before how Bill’s influence is much stronger at night. This was never more clearly illustrated than in the season 3 finale when Fairy Sookie came out in the full light of day and slapped the shit out of Bill. By that evening she was ready to forgive and forget Bill going on a killing spree, running after him and begging him to stay.
Also, I meant to add that it seems to take a while for the blood to take effect. The lag between Feisty Sookie in Fangtasia when she’d just had Bill’s blood again is similar to the lag you are talking about. Yes, she’d just had Eric’s blood but it wasn’t given time enough to take effect before Bill interrupted the cycle by having her shot.
I also think he has a trigger word along the lines of “for your safety and protection.” Seems like she almost has a physical reaction to those words.
““for your safety and protection.””
These are the same trigger words used on US. Big Brother threats us with the same attitude as Bill treats Sookie–our ‘protectors’ are also crypto-fascist, patriarchal, arrogant tyrants who care not a whit for our personal sovereignty and who think they are better equipped to make our decisions for us.