Lara Özlen

10934050
MED 213
S. Yücel

Concepts of “Normal” and “Abnormal” in True Blood

During the presentation, I aim to highlight the True Blood's effect on our understanding of

normality. This final report will contain the thing I couldn't properly do in my presentation. Since it

is a serie that contains five seasons, it is hard for me to distinguish and cover all crossings from

normality to “abnormalalities/margins.” Therefore I will try to speficy each category of

“subversion” on different character, so that it will be less messy unlike the presentation. Categories

of that conflict I meant here, could be exemplified as these: heterosexual-homosexual, polygamy-

monogamy, liberal-oppresser, good-evil, conservative-open minded and even human-vampire. In

the show, these boundaries keep changing and shifting into each other. Liberal becomes oppresser,

evil becomes good vice versa.

For the shift between heterosexual-homosexual I will use the example of Reverend Newlin. It is

also important to highlight that “traditional” monogamous relationship becomes subverted by

Sookie's statement to Bill and Eric. Shift between liberal-oppresser could be exemplified with the

case of Eric. For the huge shift between good and evil, multiple examples could be found but my

focus will be on Bill's case. And for the last one, Jason's shift from “vampire hater” to “vampire

lover” can be interpreted as an exampke for conservative-open minded opposition. For the shift

between human to vampire I aim to exemplify Tara's situation.

As a starter I tried to talk about the main subject of the serie. In a southern village in

America (Bon Temps) where everyone seems “normal,” middle-class and patriotic, vampires come

out of their coffins and start to fight for their rights, “mainstreaming” as serie puts it, in order to be

treated normal and equal. Of course in both sides there are oppositions to their act. Eventhough

everything seems “normal” every corner of the town contains new supernatural beings such as

maenads, vampires, warewolves, fairies, warepanters.

Our main character, Sookie is portrayed in a similar way with Buffy (Buffy The Vampire Slayer).
These two is like mirroring each other in a reverse way. Because altough Sookie constantly

highlights that “she's simple waitress, she's not special”; Buffy was very opposite to that, she was

the “one.” But both of these series are using the blonde, stupid girl prototype and invert it by

making them smart heroines. An affair starts between Sookie and a vampire (Bill).

Society we live in, undeniably bases on norms. Norms that cannot be changed and ruled us for

centuries. In True Blood's world, being a heterosexual, white and “human” is enough to be normal

in that sense. What is perceived as abnormal/marginal is vampires who try to gain their equal rights

as citizens. Their fight for equal rights can be interpreted as “[...]acceptance of so-called “alternative

lifestyles”—it’s about tolerance and integration of many kinds[...].”(Tyree, 2009, p.32)

Season 1, first episode starts with mainstreaming politics of vampire society. Head of the

vampire comitee overcomes human associate by pointing out the dirty history of humanbeings.

From the first moment, we are forced to think both sides of this fight. Human-beings may not be as

good as we think. Scene continues wtih two teenagers getting into a petrol station in order to find

vampire blood (which we have been explained later that it functions as some kind of a drug for

humans). There are two guys in the store and we tend to think guy with long hair and gothic

accessories as vampire, and he talks like one. Tension rises between the guy and teenagers and

chubby guy gets involved. But it turns out, chubby guy who buys True Blood (synthetic, artificial

blood) is the real vampire.

After the information about general structure I would like to step into shift between heterosexuality

and homosexuality. For that, Reverend Newlin's situation becomes the perfect example because it

also becomes subversion in conservatism. Newlin is a religious person who gathers people around

to fight against vampires (Season 2, Episode 5). Obviously he tries to build an army, and he is

successful with it. But it turns out a disaster. In the beginning of the 5th season Newlin appears at

Sookie's brother's (Jason) door as a vampire. He performs a coming out speech and declares his love

to Jason. In this sequence Newlin has been punished (by karma or producers of the show) because

of his hatred against vampires. He becomes the thing he hated most in both aspects: vampires and
gay people. And he seems comfortable and compatible with the situation.

Related to the issue of “sexualities” which subject brought me, it is equally important to talk

about Sookie, Bill and Eric's unconventional love. After Eric has been put under a spell by a wiccan

group, loses his memory. He starts everything from a scracth and wins Sookie's heart. The

“evil”ness of Eric is out of question after that point. In 4th season 5th episode, Eric has a dream about

biting Sookie and goes into her room. We're not sure about the intention, Sookie calms him down.

Sookie keeps saying “it's not like you, you're more annoying, selfish and violent in general,” he

answers “I would never harm someone as beautiful as you”. Situation should lead us to think that,

being “evil” or being vampire could be learned concepts, matter of repetitive acts. It doesn't mean

becoming a vampire would make you automatically “evil”. Being evil is a process that have to be

learned from other members, elders of that society.

Even Sookie was broken up with Bill, she seems still confused about the situation. At the end of 4th

season, Sookie tells Bill and Eric that she loves them both while they wore identical robes. This

scene is important because it subverts the necessity of monogamy. A woman does it's decleration.

Of course it is important to highlight that Sookie as a strong woman, is the one who decides and

declares that. Thus she destroys the general “mis”understanding which states “women have to be

monogamous” while men don't have to be. At that sequence, identical robes help us perceive them

like they're the same person or the mirror effect of each other. Similarly when the concept of family

considered, it is important to highlight that everything functions different for the vampire world. At

the first episode of season 5, Eric and Bill has taken in by authority because they were planning to

rebel against them. One of the guardians turned out to be Eric's step sister (because they have the

same maker, apperantly). They start to kiss passionately and have sex. Family concept as we know

obviously, functions very different in the vampire world.

Eric appears in True Blood as a figure of authority for the first time in season 1, episode 4.

He functions as some kind of a governer for the area of Bon Temps, who takes his power from the

vampire authority. In the first sequence we see him, he sits on a crown in the bar he owned.
Moreover, everybody respects him. He sells vampire blood under the counter, torchers and kills

people. At the beginning of season 4, we can perceive Eric's radical change. After he recovered his

memory, he becomes more emphatical wtih human beings and vampires and less collaborative with

the authority. He even helps Bill to kill one of the most important figures of authority. Especially in

the 5th season, while Bill is high with his and his authority's power over human beings, Eric fights

against them. In the end good-hearted Bill as we know becomes the slave of the power.

In the show, as I mentioned earlier, there are no strict lines, definitions for anything.

Especially division between good and evil constantly changes, since being “good” means being

human, and evil means being vampire. People may become vampires, willingly or unwillingly.

Bill's “progeny” Jessica could be an example for the unwilling transformation. Before she turned

into a vampire, she could be perceived as a “good” middle class conservative. Bill as one of the

most celebrated characters with his gentleman attitude and his aristocratic love, is the last person

who can shift to the “dark-evil” side in that sense. From the very beginning we perceived him as the

“good” vampire that everyone would trust. He protects the girl he loves, he tries to stay out of

vampire schemes i.e. try to “humanize” himself. But on the contrary to all of these, at the end of the

third season, we learn that Bill is into a bigger scaled scheme. It turns out Bill was sent to Sookie by

vampire queen, in order to figure out “what” she is. Layers between truth and lie starts to shift. If

you cannot trust the man you loved the most, who are you going to trust? Later on, we perceive that

from the beginning of the 4th season, Bill starts to change. Bill's shift happens to correspond to the

same time period which he becomes the king of his district. Clearly True Blood, allegorizes evilness

of power/authority with Bill, i.e. power changes people, it's a part of being “human” (or vampire in

this case). In the 5th season, Bill becomes a passionate supporter/lover of vampire authority. Eric and

Bill sneak into vampire authority's base. It is also important to highlight that, authority was once

pasifist and supported “mainstreaming.” After the head of them is dead, they all started to act more

radical who support violent acts against humans. By killing one by one, Bill becomes the leader of

them. They all believe in Lilith's rising for them to rule the world. At first both Eric and Bill were
suspicious about the situation, but at the end Bill gives up to the power. He drinks the Lilith's sacred

blood and explodes. The very last episode finishes with Bill's rebirth after his explosion as pure

evilness.

From the first season, True Blood contains countless people who are against vampire's

existence, thus we see that every season they do whatever they can when they have the opportunity.

Related to that issue, Sookie was portrayed as an ousider, “weirdo” by the town people when she

first involved with Bill. Since there is a close encounter between villagers and vampires (more

specifically Bill) step by step people start to change their thoughts/feelings about the situation. They

may function as super heroes for the people occasionally, like when they fight against warewolves,

wiccans, serial killers. In fact, Sookie and Bill's relationship becomes approved by the people in the

town after he rescues her from a serial killer (12th episode of the first season). Three women who

assumingly had a relationship with vampires got killed and people suspect from the vampires. All

these murders of course designed to make spectator also suspect from vampires. But surprisingly

serial killings have nothing to do with vampires. In fact generally in the show when vampires kill,

we can perceive them on the action. Humanbeings are one's who sneak up on each other. By this

way we are assured about humanbeings “dark nature”. From the very first season we are warned

about humanbeings because they can be serial killers, they may have secrets and they may hurt us.

What looks normal should be suspected at the first place.

Correspondingly, Jason is one the conservatives and he is against vampires. In the first

season, he discovers his girlfriend has been with a vampire and becomes obsessed about this. After

his grandmother's death, he joins to Newlin's religious organization (Season 2) and becomes a

radical. Until he falls in love with a vampire, he remains pretty conservative. At season 4, he falls in

love with his best friend's lover and the two have got involved. After that point Jason starts to act

more mature and crosses to the “other side,” where the all adventure, love and passion happens.

Similar to Jason, after her failed relationships with different men in town (one is her boss

Sam, one is a vampire and the one she loved the most was shot by accident) Tara also believes that
evilness spreads from the vampire kind. Moreover “men” kind. At the first episode of the 4th season

we discover Tara moved out from the town and became a lesbian. As we can see, issue of sexual

orientation is a slippery surface, one can never be sure about it. Actually Tara goes through two kind

of crossings similar to Newlin: one is from heterosexual to lesbian, other is human to vampire. At

the first episode of 5th season, Tara has been shot and Sookie wanted vampires to “turn her” in

order not to lose her. Because vampires are the things she hated the most, Tara gets furious about

her transition. Again, True Blood tells us that unexpected things may occur thus it is better not to

say “never.” In this world nothing can be distinguished as black and white.

Like humanbeings, vampires have homosexual/lesbian relationships. But they appear more

conventional -normal than they are in human world. At least transitions between orientations are

more conventional. On the other hand, at 4th season, first episode, we cen see that Tara's lesbian

relationship is harrased on the street. But it may be also interconnected to lesbianisms eroticisation

by men.

Generally in True Blood, narrative reveals one thing at a time, it's not possible to know

everything. That's why nothing is what it seems like in the reality. Essense of “truth” remains intact

in that sense. What is the truth about a person character? What is the reality about one's sexual

orientation, or ideology? We can never be certainly sure about these issues since human nature stays

obcure in many ways. Because more you dig more you come across to new layers. Everyone can be

everything. True Blood at the end, leaves the spectator with shifting layers of characters, incidents

which creates the feeling of “unsafety” and reveal nothing about the “reality.”
Sources:

Tyree, J., M., 2009. Warm-Blooded: True Blood and Let the Right One In. Film Quarterly, 63 (2),
pp. 31-37

Wilcox, R., ed. 2011. Studies In Popular Culture. Popular Culture Association In The South, 33 (2)

Dhaenens, F., 2013. The Fantastic Queer: Reading Gay Representations in Torchwood and True
Blood as Articulations of Queer Resistance, Critical Studies in Media, pp. 1-14