We have seen many examples in True
Blood where colored people are ridiculed, stereotyped, or even humiliated. It
seems to be a common thing in vampire shows and movies like True Blood and
Dracula to make foreigners and people of color into laughable or ridiculed
characters. Perhaps this can translate into society’s feeling about foreign invasion
and the still existing racial issues in our country.
To start off, a plethora of examples can be
found in True Blood. Lafayette? Let’s make him flamboyant, drag-queen-like,
sassy, a drug dealer, and openly gay. 
http://25.media.tumblr.com/5898d420d5cf74300c5d22652370be9f/tumblr_mgzzqfM3nK1rzhkiyo1_500.gif
Tara? She is your typical angry
black woman with an attitude who tells it like it is. She puts her hand on her
hip almost constantly and is very bossy. Rene is another foreign character who
isn’t as easily considered as an outsider, but by all means, he definitely is.
His Cajun accent is very prominent when he speaks and he’s pretty tan even for
a Louisiana native. How is he degraded? For one, he’s the main villain and a
serial killer. That can be a quick way to demoralize your character. The last
character I want to mention is Amy Burley, Jason’s hippie love interest. Yes,
she isn’t a person of color, but she is an outsider by the show’s standards due
to her educational background. No one in the show has been portrayed as having
any education and sadly, most characters
aren’t too civilized to begin with. Throughout the show, Amy is constantly
ridiculed by the things she says, which ironically come from her educational
background. To make matters worse, it is eventually revealed that she is
completely psycho and bloodthirsty (pun intended) for “V”.
In Dracula, it is apparent that the
comedic relief is Quincy Morris, the Texan. What a surprise. He isn’t portrayed
as the brightest character in the cast and that can easily be seen by the
completely stereotyped remarks he makes with his very thick attempt at a Texan
accent. He’s exactly what outsiders would think of when they think “Texas.” He’s
a gun-slinging, mustache-wearing, rough Texan who isn’t very smart and offers
violence as the main source for solutions. It is not a coincidence that he
happens to die at the end of the movie. Is this an elimination of foreign
invasion? Probably.
To conclude, I feel that it is very
apparent that foreigners are not the main focus in Vampire shows and movies. I
believe that part of the reason for writers and directors doing this is that
they want to comply with society’s views on race and foreign invasion.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t specifically target this demographic.
It's interesting that you point out Rene as an outsider, particularly when he so strongly identifies with the stereotypes most of us consider when thinking of a "real Cajun man". Rene belongs in Louisiana and Bon Temps more than anyone, but it is reasonable to say he is othered in the tv show just because he isn't porcelain white and perky. In the actual book though, he seems to be constructed as a good ole' southern boy just like any of the men from Bon Temps. I think this could have been done to point out that we often don't associate ourselves with the danger and hate our people extend towards others. We tend to overlook the fact that someone "just like me" is the real adversary, the real criminal, in exchange for placing blame on others whose loyalty is already in question because they are an outsider.
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