Modern Vampires and Racism? Does True Blood go too far or not far enough?

In true blood, there is much symbolism and references between the criticisms and persecution that vampires face in “Today’s” world and the plight of an African American during the civil rights movement. The TV show has heavy symbolism and images that it uses to push this seemingly plausible agenda of making vampires suffer like African American’s during the civil rights movement. There is also a lot of connections made between the vampires and homosexuality, phrases like coming out of the coffin are obvious throwbacks o coming out of the closet etc. and though initially, the show tries to play up the necessity for equality and the rights issues for vampires, it falls short of really tackling the symbolism and comparison. The show teases the audience of being about a racial issue, but at the end of the day or in this case episode, this is still about Sookie and Bill.

The plight of the vampires is making a pretty large leap to compare itself to the plight of an African American during the civil rights movement. The struggles were much harder and dangerous to overcome than it is for vampires. For one thing, vampires can pass for human if they need to, an African American cannot pass for white to escape persecution. For another, when Vampires publicly came forward, they did so in a time where things like the civil rights movement already happened, and society already has laws in place to prevent such things like that form reoccurring. This is not to minimize the persecutions of vampires in the series, but to compare it to the civil rights movement is unfair. Its like comparing apples to oranges, both of them are fruit but neither are the same.

This is probably why HBO never jumps in to these similarities head first, it just isn’t the same struggle for vampires as it was and is for African Americans. The show is still about a love story at the end of the day and making it a civil rights issue, although it would be interesting, it would take away from the story. People watch True Blood because it’s a raunchy adult romance story with vampires, and to make it into a show about race and rights would be to make it into a different show. I think the show doesn’t delve enough into the race and civil rights issues, but I think it does so out of knowledge that, although those are serious issues, its not what the core of the show is about, and to change that would be to take away from the work of the author who wrote the series. True Blood is about vampires who fall in love with humans, and that’s why the show doesn’t stray too far from the plot of the novels.

The Issue with Colored and Foreign Characters

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.





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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.