A Modern Angel in the House

She may be friends with a vampire but that doesn't mean she's not an angel. In my opinion, Gran is the epitome of what an angel in the house is supposed to be in almost every way. If you recall the poem by Coventry Patmore, a woman's job in Victorian times was to take care of the house and children, wait patiently for her husband to return home and then be completely devoted to his every need. She is kind, patient and makes sacrifices often. While reading Dead Until Dark and watching True Blood, I noticed a parallel between how Gran takes care of Sookie and how ideal Victorian women were supposed to act.

The first introduction to Gran we have in the book is her reading, waiting for Sookie to get home from work even though it's extremely late. Just as an angel in the house should, she continues to do this many times throughout the story to make sure that Sookie comes it home safely, which we all know is an impossible task.

Why did the two best characters have to go?

Almost every time Gran comes up again in the book or show she's doing some kind of domestic task, hanging clothes on the line, cooking or having just cooked a meal, or cleaning. Before her death, Gran was also Sookie's confidant. She supported Sookie emotionally, listening patiently while Sookie talks through her feelings about Bill and everything else that has recently happened in her life. Again, just as a doting wife would her husband, Gran listens to the entirety of Sookie's daily adventures.

Gran is also the most unselfish character in the entire story. She is always looking out for others and making sure they stay well fed with one of her hot meals. In the case of True Blood, she often took care of Tara throughout her childhood along with Sookie and Jason after their parents died. She even disowns her own brother because of what he did to Sookie. She makes sacrifices big and small all the time, just as the poem describes an angel in the house to do.

So what do you think? Does this vampire loving women follow the prescribed characteristics set by Patmore? If Gran somehow ended up in the Victorian time period, I wonder how she would measure up to the other ladies of the time. I definitely believe that she could make some man of the period very happy. If nothing else, I know for sure that her angelic presence was wasted on Sookie Stackhouse.

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.





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.