The main character of Charlaine Harris’s, Dead until Dark, has no best friend. She’s a freak around the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps because of her ability to read minds (but she’s “not psychic!!!”) and she lives with her grandma. What is poor lil Sookie Stackhouse to do in the HBO series adaptation True Blood? Enter Tara Mae. Tara is Sookie’s only best (black) friend. Tara has lived a hard life, as seen in multiple parts in season one of the show. Flashbacks are shown of her alcoholic, abusive mother as Tara runs to Sookie’s Gran’s house for safety and shelter. Her father is not in the picture. This is all perhaps supposed to explain her anger all the time. Tara yells at anyone for the slightest things and makes everyone around her at Merlotte’s uncomfortable with her attitude.

More so than the best friend role, Tara is the Angry Black Woman. The writers of the show couldn’t have just made Tara a normal woman who treats Sookie like the overdramatic child she is. They had to make Tara the one who takes the backseat to Sookie’s shenanigans, lusts after her loser brother, Jason, (WHY?) and not a smart, strong, hardworking woman like Tiana from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (2009). In real life, Tara would be the one who owns the bar and is successful and has a loving, supportive relationship with whoever she wants.

Tara has moments where she really shines through. Truthfully, she’s the only one on the show with any amount of acting ability. Sookie and Bill are so hard to watch most of the time, but let’s not get me started on that. Any time Tara attempts to make the plotline even somewhat focus on her, Sookie steals the scene and starts making it about herself and inevitably turns the subject to a boy problem, forcing the show to fail the Bechdel test. We haaaaaaate Sookie. I really wish Tara was given more screen time in the first season. I also wish Sookie was given far less screen time, but it is what it is.

The Angry Black Woman stereotype is not a new thing, by any means. It happened to Nicki Minaj when she was reportedly in a feud with Taylor Swift over who knows what. In media outlets, Taylor and Nicki would be shown side to side with Taylor getting a nice calm, normal red carpet picture and Nicki getting an unattractive, mouth wide open, “angry” picture. It was clear what the purpose was. Several people called the various media outlets out on their biases, but I don’t remember if any of them responded or changed the pictures. It’s not fair. There doesn’t need to be an Angry Black Woman. We’re all friends here. 

Ted Cruz: Zodiac Killer or Vampire?

Unfortunately, it looks to me like Ted Cruz might be our next president. I am not basing this belief on how he is doing in the polls, or how he compares to his opponents. No, I am basing this solely on the fact that he is a vampire (though he would have you believe otherwise, the sneaky little shit).

Many of you may have heard the popular joke that’s going around about how Ted is the Zodiac Killer. “Now, that doesn’t make any sense,” you might be saying to yourself as you scroll through the Internet. “He was born right after the killer stopped.” To most people, it seems pretty obvious that he is not the killer. You may even be one of those people. But I want you to think about it. How convenient is it that he was “born” only months after the last known attacks by the killer. Was he really born? Or could he have faked a childhood and charmed some parents (figuring that vampires have that ability) into thinking they had had a grown son. Of course after that he had to fake a birth certificate (Canadian of course, those pesky American ones can be difficult, what with the Birthers and all that).

But that’s not all.

Just look at him. Look at his face.

Does he seem like he’s having a good time? No. His face suggests that he is in a state of perpetual discomfort. He is struggling through life in the public’s eye, where he is unable to drink blood as freely as he desires. Just imagine being constantly surrounded by delicious milkshakes/whatever-yummy-drink, that you could not consume.

Also, do his values really seem to have kept up with those of the 21^st century? Many conservatives even feel that he has gone too far back in time. This would not be unlike other vampires, who tend to get stuck in whatever time period they turned in.

You may be asking yourself, “Why on earth would any of this mean that Ted Cruz is going to be the next president?” Let me tell you why. There is a theory that every US president, from Andrew Johnson onward has been a vampire (though, lets be honest, Andrew Jackson does look at least a little vampy). The story goes that there was once a Portuguese sailor on a whaling ship who decided to kill two men and drink their blood while at sea (cough cough, just like Dracula did). He was declared a vampire, and after his arrest, President Johnson decided to pardon him of his crimes. Now, why on earth would the President do such a thing? The sailor was clearly deranged and dangerous, so why should he be pardoned? It seems to me that the answer is pretty realistic and obvious: they were vamp bros! Prezy Johnson had to have his pal’s back. 

Ever since then, there has been a chain of vampire presidents. My theory is that secretly—as part of the inauguration ritual, of course—the past president turns the new one into a vamp (with a few exceptions, do you really think they’d let W become a vampire? LOL). 

Sookie? Who, Sookie?

     Sookie Stackhouse is the main character... we can't really change that. But, maybe the director of True Blood had to do something about it. Let's face it, that girl needs to read the book first because crying over leftovers of her dead Grandma's pecan pie doesn't win her any fans. However, we do have the director to thank for making the changes that he does for the first season of True Blood!
     Between Dead Until Dark and True Blood, we can see a numerous amount of differences. Since the book follows Sookie's life and everything is seen through her perspective, we don't really get the chance to peer into the lives of her brother or any of the other supporting characters. Of course, the show has some down sides like projecting the vampire blood as an illegal drug that forces the characters to go through lots of trouble to obtain, and making Jason seem like a really dumb southern boy, but even these parts are pretty entertaining! Sookie does need some (more like a lot) of work as a main character, but since she gets about half the screen time as she did in the book, this gives the audience a chance to enjoy the other stories going on. For example, the situation Tara is going through with her abusive, alcoholic mother is emotional and causes us to actually feel something. Another character's story we dive further into is Lafayette's. We get to see every side of this character, from throwing an infected burger in a customers' face to an intimate rendezvous with an old vampire for some more V (vampire blood). Both of these characters, which are black, are extremely funny and they add much entertainment to the show in its entirety. #blessforallthatsass
     Some other differences noticed in the show include the effects of V. Adding to the "illegal" connotation of it, we see Jason and his new girlfriend, Amy, practically addicted to how the V affects them. For some reason, this change we see in Jason and Amy is one that we don't see in Sookie, even though she is also drinking the blood from Bill, her vampire boyfriend. Maybe they are trying to show us that the blood from good, metro vampires has beneficial effects ( "true" vampire blood)  and the V obtained through illegal activity has bad effects. Or, since Jason is a possible suspect, he has to experience all the bad sides to drinking V whereas sweet, damsel in distress, Sookie, gets all the good effects... who knows.
     Another very interesting character we delve deeper into is Sam, the shapeshifter. The book does a really good job keeping his identity a secret until early one morning BAM! He wakes up naked next to Sookie. In True Blood, Bill makes a smart comment about Sam "marking his territory," he goes into dead Maudette's bedroom and sniffs to his hearts' content, and he even shows up as a dog in several scenes! #thirstytobebetterthanBill
     We could certainly get into how... interesting... the sex scenes in these couple episodes were... but I think it best to save that for another time. Our minds can only handle so much True Blood and Dead Until Dark.

     With all these plot twists the director places in the show, we are like totally captivated. Now wouldn't it be so much more exciting if the main character was a better Sookie Stackhouse? Yeah, my thoughts exactly...

Dracula or Dexter Morgan?

Dracula could be seen as a blood thirsty creature or even a serial killer. Much like Dracula a certain character from a TV show called Dexter come to mind (spoiler his name is Dexter) … as the show develops we see how obsessed Dexter is with killing, he blames this on his “Dark Passenger” which one could take it to mean his addiction. Both Dracula and Dexter are alike in the sense of killing but they are two completely different serial killers when you look as to why they do it. As we read in Stoker’s Dracula we encountered a monster that killed others for food or simply because he was trying to get revenge. On the other hand, we have Dexter Morgan the serial killer that kills people that are “guilt” or so he says. He goes by a code called “Harry’s Code” which his step father taught him so that he would never get caught. This code involves Dexter alienating himself from people, be careful and the biggest one is to never hurt any innocent person.

 We could actually argue that they are both addicted to blood, Dracula doesn’t really need that much blood to feed and Dexter has to kill people in order to satisfy his urges or else he’s not himself and gets stressed out. According to the definition of the word, addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (e.g., alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (e.g., gambling, sex, shopping) that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work. While Dracula has no work, the addiction interferes with his everyday life, he didn’t have to drain the blood of Lucy but he had to do it so that he could satisfy his needs and also hurt an enemy. Moreover, as we go into how much they resemble each other in their thirst for blood they both do it for a complete different reason. It’s like darkness versus light but in reality they are both darkness… In all reality we could even compare ourselves to Dracula because as a society we are addicted to social media. We tend to never leave our phones alone, we are either checking snapchat, twitter or for those of us cool cats Facebook… Well I am off to satisfy my social media addiction good luck with yours!!

The Color Black in True Blood

While reading Dead Until Dark or the Sookie Stackhouse Novels, the series is narrated by a telepathic waitress, named Sookie, from Louisiana. The novels follow a variety of themes like sex, religion, and race, but the characters within the novel are predominately Caucasian. Aside from the novels, the HBO series True Blood (2008 - 2014) bases itself on similar themes and plot in the first season. One notable and very influential difference from the novels to the show are the main characters Tara Thornton and Lafayette Reynolds. While the novel details a strong discrimination between humans and vampires, the show creates these major characters to not only highlight this racism and discrimination, but to give it a more realistic perspective. The characters also give a voice to the discriminated, adding to the perspective of the oppressed.

First, let’s look at Tara, who is Sookie’s best friend in the show and does not appear in the novels. Being a woman of color in Louisiana, which is not your typical progressive area, she does not follow the stereotypical black person. Shes uses her color to help define herself and also uses her intelligence to feel more superior toward her white characters. Putting Tara in the show really helps it dive into their metaphorical racism between humans and vampires. Without Tara True Blood would not have a foundation for its racism and discrimination to stand on. Ultimately, having Tara as a person of color shows how bigotry affects real people, instead of just using straight metaphors.

Since Bon Temps, where the show mainly takes place, is a very white, conservative area, Tara and Lafayette act as the “others” based on their skin color. While at some points in the show where Tara focuses her aggression on slavery and oppression in her hometown, her vibrant personality and past make her a more complex character. Aside from Tara’s complex character development in the show, she is complimented by her gay cousin, Lafayette. In the show, viewers might assume that Lafayette does not care too much for Sookie’s relationship with Bill. This is not because he himself makes a deal with a vampire to exchange sex for vampire blood, but because he understand what it’s like to be ridiculed for relationships outside the societal norm. While Lafayette and Tara provide various comical scenes throughout the series, both characters are given issues that metaphorically coincide with our culture. Tara serves for the purpose of confronting racism and the trauma of abuse and it’s victims. Whereas with Lafayette, how the show uses the vampires to talk about racism, it also uses vampire human relationships to talk about homophobia. Both characters are invisible or non-existent in the books, but in the show they alone put cultural issues in a more practical context.

Central Themes for the Opening Credits of True Blood

True Blood is based on the Sookie Stackhouse series, which takes place in a small town in Louisiana where vampires are now integrated in society. The series takes on a new twist on the vampire theme; vampires now live among humans however, they are continuously treated as second class citizens. The series symbolizes numerous cultural and historical references to American society, which can be all seen in the opening credits for the TV show True Blood.

In my opinion, True blood has one of the most stunning opening credits. The opening title shows the themes of religion, sex, and racial struggles that are present in the Sookie Stackhouse series as well.  There is a parallel that can be seen with the vampires as social outcasts and how nowadays people of different race or sexual orientation can also be out casted from society. One parallel is when they show the sign for “God Hates Fangs”, which symbolizes the Westboro Baptist Church and how they discriminate against homosexual people with their usual “God Hates Fags” sign. 

Another theme the opening credits of True Blood was trying to focus on was comparing sexual ecstasy with religious ecstasy. There are some scenes which are of women acting promiscuously then it cuts to different women praying vigorously. It seems as if the writers were trying to show a parallel between perversion and then them trying to seek redemption through prayer. The writer is trying to suggest that the belief system of the south was that no matter of what kind of evil or sin was committed last night, it can always be redeemed and you can start anew the next day with all of your sins being forgiven.

                   

There was also multiple archival footage that suggested race related social unrest, similar to how the vampires are feeling while they are living amongst humans. Pictures of KKK members and segregated black only churches hint on the theme of racism in the south.

                    

Another central theme is the vampire representation of as a predator or parasite. Footage on decaying animals, carnivorous plants, and images of bones suggest that vampires can be seen analogous to a supernatural predator, similarly to how nature can be seen as a predator as well (ex: predators eating their prey). Also there is a scene with a possum laying dead on the floor with blood everywhere, which can symbolize how humans are prey to vampires who are easy for them to kill.

Also the opening credits show the Louisiana swamps and the wilderness and cultures of the south to try and symbolize the mind set of its inhabitants. This look into the landscape of Louisiana allows the viewers to see how there is repressed sexual energy paralleled with religious extremists. The credits show that humans can have a certain animalistic lust as well, that gives us beast-like qualities, which can be compared to the similar supernatural beast-like characteristics of vampires.

                        

The Gran-Fic We All Wanted. Well Kind Of.

Authors Notes:

I felt to add continuity, I would attempt to mimic the genius of Charlaine Harris’s writing style.

What have I done….. PS, I wrote it from Sookie's Point of View,  because what is True Blood without Sookie's insightful observations. Oh right. It might actually be good. 

Warnings

Sarcasm.

Like. A lot.

            Everything changed that day he walked into my bar. I knew the second I saw him he was different. He was a vampire.  And I knew I had to get me some of that ice cold man-mutton in just a cotton picking second. My name is Sookie Stackhouse and I am just your average, everyday, normal girl,… who can read minds. Because I guess I’m just an extra special snowflake. I am not saying I am better or prettier than everybody else in this town. I’m just saying I am the most interesting, unique, and gorgeous girl in this town with my yellow sundress with blue polka dots, and white daisies, and my pink cashmere sweater that hits my curves in all the right ways, and gets all the boys’ attention.  

Not that I want their attention.

I’m not that kind of girl.

           

I’m just a good, humble, christian woman who views all people as equal. Except, of coarse, those who don’t look like me and those I don't find attractive.  

Well, enough about me, its now time to talk about my new beau.

So this vampire was named Bill, and I knew the second I saw him, I would get him to notice me.

Senpai would be mine.

I told Gran about my new boo the second I got home. She seamed pretty excited for me. This was probably because I am not one of those girls who has a new man each night.  

 “Awesome. Wow.” She exclaimed and then went back her pie making. After a while she then said something about the civil war, but I didn’t listen. I was too busy planning my wedding to my new sugar bear. “Sookie.” She scolded, which got my attention. “When I talk to you I want you to listen to me.”

Because I am such a good granddaughter, and I love her, I decided to listen. She continued.

“If this vampire is old, he probably remembers the war.” I knew immediately that she meant the civil war. I’m just that smart. She went on. “If he remembers the war, I would like to meet him.”

Time Jump, cause why linger on actual plot content.

I finally convinced Bill to meet Gran. I mean we are practically an item, so he does pretty much anything for me. “I am mighty excited to meet your grandmother Miss Sookie.” Bill drawled and I giggled. 

 “Ohhhh Bill you know how much I love it when you talk all old like.” I flirted, subtly, back.

We entered the house. Then what happened next was… unexpected? “William Compton?” Gran asked, startled, as she looked at my boo-bear.”

Wait.

Does Gran already know my Pumpkin Waffle?

“Sookie, you did not inform me that your grandmother was the lovely Adele Stackhouse.” Bill scolded as he gazed hungrily at Gran. What happened next was an out of body experience for me. They looked longingly into each other’s eyes and then rushed towards each other, their lusting lips becoming one. 

“Ohh Adele, no woman has ever loved me like you loved me.” Bill whispered, seductively into her ear. 

Gran sighed, “Ohh Bill, you make may old woman heart just go flipity-flop.”

Wait. What.

Their passionate kisses continued to escalate as I stood there. Shell Shocked.

“Where.” Bill growled as he bit down on Gran’s neck. 

Gran groaned, “Sookie’s bed. It don’t creak like my old frame does.”

Then they, well, had sex.

Wait. What.

It was at this moment I decided to kill Gran.

So I did.

I just killed those other girls to make Gran's death look like an accident.

PLOT TWIST

Turns out, I am the Serial Killer of Bon Temps, and I bet you didn’t see that one coming. 

Authors Notes:

Obviously nothing in this story is to be taken seriously.  I just really wanted to highlight the flaws in Sookie’s character and Charlaine Harris’s writing style.