On True Blood and Escalation

Spoiler for the end of True Blood season 6 in here somewhere (let's put something right here).

Suppose that will help with my female audience.

With the end of the sixth season of True Blood, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the season and the series as a whole.  I should start out by restating I have not read any of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, so this post will avoid my trend of "but in the book..."QQing.  

The True Blood series went to the George R.R. Martin school of escalation.  In the beginning you take a story that is mostly grounded in some form of reality - with some *slight* twists - and over the course of many seasons or books or what have you, the amount of "magic" that exists in the world escalates.  In Game of Thrones (book one of ASoIaF), we barely get a taste of white walkers, the dire wolves are just pups, and dragons don't appear until the very end of the book/season.  As the story moves forward we get the addition of dragons, warging, giants, white walkers, red priests, etc.  So, how did True Blood follow this path?

Season One:  Yes, there are vampires, and yes Sookie is a telepath, but the story is really about Rene.  Push comes to shove, season one is a human season.

Season Two:  Eric and Godric, the anti-vampire church, Bill and Sookie - Season two really focuses in on the vampire aspect of the True Blood universe.

Season Three:  Werewolves.

Season Four:  Witches.

Season Five:  Back to vampires, but now we have a developed vampire Authority.

Season Six:  Vampire God.  Faerie Vampire.  Fae.  

Which leads the show to where it's heading: Season seven - the aftermath of the release of hepatitis V.  Did this setup not look like True Blood jumping on the zombie bandwagon?  

Pitcher:  We want zombies in next season.

Executive:  I don't know.  There's a lot shows with zombies in them these days.

Pitcher:  Wait.  I got it.  Vampire zombies.

Executive:  Shit, now we're talking.  Go on.

The problem with this escalation - if it's not done carefully it can come across as over-the-top.  GRRM was very careful not to slap the reader in the face with the fantastic elements of his universe.  He made the story about his characters.  The "magic" becomes a tool to further those characters' stories.  True Blood I think has a tendency to cross that line into the camp-zone with all the sub-plots.  There can no longer be simple human sub-plots in the True Blood universe.  No, there needs to be witches, fire/smoke demons, shifters, voodoo masters, were-leopards, gods, clairvoyance, fae, mediums, ghosts, etc. etc. etc.  All of this is on top of the extreme personality humans in the anti-vampire church/government.  

What True Blood does though, is keep at least one story-line interesting.  Ok, so Sam's girlfriend dies, and here's another chick, and now she's pregnant, and there's werewolves out to get them, but not this one werewolf, and who cares anymore?  But, systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored, persecution and murder of vampires in small-town Louisiana; that's interesting.  There's always that one element within the overarching season that keeps me coming back.  I'll expect the vampire-zombie apocalypse to be no different.  

On Vampires

As far as I am aware, it all started with True Blood.  Some HBO executive had read the Sookie Stackhouse novels and thought "I can sell this to the public." And he did.  I can't remember any other serial television show that delved so far into "serious" fantasy territory (sitcoms (The Munsters and The Addams Family, etc.) don't count).  This helped in opening the door to Game of Thrones, and for that, we should be thankful (but that's beside the point).  

I want to like True Blood if only because it is the fantasy television we have.  The concept of vampires coming out of hiding and attempting to acclimate into human culture was intriguing.  The potential of clashes between vampires stuck in "the old ways" and those willing to meld with human ethos, clashes between humans accepting and revolting, power struggles in political arenas; there is so much potential in the show (I understand much is derived from novel, but I have not read any and likely never will, so will be referring to all plot, etc. as "the show").  I even accepted Sookie's telepathy, giving the lead character a twist without making her indestructible.  The series had potential to succeed where the Blade series failed, encompassing political, religious, moral drama.  Instead they gave us faeries.  

Deus ex machina.

I wanted to like True Blood because, let's face it, vampires are interesting.  With the current popularity of vampire fiction, they are also an archetype you cannot escape in some form.

I must warn you, I have hidden my "man" card where you will never find it, so you cannot take it away when I say that I have seen all of the Twilight movies (I'm married, I think it's a requirement).  Not my cup of tea.  Stephenie Meyer took vampires and gave them her own twist.  I can respect that, and maybe I would appreciate it more if I was 20 years younger and female (or perhaps 10 years older and female).  I understand at their roots, vampire stories were love stories.  If I am not going to have monsters, at least give me politics.  But alas, Twilight is nothing more than a weak romance.

On a side note, why do so many vampire-centric shows/movies/books need to include werewolves?

Oh, Lestat.  Anne Rice wrote love, religion, moral dilemma.  She wrote vampires from the 18th century through modern times.  She wrote vampires in love with vampires, vampires in love with humans, humans in love with vampires.  No one sparkled.  Did I love Interview?  Not necessarily.  I find it still holds as one of the better portrayals of vampires in modern media.  Plus it's "still a better love story than Twilight." 

So, Szever, what vampires do you prefer?

30 Days of Night (the comics, not the subpar movie adaptation) changed everything for me.  

Synopsis:  In a sleepy, secluded Alaska town called Barrow, the sun sets and doesn't rise for over thirty consecutive days and nights.  From the darkness, across the frozen wasteland, an evil will come that will bring the residents of Barrow to their knees.  The only hope for the town is the Sheriff and Deputy, husband and wife, who are torn between their own survival and saving the town they love.  

The synopsis doesn't do the story justice, which includes love, morality, vampire politics.  However, this is horror.  Ben Templesmith's art is frightening, and the vampires are ruthless.