Welcome me back to my blog. It's rather dusty around here. But I have risen from the dead and returned, once again, to spread my bi-queer sexual fluidity all around these parts.
To wit: I have never seen HBO's wildly successful and critically acclaimed series, True Blood, in all its gory glory. I haven't had cable since 2007 and since I started reviewing live theater in Chicago as of April last year, I haven't even been watching that much TV.
That's quite a confession for a former TV-holic.
However, last fall, during an extended stay at a local hotel, I caught the series in reruns and was sucked in--to say the least. Now I wonder how much money I can budget in order to get the complete DVD releases of, not only Mad Men (to which I'm utterly enslaved), but also True Blood.
Deborah Sampson, of the New York Times, interviews Charlaine Harris, author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries upon which True Blood is based. Harris's own experience of LGBT down in Arkansas has clearly informed her writing:
"In terms of values, your characters are fairly progressive.
Most of my vampires have experimented with other sexualities. Eric, Sookie’s lover, was turned into a vampire by a male vampire who had a sexual relationship with him for many years. Pam is bisexual. Lafayette is gay.
As a married woman with three children who lives in small-town Arkansas, how did you get so interested in bisexual vampires?
Honestly, I don’t know. Gay rights is just one of the social issues I’m interested in. I think that people might be less tense about it if we would all accept the fact that not everyone is wired the same way. I have a lot of friends who are gay, so it’s kind of a natural thought progression.
There are that many gays in rural Arkansas?
You would be surprised.
Are you bisexual?
No. I’m sorry. I’m just not that interesting. "
Catch the full interview here.
I love True Blood because it is Southern Gothic decadence at its randiest, campiest, and most dangerous. It's not just the vamps. Witches arrive on the Southern scene and tear up its sensual evenings of music, beer and bbq with unleashed bacchanalian delight and terror.
Yeah, baby. I may worry about Harris and her small Episcopalian community being surrounded by hard-nosed, Bible-thumping Southern Baptists, but I don't hate everything about the South. In some ways, those bubbas might have it better than an uptight Northerner like me when it comes to acting on desires. Or so I like to imagine.
Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series, came out bisexual in a few PSAs for wegiveadamn.org. I'm sure quite a few very intelligent and up-to-date OS members are aware that Anna's participation and surprise coming out (surprising to us, anyway) crashed We Give A Damn's site on the first day the PSA was released.
Anna's bisexual coming out adds some teeth to its 4th season, n'est-ce pas?
Now all we need are some bonafide lesbian vamps on True Blood. At least, this article at AfterEllen suggests that producer Alan Ball, though gay, has trouble letting the toothy lesbian vampires staying consistently attached to the ladies. Now, Alan, don't forget to include everybody.
I have quite a lot to say about Anna's coming out and the public response to it--and I won't just stick to silly vampire puns. Suffice it to say, right now I am so proud of my bisexual community's statement of support for Anna Paquin. Written by my friend Faith Cheltenham, Vice President at BiNet USA, you can read their press release here.
I love it when a bi coming out comes together for the whole country. And I love it that a straight woman in rural Arkansas makes it big as an author by writing complex and out-there queer characters, inspired by her community interaction with local gay friends. That is revolution.
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Comments
Now, I'm off to see some theater. Will answer more responses when I get back.
@aliciasaxearts--Anna P. is indeed engaged to her co-star, Stephen Moyer, who plays vampire Bill Compton on the series. Bill apparently was turned by a male vampire he had an affair with for years before he went on to other vamp adventures.
@Jack--I agree with you. Nosferatu, whose image begins the piece, is the traditional concept of a vampire--grizzly, ugly, inhuman, and not sexy at all.
But the image of the vampire changed in Western Europe, beginning in the early 19th century. The men responsible for the change? George Lord Byron, bisexual poet pop idol, and his personal physician Dr. Polidori. His 1819 short story "The Vampyre" was based on his experiences with Byron's personality. I will have to write about it in greater depth.