This paper will examine issues surrounding membership and movement between spheres of citizenship in the HBO series True Blood. The show focuses on the fictional northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps and the way in which the revelation of the existence of vampires effects the lives of its residents – particularly Sookie Stackhouse, a mind reader and lifelong social outcast who is quickly drawn in to romantic and political entanglements with the undead. The vampires of True Blood have recently “come out of the coffin,” announcing their existence to the world following the successful creation of synthetic human blood that means they are no longer required to drink the blood of the living to survive. The show follows the numerous conflicts that result from interactions between the human and vampire spheres ranging from the political – in which vampires petition world governments to recognize them as citizens (and their rights to vote, marry, and own property) and are met with resistance from political and social conservatives – to the violently personal (including beatings, kidnappings, and murder on both sides). This paper will explore the theoretical implications of the few characters that attempt to claim citizenship within both the vampire and human realms, and the strategies for affirming or discrediting that citizenship, as well as an examination of the larger implications of those transgressions. Using theorists such as Warner and Berlant, this paper will also examine the way in which vampire society functions as a counterpublic to mainstream human culture while exerting hegemonic control over its own members.
About the presenterCaroline Guthrie
Caroline Guthrie is a Ph.D. student in Cultural Studies at George Mason University, where she studies Gender and Popular Culture. Her previous work includes the article, “Walt Disney World: Marxism and Myth Creation.” She received her M.A. in Media, Culture and Communication from New York University.