Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

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Popular Necromancy
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specifically homosexuals and ethnic groups, and in doing so presents an objective
view of the negative attitudes and behaviours directed at these minorities. The
opening credits—a Gothic montage of disturbing images: people caught in the
throes of religious ecstasy, a crazed red neck rocking in a chair, members of the Ku
Klux Klan, and signs proclaiming: ‘God hates fangs’—clearly establishes the
series’ concerns with racism, homophobia, and religious evangelism.
Season One documents the vampires’ turbulent integration into mainstream
society with their struggle to pass the Vampire Rights Amendment reflecting the
controversy surrounding the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, and the treatment of
African Americans during this period. Further to this, the series uses Bill and
Sookie’s relationship and the town’s overwhelming negativity towards this union
to address both prejudices against inter-racial relationships and the current struggle
in the homosexual community to legalise same-sex marriages.
In Season Two the idea that prejudice towards the vampires has been largely
cultivated by religious groups comes to the fore when Jason (Ryan Kwanten),
Sookie’s not-so-smart brother, joins the Fellowship of the Sun, a church dedicated
to the eradication of vampires. The Fellowship run a military style camp where
they train their followers to kill vampires in the name of God. The danger of
religious extremism is further highlighted through the arrival of Maryann (Michelle
Forbes), a handmaid to the Greek god Dionysus, who bewitches the town through a
series of bacchanals and instructs them to sacrifice Sookie’s employer, Sam
Merlotte (Sam Trammell) to Dionysus. Here again the series uses supernatural
allegory to bring objectivity to real life situations, with Maryann taking on the role
of a cult leader and the hypnotic state of the town’s people reflecting the blind
devotion of many cult members and demonstrating the senseless ideologies that
often form the basis of cult followings.
By using the supernatural and fictional institutions in place of real people and
organisations, True Blood explicitly addresses issues of prejudice, religious
extremism and the senseless persecution of minority groups in American society.
6. Conclusion
While Supernatural and True Blood have attracted large fan bases by
superficially appearing to conform to popular generic expectations, their combined
use of parody and allegory sees these series transgress the boundaries that
traditionally define these narratives. Through these transgressions, the series
critically engage viewers with a wider body of popular texts and offer them an
objectifying medium through which to view the dark side of American culture.
Notes
1
Although these episodes are increasingly integrated with the wider mythology of
the series.