When I saw the title of
Stephen Marche's piece in
Esquire on Wednesday, with the thesis-title "Vampires as Gay Men: New Moon's Homosexual Vampire Connection" I clasped my hands with joy as I imagined teaching this in a few year time. In a primary school.
In the article, Marche explains the recent fangirl obsession with vampires - to which we fitcritics are perhaps not entirely immune - by invoking young women's latent desire to french with gayboys.
Duh. I mean, what girl doesn't dream of her gay boyfriend vomiting on her?
From the first episode, however, True Blood subtly announces itself as the thinking person's vampire-based entertainment (granted, not that hard a sell, when you consider the competition). Set in the Deep South (and with the accents to match) its vamp situation nicely draws parallels with both civil rights and LGBT issues, from newspaper headlines such as 'Angelina Adopts Vampire Baby' to placards reading 'God Hates Fangs'. Introducing the best friend character as a Naomi Klein reader is cool, but pretty lazy characterisation, when you think about it- I still haven't forgotten One Tree Hill presenting Chad Michael Murray as a 'brooding serious type' by having him quote Shakespeare and Hemingway. Hmm.
