True Blood Throws Twilight Under The Bus And High School Students
I know many of you have looked at the Rolling Stone photos of the cast of True Blood and then you just stopped. I don't blame you. You got caught up in the whole Alexander and Stephen and Anna are naked thing and that Alexander doesn't wear a sock on set when he is naked. He is just naked naked for the entire world to see.
So, it may have escaped your attention that the creator of True Blood, Alan Ball, took a huge shot at Twilight. Alan is not a big fan.
"To me, vampires are sex," he says. "I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed."
I see what he means because vampires are raw and sexual, but to be fair to Twilight I get the feeling that all the couples are having serious vampire sex. It just is not spelled out. You have to read between the lines. Plus, the sex there is in the Twilight books seems vampire-ish. I mean Edward did have to bite a pillow. Weren't there scratches all over the bed too? I can't remember.
I would also suspect there are a lot of high school students who are watching True Blood, so I would not be so quick to tick off a portion of your fan base.
All I know is that I'm so over the whole vampire thing. Sparkly ones, naked ones, chaste ones; I don't fucking care anymore. Let's do something new now, Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteThis overused sh*t makes me yearn for the good old-fashioned Anne Rice stuff.
ReplyDeleteThey can overwork a GD theme to death can't they? Start a good thing and everyone has to copy it.
I've purposely not watched or read any of the new stuff because it feels so "band-wagony" and they just have to overdo it and glut the industry with it.
(Except I might see the Vampires Suck satire, it looks stupid funny)
BUT, that cover is hella-hot!
ReplyDeleteASkars could have crap smeared all over him and still be frickin' gorgeous.
I don't care if this a UO, but I loathe that cover. It's just all kinds of wrong for me. Maybe I'm a prude. It's not the nudity, it's the blood.
ReplyDeleteI was a teen during the Anne Rice, Interview with a Vampire days, and I didn't get it then; I don't get it know. But, if vampires are your thang, that's fine.
Did any of you see the South Park re: vampires and goth kids? That was awesome.
ASkars is great looking from afar, but whenever I see a picture up close, I stare at his eyes and think, 'Something about the shape is off, but I just can't figure out what exactly is wrong.' Epic frustration.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else weirded out that Enty read the Twilight books?
I'm sorry, but it looks like Sookie got her period and they all rolled around in it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Buffy/Angel girl.
I have only just started watching TB, picking up at the 2nd season (so much I don't understand!!) and have never seen the appeal of Skarsgard til I started watching. Cover is hot!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure over hearing about Twilight, though.
Vampires have been big among teenagers since the days of Dark Shadows (at least). I've never read any of the Twilight books or seen the films (I've never read or seen anything Harry Potterish either), so I don't have a dog in the hunt except for the one that tells everyone to not watch any of this stuff except for my friend Lisa's "Vampire Diaries."
ReplyDeleteTV creators like Ball start getting full of themselves and commence holding forth on everything. I understand his antipathy toward teenagers (being fiftyish myself), but you'd think he'd have been smart enough by his age not to piss off that large a segment of the audience.
Oh Susan, I had momentarily forgotten about Dark Shadows! My mom said I would sit in front of that show (I must've been only e, 4, or 5 yrs old) and never be scared, once!
ReplyDeleteBut let that dang Lassie get in safety trouble and I would start bawling and she'd have to turn off the TV!
Funny. So yeah, I suppose I've always loved spooky stuff. But the typical H'wood copycatting of every GD thing just pissed me off.
Gyahh, sorry! I meant @MelodytheFirst for the Dark Shadows response...
ReplyDelete@ Susan--I loved the SP goths vs. vamps episode, too!
Alan Ball isn't as smart as he thinks he is....if he was he would have kept his opinion to himself...
ReplyDelete@Treesap I know what you mean! Alexander has something odd in his face but I just started to watch True Blood and I can see the appeal.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with Buffy so this vampire trend doesn't do much for me. Although I must say True Blood is looking good (season1).
i kind of hate that cover...alot. i'm with Susan, it is the blood that gets me. the other day i watched Interview With a Vampire and i was reminded what a great story it was. it just seems to me to have more depth than the stuff now. and i don't like True Blood, it makes me squirm, i think i may be a prude, and i'm ok with that ;)
ReplyDeleteBuffy/Angel and Let the Right One In still >>>>Twilight and True Blood
ReplyDelete@selenakyle, Johnny Depp is bringing Dark Shadows to the big screen so you'll be able to see it again. You've been warned. lol
ReplyDeleteNoooooooo, not Dark Shadows!!! With Johnny Depp?!?!?!?! Be still my heart!
ReplyDeletePaisley, you crack me up!!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to TB every week. Call me a conformist, but I love me some Sookie!
Melody- I just pre-ordered Season 1of the Vampire Diaries! Such an awesome high school vampire show and I loved the books when I was younger. :)
ReplyDeleteTB is awesome, ASkars has a weirdo face, and Dark Shadows is still the shit.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Let The Right One In kicks every other vampire movie's ass, for real.
So this director doesn't like shabbily written books that are geared towards teens, so what? I don't like either of them...either, so there!
ReplyDeleteI don't love all things vampire, but I am a TB fan. I just love the storylines, the characters, the actors...I never read Twilight or watched the movies so I don't know what that whole thing is about. Vampirs who can be outside during the day? Huh.
ReplyDeleteTeam Alan Ball, always and forever.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that Anne Rice is a huge True Blood fan.
E'er since DS and then, Ann Rice and The Lost Boys, the vamps have been getting too... nice? sparkly? E'en in "Angel," he said he would rather die than take the woman he wants... pshaw! If he really loved her, f*ck her, bite her and keep her with you fore'er! As bothersome as she is these days, Ann Rice's Lestat (NOT the TC Lestat!) was the just about perfect modern vamp (save Kiefer's David! yum!)... oh how I would have loved to see Rutger Hauer in that role!
ReplyDeleteThat being said, TB is as much teenage fodder as the Twilight crap. My BF and I sat through about the LAST 15 mins of an episode about 2 or 3 weeks ago (our first) and thought it was neither sexy nor cool -- and it was the LAST 15 mins when shit happens! It was more like "Twilight Skips College and Moves South" (I assumed that was what those accents were in TB). The TB actors should not talk crap... the Twi-hearts will grow up and want more than sexual innuendo.
Depp as Barbabas Collins? Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteGosh, I suck typing today...make that *Barnabas* Collins...
ReplyDeletei've tried...do not give a toss about True Blood or the over rated Swede.
ReplyDeleteWorst RS cover ever.
Susan, that ep of South Park was brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a ton of high schoolers watch TB, so that was pretty stupid for him to say. Although, I'm amused that his description of high school students immediately made me think of Taylor Momsen, and he's right on the money when it comes to her.
IMO, they should have just put Alcide on the cover.
ReplyDeleteUm...he is entitled to his opinion, but I wouldn't exactly call True Blood highbrow.
ReplyDeleteGogo - I forgot about the Lost Boys. Now that's a vampire flick that I loved, but maybe I'm just nostalgic for the olden days.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I seriously recommend the SP on vampires. All the straight-A kids try to be vampires by shopping at Hot Topic, consequently pissing off all the outsider anti-social goth kids. Love. I also really recommend the SP epi on Somalian pirates, because that shit is pure gold.
That whole season of SP was brilliant. They have not lost their touch.
ReplyDeleteJax! Come on, now...
ReplyDeletePersonally, I hate horror movies. Freak me OUT. Never seen Jaws, either. But I am strangely attracted to vampire movies. Remember Dracula with Frank Langella? Hee.
I LOVE True Blood. I've seen the first two seasons twice. There's something extremely intimate and erotic about offering the nape of your neck to a man.....
I really like the show too, even though I havent made up my mind about season 3 yet.. It just doesnt seem as good as the other two!
ReplyDeleteI've never been a big vampire fan but I have enjoyed seeing some of True Blood
ReplyDeleteHowever, I gotta love Alan for not wanting to cater to teenagers. Too damm much of televisions cater to them as it is. Lets just piss em off for a change!
Bwahahahahahahaaa!
@linnea - shit, I thought I'd only missed Season 1! No wonder I'm so lost on the storylines if I'm behind by 2 seasons!
ReplyDeleteI bet this issue breaks sales records. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteI think it's hot.
ReplyDeleteI like how people like Alan or whoever are so quick to argue what "real" vampires are like....AS IF ANY OF IT IS REAL TO BEGIN WITH.
ReplyDeletelol @ ChasingHeaven! So true!
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I really do love True Blood, and I didn't think I'd last the whole first season because Anna Paquin's accent made me laugh the first 3 episodes. Laugh hard. But I got past it.
I'd be surprised if there were a lot of teens watching True Blood. Those sex scenes are pretty intense, and I don't think it's action-packed enough for them. If they were a huge fan-base wouldn't there be a video game?
That cover is missing some Lafayette with his gold eyeshadow.
the only vampire that has any interest to me is Dracula.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, that vampire love scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger was fucking hot.
who cares about this other shit.
**steps down from soapbox
Salem's Lot...incredibly scary book.
ReplyDeleteIve always been into the vampire genre-Dark Shadows, The Anne Rice Lestat series of books, and now Twilight and the House of Night series. Cant really get into True Blood-I cant tell what is supposed to be comedy and what is supposed to be serious. and I happened to watch a very graphic sex scene when i tried to watch it. loved salems lot-book and miniseries. Still scary!!
ReplyDelete