I have to admit, there are very few TV shows that I care to pay attention to these days. In fact, I can think of only two and one is on hiatus. Real Time with Bill Maher, and the current sensational season of True Blood, on HBO. I’ve been into vampires my entire life, but this Alan Ball HBO series is beyond engaging, especially with the knowledge that the show is an allegory for the gay rights movement.
Charlaine Harris, the author of the books the series is based on, said her initial characterization for the vampires was "…a minority that was trying to get equal rights." Ball has stated that is the take he chose for the series, which has included phrases with a similarity to those uttered within the LGBT rights movement, such as "God Hates Fangs" instead of "God Hates Fags" and "Coming Out Of The Coffin" instead of "Coming Out Of The Closet". Ken Tucker, of Entertainment Weekly, wrote that the show is built "around a series of metaphors: Vampire rights stand in for gay rights".
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The picture attached is what may be a controversial cover for an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone.
Faced with regular questions about the graphic nature of the show and the amount of sexuality seen in virtually every episode, Ball says, "The idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous, True Blood creator Alan Ball says. "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’ve watched since the beginning, and I can say, in my opinion, the series has only gotten progressively better with each year. True Blood is broadcast on HBO every Sunday at 9pm. As of this writing, there are only 3 episodes left in the current third season.
