Presented at The Monster Inside Us, The Monsters Around Us: Monstrosity and Humanity Conference, Leicester, UK, November 18-20, 2011 (Presenter: Joanna Ioannidou).
Vampires, the monsters that used to be human and in many cases still appear to be very much alive, are constantly shifting their image. Introduced as enchanting companions offering an intimacy and homoerotic sharing (such as Polidori’s vampires as well as Carmilla), they became associated with pure evil via Bram Stoker’s Dracula, only to return to their depiction as sympathetic monsters in the 20th century (with examples such as Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles). So, although monsters are usually associated with feelings of fear and loathing, it seems that (especially recently) vampires, inhabit a space between human and monster, and can be appealing despite their monstrous traits.
In this paper I look at the fictional world of True Blood, where the creation of a substitute for human blood has allowed vampires to make their existence public, and discuss in what ways and to what extend does the show blur the line between human and monster in order to make its vampires more relatable. As human beings can relate most readily and accurately to those who seem like them, one would expect viewers to relate to human rather than vampire characters. However, in True Blood there are times when vampires seem to be more in touch with humanity than humans themselves. Especially, the existence of the Fellowship of the Sun, a cult-like organization, which wishes to eliminate vampires and all humans that associate with them and stops at nothing to achieve this goal, makes obvious that humans are quite capable of every wickedness; quite capable of being monsters. So, as viewers watch vampires act as humans and humans act as monsters, the idea of the vampire as a monster to be loathed, gradually gives way to a more ambiguous image that can be more relatable.
