Zombies

Zombies have been a part of culture for a very long time. In recent years though we have seen a lot more references to them in modern literature and cinema. The author of this article references the World Trade Center bombing as part of the reason that they have become so popular again. I personally blame the fact that the year 2012 is coming and we are supposedly going to see the end of the world upon us. In all the zombie films or books I have read a disease has broken loose and caused an "Apocalypse" of sorts. It is even quite entertaining how there are many books that have been published on how to survive the zombie attacks when they happen. Some of the movies that have been released regarding zombies are of course horror films (i.e. Resident Evil, Night of the Living Dead) but there is that occasional one that pokes fun at the seriousness of the end of human kind (i.e. Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland). Maybe zombie culture has been mainstream much longer than the last 10 years and we just never noticed how much it is in cinema and literature and because of the internet and cable things are just more noticeable then they ever were in the past. It seems that zombie lore has been a part of history longer than we realize and will be a part for a very long time to come.

What Vampires Represent in Todays Society

Jennifer Walker

English 102

Cline

November 13, 2011

What Vampires Represent in Today’s Society

            Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels are some of today’s most read novels on vampirism.  They have even been turned into a very popular HBO television series, “True Blood”. Though both the novels and the series are very entertaining and contain much sex, blood and gore underneath there are some hidden messages regarding society. As Michael Van Cise states in his article Book Review: Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels, “The novels, no doubt, contain love-interests, sex, and eroticism, but they also explore personal and societal issues such as abuse, greed, murder, and racism.” You can see throughout both series the fight for acceptance, the greed in people, and how racism is much more than about color. What can we learn from a popular book and television series about our own society and how to overcome it?

            The fight for acceptance has been present throughout time and will probably never go away. We see this throughout the series in many ways with vampires, shape shifters, fairies and witches. In “Dead Until Dark” the first novel in the series we learn that vampires have just recently been accepted in daily society. Even though they are out in the open we still ostracize them and treat them as lepers. You could almost look at it as a religion that we do not understand and can not accept. While some vampires attempt to fit in with society and show that they are not the dangerous creatures we assume they are others just do not see a reason to and terrorize at will.

            Greed is also a problem that is looked at in the novels and television show. People have figured out that if they ingest vampire blood it gives them a thrill like none other and start kidnapping vampires to drain them of their blood to sell. We can look at this almost as a drug problem and the people doing the draining want to make money and are the drug dealers. They do not consider the vampires as people with feelings so have no regrets about killing them for the blood they can sell and make a profit off of.

            Racism is the biggest societal issue that we see in these stories and can relate to through most of the characters. As Michael Van Cise states also in Book Review: Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels, “By having characters who are vampires, shapeshifters, and maenads, she can consider racism in a less overt manner than if her characters were members of a real minority or oppressed group.” The vampires are outcasts because they have to survive on blood and are not actually alive. The shape shifters are afraid to show who they are for fear of being hunted by people who do not like what they can do. The fairies cannot come out of hiding for fear of the vampires who would kill to feed off their blood. And the witches are looked at badly because of their ancestors and what they did to vampires in the past. In many ways this is all racism. We look at many people badly because of color, religion, and way of life which is what every character in these series also goes through.

            Of course there are others out there that will argue that though the author does write about modern issues that she does not go far enough into those issues to make it worthwhile to read. In Chally Kacelnik’s article Housework and Horror: Charlaine Harris’s Dead Reckoning she states, “That is, in fact, my main frustration with the series: Harris sets up the potential for some fantasy-style treatment of political and social issues, and never quite chases them up. For instance, Sookie’s supernatural boss, Sam, responds to attempts to shut his bar down with ‘I can’t believe this is happening in our country, and me a veteran. Born and bred in the USA.’ It’s those kind of throwaway parallels that Harris could push so much more, but has a tendency to just leave hanging.”

            If we consider all of the stories that are written about vampires and other monsters I believe you can see in every one some sort of modern day issue. These writers hide it in their fiction as to not name specific people or ways of life and to get through to more people. Maybe this is the only way to get through to others and state how easily it is to judge someone else based on how they live their lives. Vampires have been prominent throughout history and I would hate to think that if they were real that we would treat them like lepers and make them wish they had stayed hidden forever. Maybe modern stories like the Sookie Stackhouse novels and tv shows like True Blood can show us how wrong we are sometimes and we will learn from it.  

Bibliography

Harris, Charlaine. Dead Until Dark. New York: Penguin Group, 2001.

Kacelnik, Chally. “Housework and horror: Charlaine Harris’s Dead Reckoning.” Global Comment 25 June 2011. 6 Nov. 2011 <http://globalcomment.com/2011/bisexuality-and-bloodsucking-housework-and-horror-charlaine-harris-dead-reckoning/>

Van Cise, Michael. Book Review: Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels. 6 Nov. 2011 <http://michaelvancise.com/index.php/trueblood>

Bibliography

Bibliography

Harris, Charlaine. Dead Until Dark. New York: Penguin Group, 2001.

I am of course using the novel as my main source throughout the paper. I am taking Harris’ work and comparing her content to current day issues that are hidden throughout. She addresses many issues including gay rights, tolerance, and politics. Even though they are hidden amongst vampires and werewolves you can see yourself in many of the problems throughout the book.

Kacelnik, Chally. “Housework and horror: Charlaine Harris’s Dead Reckoning.” Global Comment 25 June 2011. 6 Nov. 2011 <http://globalcomment.com/2011/bisexuality-and-bloodsucking-housework-and-horror-charlaine-harris-dead-reckoning/>

Even though this is a review of a later novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series it still addresses what Harris includes in all of her novels. The author of this article actually argues that Harris does not address enough of today’s current issues in her writing. In my opinion this could be used as a good argument in my paper as to why I feel differently.

Van Cise, Michael. Book Review: Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels. 6 Nov. 2011 <http://michaelvancise.com/index.php/trueblood>

This article takes a different approach compared to the previous article. The author states that he enjoyed the way Harris uses current issues and hides them amongst a fantasy novel and still entertains you. I believe using pro and con articles will be much more interesting in my paper rather than just using things I feel support what I believe.