Sookie......

As a True Blood fan, the HBO show that Charlain Harris' novel Dead Until Dark, as well as the other Sookie Stackhouse novels are based on, I just have to do a comparison. I can't help it. There are many parallels between the book and the show, but there are also many differences, which I feel all in all make the show better than the book.
First, there are many characters in the show that are not in the book, and vice versa, and also the book fails to make those characters that are both in the book and the show as dynamic as they appear in True Blood.
The characters that are in both the book and on the show that lack character development in Dead until Dark are Eric Northman and Lafayette Reynolds. First, Eric, who I must admit is played by an incredibly hot Alexander Skarsgard, has many sides, which fail to be well described in Dead Until Dark. He comes off as just being a bad-guy vamp in the book, but as his character develops over the seasons of the show, you discover that he also has very good reasons for his vengeful personality, which I don't want to go into because I might ruin it for others. Basically, Eric is a thousand-year-old vampire whose family, prior to his being turned, was destroyed by another supernatural force, and he has been planning his vengeance against said antagonist since before he became a vampire. He was also turned by a vampire who is now twice his age, and he is deeply connected to his maker, Godric, who is a highly benevolent, caring person, and appears as almost Christ-like in the show.
Lafayette Reynolds is by far one of my favorite characters in True Blood, and is extremely well developed character on the show. In Dead Until Dark, he is barely mentioned. Lafayette is gay and effeminate, wears makeup and shoots his own porn to make extra money, as well as selling drugs, including "V", or vampire blood, which to humans is a stimulant, euphoric and healing elixir along with giving the user temporary supernatural strength. The thing is, Lafayette, despite being an out-of-the-closet homosexual, is still very powerful and outspoken. In other words: homophobes, don't piss him off-he has no qualms about beating the crap out of people who wrong him. I know my description thus far draws him as a 'bad guy', but he is much deeper than that. Lafayette's mother is in a mental hospital, he is constantly being hounded by vampires, and even at one point is taken prisoner by Eric Northman, who beats him, feeds off of him, and for all terms and purposes is severely neglectful.
This brings me to Tara Thornton, who doesn't even exist in Dead Until Dark. I feel that she is integral in balancing out Sookie. Sookie is blond, voluptuous and doesn't always come off as the brightest light bulb in the chandelier. Tara is black, extremely muscular, and very outspoken, and she is Sookie's best friend, as well as Lafayette's cousin on the show. Tara is one of the first characters presented in True Blood, shown in an altercation with a customer at a WalMart type store. She is fired on the spot for arguing with the rude customer, and as she walks out of the store in a huff, punches the manager who has fired her in the face. True Blood does an amazing job of coloring Tara as a character-and also helps to make Sookie more dynamic.
One thing that surprised me about Dead Until Dark was Sookie's temporary protector while Bill is out of town, a vampire named Bubba. They refuse to speak his true name, because he is already crazy - they say that this is due to the amount of drugs in his system when he died, and that if his real name is mentioned, he might go MORE crazy. He prefers eating animals to humans, and is generally dangerous, although Bill has forbid him to harm Sookie in any way while he watches over her. It took me a rather long time to figure out who it was even with the hints they gave about his physical description, accent, and the clothes he wears. Finally, laughing out loud while reading the book, I realized that this character was Elvis Presley turned vamp.
As you can already tell, I feel that True Blood is a much more dynamic, creative version of the stories put forth in Charlain Harris' novels. True Blood does a much better job of coloring the sexuality of all the characters, and takes the focus of of Sookie, while describing the more minor characters in much higher detail.

Twilight titters....

Anita Blake is my GIRL!

Of all the characters we have studied so far, Anita Blake is my favorite. Laurel K. Hamlin's animator and vampire executioner Anita Blake is a tiny little bad ass, and I love powerful female characters. She is a far cry from Bella Swan as far as taking control and refusing to let the men in her life push her around, but at the same time manages to keep her morals and virtue intact, despite the sexual tension that constantly surrounds her.
Rather than reading the actual novel 'Guilty Pleasures', we read the graphic novel version of the story. Although the artwork is beautiful and does a great job depicting Hamlin's colorful descriptions of people and surroundings, it is so good that it tends to be distracting. I also noticed that a lot of the artwork tend to hold inside jokes that only those familiar with the series such as myself would really understand it.
All of the novels are written in first-person, from the view of Anita. The main problem is that Anita has so much internal dialogue that it tends to get lost in the graphic novel form. A prime example is when as Anita is fleeing from Nicolaus, and Jean-Claude sends her the first 'mark', binding her to him and increasing power for both of them. If you haven't read the novel itself, in which Anita describes an eerie blue light flying towards her, and once it attaches itself to her she understands what it is, you would have no idea what is happening in the graphic novel.
Several people pointed out the fact that Anita is constantly surrounded by powerful male figures, making her appear small and weak in the cartoons. Another item that is not well conveyed is that Anita uses her small size and appearance as a weapon, using her enemy's underestimation of her power against them. Many times the men around her are her allies, who usually are willing to take orders from her. In some cases, as with Jean-Claude, her power actually multiplies in his presence due to their sharing of the 'marks'.
All in all, I liked the graphic novel, and it did help draw new ideas on the thoughts I had about this series. But even beautiful pictures cannot truly fulfill the descriptive quality of the written word.

Shori Matthews Rocks!

I must say that of the books we are reading for class, Fledgling by Octavia Butler is probably the most original and creative. Not only does Butler create a truly unique set of rules and sociological situations compared to the norm, but also pushes the boundaries of ethical situations, at first making the reader rather uncomfortable while keeping them engaged.
I feel that the world of Fledgling is very unique because Octavia Butler does not conform to the regular "rules" of being a vampire. First, vampires are not made by affecting humans, they are their own species, called the Ina. The only restraints of typical vampire life are that they are still vulnerable to sunlight, and grow very tired, and sometimes cannot stay awake during daylight hours, and they drink blood as sustenance. As far as sunlight is concerned in the case of Shori Matthews, the main character, she has been genetically engineered using the DNA of African-American humans to increase the melanin content of her skin as well as her ability to stay awake during daylight hours.
The Ina society is truly unique owing to several factors. First is the need for Ina to live with their symbionts, the humans from whom they feed. In many cases of vampire lore, the human is merely a victim that is frightened during the feeding, often in pain, and is simply discarded after the feeding. The Ina live with, bond and have loving relationships with their human symbionts, thanks to their potent venemous saliva. Once bitten a few times, the human symbiont becomes physically addicted to their particular vampire. When bitten, the symbiont experiences extreme pleasure, and the venom also increases a human's longevity up to 200 years. The physical bond between an Ina and their "sym" is so strong that in many cases, the human will die if their Ina does. They explain in Fledgling that the makeup of each Ina's venom is unique, and the humans become addicted to that unique compound. Another Ina may take over the use of a symbiont, but the symbiont and new Ina do not experience pleasure for quite a few feedings before they can be taken over. It is often frightening for the sym, and the Ina can smell the other previous Ina in the human for quite a while, which in itself is meant to repel others.
The Ina also have a unique set of circumstances for dealing with each other. Male and female Ina do not live together, but with groups of their same-sex siblings and all their symbionts, visiting each other's households for the purpose of mating. A group of brothers is usually mated with a group of sisters, and they all mate in groups. They do not live together due to the strong pheromones emitted by female Ina, which increases aggression physically and sexually. Although vampires are not capable of reproducing until around the age of 70, Shori, at only 53 is already irritating the male Ina around her.
The thing mentioned most in class about this book was the fact that although she is 53 years old, and mature enough to be sexually active, she appears as a human to only be 8-10 years of age. This goes against anything normal in our society today and many people have a lot of difficulty as Shori embarks on a sexual relationship with a 22 year old man in the beginning of the book, as well as with several female symbionts she acquires later on in the story. By the end of the book, I personally had stopped giving the sex scenes a second thought, because I understood that her actual age was much more important than her appearance.
I thought the race angle was very interesting as it was seen from more than two sides. The book begins with Shori waking up, having no memory of her first 53 years after having been attacked, along with all of her female family members. By the end of the book, you discover that she and her family were attacked by another clan of Ina, primarily because of her race. Now, you must think about what this means. Shori is mostly Ina, but has been genetically altered with human DNA so that she appears to be black. Therefore, is she hated for being human, or for being black? Or is it because she was genetically altered, period?
There are many, many factors that go into making this a unique vampire story, and I love the originality of the book.

Comments on Rebecca Walker/Fledgling

Lusting for Freedom (Rebecca Walker) comments Sarah Holey-Schwartz

Terms/phrases that caught my eye:

Pleasure

Confidence

Self-knowledge

1.“The way we experience, speak about and envision sex and sexuality can either kill us or help us know and protect ourselves better”

2.“Judgements like 'right' and 'wrong' only build barriers between people and encourage shame within individuals”

3.“I have birthed of myself a wild and unruly feminist”

Pleasure-Always a good thing, just don't let it go to your head, it can become an addiction.

Confidence-Something that I never used to have, despite my talent and intelligence. When I finally took the time to discover myself without depending on others to tell me who I was, the fog cleared and I was able to see myself for who I truly was.

Self-knowledge-what helped me realize confidence.

Quote #1-I really feel that your own confidence with the subject of sex and sexuality dictates a lot in your life. Those who stifle the subject, stifle their humanity. Whether we like it or not, we must live and breath sex. Even those who shut themselves off from the subject and stifle their own creativity within the subject are still bombarded on a daily basis by sex through advertising and even by those on the street who pass them. Just today, my husband pointed out a girl on the street wearing a top that only had business being worn in a strip club. We are real with each other when it comes to noticing others in a sexual way-what can I say, my husband is a boob man, and I have my preferences as well. By maintaining an open, honest dialogue about our attractions to others, we also open ourselves up to new explorations as a couple. I feel that those who stifle sex with excuses of religion or upbringing are far worse off, playing themselves up as the victim even in the most minor cases. Part of my family are fundamentalist Christians, and their teenage children wear purity rings. I feel this in of itself is a crime to your child. Based on the experiences of my mother, I feel that the “no sex before marriage” rule can be in many ways self-destructive. Even living together prior to tying the knot is taboo in many situations, but I feel that it is a sore mistake not to first live with and have sexual relationships with the one you intend to spend the rest of your life with. I cannot imagine the horror of discovering that after making a legal and religious commitment to a partner that their living habits or lack of sexual compatibility must be tolerated for life. On the other hand, promiscuity lends itself to problems at times as well, but I really think that if an open dialogue is maintained, and the one delving into casual sex understands its pros and cons, one could still maintain a very healthy sexual outlook.

Quote #2-There is so much gray area nowadays with regards to sex, that black and white standards can truly put a damper on most people's modern conception of sexual relations. I am a firm believer that adultery is wrong, but only if the two partners that are committed to each other hide the fact that they are involved with others. If, after the couple is truly comfortable and feels the need to venture forth into new experiences, and they can honestly allow the other the opportunity without the feeling of betrayal towards the them, then they may be able to explore new avenues to heighten their sexual awareness of the other, thus improving their own sex life.

Quote #3-Although I can't call myself a “wild and unruly feminist” I really do feel that I have birthed from myself a new, stronger, more confident woman. In high school and through much of college, I had very low self-esteem, despite the fact that I new I had in me extraordinary talents and superior intelligence. When I finally learned not to depend on the adoration of others to boost my self esteem, the real, confident me that you see today stepped forth. There was actually a day when a light bulb finally went on inside my head, and I thought; “Oh, this is who I am!” From that day forth, I have never had a problem speaking my opinion or defending myself against those who don't see me the way I see myself.

On Fledgling (Octavia Butler)

Shori Matthews, the main character in the book Fledgling, really does experience a rebirth of sorts. The tiny, elvish, african-american vampire, who to anyone who isn't blind appears to be merely 8-10 years old, must start her life over from scratch after a traumatic accident leaves her with injuries that would surely have killed any human. Her brain is so badly damaged that she has no memory of her life prior to the incident. Shori is actually a 53-year-old vampire, or as they call the species in the book, Ina. She has no knowledge of her family, or their culture, and must depend blindly on those around her, beginning with a 22-year-old human male by the name of Wright, whom she near instantly pursues a sexual relationship with. It is her instinct that tells her that despite the human social norm, what she is doing isn't actually pedophilia. As she goes from day to day, rediscovering her life before her accident, she flourishes, for she has no other choice. She has lost all female role models in the accident that took her memory, and gains confidence in herself by understanding that she is powerful physically, mentally and spiritually, despite those around her who strive to bring her down. Shori gains self-knowledge and confidence through the pleasure she gives and receives.

Ah, Twilight...

As I may have mentioned before, I was on the vampire bandwagon LONG before Twilight was even a twinkle in Stephenie Meyer's eye. I do understand Twilight's relevance among teenage girls and bored housewives - I have been both! Twilight tends to remove almost all the drawbacks of being a vampire, and provides a blank slate in the character of Bella Swan, much as stated in "The Oatmeal-How Twilight Works" than any woman, young or old can place herself in. Later in the Twilight series, another character, Jacob Black, becomes more prominent on the scene - which is one thing I miss in the first book.
Anyone who has had any experience knows the general rules for vampires. Even if they're beautiful, they're still scary, they drink human blood, are very moody and tend to be rendered creosote by sunlight. I think Stephenie Meyer's approach, in which she has creatively changed many of the traditional rules of vampires, helps it appeal much more to the delicate teenage ego. Edward Cullen is beautiful to the point of other-worldliness. Yes, he is an emotional guy, despite the fact that he wants nothing more than to be with Bella for the rest of his life. Every teenage girl has felt this way about a crush they once had. Regardless of what anyone else in the world thinks, that particular guy, to one particular girl, is the most beautiful creature on the planet, and whether he shows true love or mild disdain for said girl, she will walk to the ends of the earth for him. Edward ideally should drink human blood, but in an effort to curb the 'monster' side of him, he and the rest of his family stick to hunting animals, thus making him more lovable to the reader. Another convenience Stephenie Meyers adds is Edward's reason for not coming out in the sunlight-they have no sensitivity to sunlight, but merely sparkle under bright light. Gosh, who could resist an angelically beautiful man with eyes only for you, who also happens to sparkle in direct sunlight? Any teenage girl with an imagination!
Bella Swan is so simplified that even in first-person, she tends to be non-descript, allowing for any female reader to be able to equate herself to the character, further entrenching the reader into the world of Twilight. She also tends to make stupid decisions, as I'm sure we've all done at some point during our lives, and happens to be going through an awkward 'phase', although said phase is sometimes equated to a permanent condition for her.
I must say I am biased against Edward, being a strong-willed modern women myself. He tends to stick to the old-fashioned way of thinking that was taught to him in the early 1900's. The one thing I feel that the first Twilight book is severely lacking is the presence of Jacob Black. He is portrayed as a sweet, teenage Quileute Indian with a superstitious and overbearing father, and is only present in three or four scenes. Jacob, as a friend and potential romantic interest for Bella, allows Bella to dig deeper into who she is, and gives her options for her future. Being born in the 20th century, he has a more modern outlook on a woman's role in society. He also has a great sense of humor, and even though he bitterly detests Edward Cullen, approaches the situation with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. If you can't tell, I'm team Jacob all the way-If Bella had a brain in her head, despite his partially non-human existence and short temper, at least he'd expect her to have an opinion!
I won't lie, Twilight has been a guilty pleasure for me, but primarily the fourth installment of the series - Breaking Dawn. The reason I like it so much more than the others is because Stephenie Meyers not only allows for the two other main characters, Edward and Jacob, to speak up, but it also truly becomes a vampire novel. Bella doesn't begin to act like a real woman until the very end, but when she does, she finally begins ti wield the true power that she should have known she had the entire time. I also like the sci-fi twist that the book takes - I will avoid too much description to keep from spoiling it for those who have yet to read the last or see the movie.
All in all, I do enjoy the romance of Twilight, but I still prefer a bit more para-normalcy to my vampire novels, as well as a stronger female lead. Such great female role models include : Anita Blake, for her sexuality and high morals as well as her powers as a necromancer, Zoey Redbird of 'The House of Night' series, who as a teenager is suddenly cast into a completely unfamiliar world, and given such immense power as to have an affinity for all four elements, and within weeks becomes more powerful than any full-fledged vampire known, and even Sookie Stackhouse, who stares down the faces of evil on a daily basis with southern hospitality and feminine wiles. These are the characters that I like to relate to!