Trueblood and the Fellowship of the Sun

Last week in class when Professor Harris discussed vampires and the depiction of vampires in the Christian tradition and in literature, films, and television shows, I instantly thought of True Blood.

True Blood is an American television series created by Alan Ball based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. It deals with the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a small town in Louisiana.

The notion of vampires as beings that seek redemption, often through love, is portrayed in True Blood through the romantic relationship between Sookie, a human, and Bill, a vampire. The show attempts to portray vampires in a civilized manner, as a group of beings who wish to be considered and valued as fellow citizens with the humans, rather than monsters. Synthetic blood, known as "Tru Blood," has been invented so that the vampires do not have to prey on humans and can co-exist peacefully with humans. Throughout the series, the struggle for humans and vampires to co-exist is illustrated and the romantic relationship between Sookie and Bill is shown to reap many complications.

In respect to Christianity and vampires, True Blood explores the tension between The Fellowship of the Sun, a Christian church, and The American Vampire League, an organization focused on the public relations of the vampire community in America and the promotion of vampire rights. The Fellowship of the Sun is vigorously against equal rights for vampires and wants to eradicate vampires from society. Though vampires are depicted as beings that crave redemption and wish to have peaceful, and at times, romantic relationships with humans, The Fellowship of the Sun's campaign against vampires is based on the notion that they are not creatures of God. Because vampires dwell in the darkness, The Fellowship of the Sun believes that they do not deserve salvation and that any creature that dwells in the darkness is a creature of Satan and is thus destructive and dangerous for God's creatures.

The tactics The Fellowship of the Sun use to eradicate vampires are quite brutal and include kidnapping vampires and nailing them to stakes, leaving them to die in the sunlight. The Fellowship of the Sun believes that one of the best ways to combat vampires is to force them to experience sunlight (God's light). They believe that sunlight killing vampires is proof that vampires are not worthy of redemption and salvation and truly are creatures of Satan.

I find it interesting that True Blood portrays The Fellowship of the Sun  as an organization that utilizes cruel tactics and operates much like a cult that brainwashes its members. This reminded me of Cowan's remark that often times the portrayal of the Christian church in vampire films reveal our latent fears of the Church and its religious leaders. The leader of The Fellowship of the Sun, Steve Newlin, is shown to be a man who uses violent methods and as a man you really wouldn't want as your enemy---he is ruthless and fiercely devoted to his Church's aim to rid vampires from society.


True Blood shows how the vampires struggle to fight their image as a condemned creature of hell and how they strive to erase their reputation as creatures who prey on humans. Though there are vampires in the show who do prey on humans and are violent, they are shown to be hated by other vampires and are punished by The American League of Vampires for their violent, illegal behaviour. 


I find True Blood's depiction of the struggle between vampires and humans a very unique and all-encompassing storyline that portrays vampires as both the ideal lover and as creatures who long to be more human and seek redemption. In fact, many of the human characters in True Blood are portrayed as more evil and destructive than the vampires in that they are the ones who murder, rape, and take advantage of other humans/creatures.


In class we discussed how one thing that draws us to monster stories is that in comparison to monsters, humans are shown to be benevolent. Monsters allow us to see our own humanity. With this in mind, I find it intriguing that True Blood often showcases the violent means humans use to combat things they fear or find dangerous. 

The depiction of vampires as ideal lovers is a key element of the show and is revealed through Sookie constantly questioning whether or not Bill truly loves her or if he has ulterior motives. Bill is portrayed as a knight in shining armour who always comes to Sookie's rescue. Much like the romanticized depiction of vampires as lovers and gentlemen who are well-mannered and possess noble hearts, Bill is portrayed as a passionate, undeniable lover of Sookie. She is often overcome by her physical desire for him and gives in to temptation. The character that seems to always need saving is Sookie, and the show reveals how often the only one who can save her is Bill, who uses his vampire blood and strength to save her from death time and time again.