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True Blood Kills With Metaphors (and, Uh, Sex)

Kinky sex meets social commentary

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 28, 2009 8:11 AM CDT

(Newser) – Critics are gushing about HBO's hit True Blood, which manages to marry kinky vampire sex to social commentary, writes Gina Bellafante in the New York Times. The barrier-busting series touches on gay marriage, racial profiling, capitalism run amok, and right-wing religious extremism. In the current season, a crazed Christian cult called the Fellowship of the Sun is out to get vampires and their sympathizers.

The vampires, incidentally, who have recently "come out" because they can now subsist on synthetic blood, are lobbying for the right to legally marry. It's all served up with a David Lynch look and orgiastic romps that make Sex and the City look like "merely nun's play," notes Bellafante.

Actress Anna Paquin arrives at the second season premiere of HBO's True Blood in Hollywood.
Actress Anna Paquin arrives at the second season premiere of HBO's "True Blood" in Hollywood.   (Getty Images)
Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, gets down and dirty with Eric the vampire in a scene from True Blood.
Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, gets down and dirty with Eric the vampire in a scene from "True Blood."   (TwilighWhore)
INelsan Ellis portrays Layfayette Reynolds in a scene from the HBO series True Blood.
INelsan Ellis portrays Layfayette Reynolds in a scene from the HBO series "True Blood."   (AP Photo/HBO, John P. Johnson)
An ad for HBO's True Blood.
An ad for HBO's "True Blood."   (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times)
Actress Danielle Sapia poses at the Los Angeles Premiere of HBO's series True Blood in Hollywood last year.
Actress Danielle Sapia poses at the Los Angeles Premiere of HBO's series "True Blood" in Hollywood last year.   (AP Photo/Mark Davis)
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Intro for hit series "True Blood."   (theratssbb)

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During the current season, its second, it has become an allegory for nearly every strain of tension in American life. - Gina Bellafante

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 6 comments
Jes
Sep 2, 2009 12:43 PM CDT
And that's merely the opening credits! =p
The_Pinkston
Aug 29, 2009 6:27 AM CDT
And a side note. That video in the upper left for the preview is not workplace appropriate!
The_Pinkston
Aug 29, 2009 6:25 AM CDT
I never really picked up on the social commentary. I think its just a well acted clever show. Plus there are some really hot chicks in the show!... I never miss an episode, every Sunday my buddies and I get together and watch it followed by Entourage.

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