I think anyone tuning in now is, unfortunately, missing out on the original cleverness, wit and political satire of season one. I admit that subsequent seasons just don't have the "bite" of the first season.
I absolutely loved the poking parallels of season one. It was almost like a game to find all the "pokes" as some were in the storyline, but some were a little more subtle, like signs on the road or posters on the wall. I freakin' loved it. The use of the vampire culture as a metaphor for minorities and gays was made new again, fresh and fun and even thought-provoking. I really wish they would infuse more of that back into the show to balance out the soapiness of it.
I'm in a Black Lit (America post 1900) class right now and I'm in another Lit class where the focus is American historical literature related to homosexuals, Communists and Socialists (also post 1900) so the comparisons are thrown into sharp relief.
There is a classmate who sits next to me in both classes who is also a fan of vampire literature in general and the Stackhouse series and "True Blood" in particular. Seems like every class we turn to each other and utter one word from the vampire lore with a knowing wink. For example, we read "Black No More" by George Shuyler and the professor was talking about "Black clubs" being popular in the 20s and 30s (Harlem Renaissance), but that these particular "Black clubs" weren't really clubs for Blacks (Blacks had their own), but rather "Black-like" clubs with Black performers creating the "Black experience" for curious Whites and Blacks who wanted to mingle with Whites. We turned to each other and said, "Fangtasia."
The scene in season one where the guy who looks like a "stereotypical" vampire freaks the college-looking kids out in the convenience store and after they leave in terror, the guy who looks like the Southern truck driver, who is an actual vamp, terrorizes the vamp-wannabe (vigger?) and tells him never to impersonate a vamp again? Priceless. There is SO much in that one scene. It's both hilarious and thesis-ready. Don't get me started! lol
Yeah, I'm a fan. Just don't call me a fangbanger.
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showpost.php?p=379561&postcount=11
Agreed that the 1st season had more playful take on Vamps as minorities...the show seems to be devolving into pixies versus the tooth fairy. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to do a PhD in American Literature.
ReplyDeletePep (It wouldn't be a very long course, would it?)
Let's see, two responses pop into my brain at once.
ReplyDelete1. Har, har. Very funny. ;)
2. Fuck, you'd think, but since I'm studying American Literature right now, I'd say no, hell no. Black American Lit and American Political Lit (both of the 1900s) are taking up a helluva lot of my time these days. DuBois, Hopkins, Goines, Doctorow...
Oh, and on a more constructive note, you would LOVE "Being Human" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_Human_%28TV_series%29 : "The show blends elements of flatshare comedy and horror drama." ) which I think is available on iPlayer (if you can fix up a UK based proxy) although BBC America are about to co-produce the fourth series so maybe it has crossed, or will cross, the pond.
ReplyDeleteI'm tempted to ask how there could have been any Black Lit before the 1960s when they weren't allowed to get on a bus to go to school to learn to write.
ReplyDeletePep (But that would be ignorant and racist.)
PS Or, in the spirit of those faux clubs you wrote about elsewhere, are you talking about white people writing as Blacks, or about them, perhaps?
You're right, I do love "Being Human." ;)
ReplyDeleteYou classify Doctorow as "American"?
ReplyDeletePep (Just because he has a fixation with Disney?)
I'm so glad you asked!
ReplyDeleteOh wait, do you want to take a moment, reflect and maybe retract your question knowing I'm studying post 1900 Black Lit as an actual University student (rather than as a random hobby) and knowing how much I like to yammer away on subjects that catch my interest?
I'll hold back the Lee wall o-text flood for a moment...
You did say you were merely tempted.
ReplyDeleteDoctorow was born in the Bronx and lived and went to school in America. How else would I classify him?
ReplyDelete/me winks at the Disney reference.
We just finished "The Book of Daniel" in that class, btw.
Also, there is an American version of "Being Human" now. First season just finished a couple of months ago. Ya know us Yanks, we bastardize all your good stuff. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou should start a separate blog on your course. I am currently encouraging my son to establish reflective blogs/journals for ALL of the subjects that he is studying for his IB. Better than scrappy copybooks and less expensive than moleskins, with the added advantage that he can take photos of whatever the teacher writes on the blackboard, erm, whiteboard with his Android-enabled phone and upload it immediately.
ReplyDeletePep (is encouraging a new paradigm in academic study - especially for lazy-as-hell teenagers.)
I have BBC America on cable and On Demand (Comcast). I love it. We also get a lot of Brit-produced shows on PBS. I'm currently watching and enjoying "Zen" on Masterpiece Mystery. I love Rufus Sewell's nuanced acting and the cool retro vibe.
ReplyDelete@ Pep re: blog. Don't tempt me! LOL ;) [I may well do that.]
ReplyDeleteYou've got your son blogging, eh? Great idea.
Doctorow was born and schooled in Toronto according to the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia, and has spent most of his writing life living in London as far as I know, pissing it up (intellectually and physically) occasionally with Charlie Stross, another ex-geek with literary pretensions.
ReplyDeletePep (Gotta love his daughter's name: Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow - eat you heart out Frank Zappa, you unimaginative stoner you.)
E. L. Doctorow
ReplyDeleteThe American author of "The Book of Daniel."
ReplyDeleteHe also wrote "Ragtime."
ReplyDeleteCheck Wikipedia again.
I'm thinking that PhD in American Literature is going to take you a little longer than you thought. ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was just Sewell's "nuanced acting" you enjoyed . . .
ReplyDeletePep (My wife went into a trance watching those programmes; I enjoyed them too, although they took serious liberties with the original books.)
And yes, I do like Cory Doctorow's daughter's name. ;)
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, btw, E.L. Doctorow writes about Disney near the end of "The Book of Daniel."
ReplyDeleteAh! I assumed you meant Cory Doctorow . . .
ReplyDeletePep (notes the dangers of using merely surnames, however, unusual.)
PS Cory's dad was an Azerbaijani Jew; presumably Doctorow is a common surname over there?
PPS Cory also has much to say about the "Amateur Hour" attitude.
PPPS I have much the same problem when I go on at length about Eric Shakespeare.
LOL!
ReplyDeleteI may have to include some of the other Doctorow (Cory) in a blog post...but only after I get my homework done. ;)
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know of Ragtime, EL was a synthesist - my term for someone who in more modern terms might be termed a mash-up artiste, and in academia would have to face charges of plagiarism.
ReplyDeletePep (sees nothing wrong in being derivative, there are only twelve semitones in an octave and twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, so someone else is bound to have used them in a similar way previously.)