Has anyone read Charlaine Harris' Dead series? They are the books the HBO series TrueBlood are based on. They bother me. There is nothing to hang my gut feelings on, no overt racist phrases, but they just dont sit right with me. I know they are supposed to be anti-racism and the Vampires/Supernaturals struggle to fit into society are supposed to be vaguely reminiscent of the 60s struggle for equal rights. But still.... The first book starts out by describing Merlottes Bar as a place where black people dont go after dark. Then in the 7th or 8th book when describing an elderly black woman she wrote something like "she looked as dignified as an elderly black woman could look". I was like, what is that supposed to mean? The HBO cast is much more integrated than the books. Tara in the books is white. And I have to wonder what the book drafts looked like prior to editing. Love the HBO series, the books leave me feeling very uneasy.
Hey Fly, yeah I watched a few episodes. Fairly entertaining as far as the supernatural elements, but I agree that the minority characters fall into stereotypical portrayals. A BIG personal pet peeve is anytime you have a fairly intelligent (even though he engages in criminal activity, another negative stereotype) Black man (Lafayette) working around and interacting with White women, hollywood is only comfortable if said Black man is gay. Of course Tara and her mother are shown as completely dis-functional both individually and as mother/daughter, with no husband in sight of course. The only other Black male character "Eggs", what a stupid f*$@ing name that is, also has a criminal, sad, delinquent past and relies on the favors of others to survive. While it is true, that a lot of the White characters are also portrayed with a lot of negative characteristics, I just get soooooooooooooo tired of the same crap/stereotypical treatment of minority characters. I would love to see a Black male character with the same traits as a Sam Merlotte or Bill Compton character, kind, brave, selfless, in charge, attractive to *all* women, ect. I won't hold my breath....
Alan Ball made it a point to add diversity to the cast. He said he wasn't going to do a series in the South without black characters. So he made Tara black. I appreciate Ball's views but I still prefer that TV/Movie adaptations reflect the author's views of his/hers characters. If the author of these vampire stories wanted her characters to be lily-white then by all means stay true to her vision. That being said Ball's handling of black folks has not been stellar so far on this show. And the show itself really came off the rails IMO during its final three eps. I'm not likely to give the show another chance. Loki, since Africa is where we all originate from according to experts in these types of things, I'm just waiting for these shows/movies/books to create ancient black vampires. But the writers never seem to want to give black characters any power or standing.
