hanging on because no one wants to die
so thanks to my new comfort with using torrents, i have completely caught up with the current 9 episodes of true blood that have aired and i plan on moving on to third season of dexter as soon as i am willing again to succumb my free will. but back to vampires, themostepotente recently said that true blood is everything that twilight isn't, and while i hate to compare the two because they are completely differently tonally, they really are remarkably similar in story. both involve vampires who are trying to live normal, killing-free lives, and a girl who falls in love with one of them. interestingly, it reverses the whole mind-reading factor by having it be the human girl who can read minds and is attracted to the vampire because she can't read his, but not because of the novelty of it the way edward is but because its a relief to not be aware of what another person is thinking constantly. both also involve a rival to the vampire boyfriend in the form of a canine shapeshifter, though there is no vampire/werewolf war or anything in true blood, or at least so far there isn't.
the major, most notable difference is that twilight is written by a mormon, and true blood is on hbo, so they are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of decency. when i tried to watch the first episode while we were in cape cod my mom made me turn it off because as far as she was concerned, it was soft core porn with annoying southern accents. so as you can imagine, true blood is far from twilight fantasy romance. instead, it starts out very campy, and then gradually develops into something much more rich. by the time the sixth episode rolled around, i had gone from giggling every other to minute to getting choked up. sookie is a fantastic character, she is incredibly strong even though she has a lot of baggage. she makes bella look like a wad of wet tissue. and the vampire, bill, does have some resemblances to edward in the sense that he is still very much a man of his time period, but he is much much darker and complex. i like the fact that when he is first seen, and sookie is gazing at him with wonder, he actually looks like he's seen better days. he can be charming and slick but he also can be very scary and morally flawed (though i guess it depends on what angle you're looking from). the show also seems to be saying a lot in rather subtle, and not so subtle, ways. there's of course the hammer-over-the-head civil rights allegory, but there's also a lot of commentary on war, sexuality and morality. i also like how it addresses the issues of the small southern town - prejudice, gossip-mongering, and of course trying to be something when you're surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. it all rolls up into a really good show that also happens to be about vampires.
and so keeping with the much darker perspective of horror fantasy, not only did i finally see the exorcist, but i watched it twice in the past week. i watched it first on halloween when bravo was airing it, and then got it from netflix and watched the restored version without commercial interruption today. i was really surprised to find that it really isn't much of a horror movie at all, but a drama, and a great one at that. the scary elements have less to do with demons and danger music, and more with the sheer despair that everyone involved is feeling. long before the word exorcism is ever used, you find yourself feeling so much for the characters because of the utterly horrible situations they have to deal with. what's also so impressive about it is that it shocks you with its content and subject matter, rather than with obnoxious jumps and surprises. the story itself is disturbing enough that it doesn't need to. its unfortunate that horror films since then have not been able to do the same. i can't say how much i like the restored version more, because the main reason why i wanted to watch it again was because i wanted to see it unedited - bravo's job on it made it feel very choppy and awkward. the additional scenes fleshed this things out better and clarified things, so i have no argument with them. i like the slow pace of the film, so i don't feel like it got bogged down. its a horror film that takes its time but not because its trying to make you hyperventilate with tension, but because it wants to tell a story in the right way, which is a relief to finally see.
the major, most notable difference is that twilight is written by a mormon, and true blood is on hbo, so they are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of decency. when i tried to watch the first episode while we were in cape cod my mom made me turn it off because as far as she was concerned, it was soft core porn with annoying southern accents. so as you can imagine, true blood is far from twilight fantasy romance. instead, it starts out very campy, and then gradually develops into something much more rich. by the time the sixth episode rolled around, i had gone from giggling every other to minute to getting choked up. sookie is a fantastic character, she is incredibly strong even though she has a lot of baggage. she makes bella look like a wad of wet tissue. and the vampire, bill, does have some resemblances to edward in the sense that he is still very much a man of his time period, but he is much much darker and complex. i like the fact that when he is first seen, and sookie is gazing at him with wonder, he actually looks like he's seen better days. he can be charming and slick but he also can be very scary and morally flawed (though i guess it depends on what angle you're looking from). the show also seems to be saying a lot in rather subtle, and not so subtle, ways. there's of course the hammer-over-the-head civil rights allegory, but there's also a lot of commentary on war, sexuality and morality. i also like how it addresses the issues of the small southern town - prejudice, gossip-mongering, and of course trying to be something when you're surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. it all rolls up into a really good show that also happens to be about vampires.
and so keeping with the much darker perspective of horror fantasy, not only did i finally see the exorcist, but i watched it twice in the past week. i watched it first on halloween when bravo was airing it, and then got it from netflix and watched the restored version without commercial interruption today. i was really surprised to find that it really isn't much of a horror movie at all, but a drama, and a great one at that. the scary elements have less to do with demons and danger music, and more with the sheer despair that everyone involved is feeling. long before the word exorcism is ever used, you find yourself feeling so much for the characters because of the utterly horrible situations they have to deal with. what's also so impressive about it is that it shocks you with its content and subject matter, rather than with obnoxious jumps and surprises. the story itself is disturbing enough that it doesn't need to. its unfortunate that horror films since then have not been able to do the same. i can't say how much i like the restored version more, because the main reason why i wanted to watch it again was because i wanted to see it unedited - bravo's job on it made it feel very choppy and awkward. the additional scenes fleshed this things out better and clarified things, so i have no argument with them. i like the slow pace of the film, so i don't feel like it got bogged down. its a horror film that takes its time but not because its trying to make you hyperventilate with tension, but because it wants to tell a story in the right way, which is a relief to finally see.