Is drinking blood required for survival?

[writeangel1]

This is the new on the RSS Feed (thanks to humbuggirlfor posting about it)
(if you have seen the trailer this information is not shocking/new.)

Comments

[gryffinclaw]

I think they can survive without it, otherwise Mitchell giving it up would be suicide right? They must be able to survive but they crave it very intensely hence his shaking hand.

How nice her is trying to help Lauren

[sassygirl]

Not for survival but she's intoxicated by it and obviously to not be a danger to herself ('member Herrick was warning her) and other vampires. So Mitchell maybe feels responsible since he turned her.

It's probably like water, we need water to live but we get nourishment from so many other areas, that we don't have to flat out drink 8 glasses per day? But of course, if you do drink plenty of water, your skin will be all healthy?

[brownstudies]

I think if it were an essential part of the vampire diet, it would really ruin the idea of it being an "addiction". This series is supposed to be about characters who have afflictions incredibly similar to our own (has anyone seen the new Mitchell advert on tv yet, where you're lead to believe it's alcohol abuse he's talking about?), so making blood necessary for them to live would really crap on the metaphor. I think we're meant to look upon it as a vice, not a necessity.

[joonscribble]

Making blood be more of an intense addiction, rather than a necessity goes far to highlight Mitchell's willpower. Because if it was an actual need then survival instincts would eventually kick in and in that way, it's out of his control. But making it an addiction, like alcohol or drugs, makes the decision not to drink very much on Mitchell's character and strength of will. And obviously, that's much more interesting to watch.

[brownstudies]

And it also helps explain George's role in Mitchell's life. You could almost look at him as Mitchell's sponsor :) George represents sobriety/humanity, and it's something for Mitchell to aspire to and resist temptation for. If blood were a necessity, the whole co-dependency thing wouldn't be as powerful, I don't think, because it wouldn't highlight how they manage to pull each other through the difficult times. If you're going to treat Mitchell's need for blood as our need for water and nutrition, then like you say, it'd be survival instincts that dictated what Mitchell did - not willpower or his support network of friends.

[joonscribble]

If they also made blood a necessity, it sort of makes Mitchell's fight seem extremely futile because eventually, he'd HAVE to give in. And it's depressing to think this "human life" he's leading definitely has an expiration date.

George represents sobriety/humanity, and it's something for Mitchell to aspire to and resist temptation for. If blood were a necessity, the whole co-dependency thing wouldn't be as powerful, I don't think, because it wouldn't highlight how they manage to pull each other through the difficult times.

Very true. Even though Tully didn't mean this particular aspect when he said that Mitchell had a stake in keeping George "this way," it did make me think about the fact that Mitchell does have yet another reason to keep George from succumbing to his curse other than pure friendship.