True Blood and Philosophy : We Wanna Think Bad Things with You

by William Irwin; George Dunn; Rebecca Housel

• ISBN13: 9780470641026
• ISBN10: 0470641029
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

The first look at the philosophical issues behind Charlaine Harris's New York Times bestsellers The Southern Vampire Mysteries and the True Blood television seriesTeeming with complex, mythical characters in the shape of vampires, telepaths, shapeshifters, and the like, True Blood, the popular HBO series adapted from Charlaine Harris's bestselling The Southern Vampire Mysteries, has a rich collection of themes to explore, from sex and romance to bigotry and violence to death and immortality. The goings-on in the mythical town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where vampires satiate their blood lust and openly commingle with ordinary humans, present no shortages of juicy metaphysical morsels to sink your teeth into.Now True Blood and Philosophy calls on the minds of some of history's great thinkers to perform some philosophical bloodletting on such topics as Sookie and the metaphysics of mindreading; Maryann and sacrificial religion; werewolves, shapeshifters and personal identity; vampire politics, evil, desire, and much more. The first book to explore the philosophical issues and themes behind the True Blood novels and television series Adds a new dimension to your understanding of True Blood characters and themes The perfect companion to the start of the third season on HBO and the release of the second season on DVDSmart and entertaining, True Blood and Philosophy provides food-or blood-for thought, and a fun, new way to look at the series.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentS: For the "Supes" We Just Can't Live Without

Introduction: "If a Tree Falls in the Woods, It's Still a Tree-Ain't It?"

"I Used To Hate Vampires, Until I Got To Know One": Vampire-Human Ethics

To Turn or Not to Turn: The Ethics of Making Vampires

Dressing Up and Playing Human: Vampire Assimilation in the Human Playground

Pets, Cattle, and Higher Life Forms on True Blood

"Life-Challenged Individuals": The Politics Of Being Dead

Signed in Blood: Rights and the Vampire-Human Social Contract

"Honey, If We Can't Kill People, What's the Point of Being a Vampire?": Can Vampires Be Good Citizens?

Un-True Blood: The Politics of Artificiality

"Their Very Blood Is Seductive": Eros, Sexuality, And Gender

Coming Out of the Coffin and Coming Out of the Closet

"I Am Sookie, Hear Me Roar!": Sookie Stackhouse and Feminist Ambivalence

Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex

"I Am Actually Older Than Your Jesus": Natural, Supernatural, And Divine

Let the Bon Temps Roll: Sacrifice, Scapegoats, and Good Times

Are Vampires Unnatural?

Does God Hate Fangs?

"Our Existence Is Insanity": The Metaphysics Of Supernatural Beings

A Vampire's Heart Has Its Reasons That Scientifi c Naturalism Can't Understand

Keeping Secrets from Sookie

Vampires, Werewolves, and Shapeshifters: The More They Change, the More They Stay the Same

ContributorS : "I Don't Know Who You Think You Are, but Before the Night Is Through . . .."

Index: Sookie's Words of the Day

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.