True Blood is a TV show that aired from 2008 to 2014. It kept many vampire fiction conventions like vampires dying in the sun and being able to be killed by stakes. However, it ignored fears of garlic and crucifixes. The vampires were depicted as very attractive and sexualized compared to earlier works. The show had varying tones across seasons from comedy to serious and disturbing. It featured high levels of violence, sex, and humor. The complex plot centered around a waitress named Sookie who could read minds and dated both a vampire and a werewolf. The show examined issues like class struggles and religious ideologies. It received both positive reviews for its entertainment value and negative reviews for its disappointing finale.

1. True Blood(2008-2014)
Iona Rodman

2. Convention.
True Blood has kept most of the traditional conventions of the
vampire fiction genre, for example the vampires in this TV-show
can not go out in the sun otherwise they die, they can be killed
with stakes to the heart, in true blood the way that vampires
feed is the same as they can feed from humans but a synthetic
drink called True Blood has been made so they don’t have to.
Also The fear of garlic has been completely ignored and also the
fear of the crucifix. The appearance of the vampire is very
different, all the vampires in true blood are very attractive and
sexualised compared to earlier vampire fiction such as Nosferatu
and Hammer Horror’s Dracula.

3. Atmosphere
The atmosphere and tone of True Blood varies a lot through the seasons going
from comedy to being serious, very dark and slightly disturbing. This is created
mostly through visuals and sound, with strong and uncensored visuals no
matter how gory and a lot of sound effects that help add to the suspense of the
scary parts and help increase a sense of romance when the show is focusing on
that theme of the show. The levels of violence, humour and sex are all high and
are focused on a lot throughout the show. But because they are all at such a
high levels they level each other out.

4. Audience.
The audience for true blood, would be people who enjoy
watching vampire fan fiction. Also for this show there is a
predetermined audience as it's based on a series of books
called the southern vampire mysteries also known as The
True Blood novels by Charlaine Harris. The ways that this
programme has been able to cater to this audience is by
keeping to the books quite a lot and portraying the
characters well. The way it has appealed to an audience
who enjoys vampire fiction is by creating an interesting and
intense story with complicated and clever plot lines and
strong characters that develop shockingly throughout the
seasons.

5. Plot
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The plot of true blood is very complicated and random at point but the main
story is about a girl named Sookie who lives in a small town called Bon Temps, in
northwestern Louisiana. She's a waitress who can read minds but doesn't know
why, it turns out that shes half fairy. It's known that vampires exist but no one
thinks that there are any in Bon Temps. Then Sookie meets Bill who seems to be
the first vampire in town as he orders a bottle of true blood. They fall in love and
start dating, no one agrees with it. Through out the series they're off and on and
Sookie dates a number of different people including an werewolf and a shape
shifter. There is no real hero, its more like a bunch of people trying to look out for
themselves and the ones they love and most achieve their goals. A lot of people
die but the main character who dies in the last episode of the show would be Bill,
he dies because he has hep V a blood disease that kills vampires and even though
there is a cure he wants the true death so Sookie can move on and have a real life
with a human. Another main character who dies is Tara who's Sookie's best
friend, she dies because she saves Sookie. She gets turned into a vampire and
then gets murdered again by some rouge vampires.
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6. Ideologies
In the first season of True Blood, they show how the working class struggles. True Blood has mostly working class people working as
road crews or waitresses in a bar. Tara, Sookie’s best friend, is first seen working in a store trying to help her drunk mom but then
works as a bartender after being fired. Lafayette, Tara’s cousin, has a few jobs to pay for his mother to stay at a mental institution.
He bounces from being a cook, part of the road crew, and a drug dealer. Jesus, Lafayette’s boyfriend works at a nursing home.
Sookie, the main character, is in-between with the middle and high class. She works as a waitress but inherited her grandmother’s
house. She seems to try to help her close friends and family but mostly helps the vampires with their bidding. Even though
everything that has happened to her is because of vampires. Even Tara, Lafayette, and Jesus struggle to survive while vampires try to
kill them. In Conclusion, the vampires works to control everything and everyone, from humans to witches and werewolves. They are
the bourgeoisie of True Blood. While the other characters, the middle class, is the proletariats. Other ideologies in this show would be
the religious one as mostly everyone in Bon temps believes in God o their own type of God for example the vampires and their belief
in Lilith, the vampire God.
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This is the most complicated question: what do you think the texts suggest about the ideologies of the people who made them, and
the people who watch them, and the society which produced them? Think about whether the things you see on screen suggest any
kind of beliefs or values or attitudes. This might have to do with women, or race, or family, or friendship, or any number of things

7. Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMH3tYKoM7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Aixk4_NSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TzXZ701R4M

8. Negative reviews
“True Blood’s last episode was the most disappointing series finale I’ve seen
in a long time....the blandness of True Blood’s finale felt almost offensive.
Jessica and Hoyt got hitched, because it was Bill’s greatest wish to see his
progeny married off? Bill just had to lecture Sookie about how having children
makes life worth living? Sookie needed to chat with the Reverend about God’s
plan?...or a show that once skewered Ted Cruz and other self-proclaimed
defenders of “family values,” this was pretty conservative stuff.”- written by an
unknown writer for Entertainment Weekly.
“How could something so good go so terribly wrong? What used to be a
campy, entertaining look into the lives and loves of the residents of Bon Temps
has turned into a groan fest of epic proportions. Over the course of the it’s five
season run, True Blood has gone from a show we couldn’t wait to watch, to
the show we love to hate.“- Mj Snow. A writer for HBO watcher.

9. Positive Reviews
IMDB-8.0 out of 10
“This episode contains violence, nudity, language and adult content. Viewer discretion
is advised.” Welcome back True Blood… I’ve missed you” - James White, writer for
Empire magazine
Rotten Tomatoes- Average rating-6.5/10
“True Blood” never came back down the earth after its ratings surge. Season 3 hit a
peak combined viewer average of 13 million and Season 6 averaged 10.7 million
combined viewers (across all platforms and multiple airings) per week. The Season 7
premiere in late June was viewed by 5.8 million people, proving “True Blood” a hit
through its final season. “ - Alex Garofalo, writer for International business Times

10. Positive Reviews
IMDB-8.0 out of 10
“This episode contains violence, nudity, language and adult content. Viewer discretion
is advised.” Welcome back True Blood… I’ve missed you” - James White, writer for
Empire magazine
Rotten Tomatoes- Average rating-6.5/10
“True Blood” never came back down the earth after its ratings surge. Season 3 hit a
peak combined viewer average of 13 million and Season 6 averaged 10.7 million
combined viewers (across all platforms and multiple airings) per week. The Season 7
premiere in late June was viewed by 5.8 million people, proving “True Blood” a hit
through its final season. “ - Alex Garofalo, writer for International business Times