LITERAL REMAINS

Have you seen this True Blood series on HBO?  You probably have, but if anybody out there doesn’t know what I’m speaking of, it’s a show about a world that knows vampires exist, and so do werewolves and shapeshifters, and there is this waitress in Louisiana, Sookie Stackhouse, who can hear peoples’ thoughts and gets involved in all sorts of misadventures.  That’s basically it.  I’ve seen a few episodes.  It is occasionally funny.  Sometimes interesting.  But I’ll be honest, I only watch it for the naughty bits.

And, oh my, does it have some naughtiness.  Vampire on human, vampire on vampire, I don’t know what on I don’t know what.  It’s the kind of stuff that I would be afraid I’d be in some serious trouble if Chatty Kathy caught me watching it.  But apparently since it is classified as supernatural romance, has vampires, airs on HBO, stars Anna Paquin, and is based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris, it’s acceptable to watch it.  Plus, Chatty Kathy likes it, so I can watch the fang bangers, shapeshifter bangers, and I don’t know what bangers, and not get in trouble.

Go figure.

Seriously, True Blood be havin’ some raunch.  As opposed to those Twilight PG-13 non-heavy petting pedestrians.  I mentioned in my Eclipse review that I was not expecting it to promote abstinence.  Maybe that’s why they upped the action, to relieve the aggression and those pent up frustrations.  Eclipse gives us vampire on vampire violence, and shapeshifter on vampire violence, and, well, you get the picture.  It’s been said that the makers upped the action to draw in the males.  I don’t know about that, but if a guy has a girlfriend/wife/sister/mother, chances are he will see The Twilight Saga, whether or not they have more male enticing battle scenes.

But, do filmmakers need to add more action or blood splatter to get the male audience?  Probably.  Boobs are nice, too.  But really, do they?  It doesn’t hurt I suppose.  I don’t know how many men watch True Blood for the plot, not a lot would be my guess.  If given a choice, I doubt many men would choose to watch Twilight if they could watch, well, anything else.  I like romance as much as anyone.  The English Patient is one of my favorite movies.  She Walks In Beauty is my favorite poem.  In Your Eyes is one of my favorite songs.  Most any action movie, or horror movie, or “guy” movie, has a love angle to it:  how many men in movies seek vengeance because somebody done did some wrong to his woman?  Enter Braveheart.  I am Gladiator!  Even Mr. Freeze just wanted to save his wife.

What’s my point to all this?  I’m not really sure, as usual.  Maybe it’s to say that when it comes to watching the supernatural romances, us guys really don’t mind.  We get to be with the ladies in our lives, plus you ladies sacrifice a lot for us anyway, so we owe you more than just merely going to see Eclipse and listening to an endless loop of all three soundtracks.  I know Chatty Kathy has sat through some real horror movies that have nearly made her toss her cookies, so I can watch some glittering vampires now and then.  Plus, I don’t mind True Blood‘s naughty bits.

the_novacula