How True Blood Relates to Real Life: A Psychiatrist’s Perspective
Psychology Today has a new article on their blog by Dr. Susan Smalley, a professor at UCLA who mainlined all four seasons of True Blood in one week and lived to write about it. She has some interesting insights into the series and the characters. Here’s an excerpt:
Why was I sucked into Bon Temps, Louisiana and its inhabitants for a week, like a V addiction? And why was this immersion so satisfying?
Perhaps its because Bon Temps and the characters of True Blood are a metaphor for the diversity of life itself and our means of meandering through it. Here’s what I see in True Blood.
1. A role model in Sookie Stackhouse – a person who is transparent – her outward actions align with inward intentions. When Sookie sees injustice, she acts regardless of the risk. She knows herself – what she deems right and wrong – and acts in accord with it. Deception is not part of her repertoire unless it’s used to save someone she loves.
2. The world is not always what it seems to be. Nowhere is that more true than Bon Temps Louisiana where humans may be shapeshifters or werepanthers or fairies or witches and where vampires are sometimes full of heart and kindness. We are constantly reminded that perceptions are full of illusions and we wake up all the time to seeing something we hadn’t seen before. The vast magnitude of the unknown is revealed again and again.
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