True Blood and Philosophy
We Wanna Think Bad Things with You
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
1. Auflage Mai 2010
256 Seiten, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
The first look at the philosophical issues behind Charlaine Harris's New York Times bestsellers The Southern Vampire Mysteries and the True Blood television series
Teeming 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 DVD
Smart and entertaining, True Blood and Philosophy provides food--or blood--for thought, and a fun, new way to look at the series.
Introduction: "If a Tree Falls in the Woods, It's Still a Tree--Ain't It?"
PART ONE: "I USED TO HATE VAMPIRES, UNTIL I GOT TO KNOW ONE": VAMPIRE-HUMAN ETHICS.
1 To Turn or Not to Turn: The Ethics of Making Vampires (Christopher Robichaud).
2 Dressing Up and Playing Human: Vampire Assimilation in the Human Playground (Jennifer Culver).
3 Pets, Cattle, and Higher Life Forms on True Blood (Ariadne Blayde and George A. Dunn).
PART TWO: "LIFE-CHALLENGED INDIVIDUALS": THE POLITICS OF BEING DEAD.
4 Signed in Blood: Rights and the Vampire-Human Social Contract (Joseph J. Foy).
5 "Honey, If We Can't Kill People, What's the Point of Being a Vampire?": Can Vampires Be Good Citizens? (William M. Curtis).
6 Un-True Blood: The Politics of Artificiality (Bruce A. McClelland).
PART THREE: "THEIR VERY BLOOD IS SEDUCTIVE": EROS, SEXUALITY, AND GENDER.
7 Coming Out of the Coffin and Coming Out of the Closet (Patricia Brace and Robert Arp).
8 "I Am Sookie, Hear Me Roar!": Sookie Stackhouse and Feminist Ambivalence (Lillian E. Craton and Kathryn E. Jonell).
9 Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex (Ron Hirschbein).
PART FOUR: "I AM ACTUALLY OLDER THAN YOUR JESUS": NATURAL, SUPERNATURAL, AND DIVINE.
10 Let the Bon Temps Roll: Sacrifice, Scapegoats, and Good Times (Kevin J. Corn and George A. Dunn).
11 Are Vampires Unnatural? (Andrew Terjesen and Jenny Terjesen).
12 Does God Hate Fangs? (Adam Barkman).
PART FIVE: "OUR EXISTENCE IS INSANITY": THE METAPHYSICS OF SUPERNATURAL BEINGS.
13 A Vampire's Heart Has Its Reasons That Scientifi c Naturalism Can't Understand (Susan Peppers-Bates and Joshua Rust).
14 Keeping Secrets from Sookie (Fred Curry).
15 Vampires, Werewolves, and Shapeshifters: The More They Change, the More They Stay the Same (Sarah Grubb).
CONTRIBUTORS: "I Don't Know Who You Think You Are, but Before the Night Is Through . . .."
INDEX: Sookie's Words of the Day.
REBECCA HOUSEL, a former professor of writing and popular culture, is now an author and editor serving on editorial advisory boards for the Journal of Popular Culture and the Journal of American Culture. She coedited Twilight and Philosophy and X-Men and Philosophy.
WILLIAM IRWIN is a professor of philosophy at King's College. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles, including Batman and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy.