Sexy Curses (Pt. 6)

Bill, the lead vampire in True Blood, is also a Byronic hero – alluringly dark and mysterious, with supernatural powers that defy the established order – the icon of the Romantic Movement. The Romantics rejected the “scientific rationalization of nature” (Wikipedia: Romanticism). Science had replaced God, and they defied the coldness of Natural law as the greatest power. They sought mystery and grandiosity. And the tortured, powerful individual filled that void.

The modern audience shares that void, as well as a glorification of the individual. In an early episode, Bill suggests to Sookie, the show’s protagonist, that not all things are explainable. Like the Romantics, he warns against using reason to dissect all. And though his remark is in a dialogue between two TV series characters, it serves just as well as a conversation with the audience. So while the old vampire lay isolated, rejected by God, the modern vampire stands alone, in defiance of reason and science...