Broders S (2015)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2015
Publisher: LIT-Verlag
Edited Volumes: Gothic Transgressions. Extension and Commercialization of a Cultural Mode
Series: Kultur: Forschung und Wissenschaft
City/Town: Münster
Book Volume: 19
Pages Range: 217-238
ISBN: 978-3-643-90364-8
The sexual initiation of the heroine by the vampire has always been both a traditional plot device bridging the gap between Gothic and romance, and a successful marketing strategy. However, in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling Twilight saga (2005), the "vegetarian" vampire-turned-superhero does not only abstain from human blood, but also from sexual relations. Advertised with the Christian symbol of temptation, the apple, on the cover, (sexual) curiosity is associated with original sin.
Despite the series' commercial success, Meyer's 'celibate' vampires have been under attack for promoting thinly disguised evangelical morals and obsolete gender stereotypes. Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels (2001) and the TV adaptation by Alan Ball, True Blood (2008), set themselves apart from Meyer's desexualized vampires: Harris' vampires are highly sensual. Despite its setting in the conservative 'bible belt' state of Louisiana, the series' marketing strategy depends on the link between vampirism and the heroine's sexual awakening. The novels address questions of sexual liberty and otherness. After falling in love with the vampire Bill, waitress Sookie is at first labelled as a "necrophile" and a "pervert". It is through Sookie's curiosity to 'see the other side' in her relationship with Bill that she transcends the narrow-minded small town mainstream and begins to convince her friends that her love for Bill is not 'unnatural'. Like the early gay movement, 'Undead Americans' demand an end to discrimination. In Harris' America, the changing image of vampirism becomes a powerful metaphor, representing all life-styles. At the same time, her novels maintain the Gothic tradition of the vampire as projection screen of unfulfilled sexual desires and the aesthetics of danger.
APA:
Broders, S. (2015). 'No Sex Please, We're Vegetarians' - Marketing the Vampire and Sexual Curiosity in Twilight, True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. In Ellen Redling, Christian Schneider (Eds.), Gothic Transgressions. Extension and Commercialization of a Cultural Mode. (pp. 217-238). Münster: LIT-Verlag.
MLA:
Broders, Simone. "'No Sex Please, We're Vegetarians' - Marketing the Vampire and Sexual Curiosity in Twilight, True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse Novels." Gothic Transgressions. Extension and Commercialization of a Cultural Mode. Ed. Ellen Redling, Christian Schneider, Münster: LIT-Verlag, 2015. 217-238.
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