True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You [Paperback]

William Irwin (Editor), George A. Dunn (Editor), Rebecca Housel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Can John Locke's memory theory explain the nature of vampire identity? Is there a PETA message buried in True Blood's take on vampire-human relations? These and other biting issues constitute the smart and amusing essays in the latest William Irwin-edited Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series (after Mad Men and Philosophy). Authors invoke the likes of Kant, Sartre, and Freud and approach their topics with the seriousness of a devoted fan balanced with the levity and wit the series is known for. More than one essay focusing on God and vampires duplicate efforts, but highlights include Christopher Robichaud's examination of consent in creating a vampire, William M. Curtis's discussion of metaphor and the mainstreaming of blood suckers, Ron Hirschbein's exploration of the "Edible Complex," and Patricia Brace and Robert Arp's analysis of the not-so-subtle similarities between vampire rights and gay rights. These easily-digestible philosophical morsels are perfect for fans of Jon Stewart and anyone else who likes to laugh while they learn. (June) (PW.com, August 16, 2010)

From the Back Cover

BLACKWELL PHILOSOPHY AND POP CULTURE SERIES

This book has not been approved, licensed, or sponsored by any entity or person involved in creating or producing the Southern Vampire Mysteries, True Blood, the novels, or TV show.

Does God hate fangs?

• Is Sam still Sam when he turns into a collie?

• Is coming out of the coffin the same as coming out of the closet?

• Are all vampires created evil?

Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, telepaths—True Blood has it all. In a world where supernatural creatures coexist with human beings, Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton wrestle with powerful desires while facing complex issues concerning sex, romance, bigotry, violence, death, and immortality. Now, True Blood and Philosophy calls on the minds of some of history's great thinkers to perform some philosophical bloodletting on this thought-provoking series. From the metaphysics of mind reading to Maryann Forrester's cult of Dionysus, from vampire politics to the nature of personal identity, and from contemporary feminism to the rights of nonhuman species, True Blood and Philosophy mines the thinking of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and John Rawls to enlighten us on the intriguing themes that surround this supernatural world. You'll find no shortage of juicy metaphysical morsels to sink your teeth into!

To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470597720
• ISBN-13: 978-0470597729
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Societal Parallels Explored July 15, 2010

By Lindsay Chung

Format:Paperback

"True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You" is a philosophical look at the cultural implications within the world of the HBO series True Blood. As it is not likely that the issues presented by the presence of vampires in our human society will actually become a problem for the world any time soon, this book shows the reader the parallels between the True Blood world and our own. The same issues that the vampires in True Blood experience (racism, hypocrisy, the fight for equality) have been seen throughout history by any number of minorities. Women, Homosexuals and almost every race at some time or another has fought the "norms" of society to include them and afford them the basic rights given to everyone else.

"True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You" is a book that any intellectual can enjoy...assuming they also have a bit of imagination and don't mind being compared to vampires in one way or another. So, sink your teeth in.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lot Better and More Useful than Expected August 21, 2010

By Uni Professor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a huge fan of True Blood but also a professor about to use Dead Until Dark in First Year Seminar, so I was hopeful of using some of this text in class.

This text will not give the real fan of the show anything new or enlightening, in fact if you are a fan of both the novels and the show you will find a few plots mistakes. But there are a couple of articles, especially Dressing Up and Playing Human or To Turn or Not to Turn, that I found fun and interesting. Both articles would work for non-fans of the show and asked some interesting questions that would translate well to a first year classroom (even if they offered no real answers - why do philosophers like to talk in circles so much?!)

Again this is not ground-breaking stuff, it's more along the lines of fan scholars writing classroom ready pieces. There are very few sources, and I'm not convinced that, as a group, they know much about vampires beyond this particular show or the novels. I kept thinking about how much better a chapter like Joseph Foy's Signed in Blood would have been if he had more material on the history of the vampire and personal rights. But it had me nodding my head on occasion and laughing out loud (well okay smiling) once or twice.

I'm glad I read it and I'm pleased that I used it in class. My students were able to understand a lot more from these articles than some of the more intensely scholarly material we read. But honestly if you are as much of a vampire nerd as I am who sees True Blood as part of a longer tradition, then you won't learn anything new.... I say buy it, as someone who has a philosopher as a best friend I know how hard it is for these guys to translate their thoughts for a populist audience so this is pretty impressive and opens up a world of possibilities for bringing the vampire narrative into the classroom. If you want to try Zombies and Vampires try the earlier text in the seriesZombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

3 stars for content and 1 more for effort. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bridget's Review July 4, 2010

By bridget3420

Format:Paperback

I have been fascinated with vampires, werewolves and witches since for as long as I can remember. It used to be that vampires were repulsing creatures who felt no remorse and had no soul. In today's world, becoming a vampire is a romantic notion. I have often wondered why this idea appealed to me and even though I can't quite put my finger on the how or why that I like it, all I know is I've been seduced by the thought of being a supernatural creature.

I have always thought that the big reason we like vampires is the same reason that we would choose the "bad boy" instead of a good one. We are attracted to the idea that we can change someone and we're interested in finding out if someone can change us. Little did I know that there are a lot of reasons that I had never thought of.

This book dives into questions such as "does God hate fangs" and "are all vampires created equal". This was a fun and interesting read. Fans of True Blood don't want to miss this!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars True Blood and Philosophy--a good book for doing bad things July 16, 2010

By M. R. Hughes

Format:Paperback

What makes this a useful book for approaching the Sookie Stackhouseverse is the editors centered the discussions around the Jace Everett song: by subtitling the work, "I wanna do bad things with you" they have clued us to the ethical arguments of their work, along with the novels and Television show. True Blood's popularity as an HBO show as well as Harris' rising star in the contemporary fantasy genre resulting from it, make a work that centers on the ethical, religious and philosophical conundrum an essential for anyone using either the TV show or one of the novels in the classroom. Students love to discuss the complexities of intellectual and moral ideas and True Blood abounds in both. Dunn and Housel's selection of essays will give anyone want to teach or learn what the depths these novels are a good jumping off place. It is not exhaustive in that the essays do not address all of the novels in the series to date but it does address the earlier novels as well as the first two seasons of the show. I would not be surprised if the editors create a companion volume in a few more years addressing the remaining novels; it would be a welcome companion in any library as is this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex July 11, 2010

By Naida M. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things With You is an interesting book that discusses and analyzes True Blood the television series and The Sookie Stackhouse books. This book is food for thought. It takes different themes in True Blood and discusses them in detail. I think this book is a great conversation piece for fans of the show and books.

I haven't watched the show True Blood, but I have read the first in the series of books, Dead Until Dark, and enjoyed it.

Some of the discussions in this book are 'The Ethics of Making Vampires', 'Coming Out of the Coffin and Coming Out of the Closet' and 'Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex'.
The writers do plenty of 'what if' situations. Like what if vampires were real and living among us, would they have to pay taxes, since they don't need health care? Would they be served with life sentences in prison if they committed crimes, or would that be considered cruel and unusual punishment since they are immortal? The book also discusses homosexuality and the comparisons between coming out of the coffin and coming out of the closet. Are the prejudices gay people face similiar to the ones vampires face?
Another topic for discussion is whether vampires are evil or not. Some vampires such as Bill are turned without choice, are they considered evil?

My one issue with this book was the repetitiveness of certain excerpts from the books and show. I'd read one chapter that quoted a certain conversation and discussed it, then I'd read the next chapter, only to find the same quote being brought up again. It didn't happen that often in this book, and it didn't deter me from enjoying this read, but I did notice it.... I think it may have happened because there were different people writing the chapters, the topics overlapped a bit.

After reading this book you realize there are plenty of philosophical questions that can be raised by the Sookie Stackhouse books and True Blood. This is an interesting read, I enjoyed it. It is definitely a very detailed book, you can see that the writers are true fans of the series. I like how they would discuss great minds like Freud and Socrates and apply their theories and ideas to True Blood. Read more ›