‘True Blood’ Brought Sex Out Of Horror’s Subtext

When True Blood debuted on HBO 10 years ago today, it quickly developed a very specific reputation. Sure, it was one of the latest in a list of vampire revivals, focused on dusting off the creakiness of the mythos and returning it to its terrifying, yet romantic, roots. But it was also hyper sexy. In fact, True Blood was — and still arguably is — one of the sexiest shows aired on television. It’s a show about lust and love, desire and sin. Most of all, it’s a frothy celebration of the horniness that’s embedded in horror.

True Blood made horror sexy for the masses.

Sex and horror have always gone hand in hand. The roots of the horror genre are all about the push and pull of sexual repression versus sexual expression. Gothic novels are about young maidens grappling with a dark seducer. The vampire’s fangs evoke thoughts of oral sex, and the monster’s penchant for blood signifies a down-and-dirty lust for life force. At its most gruesome, horror is about our fear of life more than it is about our fear of death. We’re drawn to the genre for the catharsis of terror, and the lurid explorations of our own most sinful desires.

True Blood arguably kicked off a new way of looking at horror. (Or at least, it invited the masses in on the fun.) The show was gory, campy, over-the-top, and most of all, sexy. The sexuality in True Blood<wasn’t discussed in metaphors, or expressed in debates about the virtue of virginity. It was out and in your face. The show had a delicious lasciviousness about it. The blood vampires thirsted for was more than just a life force — but obviously a sex force. There's a whole conversation devoted in the first episode to how vampire sex differs from human sex. It's rougher, scarier, and according to True Blood, hotter.

True Blood came out at an interesting tipping point for the horror genre. There had always been a lot of sexuality in horror films, but it had slanted in the direction of being purely of the predatory kind. Consider the trope of the virgin teenager running from the killer in a slasher film, or the cliché of the gratuitous topless scene. The sex and nudity in True Blood may have seemed gratuitous, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t gratuitous because it was the point of the show. True Blood took a sex positive stance that lured all viewers, of all different sexualities and proclivities, into the fold. Because True Blood was way more about the nature of sex and desire, than horror and fear, it used the thrills and dread of the horror genre as an overt exploration of our anxieties about sexual violence.

I think it’s worth noting that True Blood‘s premiere pre-dated Twilight‘s drop in cinemas by a few months. Stephenie Meyers’ books were already best-sellers, but the film would be more interested in romance and an anxiety about sexuality. Edward Cullen is a strange hybrid of gothic literature’s white knight and brooding seducer; he’s such a stalwart suitor for Bella that he refuses to indulge her desires for fear that he might hurt her. True Blood gave us a similar romance. When we meet her, Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse is a virgin aghast at the Merlotte staff’s dirty talk, but she soon finds herself happily under the spell of vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Bill is also worried about hurting Sookie, but by Episode 6, they are having warmly lit sex wherein she invites him to bite her. Passion is not a taboo in True Blood, nor is it an admission of moral weakness. It’s just another part of life.

Since True Blood‘s raucous run on HBO, the horror genre has hit something of a renaissance. Horror cinema is more articulate and adventurous than it’s been in decades. The genre is used as a perfect framing device for the exploration of all sorts of major issues, from sexuality to racism to personal anxiety. Horror is also treated differently on TV. After True Blood found success, Ryan Murphy reinvented the anthology series for FX with American Horror Story, which in turn has influenced a wave of programming.

Horror is no longer a cult genre, but a favorite of the mainstream. More than that, horror is sexier than it’s ever been before.

Stream True Blood on HBO Now