Date of Award
12-1-2012
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Mass Communication and Media Arts
First Advisor
Metz, Walter
Abstract
This is an ethnographic audience reception study of True Blood. LGBTQ fans of True Blood were interviewed in order to understand their opinions about True Blood, what makes it queer, and whether the representations are positive or negative. Overall, the subjects found the sexual fluidity of the vampires in True Blood to be queer because they felt it transcended human sexuality. As for the representations of gay and lesbian characters, they were found to be both negative and positive, but the inclusion of such characters is what is most important. I argue that the sexual fluidity of the vampires on True Blood is not queer, and True Blood is not queer, for queer does not transcend the binary system upon which sexuality is predicated.
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