Vampires Suck

Abstract

This article uses content and discourse analysis to identify parallel narratives in the HBO series True Blood and American society, then applies Young's politics of difference to identify counternarratives suggesting that knowledge, culture, and customs are not universal. The three primary characteristics of the politics of difference-democratic cultural pluralism, equality, and postmodernism-provide a lens to explore the identified narratives. It is argued that American discourse, like True Blood, is embedded with strategies of Othering that shape policy design and implementation in such a way as to benefit those deemed advantaged.

The politics of language: Exploring the DREAMers as the “alien other” in the narratives of immigration

“…The emotionally powerful trope of the alien , whether illegal/criminal or deserving, offers an image of a dehumanized body, the homo sacer of our times living at the fringes of society, neither legal, nor illegal, whose image political elites exploit to reaffirm social structures. Discursively branding immigrants the other , places them in an outside category separate from the dominant social group—the American citizens (Gaynor, 2014, p. 348).…”

“…The “othering” discourse is enabled by the institutional setting of the dominant narratives that construct the image of the alien from both pro and con perspective. Thus, the alien as nonhuman and not belonging is a concept developed by the powerful to shape a “normative understanding of the social world” (Gaynor, 2014, p. 350) and solidify existing power structures. This approach to the study of immigration has the potential to illuminate the political path to policy formulation, especially when linked to political power and hegemony.…”

“…Policy makers, specifically, construct and manipulate narratives from a position of political power and this enables them to shape normative understandings of society. Some scholars find this problematic because such politically sanctioned concepts purposefully exclude other views and images unrelated to power (Gaynor, 2014, p. 350). One more attribute of such a framing is that images of othered people are constructed as a social group, not as individuals, thus labeled collectively and stripped of their individual identity.…”

Popular Culture Informing Public Administration: Messages and Prospects for Social Equity

“…Borry (2018a, 2018b), for instance, argued that using shows like Parks and Recreation can be useful in classrooms to engage students, promote learning, and link theory to practice. Similarly, Gaynor (2014aGaynor ( , 2014b and Gaynor and Taliaferro (2016) noted how television shows like True Blood and The Wire are helpful to teach counter-narratives, or those from historically marginalized populations that are counter to elite-biased narratives, about practices of othering, and listening to more diverse views. Other attention focuses on how politicians themselves use the intersections of social media and popular culture to convey messages.…”

ATP Special Issue on Gender Identity and Expression and Sexual Orientation (LGBTQ+) in the Public and Nonprofit Contexts

“…Although observable, the origins and development of such issues lack sufficient theoretical grounding and analysis to be fully understood and contextualized. Several scholars have started the conversation, including Udani (2008), Gaynor (2014), and Blessett, Gaynor, Witt, and Alkadry (2016), all of whom offer insights on the effects and consequences of majority or dominant narratives on other populations. For example, Udani (2008) applies Judith Butler's idea of "anonymous others" to public administrators to argue for more egalitarian levels of public service provision.…”