Rhythmic, upbeat, country-rock music pulses as scenes depicting rusting cars in thick overgrowth, dilapidated homes, police brutality, and Ku Klux Klan assemblies flash on-screen. A Black Pastor jumps up and down with great fervor, and his congregation raises its hands in worshipful agreement. The bones from a massive alligator head hang from a Louisiana parish front porch, and time-lapse photography reveals the decaying carcass of a fox. Steeple crosses and neon crosses intermingle with a lake baptism, half-naked women—some gyrating, cemeteries, and an old roadside letter board that reads God Hates Fangs! This opening sequence to the television series True Blood, created by Alan Ball, is a visual tapestry of Southern Gothic themes and stylization.
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The number three (3), within most Christian denominations, is synonymous with the Trinity—God, Son [Jesus], and Holy Spirit and is present three times in the story. The family is going on a three-day vacation, the three men who encounter the family on the dirt road, and lastly, the Grandmother, who dies due to three bullet wounds in her chest. The number six (6) or 666, significant for Satan, also features three times in the story. The family passes a plantation field with a cemetery of six graves, the Grandmother reminiscing of the plantation home with its six white columns and the six family members traveling by car to Florida. Additional religious symbols emerge as The Misfit reflects sarcastically about God creating no finer woman than his mother and his father’s death and subsequent burial at Mount Hopewell Baptist churchyard. The Grandmother chants pray, pray, pray, pray in between dialoguing with The Misfit, pleading with him to pray to Jesus for help, which he rejects. The Grandmother conveys to The Misfit that he is a good man with “good blood,” while continuing to speak of Jesus, which carries the connotation of the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood on the Cross for the salvation of sinners. Finally, moments before her death, the Grandmother recognizes herself as much a sinner as The Misfit and her realization in …show more content…
Elements of Southern imagery and charm, racial division, decay, and destitution will play out prominently regardless of the space and time in which a story of this genre is craft. Nostalgia reflective of Southern aristocracy and historical significance adds depth and context, and whether the symbolism of religion is overt or subtle, an aspect of spirituality will emerge in Southern Gothic stories as will the display of humanistic social and moralistic shortcomings. Accordingly, characters that are both charismatic and despicable engage and illustrate the possibility of men, women, and children acting in some way that is contrary to convention and reflective of the darker side of
The number three (3), within most Christian denominations, is synonymous with the Trinity—God, Son [Jesus], and Holy Spirit and is present three times in the story. The family is going on a three-day vacation, the three men who encounter the family on the dirt road, and lastly, the Grandmother, who dies due to three bullet wounds in her chest. The number six (6) or 666, significant for Satan, also features three times in the story. The family passes a plantation field with a cemetery of six graves, the Grandmother reminiscing of the plantation home with its six white columns and the six family members traveling by car to Florida. Additional religious symbols emerge as The Misfit reflects sarcastically about God creating no finer woman than his mother and his father’s death and subsequent burial at Mount Hopewell Baptist churchyard. The Grandmother chants pray, pray, pray, pray in between dialoguing with The Misfit, pleading with him to pray to Jesus for help, which he rejects. The Grandmother conveys to The Misfit that he is a good man with “good blood,” while continuing to speak of Jesus, which carries the connotation of the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood on the Cross for the salvation of sinners. Finally, moments before her death, the Grandmother recognizes herself as much a sinner as The Misfit and her realization in …show more content…
Elements of Southern imagery and charm, racial division, decay, and destitution will play out prominently regardless of the space and time in which a story of this genre is craft. Nostalgia reflective of Southern aristocracy and historical significance adds depth and context, and whether the symbolism of religion is overt or subtle, an aspect of spirituality will emerge in Southern Gothic stories as will the display of humanistic social and moralistic shortcomings. Accordingly, characters that are both charismatic and despicable engage and illustrate the possibility of men, women, and children acting in some way that is contrary to convention and reflective of the darker side of