Maybe We Shouldn’t Meet Again: Racialicious Roundable for True Blood 5.4

Apologies all–between my vacation in June, Arturo’s semi-vacation this month, SDCC, Adacamp/Wikimania, and other power-out madness, we neglected to put up this roundtable last week. This is the discussion for episode four–tomorrow, we will post episode five which aired this Sunday. – LDP

Carryover–On Pam’s SlurLatoya: Since it wasn’t called out last week, we need to talk about Pam. She straight up dropped a racial slur while describing one of her employees. As commenter Mickey pointed out:

Mickey

I actually forgot to mention that in my post. When she said that I was like, “Huh!?” But then again, she used a similar slur against Tara’s girlfriend in the previous season (“yellow tail”). Does Pam have something against Asians?

Tami: That made me cringe when I heard it. I love the character of Pam. But, disturbingly, it seems that True Blood’s writers have bought into the idea that anti-P.C. (read: racism, sexism, etc.) is “edgy” and adds to the character’s bad-ass persona. They routinely put racist and sexist shit in her mouth. Racist slurs…the “gash in a dress” line…

Kendra: Knowing where she’s from–San Francisco, 1905–I wonder if she does have something against Asians. It could be a remnant, albeit a horrible one, from the era of her turning. Granted, it would show a follow through in character traits that TB hasn’t exactly excelled in in the past.

Joe: I was thinking the same thing actually. It would in fact be a terrible, yet accurate addition to her character. She did in fact have an Asian employee, so if she were really that racist, we could have gotten an indication of the racism in the flashback. It would have at least made more sense coming out of nowhere back then.

Alea: Cosign, Kendra and Joe. While the word was jarring to hear, it wasn’t anachronistic, and Ruby’s very presence in the array–along with her reaction to Pam’s introduction–make Pam’s anti-Asian racist language signify something more complicated than her just having “something against Asians.”

Latoya: But as we already know, just because something may be historically accurate doesn’t mean they will treat it with any kind of nuance or insight. It’s just another racist throwaway. At least with struggles for queer and civil rights they gave some context before abandoning plot development in favor of one-liners.

The Angel of Death And Her DiscontentsLatoya: Glad Lafayette finally called Sookie out on her “Angel of Death” ways. Not saying she hasn’t been through stuff, but she’s definitely the one who keeps coming out on top on all of these things.

Joe: Also glad about that, although Sookie’s reaction is to confess, blissfully unaware of consequences for the other people involved. Lafayette would likely be charged as well, unwilling accomplice or not.

Latoya: Can we keep a “break character” count? As in…why would Tara go anywhere with Bill willingly? Didn’t she swear to kill him after the Franklin/Russell situation?

Tami: She wouldn’t, especially as Bill as the one who left her to be raped by Franklin and what all.

Latoya: How many more tracksuits is Pam going to wear? Since when is Bill not completely anal about properly raising Jessica?

Alea: Since Bill has more life-or-true-death stuff to worry about than sweating Jess for throwing parties and having ditch weed in the manse? Though it seems like he’s the one who gets [Tara] out of the bloody clothes she’s been wearing since last season…? The change in their dynamic might lead to Tara confronting him about what went down with Franklin.

Tami: I see this is the season of speaking truth to (and about) Sookie. Has Alan Ball been reading our roundtables?

Latoya: Ball is gone at the end of this season, remember? It’s his grand “fuck it” moment.

Joe: Maybe he’s had a thing for Todd Lowe (Terry). This would explain his extensive storyline (because nothing else does). “If you think this storyline is slow as molasses, go to hell! I have my reasons.”

Why Arlene Hasn’t Evolved As a Character Since Season 1Latoya: And Arlene just called the shifters Barack and Hillary?

Tami: Um, what? I didn’t even get that.

Alea: It was neither clever nor accurate. Lazy writing abounds.

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