Kitchen sink vampires? Being Human and the British TV tradition

Jowett, L. (2010) Kitchen sink vampires? Being Human and the British TV tradition. Paper presented to: Vegetarians, VILFs and Fang-Bangers: Modern Vampire Romance in Print and on Screen, De Montfort University, Leicester, 24 November 2010. (Unpublished)

Information

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract:	John Mitchell is a typical reluctant vampire, darkly attractive and just a little bit tortured. But do reluctant vampires typically enjoy a night in watching The Real Hustle with their housemate in a Bristol end-of-terrace? Being Human (BBC3, 2008-) shapes Mitchell’s character according to traditions of British TV drama, offering a new direction for this icon. In contrast to the excesses of traditional vampire stories or recent American TV like HBO’s True Blood, Mitchell is the product of another recognisable trend that reworks the vampire through understatement and realism, juxtaposing the mundane and the fantastic. Being Human combines the supernatural with the everyday aesthetically as well as thematically, developing George Romero’s cinematic flat mundanity (as in Martin, 1977), but also (like the John Constantine: Hellblazer comics) combining the apparently antithetical British traditions of Gothic horror and social realism, resulting in what we might call Kitchen Sink Gothic. This paper will analyse how Being Human negotiates familiar vampire plots and tropes (romance and sexuality, addiction, power, alienation, monstrosity) in a highly contemporary fashion that revitalises both realism and fantasy by being not quite a sitcom, not quite a relationship drama, and not quite horror
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Vampire, television, addiction, romance, sexuality, realism
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1992 Television broadcasts P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN3427 Special kinds of fiction. Fiction genres > PN3435 Horror
Creators:	Jowett, Lorna
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:	University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing Research Centres > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Date:	24 November 2010
Date Type:	Presentation
Event Title:	Vegetarians, VILFs and Fang-Bangers: Modern Vampire Romance in Print and on Screen
Event Dates:	24 November 2010
Event Location:	De Montfort University, Leicester
Event Type:	Conference
Language:	English
Status:	Unpublished
URI:	http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/3821

Actions (login required)

Edit Item

Altmetric