Similar to the way I’ve been able to tell the word “Berenstain Bears” was spelled with an additional “e,” I totally believed that earlier versions of Interview with the Vampire -the original novel in 1976 as well as the adaptation of the 1994 film were specifically about gay vampires.
In part , it was because vampires Lestat (played by Tom Cruise in the original film) along with Louis (Brad Pitt from 1994) were deeply connected to each other and were aesthetically queer, sporting puffy tops, frilly collars and stunning ponytails, all and yet being extremely rude. But more than that, they seemed to embody the ethos “be gay, do crime,” a not-always-so-literal exhortation to live a queer life in defiance. In their case, the actions were real in that they sucked blood from others as well as setting one another to blaze, turning an insignificant Kirsten Dunst into an eternal child.
However, the homoeroticism was a subtext. But not anymore.
The AMC’s interview with the Vampire ,an modernized, grisly humorous, and sometimes morbidly funny adaptation of the story includes gay subtext in the main story providing us with a sophisticated vampire seeking a long-term partner. If Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) says to Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) that he’s looking for an eternal companion It’s evident that he’s not seeking an apartment.
The immortal, bloodsucking male couple in the show is queer because they don’t just declare themselves LGBTQ and have plenty of very hot, bloody, intensely detailed sexual relations with one another, with others, and even certain women. Additionally, they’re quer as they live their lives, apart from bloodlust that is undead that is in contrast to the norms of human society.
In telling their story, Interviewcreates an enhanced commentary on the ways in which race, sexuality, identity power, oppression, and power are all intertwined and the ways these forces have over American time left amazing gay vampires (and numerous other people) with no choice but to become highly gay and to commit and commit a myriad of crimes.
In an interview With the Vampire Gay vampires are lonely, too.
“Being transformed by Lestat, being desired by him, bedding down with him was an overture of sorts to that side of my nature,” Louis confesses to an interviewer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). What’s the “side” of his “nature” that he’s talking about is his sexuality. “I got into that coffin of my own free will.”
In the end, gay vampires make lots of sense. Vampires are immortaland are capable of living for centuries, perhaps even a millennium in the event that they don’t run out of food or get into an killer. In theory, this gives plenty of time to play and should the spirit move them, they could be completely open about their sexuality.
Vampires as Lestat illustrates, view their own superiority to human beings. Therefore, they do not adhere to those same rules that humans do. Vampires aren’t a part of discrimination against women, racism, or homophobia, because they believe that all humanity is beneath them aside from humanity’s terrible problems.
Louis who is a gay Black man from the 1910s, is able to feel the full impact of this prejudice. So, a large part of Lestat’s undead sale to Louis is telepathic complaining about how ugly and stupid human beings are and how the sluggish creatures have treated Louis in a way that is less than due to the colour of his complexion. According to Lestat humans are monsters.
Vampires have been around long enough and been in enough places to easily discern the biggest mistakes made by humans. The only caveat to vampiric supremacy is that if vampires are looking for to have an everlasting partner they must venture to the minor leagues in order to find a human who is acceptable enough to transform into an actual vampire. But like Lestat, and Lestat shows they won’t let homophobia or racism dictate their choices.
Interview’s queerness allows for some entertainment at the expense of historic American “morals.”
The people who live alongside Louis and Lestat cannot quite understand the difference between them. Some people are aware of the romantic aspect of their bond, while others are ignorant. The majority of people thinks they’re brothers or even roommates, or that Louis serves as the valet of Lestat. It’s difficult for a few of them to understand the concept of two guys in a relationship — similar to the way that history has transformed LGBT and bisexual lovers to “roommates” or ” best friends.”
Interview is also a fan of his camp. Lestat has a elegant, worldly , vamp who is obsessed with cultural aesthetics as well as aesthetics. He has a particular victim, a male tenor who’s poor voice ruin his evening on stage. In the event that Lestat had a more discerning sense of hearing, the singer wouldn’t have been harmed. In the end, Interview is similar to Frasier which is focused on two gay men with a taste for fashion that cause annoyance and a threat to the community surrounding them.
The queer allegory of the film Interview is intended to be messy
The best part of the latest Interview‘s method is the way it makes use of its allegory to tell a story about the power dynamics in American past and American current.
As a human being Louis is considered to be queer (closeted) in his own right and Black and therefore an outcast. This is despite his living in Storyville the notorious area located in New Orleans that’s more tolerant than other areas of during the Jim Crow era. Louis is a thriving pimp, but he will only be successful until white people who are in charge change the rules on him. The white guys are constantly subtly harassing the pimp, gently reminding him that he succeeds because they let them to. If they discovered that homosexuality and he was gay, his life would be at risk.
If Lestat appears with his dazzling and beautiful appearance as well as gay, the promise of vampiric immortality is more than just an endless existence of queer love. It’s also a powerful fantasy.
Vampires aren’t bound by the human rules Being a vampire permits Louis to get around the structural and legal racism of Storyville as well as segregation laws and second-class citizenship imposed by males. The fact that he is a part of Lestat in what is a particular type of marriage grants Louis access to the money of Lestat. With their powers of the immortality of their minds and control over them it’s no surprise that some vampires have financial security (it’s also not surprising that in the past, vampires have been an emblem of the problems associated with the capitalist system and the gentrification process). Louis is now able to buy his way to the power of the vampire.
The decision seems so simple!
Louis was born in a society that is already averse to him being to be a monster, and refuses Louis the chance to live free. Lestat gives him the opportunity to live as gods, but in a different manner -abstaining from sunlight drinking liquid blood, slaying things and so on. If humans ever find out about his actual nature, they’ll attempt to eliminate him. If humans were to be averse to you in any way and possibly end up killing you I’d prefer to be powerful and hated, instead of being oppressed and hated.
Be gay, do crimes!
After having taken Lestat to the offer of Lestat, Louis buys the Fair Play Saloon the club that he changes the name to the Azalea. The Azalea thrives under his control. He says that, as the boss, he compensated his employees higher wages with no discrimination on the job. Everyone was permitted in. As a vampire, Louis has more respect for humanity than human beings would offer each other. This is an episode that offers most brutal observations on how Americans have used powermostly to inflict punishment on their fellow humans throughout history.
The connection between vampires and queers isn’t a pretty, neat and tidy, an allegory of empowerment but.
Lestat and Louis often fight and often over Louis’s inability to commit murder. Lestat insists that it’s part of their nature to do so, similar to how predators kill their prey. Louis would like to be more compassionate and often resorts to shooting tiny creatures instead of taking human blood. The sight of Louis not asserting his authority, but instead pouring down the blood of a rat like an undergraduate drinking an alcoholic drink at their first frat party, causes frustration in Lestat. The idea of being a martyr is untrue in the context of being god, Lestat believes. This anger is often manifested in verbal, psychological physical and verbal abuse during the year.
The two also disagree regarding the type of unending life they should live. Louis is looking for to be a father. Lestat believes that family is a defunct human tradition that vampires should be thankful that they do not. It’s a difficult impasse to overcome due to a an age gap: Lestat is much older than Louis who is a brand new vampire, is only getting to realize that he’ll see his entire human family as well as generations of his descendants get old and pass away.
There aren’t any credible Narrators of the story in Interview however Daniel Louis’s interviewer and an audience member, is challenging the story that Louis tells. According to him, Louis was taken advantage of by a predator with a myriad of powers which were sharpened in order to entice Louis. In the eyes of Daniel, Louis was helpless and foolish to think that his connection that he had with Lestat is anything other than the prey and predator, an imbalance that was cosmic in scale.
When Louis says to Daniel the belief that that his relation and Lestat was consensual even if they were not equally matched, Daniel responds: “To the shame of queer theorists everywhere.” Daniel believes that the idea of comparing vampirism, power murder, and death with romance and queerness is not logical, if not offensive. “White master, black student, but equal in the quiet dark,” Daniel says humorously.
Daniel may not be wrong however, he’s not had the same circumstances as Louis did. Daniel isn’t homosexual. Daniel isn’t someone of race. Although Louis describes the experience to him in detailed detail Daniel isn’t able to fully grasp the despair or helplessness of being an Black male, queer living in the Jim Crow South. When you watch the show and witness Louis’s stories as he experienced these, it’s much easier to comprehend the mindset of his character.
Sexuality and romance are central to queer identities however, so are the notions of defiance and power. Queerness is living in a society that is determined to make you disappear, or be the person you’re not. With Interview the stakes are raised to unprecedented levels, and the show extends the boundaries of tension to the limit of being a supernatural. It exposes the harm that this planet can cause, as well as the resources required to survive within it. It appears that being a vampire who is gay and committing crimes isn’t the best idea however it does allow Louis to be more in touch with the person he really isand much more than what the world of humans could ever let him be.
