In the AMC series Interview with the Vampire, journalist Daniel Molloy is shocked when Louis compares his appetite for blood with his sexual orientation. “You accepted your homosexuality at the same time as killing,” he says. What would the theory say? queer about that?” he adds. This is a pertinent question, since a good part of the argument is based on the love between Louis and Lestat.
This time, unlike the book — and also the film version by Neil Jordan —, the homoerotic context is fully explicit. What makes the script go through complicated places and, especially, through uncomfortable questions in the way in which various topics are analyzed. In particular, the sexuality of his characters.
Is there some homophobic substratum in the fact that death or, in any case, murder is compared to sexual self-discovery? In reality, what might seem like an insinuation about reprehensible impulses becomes an allegory for freedom.
Interview with the Vampire: love, desire and blood
In fact, the main premise of the series places a considerable emphasis on the fact that its characters are outside of all human norms. But, at the same time, closely linked by multiple feelings that converge in love.
If in the literary version of Interview with the Vampire the latent erotic tension between Lestat and Louis developed as a repressed instinct and a form of guilt, in the series it takes another turn. The script allows itself the freedom to carefully delve into how the desire and appetite for blood are confused and mixed in a single satisfaction.
However, Louis’s need for Lestat isn’t just that of a ward to his mentor or awe of a seductive creature. The production explores its history until both sustain a deep, singular and, without a doubt, violent connection. So strong that it involves from the carnal to the mental and spiritual to sustain a complex and overwhelming whole.
Love for all eternity and in the midst of shadows
One of the strong points of the script of Interview with the Vampire it is his ability to extrapolate the appetite for blood to other strata of the personality. But, also, to be able to separate the mere physical yearning – and according to the story, implacable – from the look at an adult gay love relationship.
In the first meeting between Louis and Lestat, the second drinks the blood of his future ward. Not so much as to kill him, but yes, in the words of the character: “To leave an indelible mark on him.” The next thing that happens is a scene that is rarely shown in productions. mainstream.
Both remain lying, one next to the other, while they catch their breath. But the production ensures that the atmosphere is one of deep intimacy. Very far from a scene of violence, there is a well-constructed substrate on mutual need. A newborn nexus that becomes more meaningful and real as the narrative progresses.
Sex, blood and bites in Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampirewhich comes from a pioneering work on themes and points of view queer, analyzes his characters from the emotional. Louis does not hesitate to express the fear that the mere possibility of attraction to a man produces in him. Little by little, the script adds layers of depth to its protagonists’ need for physical and romantic connection. He does it with a delicacy and respect that transforms long conversations, and even violent scenes, into symbols of more complex points.
The Serie Interview with the Vampire AMC’s is the essence of Rice’s novel — and the entirety of her universe — taken to a new level. Perhaps it does not meet the setting parameters and specific details of the narrative, but it does comply with its spirit. More importantly, it is the elaborate and careful construction of her character psychology. Add an explicit mention to your sexual orientation allows the plot to go through more complex elements about the psyche of its characters. At the same time, from an increasingly eloquent tour of how the idea of sexuality can be shown queer without resorting to hackneyed twists or clichés.
A story that reinvents itself for the new millennium
Of course, the relationship between Lestat and Louis is marked by a complicated inequality of power and the imprint of violence. It is not an example to follow, much less a healthy idea in general. Even so, the focus of Interview with the Vampire strays away from the idea of building characters who are limited by their sexuality.
Homophobia, the fear of discovering love that contravenes culture and society, is shown to be a painful fact. Little by little, the plot takes the space and time to tell about a gay relationship that does not obey the idea of stigma or inherent evil. A frequent stereotype on television and that the series subtly diverts towards its supernatural topics.
In fact, in several of the most significant moments of Interview with the Vampire, the love between his characters is a powerful physical and natural force. There are moments of tenderness, small gestures of shared intimacy that enhance what happens between the protagonists. Beyond the monstrous condition they share, Louis and Lestat, this time, are spiritual companions. A couple to the full, who share pain, suffering and the slow way of understanding the nature that unites them through a real bond.
physical love in Interview with the Vampire
The series is not at all shy about showing the desire and physical love between its characters. But his sexual scenes are not free and each one of them is full of a delicacy of approach that is novel. From bites — which in Rice’s mythology are equated with sex — to hugs, knowing glances and kisses. Interview with the Vampire shows its characters in a private world that they build with difficulty but with patience.
It is surprising how the script reflects on the maturity of adult love between two men without resorting to the easy resource of desperate need. Lestat and Louis are bonded by mere physical attraction, and then by being inexplicable creatures. However, the romantic bond is real, full of nuances and in a way that both characters can be understood.
Unlike the contained distance of the Neil Jordan film, the series Interview with the Vampire pays tribute to sexuality, to love in all its rarity. In the end, also to a relationship queer that they do not need to justify their existence beyond mutual attraction. “Many accidents happen in the world and in history. Love is one of them,” Lestat says to Louis after letting him drink his blood. Perhaps the best definition in the way that AMC’s production captures the erotic that the argument can offer.
