Anne Rice and her homoerotic vampir left an immortal mark on gay culture

Contents:

• 'INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE' IS BLACKER AND GAYER THAN EVER — AND IT FEELS JT RIGHT
• 'INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE' IS A BRILLIANT GAY FEVER DREAM
• INTERVIEW WH A VAMPIRE REBOOT WILL EMBRACE THE BOOKS' GAY SUBTEXT
• ANNE RICE AND HER HOMOEROTIC VAMPIR LEFT AN IMMORTAL MARK ON GAY CULTURE
• ‘INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE’ GETS IT’S GAYT TREATMENT YET
• INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE FALLY HS SCREENS AND ’S GAY AS HELL: ‘I’M EMOTNALLY VASTATED’

'INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE' IS BLACKER AND GAYER THAN EVER — AND IT FEELS JT RIGHT

Not unlike the way I uld’ve sworn that “Berensta Bears” was spelled wh a third “e, ” I totally believed that prev rnatns of Interview wh the Vampire — both Anne Rice’s origal 1976 novel and the 1994 movie adaptatn — were explicly about gay vampir. But more than that, they seemed to embody the ethos “be gay, do crime, ” a not-always-so-leral exhortatn to live a queer life fiance. But the homoeroticism was all subtext.

AMC’s Interview wh the Vampire, an updated, grisly, and often mordantly hilar retellg of the origal story pulls gay subtext to the ma text, givg a fancy vampire lookg for a longtime pann.

And tellg their story, Interview creat an embolned mentary about how sexualy, race, inty, power, and opprsn are all tertwed, and how the forc have throughout Amerin history left the magnificently queer vampir (and many others) wh no choice but to be extremely gay and do so, so many crim. In Interview wh the Vampire, gay vampir get lonely, too. Logilly, gay vampir make a ton of sense.

'INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE' IS A BRILLIANT GAY FEVER DREAM

Vampir don’t partake racism, sexism, and homophobia bee all of humany is beneath them, let alone humany’s awful hangups.

But vampir probably, as Ltat also monstrat, aren’t gog to let racism or homophobia gui their sire. It’s hard for some of them to prehend the ia of two men together — not unlike the way history turns gay and lbian lovers to “roommat” or “bt iends. Come to thk of , Interview is a lot like Frasier, a show that’s also about two sufferable gay men whose fancy tast annoy and threaten the people around them.

If they found out he was gay, his life would be danger. When Ltat shows up, all fancy and charmg and gay, his offer of vampiric immortaly is much more than an eternal life of queer pannship.

INTERVIEW WH A VAMPIRE REBOOT WILL EMBRACE THE BOOKS' GAY SUBTEXT

Be gay, do crim! Part of me hope Louis, who is a 100-year-old queer vampire, got to hear Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” on a dance floor full of flagrant homosexuals.

Daniel isn’t gay. It turns out that beg a gay vampire and dog crime isn’t ial, but allows Louis to be closer to who he tly is — much more than the human world would ever allow him to be. When Interview wh the Vampire was released cemas 1994, dienc for the most part pletely missed the glarg homoeroticism and queer subtext.

As if that wasn’t queer enough, Interview wh the Vampire also has plenty of scen of very homoerotic bloodsuckg. It’s worth notg that Anne Rice herself knew jt how subversive the text’s implic queerns was – and she worried s homoerotic leangs would stop Interview wh the Vampire om ever makg to the big screen. When she sat down to wre the screenplay, Rice famoly nsired rewrg Louis as a woman, fearg that Hollywood’s graed homophobia would stop the film om beg ma.

ANNE RICE AND HER HOMOEROTIC VAMPIR LEFT AN IMMORTAL MARK ON GAY CULTURE

In the end, Pt was st as Louis and the film went ahead wh much of s homoeroticism tact – even if had to be cloaked subtext to keep straight dienc engaged. Dpe s homoerotic them, Interview wh the Vampire was an stant h – even if crics were polarised.

Speakg to The Daily Beast  2016, she said she was “honoured” when people told her that Interview wh the Vampire reads as a gay allegory. “I thk I have a gay sensibily and I feel like I’m gay, bee I’ve always transcend genr, and I’ve always seen love as transcendg genr, ” she said. “In my books, I’ve always created bonds of love that have transcend genr… I’ve always been very much a champn of gay rights, and art produced by gay people – whether was the early Frankenste movi that had such a gay sensibily to them, or any art created by gay people.

‘INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE’ GETS IT’S GAYT TREATMENT YET

I have a gay sensibily.

She add: “I get teased a lot by my gay iends bee we have a rapport on thgs we fd excg or tertg. For example, the seri reimag Anrson’s character, Louis Pote du Lac, as not only Black but gay, and is cur enough to actually explore his terry as a saloon owner-turned-vampire navigatg the nf of race, sexualy, thirst, power and eternal life 1910s Louisiana. ” “But an openly gay Negro man was not one of them.

INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE FALLY HS SCREENS AND ’S GAY AS HELL: ‘I’M EMOTNALLY VASTATED’

This is, after all, the story of a vampire the prent day divulgg his memori om the so-lled Progrsive Era filled wh bloodthirsty nquts and gay sex, and wh an emotnal pacy regnizable to anyone — alive or unad. But the show self do prick at tertg 's certaly not unmon for gays to date men que a b olr than they are. A batn of men beg seen as tonomo and gay youth fancyg themselv as "mature for their age, " no doubt ntribute.

The upg Interview wh a Vampire TV seri, a reboot of Anne Rice's cult-classic novels, will clu the origal books' gay subtext. The upg Interview wh the Vampire TV seri will lean to the origal books' gay subtext. Durg the Interview wh the Vampire panel at SDCC, which Screen Rant attend, Jon says that the show will embrace the gay subtext of Rice's origal novel.

While the film adaptatn didn't dive to Ltat and Louis' queerns, the gay subtext between the characters still very much remaed, spe beg somewhat ambiguo. If Jon' ments on the show's gay subtext are any ditn, this eratn of Interview wh the Vampire will be an thentic, unashamedly queer love letter to Rice's work.