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 A VAMPIRE REBOOT WILL EMBRACE THE BOOKS' GAY SUBTEXT
• INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE FALLY HS SCREENS AND ’S GAY AS HELL: ‘I’M EMOTNALLY VASTATED’
• ANNE RICE AND HER HOMOEROTIC VAMPIR LEFT AN IMMORTAL MARK ON GAY CULTURE
• INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE IS BEG REMA BUT MORE GAY

'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.

INTERVIEW WH A VAMPIRE REBOOT WILL EMBRACE THE BOOKS' GAY 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. Vampir don’t partake racism, sexism, and homophobia bee all of humany is beneath them, let alone humany’s awful hangups.

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

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.

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.

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

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. Louis is a Black queer man a homophobic era, erned by relig doctre; he has to wrtle wh not only his feelgs for Ltat, but also briefly his old flame Jonah (Thomas Antony Olaji) as well as Ltat’s sexual fluidy.

Black gay men still fd hard to be accepted wh the queer muny, so this is an add layer of reprentatn the show. 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.

INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE IS BEG REMA BUT MORE GAY

” “But an openly gay Negro man was not one of them.

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. When Interview wh the Vampire was released cemas 1994, dienc for the most part pletely missed the glarg homoeroticism and queer subtext.