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

Contents:

• 'INTERVIEW WH THE VAMPIRE' IS A BRILLIANT GAY FEVER DREAM
• 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 BLACKER AND GAYER THAN EVER — AND IT FEELS JT RIGHT

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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

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. 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.