A very short not long as fuck version of my post about Vampirism as "freedom" from societies failings to those in compromised positions will be HERE.
When I say Lestat from IWTV(the tv show) is just Remmick (from Sinners) without Rizz what I mean is that both of them represent a "freedom" or even a proximity to whiteness that is given as a option to the two men they seek in their pieces of work.
I will start with Louis. Louis De Pointe Du Lac already has some proximity to whiteness with his business, his mixed nature and his success. But even in the first few minutes of the first episode of IWTV we see how little that means when he is still called the n word by one of his "respectful guest" He is deeply aware of the ceiling of what he can do and have in this world. Through NO Failing of his own btw.
This is then doubled when you think about his nature as a gay man. He is closeted and refuses to accept it cause the last thing he needs is to be a black business owner who loves men. Lestat shows him another "option" Lestat is prime number one Racial Ally in that first episode. Trying to show Louis that his race shouldn't hold him back and that he is "better" and "different" then the racist white men Louis deal with.
He shows with his power as a vampire that he is not beholden to his status as lesser cause he is a queer man, and Louis believes this can do the same for him. While I think Lestat seduces Louis to being a vampire you can still obviously see that Louis views lestat as something else. Something that he could be, as a new and magical bridge towards whiteness. He even goes as far to tell his sister "Lestat isn't white, he is french" when we all know he wants to say "a vampire"
But after the Embrace Louis is still treated like a black man, cause he STILL IS. And when he lashes out on that business man that calls him a "extrodinary Negro" Lestat is unable to understand why that angered Louis. Because at the end of the day Lestat was not working from the same world view or vector as Louis, he doesn't ACTUALLY get or even care about Louis hardships as a black man. His racial allyship begins and ends at his lover.
There was no freedom, just love. And those are not the same thing.
NOW TO REMMICK. Its very much the same thing but Remmick has a few things working against him. He is not as charming as Lestat. He is attempting this with someone like Sammie who for better or worst is deeply part of his community of black people in a way Louis isn't. And Lastly, he has no material gain to show Sammie.
I don't want this post to go on FOREVER. But in Sinners it makes sense that Smoke and Stack are recently back from Chicago where they worked with high level Mafia guys. That could have been their proximity to whiteness and success but they are aware and even say that the city and white folks up there is the same as in the south. They have realized there is nothing to be gained or made from a proximity to whiteness TRULY
They disillusion Sammie on this in their first few conversations with him. Its why in many ways Remmick's plan was a failing one from the start.
My LAST POINT. IS that this only works because both Remmick and Lestat ,even if they are white devils, both have a level of disadvantage in the white christian society they live in. Remmick from being Irish and having his land and identity taken, and Lestat from being queer and literally made a slave by his sire. They needed to be marginalized in their own way so you FEEL BAD FOR THEM and also so their connection to our black protagonist have some footing in honesty.
THIS IS THE VERY ABRIDGED VERSION OF MY THOUGHTS. I could even bring in the New NOSFERATU into this thesis i got. But I dont think its necessary. I love both of these pieces of work and how they relate to Race and everyday when I make a VTM character or write about a black vampire i keep in mind race cause it deepens every aspect of being a vampire.
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
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