Today’s topic: Representations of Queerness in “Interview with the Vampire” (AKA: Evil Gay Vampires)
Let me begin by saying I LOVE Lestat and Louis—obviously (what’s not to love?)—and I love the fact that these two beautiful boys are a couple. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t like the film or the books half as much if they weren’t queer. #Loustat forever. And Lestat is my bisexual KING.
That being said, it’s important to think about how LGBT people are portrayed in film, literature, and pop-culture as well as the ideas, messages, and stereotypes that are conveyed in media. I really LOVE the 1994 movie directed by Neil Jordan (it’s one of my favorite movies ever), but I do think it, like so many films in the 90s and still today, aligns queerness with “darkness,” “evil,” and “deviance.” Let me explain.
At the beginning of the film, we meet Louis. He is introduced to the audience (regardless of his actual sexuality) as a heterosexual man in a heteronormative relationship. He is a widower devastated by the loss of his wife and child. (This is a change from the novel, in which Louis is grieving the recent loss of his brother. It’s almost like the film intentionally made Louis “straighter.”)
Then enters Lestat, an evil bisexual vampire, who seduces Louis (our previously/seemingly heterosexual hero) and convinces him to become his immortal “companion” (a word that is used over and over in the film, in regard to Louis’ relationship with Lestat and Armand, but we know they really mean “boyfriend”). Louis’ becoming a vampire is linked to his entering a same-sex relationship. Lestat turns him into a vampire, and he also “turns him queer.” Furthermore, the “deviance” of queerness—going against societal expectations and heteronormativity—and the darkness and evil of “vampire nature” are paralleled.
Throughout the film, Louis tries to resist the temptation of killing, and he tries not to give in to Lestat, who constantly urges him to embrace the “immoral” and “unnatural” life of being a vampire. Louis resists his bloodlust for as long as he can, but eventually he gives in and starts killing people. Coincidentally (or not so coincidentally), this coincides with Lestat and Louis making a vampire baby together and starting a vampire family… i.e. they have sex, enter a steady/long-term intimate relationship, and raise a child together.
Aside from Louis and Lestat’s queerness being linked to deviance, evil, and impurity, their union ultimately ends with chaos and disaster: their daughter Claudia is discontent (and mentally deranged) as her fathers fail to “raise her right” and they also fail to bring her happiness. Claudia attempts to murder Lestat, who she resents and hates, and she ends up dying herself. Louis is left devastated, alone, and “empty,” and Lestat too ends up heartbroken and alone.
When Lestat and Louis reunite years later, Lestat wants to give their relationship another try, perhaps believing they can help each other heal after all of the pain and suffering they have been through, but Louis refuses. The filmmakers present Louis’ rejecting Lestat as a bittersweet moment but the “right” decision.
In conclusion: queerness and the “evil” of being a vampire are linked in this film. Louis is the “good vampire” who tries to resist his bloodlust (and his actual lust) and not to give in to his queerness. Meanwhile, Lestat is the “evil vampire” who embraces his vampire nature (and queerness) without regret. It is a very old, very common, and very harmful stereotype that LGBT people are dangerous, predatory, and psychopathic. (We see it again and again in movies: Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, Outlander… pretty much every horror movie featuring a gay character.) Lestat—I love, love, LOVE Lestat–but he could, arguably, fit this stereotype: the evil gay vampire who preys on innocent little straight boys and turns them gay.
Again, I’m delighted that Louis and Lestat are queer and that they are a couple (honestly, that’s the best part of the movie and books), but I also think its important to be mindful of the way LGBT relationships are portrayed in film, literature, media, and pop-culture. It might seem trivial (it’s just a movie, right?), but these sorts of things have real lasting impacts on the way LGBT people are viewed and treated in real life.
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