the best thing about tumblr is that you can watch a show and then you come here and someone has made a gifset of it and you can put it on your blog like a sticker in a journal
I see people arguing that the slave remarks in Episode 6 of The Vampire Lestat were a callback to the slave remarks in Episode 6 of Season 1 of Interview with the Vampire. If that's true, then it is the perfect example of why black writers were needed in the room. And I mean black writers specifically, not just "people of color." The contrast between how the two episodes handled the subject shows that.
Before I get into that comparison, I want to make something clear. I didn't like the introduction of a slave-master narrative into the unholy family dynamic. The racial implications made me uncomfortable. However, discomfort and offense are not the same thing. While I found it unsettling, I did not find it racist or anti-Black, and that's the key distinction.
In Episode 6 of Season 1, there are two instances where Claudia uses the word "slave". The first time, she is referring to both herself and Louis. She is essentially saying that they are under Lestat's control, trapped in Rue Royale, prisoners of Lestat, his slaves. In that context, "slave" is being used to describe their lack of freedom and autonomy. The second time, she refers not only to herself and Louis, but also to Lestat. She draws a parallel between their situation and Lestat's situation with Magnus. Just as Claudia and Louis are trapped under Lestat's control, Lestat was once under Magnus's control. He was Magnus's slave, and he ultimately killed him rather than continue living that way (we know that's not what happened but that's what Claudia believed). In both instances, the word "slave" is tied to a circumstance, not an identity. It is being used to describe a power dynamic: control, imprisonment, coercion, and domination. You could replace the word "slave" with "prisoner" and the point would remain intact. More importantly, the narrative makes a deliberate effort not to tie slavery to Louis and Claudia's race. Applying the same language to Lestat is what makes that distinction clear. The point is not, "Louis and Claudia are slaves because they are black." The point is, "Louis and Claudia are slaves because they are trapped under Lestat's control," just as Lestat was trapped under Magnus's. Now, viewers can absolutely be uncomfortable with the racial implications of using that metaphor in the first place. I certainly was. But I don't think anyone can honestly argue that the use of the word slave in this scenario was racist.
The writers managed to create discomfort, arguably one of their goals without resorting to anti-Black rhetoric. That's exactly the kind of nuance the black creatives involved in season 1 brought to the story.
Now compare that to Episode 6 of The Vampire Lestat. Claudia calls Louis a slave and then goes further, suggesting that slavery is part of who he is. She implies it is in his DNA as demonstrated by her saying that "slave" is etched into his ribs. Add the "nappy-headed" remark on top of it, and the conversation is no longer about a power dynamic. It becomes an attack on Louis's identity as a black person.
That is the fundamental difference. In Season 1, slavery was used as a metaphor for control. In The Vampire Lestat, slavery is framed as something intrinsic to Louis himself. The word is no longer describing his circumstances; it is describing who he supposedly is. The narrative shifts from "you are being treated like a slave" to "being a slave is part of your nature."
Those are not remotely the same thing. You cannot write a scene in which a Black character tells another Black character that slavery is essentially woven into his DNA, pair it with a racialized insult like "nappy-headed," and then act surprised when viewers, particularly black viewers find it offensive. So if those remarks were intended to be a callback to Season 1 Episode 6, then the callback was an utter failure.
What made the Season 1 dialogue worked was that it treated slavery as a condition imposed on people. What makes the Vampire Lestat dialogue offensive is that it treats slavery as something inherent to Louis. One is about oppression; the other flirts with the idea that oppression is an innate trait. That is not a minor difference. It is the entire issue. And if you genuinely cannot see the difference between using slavery as a metaphor for imprisonment and using slavery as a marker of a black character's identity, then I really don't know what to tell you.
The contrast between the two episodes is precisely why having black writers in the room matter. Season 1 showed that you can explore themes of domination, control, and power between black and white characters, while navigating the racial implications with nuance. The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 shows what happens when that nuance is absent.
gabriella butchered and made into a cartoonish, two dimensional villain with no depth or complexity whatsoever. louis being humiliated time and time again, forced to apologise to his abusers and referred to as a dozen different racial slurs. armand acting out of character, carrying out plot points that actively contradict his s2 characterisation. daniel having no role whatsoever other than being insufferable and stupid and insulting at least one minority per episode. claudia revealed to be suffering in hell, used as a mouthpiece for the writers to spew their hatred for louis, her presence needed to bring louis and lestat together back again. the band members taking loads of screen times but having paper thin characterisation and being absolutely unforgettable. lestat himself, the titular character, reduced to a shallow version of himself, where he actually didn’t do anything but was forced to by someone else. his (beautiful, heartbreaking, so interesting!) backstory resolved in quick two minutes long scenes with no emotional depth.
not one character given the depth and exploration they needed. how can you fuck it up so badly? who is this season even for?
aside from being bad and racist and homophobic... this season is just so fucking boring. like i've rewatched s1-2 countless times in a row. now i can barely get through one ep of tvl
“Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! The others disappeared; there she was alone with Sally. And she felt that she had been given a present, wrapped up, and told just to keep it, not to look at it— a diamond, something infinitely precious, wrapped up, which, as they walked (up and down, up and down), she uncovered, or the radiance burnt through, the revelation, the religious feeling!—
"He's my maker, we're not even blood" doesn't work when we have seen their bond which was also forged through their shared black vampiric identity but what do u expect from a season that uses race as nothing but a punchline
it’s crazy how much people are using the “unreliable narrator” excuse to justify bad writing and pacing. there was no need to do so in the first and second season because everything flowed perfectly, the characterisation made perfect sense, every little scene had weight and narrative consequences. no devil’s minion isn’t incredibly rushed because lestat doesn’t care about them. it’s bad writing. no, louis didn’t completely ignore claudia’s terrible state in the afterlife and simply went on to flirt with lestat because lestat is an unreliable narrator. it’s bad writing. no the flashbacks aren’t two minutes and very cheaply made because lestat doesn’t want to focus on them. it’s bad writing. open your eyes!!!
why aren't they talking about the trial!!!!!! we still have no explanation for lestat's presence, whether he went willingly or was somehow forced. this is crazy it's being dragged too long. if he really was forced, the first thing lestat should've done back in paris was to clear that he didn't willingly rehearse his family's lynching. the first thing!!!! if he wasn't forced or coerced in some way, he's an even worse piece of shit i'm sorry
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