Possible Racism & Colorism in the IWTV Fandom
I’ve been noticing a lot of things lately in the IWTV fandom that come off as racist or colorist to me. However, I’m white, so to fans who are people of color, please feel free to comment on this post and share your thoughts on this. I'd really like to know what you think.
The insistence that Louis and Claudia must both be lying about Lestat being abusive to them. Two black characters have said they were abused by a white character, and some fans are determined to make them either be flat out lying or for it all to be some scheme of Armand’s (another person of color). I understand that people are disappointed in the show’s portrayal of Lestat and that the writers made him so horribly abusive, but to say that both Louis and Claudia must be lying about it seems to have some strong racist undertones to me.
The vilification of Armand to make Lestat and Loustat look better. Armand is being accused of things the audience doesn't actually have proof of, and these accusations and theories are treated by many fans as facts, because if everything is Armand’s fault and he’s brainwashed Louis, then Lestat – the white character – wasn’t actually as bad and it’s all just a trick of Armand’s. This feels especially racist because Armand is the only South Asian main character on the show, and quite possibly one of the only (if not the only) Southeast Asian vampire I personally can recall having ever seen in any media. And I've watched/read a lot of vampire stories, guys. Also, Armand is one of the darkest-skinned characters on the show (Claudia even comments that Armand has darker skin than Louis), so there could be colorism involved here as well. A lot of this seems to stem from people preferring Loustat to Loumand, and while some people may simply prefer one ship to another because of the way they perceive the dynamic and chemistry between the two, others may be behaving this way because they want Louis to be with their "white fav" i.e. Lestat rather than with a man of color i.e. Armand. Many may not even fully realize the underlying bias they have but that doesn't mean it's not there.
The criticism of Delainey Hayles’s casting as Claudia. Certain comments people have made come off as colorism because Delainey has darker skin than Bailey Bass. There was one in particular about how Delainey didn’t look “innocent enough” to be Claudia in comparison to Bailey, which seems to stem from people thinking darker-skinned black women are less innocent than lighter-skinned black women. Delainey has been doing a fantastic job as Claudia and doesn't deserve this treatment.
The lack of commentary on Nicki using a racist slur to refer to Armand – g*psy. Yes, that slur was probably a pretty common way many people referred to Romani people back then, so the writers were being historically accurate, but it’s still a slur and people have spent more time talking about how they think Armand was “writing Lesmand fanfic” than examining the fact that Nicki was racist toward him and the kind of effect that might have had on Armand. Nicki could have said, “do you know this person, Lestat?” Instead, he said, “do you know this g*psy?” which is dehumanizing and shows a clear bias against Romani people & South Asian people who may have been perceived as Romani in places like France during that time period (we don’t actually know much about Armand’s exact ethnic background on the show yet so he may or may not actually be Romani). To top it off, the people who claim Armand is lying about his past with Lestat sometimes have implied that he may have been lying about Nicki as well, and therefore may have lied about Nicki being racist toward him. Another example of fans claiming people of color are lying about maltreatment they've faced from white characters. Why aren't more people talking about this?
The coddling and "woobification" of Louis by certain fans. So many fans are determined to give Louis no power in his relationships or agency in his own story despite Jacob Anderson saying that Louis has a lot of power in his relationships. Everything has to be someone else’s fault. Armand has to be controlling him. Louis has to have been brainwashed to not remember what really happened. He has to be a victim in all his relationships. This is honestly a bizarre way to treat his character. Many fans are not letting Louis be complex, powerful, nuanced, or flawed, and oftentimes they don't even seem to see him for who he really is. I don’t know for sure if this one is truly racist per se, but it’s definitely bothersome and I'd really like to know what other people, particularly people of color, think about this treatment of his character by certain fans.
Everyone, feel free to reblog and add any other instances of fandom racism & colorism you’ve seen. We need to talk about this kind of stuff.
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