fictional morality purity tests are killing fandoms
I feel like there is far too much hatred being thrown at Marius right now because of the AMC adaptation, and honestly, some of you are beginning to sound less like literary critics and more like people who have never actually picked up a book in your lives, let alone one of The Vampire Chronicles.
Anne Rice did not write morally pure characters. She wrote predators, monsters, philosophers, abusers, mourners, artists, narcissists, lovers, killers, survivors. That is the entire point. If your engagement with fiction begins and ends with “this character did bad thing therefore nobody is allowed to explore them,” then congratulations, you’ve discovered the difference between consuming media and understanding it.
And before anyone starts foaming at the mouth, no, loving or writing as a fictional character in the role play community does not mean endorsing every single action they have ever committed in canon. That should be common sense, but apparently we are in the middle of such a catastrophic literacy crisis that this now has to be explained like a nursery lesson.
I have spoken to former and current Marius writers in roleplay communities who are genuinely afraid to write publicly anymore because of the harassment and purity culture nonsense being hurled at them. People have retreated into private spaces because parts of this fandom have become so viciously performative that enjoying a fictional vampire now apparently warrants public moral judgement.
And it is hurting the community.
Some of you have created an atmosphere where people are scared to admit that a fictional character comforts them. That they relate to themes within that character. That they find them compelling, tragic, beautiful, intellectually fascinating, or emotionally resonant. That is bleak.
Marius is a comfort character for many people, myself included. Not because we think he is flawless, but because he is complicated. Lonely. Contradictory. Cultured. Loving and terrible all at once. That complexity is precisely why people connect with him. Hell, I “Marius’d” too close to the sun and ended up with three degrees in art and art history, eight years of Latin under my belt, and two years living in Florence with a flat directly across from where Botticelli’s studio historically stood. Yeah, I'd say he had an impact!
And frankly, if this post angers you, go ahead and bring that hatred my way instead. I am long past pretending this behaviour is remotely healthy for fandom spaces. Bullying writers and readers because they engage with morally difficult fiction is not activism. It is anti-intellectual, exhausting, and embarrassingly self-righteous.
Dead giveaway that some of you have never engaged critically with gothic literature in your lives. Tell me you have two braincells without telling me.
And if you are one of Marius’ writers, or someone who simply loves the character the way many do, please know you are not alone in this bullshit. I see you. I understand you. And I love you for continuing to create anyway.
