⚠️TW⚠️: RAPE MENTION
Some months ago I happened to stumble upon a blog that was a fan of the web series "Carmilla", a modern retelling of the 19th-century gothic novel "Carmilla," and I honestly didn't quite understand what this person was trying to imply.
⚠️SPOILER ALERT⚠️
First of all, they have spoken several times about the fact that in their opinion, vampirism is used as a metaphor for rape in the web series, but when someone asked them if Carmilla's vampire mother raped Carmilla, they said no. Like, champ what? If in your opinion in the context of the web series vampirism is used as a metaphor for rape and therefore in your opinion Carmilla is a rape victim, how can you say that Carmilla's vampire mother, aka the one who turned Carmilla into a vampire without Carmilla wanting it, did not rape her?
Vampirism, to be framed as a rape metaphor in a story, needs a strong emphasis on things like power dynamics, intimacy, the victim's feelings, etc. and if all of those things were present, saying that Carmilla's vampire mother didn't rape her and then saying that vampirism in the series is used as a rape metaphor is a huge contradiction.
Sexual undertones aren't necessary, but they can also be included to make the metaphor more explicit.
Vampirism is not inherently a metaphor for rape, but it can be depending on how the story frames it. The feeding being non-consensual is not enough for it to be a metaphor for rape if there isn't a strong emphasis on the elements I listed above.
In some stories, the emphasis is primarily on the monstrous nature of the vampire and/or the need to feed, so in that context the vampire's bite, even if non-consensual, is not a metaphor for rape.
It all depends on the story.
