Odds and... odds... @thenightling - Tumblr Blog

Swamp Thing is on House of Svengoolie Right now!

#Svengoolie #House of Svengoolie #Swamp thing

I have found the one thing I do like AI for. I do not agree with the use of AI for art or music but I have discovered that AI-generated educational courses or course modules- though not yet accredited, and in its infancy- may have a positive impact on culture and society as an easy source of optional education. AI-generated optional educational courses are particularly useful for people with specific hyper-fixations, special interests, or obsessions. And if they remain cheap or even free will enable people to learn for the fun of it, the way some of us already do at public libraries. Imagine someone hyper-interested in Japanese swords but lacks the mathematical knowledge or financial means to study this in a traditional college setting while working for a full degree in a related subject like medieval weaponry or Asian History. Now that person can take a course specific to that interest for free (or nearly tree) and though not accredited as a university course, have class records and a certificate confirming the effort in study. We can have this now, already, for all subjects. Free (or cheap) and easy and specific education. It we go at this correctly (Not replacing conventional teachers or schools but as an extra tool for willing knowledge enhancement) we could re-enter a new level of the Information age. An age where people don’t study for the promise of a lucrative career but for the genuine fun of it (In tandem with more conventional educational routes). AI and AI educational courses or course modules on virtually any subject can lead to people easily learning just for the fun of it. Learning for the fun of it. The very idea is foreign to what our culture has done- influencing people to only want education for financial reasons and not for the joy of learning and pride of having learned it. They even have AI courses on how to play musical instruments. It’s still in its infancy but I find this part of AI delightful. This can be a major break-through for people who previously had no access to post-High school education because they are bad at taking standardized tests and failed the SATs, or because they were born poor to parents with debts and can’t get a student loan and don’t have high enough grades for a scholarship, or someone with neurodivergence just wants to learn about one very specific thing (like nineteenth century pocket watch manufacture and repair). It also relieves those with social anxieties afraid of the judgement of human teachers. This could grant occupational opportunities as well as encourage mental stimulation and creativity, where someone could keep score with what they learn like a sport. “I studied thirty obscure subjects in one month.” “Well, I studied fifty and took up crochet!” So long as no one does something stupid like fire all the real teachers for AI ones (real ones are STILL needed!), having AI as an optional or supplemental, free or nearly free educational option means a possible era- a generation that learns just for the fun of learning the subjects that interest them.

Both The Real Ghostbusters animated series (Based on the 80s movies) and it's 90s spin-off / sequel series, Extreme Ghostbusters are available to watch for free on Tubi if you are in the US or have a VPN with a US location.

An animated follow-up to the film, the Ghostbusters continue their supernatural pest control business with new allies and gadgets.

And

Based on the feature film, Dr. Egon Spengler mentors a new generation of Ghostbusters to continue the adventures of the original crew.

#Ghostbusters #The Real Ghostbusters #The Extreme Ghostbusters #Ext

The Vampire rock trend and why The Lost Boys musical is its leader

Facing the reality that The Lost Boys Broadway musical did Vampire rocker better than Lestat:

The trend of vampire rock has risen to replace the now dead Twilight and Anti-Twilight trendsm which in turn replaced the 90s vampire trend and ironically we seem to have gone back to a more niche 1980s vampire trend and made it more mainstream

In 1985 Anne Rice published the sequel to Interview with The Vampire, called The Vampire Lestat. Two years later elements of The Vampire Lestat were borrowed, mostly for the aesthetic, of the vampire movie Lost Boys.

In 2024, the mockbuster film studio, The Asylum, released their own “Monster Mash” to be the mockbuster of Abigail even though it was closer to a Gothic Horror Avengers than a mockbuster of Abigail. The movie had a theme song called “Monster” which was reminiscent of theme songs to James Bond movies. It was sung by Emma Reinagel, who also played Dracula’s daughter in the movie.

In late 2025, Tame Impala released the very catchy, retro-style song “Dracula” which became used in spooky memes through 2026.

The 1987 movie The Lost Boys got re-imagined as a Broadway musical about a vampire rock band.

A few months later AMC released the third season of Interview with The vampire, The Vampire Lestat. In this season Lestat becomes the rock singer like he was in The Vampire Lestat novel.

Now here’s a bit of irony. Though the original Lost Boys movie was heavily influenced by The Vampire Lestat novel I can’t help but strongly believe that The Lost Boys Broadway musical is very simply a better representation of the current vampire rock trend. It respects the 1980s roots of the trend by setting the musical in the era of the original movie, while also composing new and original songs for the play. Also there is a distinct and layered Gothic ambiance that is not only missing from The Vampire Lestat but often out-right mocked within the show and behind the scenes.

The Lost Boys musical embraces its camp and treats itself sincerely while embracing tropes and Gothic ambiance instead of being cynical and mocking in nihilistic writing. In short the music is better, the characters are likable and humanized, it respects the source material, and it balances quasi-modern setting with Gothic ambiance and it does it respectfully.

The Lost Boys Musical is the prime example of the current Vampire Rock media trend. If you don’t believe me, just check out the song “Secret comes out.”

I love how it uses the drumbeat from Cry Little Sister without actually being Cry Little Sister and it's just a good song. It's also worth noting that the production company that made The Lost Boys Broadway musical also made the Lestat Musical back in 2006 and both were performed at The Palace Theatre. And now The Lost Boys did Lestat better than the most recent TV version of Lestat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skAnIb56CwA

#The Lost Boys #The Lost Boys musical #The Lost Boys Broadway musical #The Vampire Lestat #Lestat #Youtube

thenightling

The complaints I’m seeing for The Odyssey are ridiculous.

The race of actors. Some of you are complaining because of black people in Ancient Greece. Did NONE of you watch Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena: Warrior Princess gowing up? Tony Todd was captain of what was essentially the flying dutchman. And Helen of Troy was black. No one complained in the 90s. Most of the actors in Xena and Hercules were from New Zealand. Also saying “Homer wouldn’t approve of how she looks.” It’s widely believed that Homer was BLIND!

Another complaint is the use of casual, modern, American-style English. Again, did none of you grow up with Xena or Hercules? Those shows were improbably anachronistic.

There are people complaining about the film being based on the Emily Wilson translation because they call it “Woke.” Do explain why and how it’s woke. Scholars have said that her translation is the most accurate to the Greek to date, for surpassing the nineteenth century translations we grew up with and pretended slavery didn’t exist in Greece.

Then there’s the complaint about Elliot Page being in the movie. Yet again, did none of you grow up with Xena and Hercules? There were trans and gender non-conforming characters and actors. It was as blatant as you could get in the 90s and it was popular by people of all political backgrounds so why is this an issue for you now?

most-sane-classicist

The Complaints about the complaints people make for the Odyssey YOU make are ridiculous.

I don't care if an actor is black in an original movie not based on anything with a character description, or based on something where the character is described as black. Helen is not described as such. She is commonly attributed the epithet λευκώλενος which means WHITE ARMED and her hair is ξᾰνθός which is blonde, or light or fair.

Casual American English wasn't really present in the odyssey believe it or not! Not that Nolan would know considering he only read Wilson's translation... Stuff like the "dad" thing- yes the Greeks had words for dad. They were not used in the Odyssey. And it makes no sense anyway considering Telemachus has basically no memory of his father- he does NOT have the connection to call him "dad"!

"Scholars have said that her translation is the most accurate to the Greek to date" which scholars? Most of the ones I have read point out that Wilson's translation has some quite concerning inaccuracies! For specific problems, see my Wilson masterpost (here I have linked a reblog chain with some added details from others too), which I will sum up here: - Drops words and phrases from the original so she can fit her metrical constraints - It is praised and marketed as verse oftentimes but really it's just prose with lines - Blatant mistranslations of ecogical terminology - She just changed lots of stock phrases to say whatever she wants because she wants variation - Plenty of epithets translated incorrectly. - Mischaracterises Odysseus, Polyphemus, and the Suitors through choice of words which the greek didn't really mean. - Staggering use of anachronistic colloquialisms. - With her colloquial language she jarringly keeps a lot of archaisms too. Pick a side, Emily! - The way she makes people recognise slavery is translating basically every possibly-enslaved profession into just "slave" and doesn't even do it consistently. A good translator would use the correct specific job terms and tell their reader about slavery in the introduction. Plenty more present but that's off the top of my head.

My problem with page is the same as every character. He doesn't look greek. Also if he is indeed Achilles, he died basically in his prime. He was literally the strongest of all the Greeks, he needs to be built when we see him in the underworld. If they cast a trans greek man who was jacked asf? No problem there.

thenightling

I'm only going to address one part of this idiocy because I have only have so many braincells to spare. Also don't use the "I'm tired, boss" line for this, YOU are bordering on racist and Stephen King is easily accessible on social media and would NOT be okay with it! You CAN ask him! Now the part I want to address is "modern English." NO, they would not have spoken in casual English but they DID speak casual Greek. Want to know how I know this? Because you CAN find the Odyssey in the original Greek AND Homer dictated it ORALLY! All right one more, but I'm trying to spare my brain from this stupidity disguised in pretentiousness. Yeah, we have descriptions of Helen. It also claims she hatched from an egg laid by a woman who slept with the King of the Gods. And later Goethe described her being raised from the dead, overly fascinated with rhymes, and having a son with Faust and then committing suicide via crying out to Persephone when her son died. The main detail everyone keeps about Helen is beauty. She's been played by women with different hair color before but you don't seem to care until the skin is "wrong." Don't try to pass yourself off as educated again. You're unworthy of my attention.

thenightling

The complaints I’m seeing for The Odyssey are ridiculous.

The race of actors. Some of you are complaining because of black people in Ancient Greece. Did NONE of you watch Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena: Warrior Princess gowing up? Tony Todd was captain of what was essentially the flying dutchman. And Helen of Troy was black. No one complained in the 90s. Most of the actors in Xena and Hercules were from New Zealand. Also saying “Homer wouldn’t approve of how she looks.” It’s widely believed that Homer was BLIND!

Another complaint is the use of casual, modern, American-style English. Again, did none of you grow up with Xena or Hercules? Those shows were improbably anachronistic.

There are people complaining about the film being based on the Emily Wilson translation because they call it “Woke.” Do explain why and how it’s woke. Scholars have said that her translation is the most accurate to the Greek to date, for surpassing the nineteenth century translations we grew up with and pretended slavery didn’t exist in Greece.

Then there’s the complaint about Elliot Page being in the movie. Yet again, did none of you grow up with Xena and Hercules? There were trans and gender non-conforming characters and actors. It was as blatant as you could get in the 90s and it was popular by people of all political backgrounds so why is this an issue for you now?

katerinaaqu

I am sorry but for Wilson scholars even critisize her for her dubious choices and no she is not accurate. She is accessible. Anyone with half a knowledge to homeric greek knows that not to be true. They say it is lively because she wrote in poetic prose (which was not even the original poetic prose and that shows also to the translation)

Two which translation pretended slavery didn't exist lol? Because Wilson said so? Because the translations I have seen (even if I am Greek so I am not really that much into English translations as English spoken people) have mentioned slavery in many parts of the Odyssey (where the text actually says that) for instance Telemachus speaking on "slaves his father won for him" among others. Yes no translation is perfect and of course there are questionable choices in many of them but anyone with half knowledge sees how inaccurate Wilson is or deliberately twisting the meanings of it so no she is not the most accurate to greek to this day lol. Far from it. And yes I read the original and yes people in Greece are actually still being taught the homeric poems like in middle school.

Also who told you that we didn't make fun of Xena or Hercules series when they were airing? Have you traveled about Greece people who watched the series on their TV only to make fun on the bizarre parts of them? Who told you that we didn't laugh our asses off at many of those or even at other cases of Hollywood before or after them? Who told you that we are not furious by every single twist of our culture including Nolan's movie but not only that?

There were iconic themes for instance in the series and such that kids at that time watched on TV but all of us who knew mythology laughed every time something bizarre appeared on screen. Not to mention also that these were series with a budget and means that do not even touch Nolan who also claims to be like the Epitome of "realism" which he is not on many levels. People judge Nolan based on our era the same way that they judged all the others before them based on that era.

thenightling

You know what my pet peeve is? The idiotic and arrogant behavior of people online saying something confidently wrong- easily disproven- and saying "lol" or "lmfao" WHILE being confidentially wrong. Last week someone did that to me on Facebook when they were absolutely sure Mina didn't exist in the Dracula novel, that she was invented to BE a love interest for him. They knew enough to know the novel wasn't actually a love story for Dracula but then assumed the rest. And you have the audacity to say "which translation pretended slavery didn't exist lol"? Something so easily googled that your history teacher and world literature teacher would feel ashamed at you not even making the effort. Robert Fagles: Widely praised for his readable style, he still translates many enslaved women as maids or attendants. Robert Fitzgerald: His celebrated poetic translation frequently uses the term nurse instead of enslaved woman. Alexander Pope: His 18th-century English version elevated the text to sound grand and heroic, scrubbing much of the raw, brutal power dynamic of the original. Those were all men who removed or ignored the word slave whenever it suited them or entirely. As for making fun of Hercules and Xena, I never said WE didn't make fun of them, just that we could enjoy them. See the "WE" there "adult." I'm forty f--king four years old. And I have two honorary doctorates in literature. I know "Honorary" means very little but it's better than a condescending, and frankly, stupid "Dur, no one pretended slavery didn't exist. Durr. I'm gonna laugh instead of making sure I'm right. Duuur."

katerinaaqu

The fact that there are many ignorant people on the internet is a fact. That doesn't disprove also the valid concerns that people actually have about something and many of the people who critisize the movie (me included) are actual Greeks and they are also being shut down. True people with much less knowledge on the text will focus on the things that they can see for instance casting or aesthetics. People with more knowledge will delve even deeper to the actual issues of the text.

I believe you also see my peeve too. The criticism I see on a vast number of posts is actually perfectly valid. Do I still see some ridiculous takes among them? Absolutely. The same way that I see ridiculous claims of those who support it.

Again I am sorry but as I said I have seen some of the texts myself. I do not need any professor to point that out to me neither to my native tongue nor to English which might not be my native tongue but I gained certain level of fluency in it. I have yet to see a translation that denies that slavery existed in Greece or in Homer my friend. What I do see though is not an exclusive focus to it which up to one point is correct. The text of Homer does not spend its entirety to spell it out to us because it was simply there. To get out of one's way to focus on that in particular as noble as it is, is not the point of Homer. Homer presented it as something natural. Eumaeus, Philoetius, Melantho, Dolius etc we all know that they are slaves. Homer knows it. He mentions it but doesn't spend pages after pages to talk about that. And we do have some very good mentions on Dolius or Eumaeus on their background stories anyways and as I said I have seen other translators mention that. Wilson did not suddenly discover the wheel.

The term "maid" is a valid translation as a word for simply "woman of servitude". He doesn't deny slavery existing. He refers to the women as "women". Also the word "attendant" also exists in the text (for example the word ἀμφίπολος that Telemachus uses in rhapsody 1 actually is translated as "handmaiden" or "attendant" and not as slave) Feagles though is also not the most direct translation either. He is not sold for complete accuracy either. And yet he is more accurate to the text's spirit on many ways.

"nurse" is also a term used (μαια) in the actual text. So yet again it is another word used. Plus for Euryclea for example we already know she is a slave because the text itself tells us she is (bought by Laertes) which is translated by texts

I am not familiar with Pope to fully comment on his translation but the text of Homer is inherently positive in many parts. Of course there are the raw moments in it but the texts themselves are also grandiose in many portions of it.

With this logic Wilson has also twisted way too many things to count such as adding random words to make people believe her characterizations of Odysseus (for example the completely unbased addition of "lord of lies" in 9th rhapsody when she had already translated πολυμιτις to "wily") random translations that are inaccurate on plants and nature (see the plants at Calypso's isle) total omitting of several passages or twisting their meaning (Athena in the original says to Odysseus "you never stop your deceitful stories not even when a god stands before you" but she translates as "men and gods would have trouble with you" or something along the lines ) etc. We have others who are better at certain passages and others that are worse but do not think that alternative words pop out of nowhere

"Attendant" "woman" "maid" "nurse" etc actually appear at the original text as well. With your logic then Wilson is a woman that miacharizes any character she dislikes and constantly tries to persuade you that all the other "men translators" just had no other goal in their lives but misguide you which simply is not true. As I said there is no perfect translation but is far from what Wilson makes it seem like in her interviews. In fact on occasions she got critisized for her choices she referenced other "men translators" by saying "look what this person did in that passage" which is the very least indicative that no the translations of the past are not the monstrosities Wilson makes them sound like

And as I said I do read the original terms too so I compare then to those.

No offense but I am talking about us as children. Even 10 year Olds in Greece could see the twists of Greek culture back then and no offense from your comment right now I would encourage you to use these dictionaries a bit more carefully. It is great that you have them and good for you that you attempt to search more critically but again it is not true at least not to the totality of the writers and certainly that doesn't make Wilson some kind of illuminator to the stories of slavery just because she claims so.

As I said there are many weaknesses to translations I see then every day But Wilson is not better than any of them. Arguably it is worse than several. And that is an objective fact on several passages. Some are accurate for sure just it happens for many other translators in the past but several are objectively not only inaccurate but sometimes actually deliberately altered either to fit her ideas or to fit her metric system that is fit for English language but not homeric greek

Now whether someone likes her speech or finds it refreshing for light reading etc that is great the same way that someone might enjoy on Feagles or Fitzgerald. That doesn't mean that we shall not point out the weaknesses to it and Wilson has a lot. Some of them are not even weaknesses they are actually deliberate and her clear choices. Also as a Greek her intros make me just sad at how much of the Greek culture we do not seem to convey there.

Again I am not saying that the others are perfect but what I saw in her intro just made it hard for me to properly understand if we even read the same book. So far from "the closest to Greek translation" on any shape or form

thenightling

Not quite the same thing. The translators I mentioned were for eighteenth to twentieth century English speakers and the word choice was deliberate and precise. The Greeks did have a word specific for owned servants. And instead of translating that word which directly means "Bound and tamed (Male or female) servant" they just used servant or nurse when for English speakers (Particularly eighteenth century) the more accurate translation was "House slave" because Homer was NOT talking about paid butlers. And other Greek texts DID more accurately translate those terms.

thenightling

The complaints I’m seeing for The Odyssey are ridiculous.

The race of actors. Some of you are complaining because of black people in Ancient Greece. Did NONE of you watch Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena: Warrior Princess gowing up? Tony Todd was captain of what was essentially the flying dutchman. And Helen of Troy was black. No one complained in the 90s. Most of the actors in Xena and Hercules were from New Zealand. Also saying “Homer wouldn’t approve of how she looks.” It’s widely believed that Homer was BLIND!

Another complaint is the use of casual, modern, American-style English. Again, did none of you grow up with Xena or Hercules? Those shows were improbably anachronistic.

There are people complaining about the film being based on the Emily Wilson translation because they call it “Woke.” Do explain why and how it’s woke. Scholars have said that her translation is the most accurate to the Greek to date, for surpassing the nineteenth century translations we grew up with and pretended slavery didn’t exist in Greece.

Then there’s the complaint about Elliot Page being in the movie. Yet again, did none of you grow up with Xena and Hercules? There were trans and gender non-conforming characters and actors. It was as blatant as you could get in the 90s and it was popular by people of all political backgrounds so why is this an issue for you now?

katerinaaqu

I am sorry but for Wilson scholars even critisize her for her dubious choices and no she is not accurate. She is accessible. Anyone with half a knowledge to homeric greek knows that not to be true. They say it is lively because she wrote in poetic prose (which was not even the original poetic prose and that shows also to the translation)

Two which translation pretended slavery didn't exist lol? Because Wilson said so? Because the translations I have seen (even if I am Greek so I am not really that much into English translations as English spoken people) have mentioned slavery in many parts of the Odyssey (where the text actually says that) for instance Telemachus speaking on "slaves his father won for him" among others. Yes no translation is perfect and of course there are questionable choices in many of them but anyone with half knowledge sees how inaccurate Wilson is or deliberately twisting the meanings of it so no she is not the most accurate to greek to this day lol. Far from it. And yes I read the original and yes people in Greece are actually still being taught the homeric poems like in middle school.

Also who told you that we didn't make fun of Xena or Hercules series when they were airing? Have you traveled about Greece people who watched the series on their TV only to make fun on the bizarre parts of them? Who told you that we didn't laugh our asses off at many of those or even at other cases of Hollywood before or after them? Who told you that we are not furious by every single twist of our culture including Nolan's movie but not only that?

There were iconic themes for instance in the series and such that kids at that time watched on TV but all of us who knew mythology laughed every time something bizarre appeared on screen. Not to mention also that these were series with a budget and means that do not even touch Nolan who also claims to be like the Epitome of "realism" which he is not on many levels. People judge Nolan based on our era the same way that they judged all the others before them based on that era.

thenightling

You know what my pet peeve is? The idiotic and arrogant behavior of people online saying something confidently wrong- easily disproven- and saying "lol" or "lmfao" WHILE being confidentially wrong. Last week someone did that to me on Facebook when they were absolutely sure Mina didn't exist in the Dracula novel, that she was invented to BE a love interest for him. They knew enough to know the novel wasn't actually a love story for Dracula but then assumed the rest. And you have the audacity to say "which translation pretended slavery didn't exist lol"? Something so easily googled that your history teacher and world literature teacher would feel ashamed at you not even making the effort. Robert Fagles: Widely praised for his readable style, he still translates many enslaved women as maids or attendants. Robert Fitzgerald: His celebrated poetic translation frequently uses the term nurse instead of enslaved woman. Alexander Pope: His 18th-century English version elevated the text to sound grand and heroic, scrubbing much of the raw, brutal power dynamic of the original. Those were all men who removed or ignored the word slave whenever it suited them or entirely. As for making fun of Hercules and Xena, I never said WE didn't make fun of them, just that we could enjoy them. See the "WE" there "adult." I'm forty f--king four years old. And I have two honorary doctorates in literature. I know "Honorary" means very little but it's better than a condescending, and frankly, stupid "Dur, no one pretended slavery didn't exist. Durr. I'm gonna laugh instead of making sure I'm right. Duuur."

Dear AMC (Problem with Akasha)

You may think you made her "More feminist" by having her have to kill Enkil to take the vampiric source because she's "destroying the patriarchy" but in taking away her status as the first vampire you also indicate the only way a woman can have power is if she steals it from the rightful male owner. You accidentally made this very, very sexist. That's impressive since Anne Rice was... You know, not. And don't get me started on Lestat's androgynous, male-clothes wearing mother, who didn't like to be touched, and spent two centuries roaming jungles, now being reduced to an evil, glamourous, Italian fem fatal vampire cliche and negative stereotype. She was the anti-cliche female vampire and you reduced her to the cliche!

#Anne Rice #Immortal Universe #The Vampire Lestat #Interview with the vampire #Gabrielle #Gabriella #Lestat #Aksasha

thenightling

Interview with the Vampire and the anti-feminist elephant in the room

It’s time to address the casual but unsubtle sexism of the latest incarnation of Interview with The Vampire.

Where the first season of The lives of The Mayfair Witches had a pretty blatant and in-your-face metaphor for the manosphere that didn’t exist in the books it feels like the Interview with The vampire TV series tried to push back in the opposite diction and peppered in a ridiculous and blatant number of misogynistic trappings that do not exist in the books. Please hear me out as I provide examples.

The relationship with Antoinette (replacement for the literary Antoinette) portrayed her, in Louis’s narrative as somewhat sinister and also kind of stupid. In the first season it is implied that Lestat made her cut off a finger to fake her death but in season 3 it’s revealed that she did this to herself, thinking that being turned into a vampire would restore the missing finger. This may be foreshadowing about Maharent’s missing eyes and Mekare’s missing tongue (assuming they actually appear in the story. Akasha did babble about someone’s tongue removed). But this also portrays Antoinette as impulsive, naive, and frankly stupid. Why would cutting off a finger convince Louis and Claudia that she’s dead? They wouldn’t know her finger from anyone else’s. They don’t know her specific scent, nor do they care.

Though there are a few r8pe scenes in The Vampire Chronicles, the first being of the twin women in The Queen of the Damned, at no point does Anne Rice ever have Claudia portrayed in any sexual way except in acknowledging that she would never experience sex (since she was a grown woman trapped in the non-sexual body of a four-year-old vampire). But a major plot point in the TV series has been the assault on Claudia. In fact the showrunner, in one of the episode aftershows (during season 1) implied that this was essentially Karmatic punishment for her trying to run away. (Though I am paraphrasing, there was a time a statement even close to that would have gotten someone fired as showrunner).

The portrayal of Gabrielle (Now Gabriella). The show took a woman who was only half-Italian and half-French and made her HYPER “Proud Italian” and …weirdly evil. She’s all for the “Great Conversion.” She had an incestuous relationship with Lestat when he was still mortal. (None of this is in the book, by the way!). It’s implied that she hoped he’d die going out to face the wolves simply because it was better than life there (as opposed to just giving him her jewels so he could run away to Paris?!??)

Gabrielle of the novel was non-sexual. She told Lestat about a sexual fantasy that was meant to be a metaphor for rebelling against the fate society had imposed on her. She wasn’t literally interested in sex with anyone. Also, in the novel, as soon as she became a vampire, she abandoned all feminine trappings and started wearing men’s clothes. She also greatly preferred roaming the wilderness, away from humanity, and preying on wild animals instead of humans. Meanwhile the TV show version of Gabrielle is ultra feminine, the tired trope of the fem fatale seductive female vampire. She even goes “Glamping.” Glamping?! And she wants to live in Paris while making an army of vampires. This shallow, evil version of Gabrielle (now Gabriella) is now two-dimensional and evil, and having her speak with a thick Italian accent and obsessed with Italian culture makes it worse, it turns her into some sort of caricature that borders on racist.

This version is evil, manipulative, extremely sexual, and completely unlikable. All traits of gender-nonconformiity, asexuality, and even autism coding (she didn’t like being hugged or given physical gestures of affection in the book) have been replaced with something very shallow.

They went from a very rare and unique portrayal of a woman vampire right before them in the book and swapped her out for the tired trope of the sexy evil woman vampire in slinky gown and excessive makeup. Gabrielle should have been the opposite of that.

Lestat’s lawyer, Christine, is now portrayed as a sexual partner, and almost prostitute-like if not out-right prostitute. Why would he need this?!?

We come to Akasha, the woman who was SUPPOSED to be the first vampire. Even the nearly-a-direct-to-video Queen of the Damned movie didn’t screw this up. But now we have the drunk and incompetent Marius (again, nothing like this in the book) accidentally leaving Enkil out in the sun and all the vampires briefly burn. It’s already implied that Akasha ate his brain and took the vampiric source into herself.

This undoes some very important feminist aspects of her character. 1. The fact that Akasha WAS the first vampire is important. The queen of the damned novel is extremely feminist. The sourse of the vampires was never male (except for the spirit, Emil, himself). You can tell this was written by a man. You can see where he thought he was showing Akasha rising above the Patriarchy but the reality is she originally was portrayed as having always had the power all along and just had to acknowledge it and claim it. Not it appears she had to steal that power from a man in order to gain her autonomy. They diminished her by removing her status as the true source of the vampires. They entirely missed the point on why Enkil should never be portrayed as the first vampire.

Have you noticed there’s not a single good or likable female character in this series? Sure, Claudia had her fans, but every woman character is selfish, self-serving, vapid, manipulative and evil. And every time the show actually quotes the books the characters laugh as if it is pretentious nonsense that is beneath them, insulting the woman who wrote the original book series.

Shouldn’t AMC have checked to make sure the showrunner wasn’t a misogynist? I know some of you may roll your eyes at this but please think carefully before replying and see if you can name a woman character in the show who is likable and not a manipulative and terrible person.

thearthistorianblogoffa

Are there any male character who are not selfish, self-serving, vapid, manipulative and evil?

thenightling

You make a valid point. They managed to make virtually no one likable but at least the male characters (excluding drunk-crazed-Marius) seem to have some depth. It definitely feels like the show is made by a nihlist who can't grasp people being likable or having moral codes... Well, maybe not "depth" but they actually try with the males, the female characters it's like there's not even an effort.

Interview with the Vampire and the anti-feminist elephant in the room

Edit: The post seems to have reformatted and scrambled my numbering. Please ignore that. I copied and pasted from Libre Word. ___________________________________ It’s time to address the casual but unsubtle sexism of the latest incarnation of Interview with The Vampire.

Where the first season of The lives of The Mayfair Witches had a pretty blatant and in-your-face metaphor for the manosphere that didn’t exist in the books it feels like the Interview with The vampire TV series tried to push back in the opposite diction and peppered in a ridiculous and blatant number of misogynistic trappings that do not exist in the books. Please hear me out as I provide examples.

The relationship with Antoinette (replacement for the literary Antoine) portrayed her, in Louis’s narrative as somewhat sinister and also kind of stupid. In the first season it is implied that Lestat made her cut off a finger to fake her death but in season 3 it’s revealed that she did this to herself, thinking that being turned into a vampire would restore the missing finger. This may be foreshadowing about Maharent’s missing eyes and Mekare’s missing tongue (assuming they actually appear in the story. Akasha did babble about someone’s tongue removed). But this also portrays Antoinette as impulsive, naive, and frankly stupid. Why would cutting off a finger convince Louis and Claudia that she’s dead? They wouldn’t know her finger from anyone else’s. They don’t know her specific scent, nor do they care.