Louis’ costuming is defined by ‘billionaire,’ ‘more color,’ and ‘jewelry that marks him as Talamasca employee.’ You have to wonder if anyone on the creative team is even aware of how shallow their thought process has been wrt this character.
Wood’s costuming work for the other characters is also uninspired. I just am here to complain mostly about Louis so that is what I will be doing.
Ok fine the kill count bracelet is kind of cool. But I can help here: what designers does Louis like? How does he view the fashion world now? Does he feel like he missed out on the last 70 years of it? Does his experience as an art dealer influence his style? I just want them to think for the love of god…
Literally the most lazy wardrobe choices ever, when you consider some of Jacob's photoshoots AND get your head out of your ass long enough to consider who Louis might draw inspiration from....
Louis’ costuming is defined by ‘billionaire,’ ‘more color,’ and ‘jewelry that marks him as Talamasca employee.’ You have to wonder if anyone on the creative team is even aware of how shallow their thought process has been wrt this character.
Wood’s costuming work for the other characters is also uninspired. I just am here to complain mostly about Louis so that is what I will be doing.
Ok fine the kill count bracelet is kind of cool. But I can help here: what designers does Louis like? How does he view the fashion world now? Does he feel like he missed out on the last 70 years of it? Does his experience as an art dealer influence his style? I just want them to think for the love of god…
Louis’ costuming is defined by ‘billionaire,’ ‘more color and patterns,’ and ‘jewelry that marks him as Talamasca employee.’ You have to wonder if anyone on the creative team is even aware of how shallow their thought process has been wrt this character.
Wood’s costuming work for the other characters is also uninspired. I just am here to complain mostly about Louis so that is what I will be doing.
this season lestat/the show kept making light of louis's line ''i own the night'' -he who franchises the night, big bad wolf song ''the night is for sale'', because tbh it was a very silly thing to say and believe. i bet rollin and the writers knew that too, thats why they made him say it, the plan was to dismantle that illusion of power and control louis thought he had, especially with his wealth. now akasha is saying ''i am the night'', im sorry guys but this will only get ugly for louis.
i don't agree that louis saying he owns the night was a silly thing to say or believe whatsoever. i think it was a beautiful way to close out season 2 because we're actively seeing him coming into his own power and reaching full acceptance of his vampirism. if the plan was to make fun of louis all along for finding his strength after two seasons of suffering (and have the love of his life be the one to make a mockery of it after such an emotional reunion where louis thanked him and essentially apologized for not seeing vampirism as a gift) then that would show a clear lack of care for his character. but i don't want to believe that's the full extent of it at all. i do think there's a significant parallel happening with akasha saying she is the night vs louis' line, but i don't think it's there to necessarily dismantle any “illusion” of power for louis specifically, it's a different kind of power.
louis has been getting dragged through the mud and repeatingly humiliated by the man supposed to love him/by the narrative in egregiously cruel ways but i should empathise with said man’s whining about louis not rushing to his side when he got inconsequentially shot at. The same man who’s abandoned louis to his gravel filled grave and agonizing torment in 207. The same man who let Louis burn in the sun as a punishing fatherly lesson in 102. The same man who’s been cruel and insulting towards Louis for 5 episodes now when Louis’ first appearance in the season has been marked by his concern for Lestat. The contempt for louis embedded in the writing itself is not even enough for this virulently antiblack fanbase who will take nothing other than louis grovelling and can’t stand the thought of lestat finally being the one helping and taking care of louis whose mind is literally unravelling at the seams. We have to come online and be witness to people gleefully repeat the words of the man who methodically organised the lynching of louis and claudia as proof for louis’ own cruelty but we’re supposed not to tell people to kill themselves. I don’t know man
s1: racist policies enacted in storyville → louis hangs up a 'coloreds only' sign and guts the alderman
s2: nicki calls armand the g-slur → armand separates the two of them and flings lestat into the wall. coven lynches claudia and nearly kills louis → he comes back sets the whole place on fire and relieves santiago of his head
s3: LFC, ragdoll, fuck cloud, drug mule, gucci grace jones, etc. → crickets (except for dr. fareed coming in when lestat read out mommy dearest's text and did all of that re: the proper indigenous name). we don't even have well written racism anymore
WE DON'T EVEN HAVE WELL WRITTEN RACISM ANYMORE. scream
so many popular examples of fandom racism are barely actual fandom brand racism bcs white ppl (and honestly too many non black ppl) need outright in your face blatant stuff as proof to shocked and appalled by. most of it is the classic "I'm not touching you style" that's easier to gaslight around which is what a majority of racism is, gaslighting. slave fics a tortureporn of characters of color are awful but that's like individual weirdos who it's easy to mark off as obviously racist. The attention and outrage surrounding these little incidents allows everyone to feel better because of how exaggerated and one off they are, bad eggs in a good batch etc.
Real fandom racism is watching the darkest characters get boxed into the specific outsider pov trope over and over despite them being a core member of the cast. it's watching everyone have in depth headcanons for every character but them, denying them the complexity their counterparts get. It's them getting written out of their own plots, receiving little to no audience sympathy when they ARE complex, and, most importantly, watching them get cast in the same exact role when shipping comes in
but all this isn't loud, it's quiet and unnoticeable unless you've had to watch it play out with every favorite character you've had ever since you were ten and started engaging with fandom. it's repetitive, uncreative, infuriating and worst of all NOBODY WILL LISTEN WHEN YOU POINT IT OUT because you're just imagining it and they're not touching you. I've been making my own content and I've seen how people will go out of their way NOT to engage or engage specifically only to discredit a character of color.
it's not a one off thing or even a small pattern, it is what fandom culture is BUILT on, picking the palest skinniest most pathetic looking man in the cast, projecting onto him and ignoring literally everyone and everything else whether that be fanon over plot or the interesting female or darker skinned characters and masking racism behind fanon tropes
Possible interview with the vampire book spoilers but I'm pretty sure it should be ok.
I have a genuine question! please forgive me if it comes off as defending the racist writing I want to be clear that its really pissing me off also and is why I'm sending this ask. But how do you know when something is racist in this show and when it's something that was in the original books? or when it's both? Because Louis in the books as we know was a white slave owner, I feel like making him black has both improved the story tenfold and also made it really complicated now that we are in Lestats pov because Louis is intentionally lying in the books in a way I don't think show Louis is. I have not read the Vampire Lestat but I know there are some reveals that make Lestat more sympathetic and I'm afraid of those reveals in the show coming off as racist now and dismissing Louis more than he already has been. I don't know if this makes much sense but I'm just really struggling with sympathizing with Lestat and Louis at the same time when the writing is getting more racist than ever this season. I'm trying to enjoy it as a story and also be critical of it as a piece of media someone wrote and it's just getting more and more annoying. What is racist writing and what is Lestat and Daniel being racist and complicated characters. You are one of the only blogs who I consistently agree with on interview with the vampire so that is why I'm asking you but of course no pressure to respond or post this! it feels like it may invite discourse and I don't want to inflict that on your blog.
hello! thank you so much for the ask! it definitely doesn't come off as defending the racist writing or anything, i completely understand where you're coming from 🙂↕️ and hopefully i can answer in a way that makes sense. (it ended up being VERY long so it's under a read more lmao im sorry)
ignoring the reason that rolin said he made louis a black man specifically just for the sake of this post (because that would only make it even lengthier while i go into detail about my disdain for that man), i also think making him a black man living in the jim crow south was a wonderful change from his book origins—it gave him so much more depth and allowed his story to be told in a more meaningful way. the issue though with making him black, comes in how he's written within the context of those around him. i believe that, for the most part, s1 and s2 did a great job of emphasizing the racism and homophobia that louis experiences without it feeling like the writers themselves are inflicting their own antiblack biases upon him. he grew up as a closeted creole man in the south so his negative experiences made sense from a story standpoint, you know? we knew why they were happening for the most part.
lestat was a french man from a different century that was frustratingly out of touch, but that too felt purposeful. you could see the moments where he truly loved louis and how that love drove him to behave in despicable ways out of fear of losing that love. it played into the belief that you can care for someone, but not understand them, and ultimately hurt them deeply because of that. lestat is a flawed character, they all are, but he felt far more realistic and better written to me. even during the trial he admitted that he'd dropped louis from the sky to hurt him, to break him, because louis wasn't returning his affection. the onus was not put upon louis (by lestat, as other vampires did very much blame louis) for not returning lestat's feelings.
lestat was actually one of my favorite characters in the previous seasons, i really loved a lot of what they did with him. overall, it was a realistic sort of writing without feeling like the show and universe were making him (louis) a dartboard for everyone's grievances or turning him into the stereotypical sort of black caricature. it didn't feel like they were resentful of his blackness in those seasons.
although, sometimes it did feel like they were skirting around wanting to fully acknowledge his (or claudia's) blackness, but that was more of an issue for me in s2—such as calling the trial a stoning and not a lynching. but i still think it was all handled with more care and intention than in s3. you could see where both louis and lestat were in the wrong for various actions, as opposed to louis being the singular villain that drove lestat to do all the bad things he does.
in TVL (the novel), lestat becomes a rockstar primarily to take the heat off of louis, who is at risk from other vampires following the publication of the book. at its core, his motives are based on love for louis and a desire to protect him from the danger that he has unknowingly put himself in by revealing their nature to the world. in the series, though, louis does not want the book published, but daniel does so anyway, putting louis in danger (as is shown by the reveal that he killed 30-something vampires in dubai). if they were still attempting to go for book accuracy—which you'd think, given rolin toted that fuckass book around everywhere during early promo, showing off how loved it was—this wouldn't have happened, OR it would've been revealed that lestat helped him kill those vampires. because would lestat not want to aid the man he supposedly loves, especially considering that louis didn't even want the book published in this universe and made that clear?
and that's only the beginning of the the changes they make, though in regards to louis it's just brand new writing, seeing as he's not that big of a character in TVL. they had the opportunity to do quite literally anything with louis' character because they were deviating from book-canon with him, and yet this is the route they took. and it's where i think they shifted from an in-universe racism that made sense given the time period, to the writers slipping in their own dislike of the character. i will die on this hill, but i truly don't think they anticipated the love louis (and claudia) would get during the first two seasons, along with the backlash lestat would receive due to the abuse he put them through, and so they're trying to walk it back and make louis seem like this deplorable, wretched character that's more flawed than anyone else. also, lowkey, i think there was some bitterness regarding how powerful louis' ending monologue was and how deeply it was loved.
lestat being characteristically racist, to me, was with scenes in s1 and s2 where he overlooked the disrespect louis experienced at the hands of tom, the alderman or at the opera in favor of trying to pacify him or smooth over louis' disdain by downplaying the experiences or ignoring the racism at their core. lestat didn't know the first thing about racism or experiencing it and didn't care to, he's a blond-haired, blue-eyed frenchman. you watch the disconnect between him and louis, or lestat and claudia and, while frustrating, you understand why it's happening and where it comes from.
the way every character is treating louis in s3 is the writers themselves being racist and antiblack towards louis and using the other characters as a channel to express it. daniel calling louis a "bucket of louisiana fried chicken" was extremely unnecessary and played more for racist shock value than the character daniel actually trying to be as scathing as possible. he's undoubtedly got a way with words and could've said innumerable cruel things without jumping to that particular insult. i think that was done more for the writers enjoyment than correct characterization. there's no real reason for him to suddenly make such a comment about louis when he was trying to repair their relationship last we saw the two together (as he also brings up louis ignoring him).
louis is called a whore by lestat for sleeping with one man (a reveal that's given to us while louis is reaching out during a moment if extreme emotional distress), louis is called a liar and a manipulator by lestat and armand respectively, they're still pushing the pimp narrative, and his character arcs feels rushed and discarded. the writers are consistently disrespecting louis and retconning what he's said and done during the first two seasons for reasons that go beyond wanting to push him back into a relationship with lestat. louis is forced to apologize and lower himself again and again when there is no reason for him to.
lestat's overall treatment doesn't make much sense. like i said in a previous post, him being upset at louis for not reaching out when he was shot makes no sense considering lestat wasn't rushing to his aid when louis was shot as a very young fledgling in s1. nor did he go rushing to louis' aid if he truly thought him to be dead after armand called him (lestat) in s2—something that's even more bizzare considering he allegedly did not stay away from louis out of fear that he would not believe lestat was actually the one to save him, but because he wanted louis to be miserable. where is the love between these two characters that was felt in s1 & s2?
i don't feel any longing for louis from lestat's perspective (nor longing for lestat from louis' tbh). it feels like the writers just want louis to beg and crawl to lestat's feet and then he'll take him back and all will be well. where is the mutual love? the painful desire and regret given their past and shared trauma following the death of their daughter? they've barely shared any scenes together and what we have seen has been a rushed mess or just another way to show that louis was yet again in the wrong. this isn't in-universe in-character choices, this is the writers attempting to humble the black man as retribution for how much growth/gained independence he had in the previous season, and how well-loved he was as a way to coddle and exonerate his white love interest.
you cannot cherry pick what you want to adapt from the books if you're only doing so in order to demonize one character and absolve the other/excuse him of the awful things he's done. im going to run the risk of sounding like a broken record here so im gonna bring this to a close, but i hope i answered your question even a little bit!
tldr; you could see the complexities of all the characters in s1 and s2 and understand their relationships in regards to racism, internalized homophobia and sexism within themselves and each other. it all felt purposeful and (mostly) correctly characterized—everyone felt real. in s3 louis has been turned into an apologetic caricature with a lack of good writing, and almost everyone else has been turned into copy-paste cynical quip-givers that the writers can use to vomit exposition and lore/show how louis is actually the worst of the worst and lestat was essentially forced to do every bad thing he's ever done.
if the blood of Akasha is the reason why Lestat's anger got the best of him while blacking out in rage to the point he nearly killed Louis due to his fear of abandonment at the thought of Louis leaving NOLA with Claudia, and he consumed Akasha's blood before even meeting Louis why isn't Louis the same way?
He killed his family but we see when the camera closes in on his face he never wanted to on Gabriella's suggestion. Okay fair, he longs to please her because he craves love and acceptance from his mother. I won't blame him for any of that. But the violent way he killed the innocent sisters-in-law who had nothing to do with his father's and brothers abuse was before Akasha.
If Lestat played the violin for Akasha on Marius' orders when Lestat is originally the one who defies and does it anyway because he felt like it in the books then does he have any agency on the show at all?
If Lestat beat Louis black and blue near death due to the blood of Akasha...
if Lestat chose to allow the supposed love of his life to remain entombed for months as he wasted away and Armand of all vampires was the one who saved him...
if Lestat then let the supposed love of his life walk off with a sadistic sociopathic vampire all because of the blood of Akasha...
Then what has he done that's truly a choice? Did he turn Louis because he wanted to or was it the blood of Akasha that forced him?
Does Lestat have any agency on this show at all? Can he make his own choices or is he just a weak bitch?
they over corrected his character and now it feels like nothing he did was ever true or a genuine choice. it was the blood.
Is his love and complex feelings for Louis genuine or was it the blood of Akasha?
hmm. Did... didn't they used to have like, plot and characterisation in this show, like, measured out in some decent proportions? What is even happening here?
If you haven't spent the past 2 years reading up on book canon via wiki articles and tumblr arguments, is any of this episode going to make sense?
I feel bad for all the actors, honestly. It's such weird material to work with.
Anyway, so Sam Barclay is back because... Gabriella is now a music producer? And Lestat doesn't like him because of the whole, you know, lynching thing that Lestat also did, but they are all going to make a song about Claudia together? Which Sam will crack a half-hearted expression of sadness about? Euugh.
Meanwhile, Jacob is knocking it the fuck out of the park with his scenes with Regina. And, for that matter even with Lestat. Somehow he has managed to carry over the fact that he used to habitually talk to dream Lestat, into the explanation for why he's not talking to fake Claudia, and through his body language and face maintain that continuum of a person who grasps at supernatural straws because all his life he has been surrounded by the possibility. Paul heard voices too, remember?
Also a giant fuck you to everyone going around sneering and smearing Louis--Regina clearly had her head on her shoulders and had enough agency to go for that bag. Good for her.
Meanwhile Lestat sitting there whining about Louis not calling him when he got shot... like, does this baby ever stop crying?
And look, I'm sorry, I'm SORRY, but I got more romance and zing from Louis describing his relationship with Lemuel than I did from all of Eric's overacted shock at being Armand and Louis' stalking toy. Is it because Bogo can't sell it, or just because the tell don't show was taken to ridiculous measures? Who can say. (I am grinning wildly at the idea of Armand and Louis having hot kinky sex after discussing the latest failures of Daniel P Esquire.) (Also this then means that when Real Rashid was snickering up his sleeve at Dan showing up in Dubai, he ALSO knew that he was a vamp chew toy. Hee hee.)
Marius seems really silly and overwrought, and I don't know why you'd direct a character that is supposed to be patrician like that. The whole info dump on vampires and Amel and Akasha was gobbledy gook and Lestat teaching himself to be a musical savant was...
Yeah, I mean, the whole white supremacy of Akasha picking out Lestat from all the vampires in all the world to be the specialist little boy is pretty disgusting, no? Especially when we get her acting like a hysterical madwoman who has to be subdued by the white Roman, and the whole plot is going to end up in Lestat working to kill her.
(And once again, a terrible wig on a woman, and making Sheila Atim play frail and feminine sure is a... choice.)
Meanwhile little murder gremlin is cleaning up the litter of bandmates that Lestat and Gabriella clearly don't care about. How public spirited of him.
aaaanyway, this season reminds me of those weird jelly salad things from 1960s American cookbooks: wobbly, lurid and with nothing remotely appetising to it.
lestat in ep1-4: louis is a liar, delusional, insane, a whore, i fucking hate this guy and his stupid interview, what a bitch. here's the song how much he sucks.
louis: ...
lestat in ep5: why didn't you answer your phone when i got shot at? i was in pain. i could die and you didn't care 🥺💔. i could literally die—
[insert the gif of louis getting shot at and saying "i'll let you reload"]
i have bad things to say about this scene in particular. louis was shot point blank as a fledgling vampire and he was fine, plus lestat didn't come rushing to his aid, nor did he ask if louis was alright in the aftermath. why are we playing it like louis is the bad guy (or singular bad guy i suppose) in their relationship—and just in general—every single time?? louis is a selfish bastard and not lestat? the man with a track record of being incredibly selfish, especially in regards to his treatment of louis? why is he being made to feel like he's selfish for not checking in on lestat "i have the blood of akasha in me" de lioncourt? there is so much to say about this moment and none of it is good.
and of course, once again, louis is treated like shit and expected to swallow his trauma and apologize. during an extremely emotionally distressing moment for him, lestat turns the importance back upon himself. a moment that would arguably not have even happened had he, you know, had the opportunity to grieve properly in the aftermath of claudia's death, instead of living with the man responsible because someone who's supposed to love him wanted to make him miserable....where have i seen this before.....
sorry this is just so comically ridiculous like i thought lesbian fetishization wore me down years and years and years ago and that i was pretty much resigned to it at this point but this feels like a new low in a way it reignited the indignation i should normally feel
The only thing Louis ever had to apologize to Lestat for was not warning him about the book coming out. That's it. Louis was never wrong to tell his story. It's his life. And once again LOUIS NEVER WANTED THE BOOK OUT AT ALL IN THE FIRST PLACE. DANIEL WENT AGAINST HIS WISHES ALONG WITH THE TALAMASCA TO HAVE IT PUBLISHED.
Put your phone down and watch the episodes with subtitles on if you must. Louis is consistently attacked for this by fans because Lestat is angry about it and sorry but it's literally victim-blaming.
ALSO the interview was done before he even knew the full scope of the trial and that Lestat saved him. That's what's frustrating about the hatred and the response to Louis by fans.
A lot of you are missing key moments about why Louis is dealing with it the way he is. Lestat ignored him for like a year and a half after the book came out and left his ass on read. And then toured while dragging him for filth in his music all because Louis had the gall to express his life's story from his perspective in order to make sense of his past.
The writers having Louis portrayed as in the wrong as if he needs to apologize about this is a bizarre choice. I'm hoping somehow in the next two episodes the victim-blaming ends but I'm losing hope.
Lestat is allowed to be hurt by his portrayal in the book but again Louis is not wrong for giving an interview about his own life.
And making things up in the narrative that never occurred in IWTV. Lestat more or less says "I didn't threaten to rape her!" Well Louis never said nor implied Lestat threatened to rape Claudia? Does Rolin Jones remember what he wrote?
And will Rolin ever answer any hard questions about his writing or will he push out his BIPOC actors to answer for writing choices that aren't landing well?
"if you don't like the show stop watching the characters are meant to be bad people 🤪" and it's vulnerable populations genuinely harmed by how the show (not the characters) has been mishandling topics like race and sexual assault.
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