By Karolina Gruschka
Every generation “embraces the vampire it needs, and gets the one it deserves.”
As US scholar Nina Auerbach points out in the quote above, vampires often reflect certain aspects of culture and current society. This means the image of the vampire is an ever shifting one that adapts to the requirements of the day and age. The idealized other offers an escape from ‘common’ society and its pressures but, at the same time, painfully highlights our fears, anxieties and their inescapability. In my opinion, the ambiguity between desire and aversion is the fundamental element of vampire lore that generates its magnetism. Who wants to live forever? A life for eternity sounds very tempting but it comes at a monstrous price.
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (written 1973, published 1976) has a great deal of homosexual overtones reflecting the gradually relaxing attitudes of Westerners towards gender, sex and sexuality in the 1970s (i.e. that is when an end was set to considering homosexuality as a mental illness in the USA!). However, similar to biblical times when sodomy took the blame for God’s wrath, people with a homosexual orientation were scapegoated for the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s, resulting in a backlash in regards to acceptance. Around the same time, scandals around child abuse by priests started to gain more publicity, fueling the stereotypical association of homosexuality with paedophilia. As a result, the 1994 film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire toned down Lestat’s taste for little boys and, despite being greatly sympathetic towards the vampire’s queer identities, presented the idea of the gay male family in a very problematic way.
If somebody is wondering now what the heck I am talking about, maybe this is the right time to give a little synopsis of the movie. The story is framed as an interview conducted by San Franciscan reporter Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater) with 200 year old broody vampire Louis De Pointe Du Lac (Brad Pitt). In 1791, a depressed and self-destructive Louis (he only just lost his newborn and wife during childbirth) is given the option to have his longing for death satisfied or to begin a new life for all eternity. Realizing that at 24 he is not finished with life yet, Louis lets decadent European vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise) turn him into one of his kind. His dilemma sets in almost instantly based on the incongruity between the newly acquired vampire instincts and a prevailing respect for human life. Lestat does not make it easy for Louis to surpress his hunger for human blood, tempting and provoking him on every occasion.
Despite feeding mainly on rats (and poodles), Louis does slip at times; in a Plague ridden New Orleans mid 19th century, he has an encounter with a helpless orphaned girl. Lestat, who fears Louis might not put up with his antics for much longer, traps him by turning her, Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), into their eternal child. She may look as beautiful and innocent as an infant, but the predatory instincts mixed with the selfish demands of a child turn her into a fierce and unpredictable killer. While mentally she goes through the changes, Claudia’s body will forever remain locked in time. Internally growing up to adolescence, it is a mother’s guidance she desires. Consequently, she rids herself violently of one of her fathers (Lestat), escapes with Louis to Europe and finds herself a female companion (Madeleine, Dominiziana Giordano) to form a heterosexual family bond like she remembers from her human existence.
The purpose of their travels is not only to escape Lestat’s control but also to search for other vampires, who might be able to provide them with answers. Close to giving up, it is an ancient Parisian coven led by Armand (Antonio Banderas) that finds them instead. Le Theatre des Vampires are vampires inhabiting a theatre space, disguised as humans pretending to be vampires; in macabre avant garde Grand Guignol-esque live sacrifices they feed on their prey in front of an unknowing sensationalist audience. While Louis is enchanted with Armand against his better judgement, Claudia feels highly suspicious of him, his hedonistic coven and their announcement of a new era. Rather than turning out to be the answer they were searching for, the coven betrays Louis and Claudia…
Almost 20 years after the cinematic release of Interview with the Vampire I went out to buy the DVD (previously having only the VHS version). As soon as I got to the till, the young cashier started raving on about how amazing this film is, how fantastic Cruise performs as a ‘baddy’, and how it is from a period where vampires were still mysterious and edgy. Well, keep on preaching to the choir. Times have changed; while we were fortunate to witness the legalisation of same sex marriages in some parts of the world and an acceptance of a variety of different family unions (although there is still a lot of work to do in regards to tolerance), vampires seem to have lost their ambiguity.
After rather soulless monster-like vampires who hide away in the shadows (even Countess Dracula sticks to her castle), it was Anne Rice who revamped the mythical creatures by making them young, sexy and ‘alive’. Her novel Interview with the Vampire paved the way for cool vampires like the Lost Boys, Angel and Blade. Rather than simply accepting ‘what’ they are, the modern day vampires became more like ‘whos,’ secretly or overtly desiring a mortal existence. Then in the noughties vampires experienced a further revival, instigated by Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, which makes the quote in the headline atop this retrospective seem more of a threat. Rice’s and Meyer’s creatures may be very similar with regards to rules/conventions (individual dark gift, intense hunger, killing another vampire is the ultimate crime) and personal traits (romantic, lonely, thoughtful, self-reflexive, tragic, regretful, sad). However, Meyer took the fundamental dilemma away; there no longer seems a disadvantage to being immortal. You become a more beautiful, stronger, faster and better version of yourself with unlimited time at hand and no need for sleep (and of course, you sparkle like diamonds when out in the sun).
Maybe it is nostalgia kicking in here (I love movies/music from the 1990s) and I am just being too conservative in dismissing Twilight as missing the whole point of vampires. Judging by the immense popularity of it I guess these are the vampires this generation currently needs. Interview with the Vampire will, however, always have a special spot in my heart, not only because it is a great movie but also because (as with many childhood films) it reminds me of the self I used to be 20 years ago. I was always a massive fan of River Phoenix and got obviously very upset about his premature death. Phoenix had been Rice’s original choice for the interviewer Daniel Molloy, but he unfortunately died just before he was to commence shooting for Interview with the Vampire (aged 23, at 1:51am on 31st October 1993). Notoriously known for going on crazy drug binges with John Frusciante (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), River OD’ed on a cocaine and heroin cocktail in Johnny Depp’s LA night club, The Viper Room. Skeptical about appearing in a vampire movie, little did he know that he would become just like them, a beautiful but troubled and tragic character forever frozen in time.