Does This Remind You Of Anything / Interview with the Vampire (2022)

• The romance between Louis (who is biracial, specifically French and African descent) and Lestat (a Frenchman) carries an uncomfortable colonial subtext. Although the series begins in 1910 New Orleans and France no longer has a presence in North America, France remains a colonial power that controls colonies in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Oceania.
  • Lestat is a rich Frenchman who would've benefited at least indirectly from colonization, and he continues the trend that some Frenchmen indulge in of romanticizing and eroticizing their mixed-race/non-Caucasian lovers. A famous example of this is the French poet Charles Baudelaire whose longtime mistress and muse was Jeanne Duval, who was Haitian-born with both French and African ancestry. In Baudelaire's poem "Le Chat", he sensuously describes a beautiful brown cat — the brown shade alludes to Duval. This mirrors Lestat's constant praise of Louis' beauty and finding "cinnamon" skin alluring. In the sixth episode, Louis becomes Lestat's muse when their Destructive Romance inspires Lestat to compose the love song "Come to Me".
  • While Lestat is in love with Louis and treats him with more respect than white Americans do, Lestat is not immune from the prejudices that come with his French background. Louis points out in the second episode that as a Creole, he's at a disadvantage compared to a full-blooded French person in France, and he believes that Lestat is at least subconsciously acting on his sense of French superiority because Louis hates it when Lestat refers to him as a "fledgling," which Louis equates with being called a slave.
  • At the beginning of the third episode, Lestat enjoys learning about the history of Jackson Square (which he loves) because of its links to France, as it was designed after the Place des Vosges in Paris, it was formerly known as Place d'Armes (Lestat even prefers the original French name), and it was where the Louisiana Purchase was signed. However, he feels that France had sold the territory far too cheaply to the USA ("Penny-wise, franc-foolish"). While not stated explicitly, his underlying musing is if New Orleans was still under French control, he wonders what his relationship with Louis would be like if the latter was born under the French flag instead of the American one. Louis abruptly stops Lestat's train of thought by informing his boyfriend that runaway slaves were decapitated here and their heads were placed on the iron gates as a warning. France had participated in the slave trade, so it was just as guilty as the USA when it comes to the atrocities committed against Louis' African ancestors. Naturally, Louis is annoyed that Lestat is idealizing La Nouvelle-Orléans under French rule, and while in this hypothetical scenario, Louis' Créole heritage would most probably be acknowledged (unlike America's One-Drop Rule), he's well-aware that Lestat would have a lot of power over him, especially if Nouvelle-France (which Louisiana was a part of) remained a French colony instead of an independent country.
  • The fifth episode demonstrates that Lestat is a Domestic Abuser and an Abusive Parent, and his pummeling of Louis into a bloody pulp brings to mind a white master punishing his disobedient slave by torturing him almost to the point of death, especially when Lestat is dragging a wounded Louis (who almost looks like he had been flogged) by the chin with just his razor-sharp vampire fingernails (which are stand-ins for hooks), which leaves behind a long trail of Louis' blood on the floor. In an abusive relationship, the abuser tends to behave like they "own" their partner, and Lestat is "disciplining" Louis for not loving him enough (or not showing him enough "deference"). Although their vampire daughter Claudia (who is also biracial and is analogous to a mixed-race child born from an interracial union) was spared the worst of Lestat's temper, she could have died if she were human when he throttled her. In the sixth episode, Claudia telepathically tells Louis, "And now [Lestat]'s gone and made us slaves to him. [...] We're his slaves, and I will free us both."
  • Louis and Lestat's romance being rooted in French colonialism is illustrated in a scene from the seventh episode where they're waltzing together while dressed in lavish 18th-century French period costumes. This is the tail end of the era when France was at the peak of its power, and the French elite who wore this type of clothing profited the most from the exploitation of their colonies. The contrast of Louis' brown skin against his white outfit is a visual reminder that he wouldn't even exist without French colonialism (the ugly implication being that somewhere in his family tree, he has at least one French ancestor who likely raped a female slave). Lestat represents the side of privilege where Frenchmen could "sample" (Lestat's own word) any person under their control, although he's a "gentler" ^note only in comparison to an actual slave owner because Louis is a victim of Lestat's psychological and physical Domestic Abuse, plus Lestat was also brutal to Lily, a prostitute whom he had murdered after having sex with her; like Louis, she's also biracial and a "misfit beauty" in Lestat's eyes variation of the same theme in a time when slavery has been outlawed. Moreover, Lestat twirls Louis and his arm is around the latter's waist during their dance, which denotes that Louis is the "woman" in their relationship; even European women had very few rights during the colonial period, let alone those who weren't Caucasian, so it further highlights the inherent inequalities between Louis and Lestat.
• When Louis sits down at Tom Anderson's poker game, Lestat takes a long drag of his cigarette (a phallic symbol, and the cigarette holder makes it look thicker and longer) while ogling at his Love Interest. The production team even inserted a LOL, 69 visual gag with Louis holding the 6 of Clubs and the 9 of Hearts close together, so it indicates what the dirty-minded Lestat is fantasizing about doing with Louis...
• French speakers understand that un petit coup ("the little drink") was inspired by la petite mort ("the little death"), the French expression for an orgasm. It can be inferred that Louis experienced an orgasm through Lestat's Kiss of the Vampire during Their First Time.
• Louis and Lestat's Relationship Upgrade scene plays out like a macabre wedding. They're on the altar steps of a church with two (dead) priests present (including Father Matthias, who officiated Grace's wedding). Lestat proposes to Louis with "Be my companion, Louis. Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology. For all eternity." Louis accepts and kisses Lestat. They then exchange blood in lieu of vows and rings. As much as two men can be in 1910, Lestat and Louis consider themselves to be married. They later go to Lestat's townhouse (which is now also Louis' home, much like how The Edwardian Era bride moves into the groom's residence after they tie the knot) to consummate their union, with Lestat holding Louis in his arms in a Bridal Carry as he walks up the stairs.
• While Louis is being transformed into a vampire, Lestat behaves as if they're having sex. He appears aroused, slack-jawed and panting, as Louis sucks the blood from Lestat's wrist. Lestat then collapses on to the floor while still breathing heavily in a manner which resembles a Post-Coital Collapse.
• Because Lestat and Louis are Lover and Beloved, the instruction the former imparts to the latter in the second episode has a sexual connotation (just replace the word "blood" with a part of the male anatomy).
  Lestat: No, you don't bite the blood, you suck it. Yes, yes, that's better. Good.
• Because Louis finds human blood repugnant, he doesn't eat enough (Lestat observes in the second episode "You've been skipping meals lately"). After Louis becomes a Vegetarian Vampire, he weakens considerably, and he develops the vampire equivalent of disordered eating.
  Louis: I tried to adapt to my new diet. I barely had the energy to hold up a book. My libido was not what it had been.
  • He also Forgets to Eat in the third episode, which leads to him "binging" on Alderman Fenwick.
    Louis: The state I was in, I was what... I was manic. [...] And the hubris on display caused me to neglect my thirst. And in neglect, my thirst grew harder, my temples throbbed, and finally, I could not stand it any longer. And I was through struggling. Rats, cats, dogs would no longer suffice.
• Lestat realizes that Louis is reluctant to kill humans because "You're ashamed of what we are." He's referring to them being vampires, but because Louis is a Closet Gay, there's a definite undercurrent of Louis feeling some degree of shame over his homosexuality (and by extension, his relationship with Lestat). He's also embarrassed to be labelled as a vampire in a public setting, just as he would being called "gay" or "queer."
  Louis: Maybe I'm just pondering what I am.
  Lestat: For the infinitesimal time, you're a vampire.
  Louis: Could you not use the word in my place of business?
• After accidentally killing her First Love and being forced by Lestat to watch his body burn, Claudia opens up the sealed skylight that lets in the sun and puts her arm into the light to watch it burn while she screams in pain and grief. The allusion to Self-Harm is clear.
• The official Immortal AMC Facebook page made a "No context required" post regarding Louis giving a Kiss of the Vampire to Rashid, and the screen cap features the caption "SUCKING", so it's understood that Louis sucking on Rashid's neck and the pleasure the latter derives from it is basically the vampire version of fellatio.
• Rashid stuffs himself with pineapple and honey for days before he offers his blood to Louis. This is similar to how some women eat pineapple in the hope that they'll taste better "down there" for when their partner performs cunninlingus on them.
• Claudia watching as Lestat and Louis violently fight and Lestat overpowers him, beating him within an inch of his life, is essentially a child witnessing a scene of domestic violence by their parent brought to its fantastical extreme.
• Because the act of drinking Louis' blood corresponds to sex for Lestat, when he forcibly bites Louis' neck after brutally pummeling him, it's akin to a marital rape. Louis had denied Lestat sex for the past seven years as punishment for driving Claudia away, so now an angry Lestat is possessively claiming his boyfriend in a vampiric, sexual fashion. Louis struggles to push Lestat off of him, but he's nowhere near strong enough.
• Lestat's traumatic recollection of how he was kidnapped, imprisoned, and turned by Magnus is reminiscent of a victim being abducted by a rapist/serial killer who targets young, blond, blue-eyed men with an athletic build.
  Lestat: His name was Magnus. He took me from my room in Paris, as I kicked and screamed. He kept me for a week, locked in a room full of corpses... some freshly killed, some bloated and black. But they all looked like me... my coloring, my physique. My own eyes staring back at me from rotting faces. He fed on me every night. And then he put me back in the tower with the look-alike corpses. I thought for sure I'd be one of them, but instead he turned me into this. [...] I cried. I called to God. I didn't want this.
• Lestat tracking down Claudia, finding her on a train, and then threatening to kill her if she tries to leave their home again is evocative of a white master capturing a runaway slave who was attempting to flee by the Underground Railroad.
  Lestat: Back in your cage, sweetheart. [...] Because if you try this again, Claudia, [...] I'll turn your bones to dust.
• Rashid's subservience to Louis and Daniel has elements of submissive Asian servants, especially of the Coolie variety or the obedient servant from the British Raj serving his "Memsahibs" (like the servants in Indian Summers). The fact that his actor, Assad Zaman, is British Bangladeshi enhances this. ^note Bangladesh was part of the British Raj and gained independence in 1971.

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