muneca_brava (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
muneca_brava) wrote2024-09-01 11:10 am
muneca_brava) wrote2024-09-01 11:10 am
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Interview with the Vampire
I finished Interview with the Vampire and immediately thought, 'I need to talk about this! Let's open up Dreamwidth!' but now that I'm here I realize it's too soon to have like, well-thought out meta. I'm very much still in the 'screaming about it' phase. This is just word vomit but I have to let it out!
What I've been struck by most is that it feels like an old-school show in some ways, though I think that also does it a disservice because there really isn't another show like it. So ambitious, so well-crafted, but also fun, and camp! More shows like this PLEASE.
If you follow tv news a bit, you'll know that a lot of beloved fandom-adjacent shows get cancelled after one or two seasons these days, presumably because 'not enough' people watch them and they're not given the time to find an audience. There are also a lot of reports that executives make writers dumb down their shows because people have to be ale to watch them while scrolling on Instagram or whatever.
Knowing that, it's unbelievable that this show, with a fairly small but passionate audience, is allowed to exist and take wild swings. I hope that that is a sign that when something is this level of quality, at least some powers that be still think it's important to support it. And it's so good! The level of camp, the gayness, the gore. But also the complexity!
I love that they trust the audience to go along on the ride. They basically use a few short moments in season 1 to establish that what we see in flashback is unreliable (was it raining, Louis?) and it's enough to engage the audience, to let us play along in the game, especially in S2. The one thing I love about this show above all else is that aspect of it, the thread of storytelling and the impossibility of being objective about your own memories.
It also really shows onscreen that the people who make this show really, really care. I read some articles about the costuming, which is incredibly precise and intentional and accurate. The music is fabulous. Every single actor is perfectly cast and seems to have been born to play this particular role. The set design is amazing. etc etc.
The only thing I've really seen in the fandom that irks me is people who want to turn this into 'team Lestat' versus 'team Armand' which is incredibly besides the point. Also clearly Team Lestat is right.
I love Armand as a character. Mostly I love that the show really doesn't spell out who he is, but lays all the groundwork for the viewers to draw conclusions. He's beige, he's not fascinating. He wants to be loved. He's lonely, like all vampires are. He grabs onto any chance he gets not to be alone. Is that why he turns Daniel?
Beyond obvious, but I loooove Louis/Lestat. My god. The chemistry. Also there is nothing I love more than a reunion scene, and I wasn't spoiled for the last episode so it caught me by surprise and I... am obsessed.
Claudia! I wish we could get some more from her, not just through her diaries and Louis. I feel like there was still so much more to her. But that's the tragedy, of course.
Honestly one of my favorite little behind-the-scenes facts is that Sam Reid had little fangs as a kid and pretended to be a vampire all the time, so whenever I see him fully vamp out in the show I think 'he must be so happy'.
Also love that they shot the trial as an actual stage show and just put the cameras way back and shot for like fifteen minutes!
Daniel is the best character on tv. I love him with all my heart. I have an incredible soft spot for characters who are very competent at their jobs, and Daniel is incedibly talented at interviewing vampires. And breaking up 77-year relationships.
I feel a little bereft, and not sure what to do with these feelings. I don't know anyone irl who watches this show because you still can't stream it here. I ship Louis/Lestat, obviously, though it feels silly to even call it shipping. I fully support this relationship as written in the show, which is also why I will probably never read fic - literally every scene I would want in fic is in the show! Guess I'll just keep reblogging gifs on Tumblr.
What I've been struck by most is that it feels like an old-school show in some ways, though I think that also does it a disservice because there really isn't another show like it. So ambitious, so well-crafted, but also fun, and camp! More shows like this PLEASE.
If you follow tv news a bit, you'll know that a lot of beloved fandom-adjacent shows get cancelled after one or two seasons these days, presumably because 'not enough' people watch them and they're not given the time to find an audience. There are also a lot of reports that executives make writers dumb down their shows because people have to be ale to watch them while scrolling on Instagram or whatever.
Knowing that, it's unbelievable that this show, with a fairly small but passionate audience, is allowed to exist and take wild swings. I hope that that is a sign that when something is this level of quality, at least some powers that be still think it's important to support it. And it's so good! The level of camp, the gayness, the gore. But also the complexity!
I love that they trust the audience to go along on the ride. They basically use a few short moments in season 1 to establish that what we see in flashback is unreliable (was it raining, Louis?) and it's enough to engage the audience, to let us play along in the game, especially in S2. The one thing I love about this show above all else is that aspect of it, the thread of storytelling and the impossibility of being objective about your own memories.
It also really shows onscreen that the people who make this show really, really care. I read some articles about the costuming, which is incredibly precise and intentional and accurate. The music is fabulous. Every single actor is perfectly cast and seems to have been born to play this particular role. The set design is amazing. etc etc.
The only thing I've really seen in the fandom that irks me is people who want to turn this into 'team Lestat' versus 'team Armand' which is incredibly besides the point. Also clearly Team Lestat is right.
I love Armand as a character. Mostly I love that the show really doesn't spell out who he is, but lays all the groundwork for the viewers to draw conclusions. He's beige, he's not fascinating. He wants to be loved. He's lonely, like all vampires are. He grabs onto any chance he gets not to be alone. Is that why he turns Daniel?
Beyond obvious, but I loooove Louis/Lestat. My god. The chemistry. Also there is nothing I love more than a reunion scene, and I wasn't spoiled for the last episode so it caught me by surprise and I... am obsessed.
Claudia! I wish we could get some more from her, not just through her diaries and Louis. I feel like there was still so much more to her. But that's the tragedy, of course.
Honestly one of my favorite little behind-the-scenes facts is that Sam Reid had little fangs as a kid and pretended to be a vampire all the time, so whenever I see him fully vamp out in the show I think 'he must be so happy'.
Also love that they shot the trial as an actual stage show and just put the cameras way back and shot for like fifteen minutes!
Daniel is the best character on tv. I love him with all my heart. I have an incredible soft spot for characters who are very competent at their jobs, and Daniel is incedibly talented at interviewing vampires. And breaking up 77-year relationships.
I feel a little bereft, and not sure what to do with these feelings. I don't know anyone irl who watches this show because you still can't stream it here. I ship Louis/Lestat, obviously, though it feels silly to even call it shipping. I fully support this relationship as written in the show, which is also why I will probably never read fic - literally every scene I would want in fic is in the show! Guess I'll just keep reblogging gifs on Tumblr.