Mind in the Media: Interview with the Vampire and Our Attraction to the Undead

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Spoiler alert! This article contains major spoilers for the first five episodes of the first season of the AMC series “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire.”

Yet, while we historically think of vampires as creatures of horror, all these shows have one thing in common: the vampires they focus on are sympathetic, not monstrous. Moreover, in the case ofInterview With the Vampire, in particular, the main vampire characters Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid) are romantic figures, even as they hanker for human blood and engage in terrible acts of violence.

This has made it possible for the show to more explicitly examine the power imbalance between Claudia, Louis, and Lestat, a white French man who also happens to be a vampire hundreds of years Louis and Claudia’s senior.

In addition, much of the book’s subtext is now text in the show. Of most interest (and excitement) to many viewers who are also fans of the novel, the series makes it clear that Louis and Lestat are in aromantic relationshipfrom the very beginning.

While Rice’s novel only hinted that the pair’s relationship was sexual, the show establishes Lestat and Louis as a couple and tracks their affair across the years. But the interviewer of the title, Daniel Malloy (Erica Bogosian) points out that Louis’relationshipwith Lestat comes across as downright abusive, even if Louis is unwilling to admit it. Confirming Malloy’s suspicions, and once again making the subtext of the book text, in the show’s fifth episode, Louis suffers a horrific beating at the hands of Lestat.

It’s the first time Lestat has physically abused Louis onscreen or in the pages of Rice’s book. Prior to this, Louis and Claudia always suffered a great deal of psychological andemotional abuseat Lestat’s hands. However, this was always subtle enough that it could be justified.

Physical abusehas no grey area, though, enabling the show to directly question and comment on the way fans tend to romanticize the unequal power dynamics and abusive behavior that are a part of many recent works of romantic vampire fiction, includingInterview With the Vampire.

This article will explore how vampires became figures of sympathy and romance and why we continue to be attracted to them. It’ll also investigate whether watching stories featuring romantic representations of vampires could cause fans to become more accepting of abuse in their real-life romances.

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The History of the Sympathetic Vampire

Although the details of vampire mythology change, the idea of vampires as immortal beings who must drink blood to survive has had a place in pop culture ever since Bram Stoker’sDraculawas published in 1897.

Yet, while Dracula was a figure of horror, even in the 19thcentury, there were vampire stories that evoked readers’ sympathies, including Lord Ruthven in 1819’sThe Vampyre, and the title vampire characters of 1847’sVarney the Vampireand 1872’sCarmilla. While these vampires have to drink blood to stay alive, their natures are a source of both torture and motivation for them, making them more alluring and tragic than frightening.

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Vampires as Desirable and Romantic

Not only do they have unique personalities and worries, but they also look like us,and as a result, cross the divide inherent in other works of horror between human and monster.In many cases, due to the way their natures leads them to isolate themselves, vampires become metaphors for rebels or outsiders on the margins of society.

However, they’re also a gay interracial couple in the early 20thcentury and Louis is a Black business owner, positions that further marginalize them while also making them even more sympathetic and attractive.

Self-Realization

Horror scholar Mathias Clasenproposes that vampires like Lestat and Louis fulfill different psychological needs for readers and viewers than vampires who are purely figures of horror.

On the one hand, vampirism is made attractive because it not only confers beauty, strength, and wealth, it also enables the vampire to dedicate themselves to their ownself-realization.

This is certainly seen inInterview With the Vampire, as becoming a vampire enables Louis to expand his business in ways he previously never would have imagined. Meanwhile, Lestat is shown to be the originator of at least one famous musical composition. Clearly immortality has its advantages.

Clasenalso notes that stories that revolve around attractive vampires and their human girlfriends, such asThe Vampire DiariesandTwilight, enable consumers to consider mate choice and the dilemmas of romance, ensuring that while the vampires in these stories may be dangerous bad boys, they aren’t figures of horror (at least not to their romantic interest).

Blood Lust

AsDr. Lee Phillips, psychotherapist and certified sex and couples therapist, points out, people want to be desired and wanted, and vampires' need for blood makes their desire for humans a matter of life and death.

This turns romance with a vampire into the ultimate fantasy. “People have fantasies of surrendering to their romantic partners, the same way a person surrenders to a vampire after being charmed and seduced,” Phillips notes. “Letting go, surrendering, and being vulnerable are not especially popular in our culture. However when this occurs with fictional vampires and the people they hunt… it fulfills that fantasy.”

WhileInterview With the Vampirecenters on a relationship between two vampires, this ability to vicariously experiment with mate choice is inherent in the show. Louis’ narration encourages viewers’ identification with him, enabling them to experience his relationship with Lestat through his eyes.

As a result, viewers experience the romanticization of Louis’ relationship with Lestat from Louis’ point of view, which includes the comfort and empowerment that accompanies his embrace of hissexualityas well as the betrayals andpsychological manipulationLouis suffers at Lestat’s hands.

At the same time, the journalist Malloy’s observations throughout the show about how problematic Louis’ relationship with Lestat is encourages viewers to see the cracks in it—and that’s even before Lestat beats Louis to a bloody pulp in the climax of the show’s fifth episode.

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Does Romanticizing Vampires Lead to Acceptance of Real-Life Abuse?

The romanticization of vampires has led to concern that people, especially adolescent girls, will become more open to the idea of getting into and staying in abusive relationships. However, while it’s easy to compare the behavior of real-life romantic partners to that of fictional vampires, whose actions often includes stalking, manipulation, and abuse, studies indicate we may not have to worry too much.

In another study, women who watched movies that romanticized stalking behavior were no more likely than women who watched movies thatdepicted stalkingbehavior as scary to support myths about stalking.

However, there were exceptions: women who found the romantic depiction of stalking especially realistic or were especially immersed in the movie were significantly more likely to endorse stalking myths.

These studies indicate that while some people may be more likely to accept abusive behavior in a real-life romance after exposure to romantic vampire narratives, because vampire characters are fantastical and bear little resemblance to real-life romantic partners, it’s probably unlikely.

Vampires as Erotic Escapism

On the other hand, “People in real-life abusive relationships may not desire their abusive partner sexually. These people want to get out of the arms of an abuser and they feel stuck. They may not necessarily want to get out of the arms of a vampire.”

Other fans, however, believe the scene merely brings the emotional abuse the pair were already inflicting on one another into the realm of the physical, making the toxicity of their relationship more difficult to excuse away or mask.

Yet, the scene also brings a new element of horror into a romantic vampire narrative. The show’s shockingly explicit depiction ofdomestic violencesubverts our expectations of romantic vampires, but it also makes the scary subtext of many of these vampire stories text, forcing viewers to confront some uncomfortable truths about vampires as figures of sympathy and romance.

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7 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Williamson M.The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy. Wallflower Press; 2005.Auerbach N.Our Vampires, Ourselves. Univ. of Chicago Press; 1996.Hollinger V. Fantasies of Absence: The Postmodern Vampire. In: Gordon J, Hollinger V, eds.Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press; 1997:199-212.Clasen M.Attention, predation, counterintuition: why dracula won’t die.Style. 2012;46(3-4):378-398.Graham CM.Love Bites: The Influence of Viewing Vampire Dramas on Acceptance of Abuse.Thesis. Central Michigan University; 2016.Lippman JR.I did it because I never stopped loving you: The effects of media portrayals of persistent pursuit on beliefs about stalking.Communication Research. 2018;45(3):394-421.Codega L.Interview With the Vampire’s romance has always been abusive.Gizmodo. 2022

7 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Williamson M.The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy. Wallflower Press; 2005.Auerbach N.Our Vampires, Ourselves. Univ. of Chicago Press; 1996.Hollinger V. Fantasies of Absence: The Postmodern Vampire. In: Gordon J, Hollinger V, eds.Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press; 1997:199-212.Clasen M.Attention, predation, counterintuition: why dracula won’t die.Style. 2012;46(3-4):378-398.Graham CM.Love Bites: The Influence of Viewing Vampire Dramas on Acceptance of Abuse.Thesis. Central Michigan University; 2016.Lippman JR.I did it because I never stopped loving you: The effects of media portrayals of persistent pursuit on beliefs about stalking.Communication Research. 2018;45(3):394-421.Codega L.Interview With the Vampire’s romance has always been abusive.Gizmodo. 2022

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Williamson M.The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy. Wallflower Press; 2005.Auerbach N.Our Vampires, Ourselves. Univ. of Chicago Press; 1996.Hollinger V. Fantasies of Absence: The Postmodern Vampire. In: Gordon J, Hollinger V, eds.Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press; 1997:199-212.Clasen M.Attention, predation, counterintuition: why dracula won’t die.Style. 2012;46(3-4):378-398.Graham CM.Love Bites: The Influence of Viewing Vampire Dramas on Acceptance of Abuse.Thesis. Central Michigan University; 2016.Lippman JR.I did it because I never stopped loving you: The effects of media portrayals of persistent pursuit on beliefs about stalking.Communication Research. 2018;45(3):394-421.Codega L.Interview With the Vampire’s romance has always been abusive.Gizmodo. 2022

Williamson M.The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy. Wallflower Press; 2005.

Auerbach N.Our Vampires, Ourselves. Univ. of Chicago Press; 1996.

Hollinger V. Fantasies of Absence: The Postmodern Vampire. In: Gordon J, Hollinger V, eds.Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press; 1997:199-212.

Clasen M.Attention, predation, counterintuition: why dracula won’t die.Style. 2012;46(3-4):378-398.

Graham CM.Love Bites: The Influence of Viewing Vampire Dramas on Acceptance of Abuse.Thesis. Central Michigan University; 2016.

Lippman JR.I did it because I never stopped loving you: The effects of media portrayals of persistent pursuit on beliefs about stalking.Communication Research. 2018;45(3):394-421.

Codega L.Interview With the Vampire’s romance has always been abusive.Gizmodo. 2022

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