So You’re Realizing Your Show About Vampires Doesn’t Have Good “People” In It…

Any vampire story comes with the knowledge that the vampire in question is not a good person. In fact, they’re not a person. They’re vampires. But stories like those created by Anne Rice really highlight how vampires are made from the darkness of humanity. Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat do not shy away from this.

What’s interesting is that fans miss that point time and time again. Because we are being told this vampire love affair from one person first and foremost, fans tend to view Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) tale as the truthful version. But Rice used her novels to show just how different every story is, depending on who is telling it to you. And the show does that incredibly well, including down to who sees themselves as “decent” and who accepts the more monstrous parts of them.

Every vampire is a killer whether they like it or not. Even our beloved Louis does things that crosses lines with people, especially when it comes to Claudia (Delainey Hayles) and what she specifically tells him not to do in her “honor.” The point is that all of these characters are flawed and complicated and that’s okay!

You wouldn’t know that from the online conversation though. Many are angry that in The Vampire Lestat episode 3, titled “Toronto,” Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) makes it very clear that he only cares about his next big “gotcha” moment. As a vampire, it makes his thirst for it even darker than when he was a human. Remember, this is the man who once told a girl he’d have sex with her if she put a bag on her head and she did it!

But it is an important reminder that these characters are not “good” people.

A good character doesn’t have to be a good person

So many of these characters have done horrible things. Both to each other and in their hundreds of years on this earth. Armand (Assad Zaman) lied to the man he supposedly loved for decades. Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) has a laundry list of crimes against those closest to him. Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle) abuses and manipulates her son into an incestuous relationship that he repeatedly tells her he does not want. No one is “good.”

Even Claudia is not perfect. That’s kind of the entire point of a show like this that even vampires, who are the villains of other stories, have layers to them. Magnus (Damien Atkins) is obviously the villain of Lestat’s story, in Louis’ story, Lestat is often his villain. Perspective changes depending on who is the one telling us these things.

Even the best of them are still not perfect

For so many people, because he was our first introduction to this world, Louis is a sweet character but he has done some mean, bad things. To be fair, his John Wick murder spree is not one of those things. I am pro Louis taking out the Fang Gang. But it is done for his own selfish desire and not because of what Bruce (Damon Daunno) did to Claudia for Claudia’s sake.

Continually acting shocked by these characters doing bad things means you’re not paying attention. They are showing you they’re not perfect people and that’s okay! I wouldn’t want to watch a vampire show where everyone is just a perfect little vamp. I have The Little Vampire for that kind of storytelling.

The characters that Rice created are flawed and that’s what makes them so captivating to watch. I love my messy vampires.

(featured image: Frank W. Ockenfels III/AMC)

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