I’ve been thinking about something for a couple of days, particularly concerning The Vampire Lestat, and people’s perception of the final few episodes. Minor disclaimer, I haven’t watched the season in its entirety myself, and anything I discuss about the scenes has been watched through clips or screencaps.
There seems to be a major divide between people who think TVL was great and they enjoyed it vs. People who didn’t like it for an assortment of different reasons, and are now letting it be known online. And I’ve been noticing a pattern, particularly when people respond to those fans who didn’t like certain parts of the show, SPECIFICALLY because they felt as though those certain parts were antiblack in nature.
A lot of people take criticism as an attack on the thing that they like itself. If Person A says “I think this trope was a bit overplayed”, Person B may sometimes respond with “Well, if you hated it so much then just stop watching it!” Hatred itself was never in the conversation, but that is where Person B’s mind automatically takes them to. This is the same reaction I’m seeing being given towards fans who criticize certain parts of TVL, or even how certain scenes were handled/who it was handled by.
“I think [x scene] felt antiblack, and I’m uncomfortable with how nonblack writers handled it in particular” // “Well, it happened like this in the book. It’s book accurate/Anne Rice herself claims it is accurate”. The problem with this is the fact that Anne Rice’s original novels centered a white Louis and a white Claudia, and the nuances of having Black main characters were not put into consideration when she wrote those novels. And from what I’ve heard from certain fans who have read the books, certain aspects of characters (like Gabrielle being implied to be transmasc) were scrapped all together, or scenes of Claudia’s death were even greatly exaggerated, the violence turned up a few decibels.
And then you have the criticism of who in particular were writing these scenes. In seasons one and two there were, from what I’ve heard, Black writers directly involved with the story. In season three, there are still writers of color present, but as far as I’m aware there are now no Black writers involved. And to some fans, this stood out in a major way. Yes, there has always been racism in the show, but that is not what people are upset about, contrary to what I’ve seen be implied. The issue is how racism was handled in seasons one and two vs. season three.
Black writers and film makers, when tackling antiblack racism in particular, go about portraying these things in very deliberate and tactful ways, while still taking care to not exploit Black trauma for nonblack viewership in the name of letting them in on the struggle (“its for awareness, that’s why this Black character was killed off so horrifically!”). Think of Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”, or Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners”. These two films don’t shy away from racism, but it’s done in a way where people understand the WHY. There is no violence against Black characters for the simple sake of “accuracy”, there is a reason as to why these things are happening.
And that is the issue that I have seen people have with TVL. The particular kinds of violence (not the fact that there was violence at all; the specific ways to which characters like Louis and Claudia suffered) felt out of place for the story, the sadistic nature of certain characters, the language being used when you know this was not written by anyone Black. “The writers aren’t all white though, there are people of color!” While that’s nice to here, being a person of color on its own is NOT enough to understand the depths of antiblack racism in particular; it’s not just simple, vague racism people are pointing out. It is the hatred of BLACK characters in particular.
Now, I know certain fans have taken it upon themselves to report this to the NAACP, or even sent threatening comments towards the writers in particular. I do not agree with that, and most of the fans ALSO do not agree with that. What I think is strange is how this is now being used as a deflection tactic to dismiss any well-meaning argument out of hand. There are insane fans in almost every single fandom, and unfortunately writers being sent threats isn’t all that uncommon. I’ve seen it happen in Supernatural, I’ve seen it happen with certain TV shows when certain subsections of fans don’t get what they wanted. MOST PEOPLE DO NOT AGREE WITH THAT BEHAVIOR.
I think it’s entirely unfair and—frankly!—lazy to use a group of fan’s behavior to blanket dismiss any and all criticisms towards how The Vampire Lestat treats its Black characters, and other characters of color. Black people are also not a monolith, and while you as a Black fan may not have seen anything wrong with how certain things were portrayed in the show, I have ALSO seen many Black fans who DID feel uncomfortable with certain aspects of the show. And they should be heard just as much as you, not turned away with “well, maybe if you actually watched the show…!” or “then don’t watch it if you hate it that much”; again, hate was never in the conversation!
People criticize things because they want better! People criticize things because they enjoy something enough to not justify putting on blinders to what their own conscious is telling them. I’m not saying that’s what people who did enjoy the show and see nothing wrong with it are doing, because clearly your conscious is telling you nothing is amiss. And that’s fine! This post is not meant to be a slight against people who loved the show. This post is meant to say that you shouldn’t automatically dismiss fans who didn’t have the same experiences as you. Especially Black fans/fellow Black fans.
You are not sensitive or stupid for feeling the way that you do, and you should talk about it if you feel the need!
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