Interview with the Vampire (1994)

The interview framing the narrative dramatizes the tension between traditionalism and postmodernism, exploring the protagonist’s resistance to his true nature.

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Like many of its followers, Interview does not regard vampires as soulless monsters but considers them reflective of twentieth-century angst, particularly, for Rice at the time of writing the book, in the wake of the Holocaust, which reshaped the world’s understanding of humanity’s capacity for evil.

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Rice drew inspiration from [the Dr. John Polidori / Lord Ruthven] model of the vampire for her first book in The Vampire Chronicles series, but in her postmodern treatment and those by other such writers, vampires become the liberators of those subjected to orthodoxy and sexual repression. In contrast, vampire hunters such as Abraham Van Helsing represent not heroic figures but the chaste enforcers of fundamentalist worldviews. In other words, vampires are, and in some circles have always been, transgressive figures who liberate.

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In a traditionalist story, [vampires] represent transgressions against civilization, freaks of Nature, corruptions of morality, temptations toward evil and aberrant sexuality, feminized or queer identities who defy a patriarchal world, and figures who stand against all that is holy. They must pass as human; they deceive, disguising their true identities and masking their innate desires. In postmodern stories, they stand in opposition to gender binarism, exposing how polarized gender rhetoric is constructed. Traditional stories portray vampires as monstrous figures, but postmodern vampires represent something more true and free, uninhibited by the constricting rules of society. They transcend gender codes and social doctrines and do not need to justify their behavior beyond the carnal fact of their intensely physical needs—a bloodlust that remains a thin metaphor for sexual desire.

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Production was set to begin in the fall of 1993 with River Phoenix playing Louis’ interviewer, Daniel Molloy. However, Phoenix’s death from a drug overdose a week before cameras were set to roll required a quick recasting. Christian Slater filled the role and donated his salary in honor of the late actor.

— Brian Eggert (Deep Focus Review)

Claudia, who is most likely based off of Rice’s late daughter who died of cancer at age 6, is fixated on adult women. Her inability to grow up, to enter womanhood, is her source of inner turmoil. She therefore seeks solace in a mother figure, both to replace her own deceased mother, and to gain proximity to womanhood.

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Louis and Lestat, who exist as handsome white men at a time where structures of domination were completely entrenched around the world, take from others at will - particularly from enslaved women and sex workers. So perhaps it does not matter whether Louis is the “good” vampire or the “good” slave master. At the end of the day, he is both, and fails to truly renounce either identity.

— Maia