brief introduction:
A lost vampire's journey to find himself.
Long synopsis:
The story begins with a reporter interviewing Louie the vampire.
Louie (Brad Pitt) begins to slowly tell his past...
About two hundred years ago, Louie was the owner of a manor and had an enviable family.
But everything changed when his beloved wife died in childbirth, and a heartbroken Louis lived a life of walking dead.
Until one day, a vampire calling himself Lester (played by Tom Cruise) invited Louis to join him.
Louis, who has no attachment to the world, agreed to Leister's invitation. However, when he became a vampire, he found that, unlike Lester, he still had a human side in his heart, but it also tormented him. He couldn't see humans as food, and he didn't even want to hurt anyone. So Louis had to drink the blood of mice and pheasants to try to calm down his bloodthirsty desire. Lester thought it was ridiculous, but there was nothing he could do.
Soon after, the slaves of the manor discovered that something was wrong, and they regarded the two as monsters and tried to resist. At this time, Louis finally couldn't restrain his instinct and killed the maid who had been caring about him. In despair, he planned to burn down the manor house and himself, but was rescued by Lester. After leaving the manor, the two were active together, but their ideas became more and more opposite.
At this time, the Black Death spread to Europe. In the disaster area, Louis met Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a little girl who was abandoned by her father and died of illness. Fearing this self, he fled the scene. Lester finds Lu Yi, informs that the little girl is still alive to reassure Lu Yi, and transforms the little girl into a kind in front of Lu Yi. He knew that in this way, Louis, who couldn't let go of the little girl, would always be by his side.
So far, the three have lived a fairly harmonious life. Until decades passed, Claudia was dissatisfied with being trapped in a little girl's body and never growing up because the vampire would not continue to grow. She harbors a grudge against Lester, who turned her into a vampire, and feels incomprehensible to Louis when she learns the truth. But she, who loved Louis deeply, decided to forgive Louis, and even planned to kill Lester in order to free the two from Lester's control.
But things didn't end until one day, Lester came back! It turned out that he was not dead, but turned into a terrifying monster. The panicked two had to run away and embarked on a journey to find the same kind. Louis wanted to know what a vampire was and what he was. He met the vampires headed by Oman in the theater, and learned that Oman, who had lived for 400 years, was probably the oldest vampire so far. Although the answer has not yet been found, compared to Lester, Louis felt that Oman would be a good mentor, and he intended to learn about vampires from him.
Fearing that Louis will be alone when he leaves, Claudia asks Louis to convert a woman who sees her as a daughter and volunteers to be by her side into a vampire.
Excerpt from the most impressive line:
"So I don't owe you, Claudia, I just lost the last part of being a human being."
"Yes, Louis. But that
night, because of the two people's murder of Lester, they committed a big taboo for vampires: not to kill other vampires, and the theater vampires, who had long been dissatisfied and out of control, took Claudia, the woman who had just been converted into a vampire, and Louis III. people take away. Louis finally got out of trouble, but found that he had no time to save Claudia and the woman, who had already been burned alive in the sun. In a fit of anger, Louis burned all the sleeping theater vampires with torches like the sun, and was so disappointed in Oman that he sat and watched everything happen, and left alone.
After returning to his hometown for several years, Louis met Lester again. At this time, Lester was very old, and Louis chose to leave regardless of Lester's request. And this is also the last time he sees Lester, and the story ends here.
After listening to the story, the reporter only felt yearning for the power of vampires, and thought that Louis must have deliberately turned him into a companion and found him, hoping that Louis would also transform him into a vampire. Louie, who took pains to be forgiven, left angrily, and the reporter had to drive away alone and play the audio file just recorded. At this time, without warning, the person lurking in the back seat was bitten! ? That person is none other than the long-disappeared Lester!
After pushing the dying reporter into the passenger seat, Liszt smiled and said, "Hey, I don't need to introduce myself, you know it anyway." And
sighed at the voice playing on the tape: "Poor Louis, I don't know how many times it is, are you still complaining about yourself?"
At this point, Lester smiled and drove the car to the unknown front.
When I checked the relevant experience, some comments said that Interview with the Vampire is actually a movie that explores the inner changes of homosexuality.
I have no doubts about this. In fact, I watched the whole movie, except that after Lester transformed the little girl into a vampire, he said to Louis, "This way, we are a family, and she is our daughter." One paragraph aside (who is the father and who is the mother!?); the rest of the place has a gorgeous tone, but it doesn't make me feel particularly ambiguous or otherwise, because most vampire movies describe vampires as handsome and graceful creatures, yes For me it just fits this argument.
Although the entire film is more than two hours long, the pace of the plot is unbelievably fast. It seems that in the previous scene, Louis was still struggling after he was transformed into a vampire, and in the next scene, the slaves in the manor rebelled immediately. The coherence of the plot and the connection of the turning scenes are overwhelming.
In addition, let me mention the combination of the protagonists. Although I don't usually choose the movies they starred in, it should be difficult to see Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt on the same stage in the future. I have to say, Tom Cruise's appearance is really amazing, how can it be so suitable for the appearance of a blond ruffian! Had to post more of his stills (huh?):
Brad Pitt's words, probably because of the long hair and the back comb, I watched the whole movie and only kept paying attention to his square chin. .....(covers face)
There is also how the little girl's hair is very knotted after being transformed into a vampire, and combed into the second half state, which also makes me feel incredible. It should be said that on the way of the little girl being transformed into a vampire, the part of the hair that started to curl up one by one made me very paradoxical. The little girl's hair is the biggest bug in this movie for me.
The little curly girl who turned into a vampire (above left) and the later little girl (above right). Just imagining the process of combing my hair makes my head hurt...the comb should be broken several times...
and for Claudia's mental distortion in the later period; because I have seen a complex like being trapped in a little girl's body , but the orphan resentment that is so dark that it makes me uncomfortable (it's a shadow on my mind), so the heroine is a gentle image to me from beginning to end.
But Lester is an innocent character. In the film, Louis and Claudia want to escape Lester and even plan to kill him. Although Lester didn't do anything out of the ordinary from beginning to end, a lot of the behavior seemed to me to be just a loneliness and a desire to find someone to be with. In fact, many of the vampires in the film, Lester Claudia Aman, just felt lonely for countless hours. That's probably how I felt after watching the whole movie. Fortunately, the ending was a happy one (?).
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"Interview with the Vampire" (Interview with the Vampire) is not the ancestor of vampire literature, "Dracula" is the currently recognized prototype of vampires. But judging from its 8 million copies sold worldwide, it is definitely one of the most influential vampire literature of our time; if you look closely at the queer sexuality in the story, you will find that this is a queer novel An early classic in which lust and vampires were closely linked.
The author of the original novel was Anne Rice (published in 2009, and the film adaptation was directed by Neil Jordan in 2009. It is worth noting that Neil Jordan is a director with a strong "queer meaning" and has directed many Queer-related films, including TheCryingGame's "Breakfast on Pluto", which deals with transgender issues.
Queer theorist Harry M. Benshoff mentioned in his classic "Monsters in the Closet" that gay lust is often packaged in various metaphors, hidden in thrillers, just like real life. Same as gays who have to hide in the closet. One of the four ways in which he proposes queerness in horror films is that "the director or producer of the film is gay". We're not sure if Neil Jordan is gay or not, but he's definitely a "queer enough" director in terms of how much he deals with gay/queer issues in his work. As such, it is not surprising to find a latent gay/queer eroticism in his work.
"Interview with the Vampire" is arguably one of the best representatives. Compared with the frank and bold handling of queer issues in "Breakfast in Troubled Times" and "Breakfast on Pluto", the queer eroticism in "Interview with the Vampire" is more subtle and less visible. If you don't look closely, it's easy to think this is a vampire movie; but if you look closely, the gay/queer erotica is all over the place. This is in line with the third proposed way of gay eroticism in thrillers: "The overtones of comradeship (since gayconnotation
is overtones, you don't just have to listen with wide ears, but also with a 'special' angle to hear it) The mystery. "Interview with the Vampire" is guided by the confession of the vampire Louis, and draws out a fantastic story full of queer eroticism. Not only the reporters in the story are listening, but even our audience is "eavesdropping" on Louis's confession. And hope to hear some implication in it. We can say that Louie's confession not only reveals a vampire past, but also a memoir of a gay/queer who represses his own lust.
Louie traces his past before he became a vampire. He was a colony The landowner (so the film also has postcolonial issues to deal with), began to sink after the death of his wife, spent his life in the hotel for pleasure. He said: "I accept anyone ... but in the end it was a vampire. (Iwasopentoanyone…butitwasavampirethathasaccepted.)”. Louie, disillusioned after the shattering of traditional heterosexual relationships, “opening” himself to everyone is actually quite a “queer” thing in itself, because he is eager to try new relationship.
His desire to be queer became more apparent after meeting the vampire Lesta. Lesta pierced his neck with his fangs to suck blood, and the two rose into the air. Lesda's invasion of Louis with fangs is a symbolic sexual relationship, and then Louis sucks Lesda's blood, which is a very obvious erotic suggestion. Louie became a vampire by absorbing Lesta's blood, implying that homosexuality transmits AIDS through sexual intercourse, which is the public's labeling and stereotype of homosexuality. So the terrible thing about Louie becoming a vampire is that it hides the homophobia of heterosexual society behind it.
(Lesda invades Louis' neck with vampire fangs, which is a hint of sex, and the comradeship between the two is very obvious.) So
far, the connection between vampires and homosexuality is very clear. Louis and Lesda seem to be a pair of vampires who are both enemies and friends, but in fact they are more like a pair of gay lovers with different ideas. Lesda helped Louis to transcend human life and become a vampire, but it also made Louis struggle eternally between human nature and vampire nature. It's like a gay man with a strong identity (Lesta) leading a man who thought he was heterosexual (Louis) to transcend his heterosexual identity (mortal life) and become a homosexual (vampire). Louis' struggle can be seen as his oscillating between his past heterosexual identity and his new homosexual identity.
It is mentioned that homosexuality is always easy to associate with "death", because in the stereotype of the public, homosexuality is the carrier of AIDS and must live soon. In Interview with the Vampire, the vampire/homosexuality is also associated with the image of death. They can only live in the dark and sleep in coffins during the day, all of which are metaphors for death. After becoming a vampire, Louis even said, "I am between death and life." Louis' fear of death is his unfamiliarity and fear of the camaraderie hidden in his heart; and his desire for life means that he has always been I have always wanted to return to the heterosexual society.
In addition to being associated with "death", homosexuality is also often regarded as a symbol of barbarism and animality, because in the eyes of the public, homosexuality seems to only focus on sex and cannot restrain their own primitive impulses. Therefore, the media always likes to report gays in public toilets, The news of sex in the wild reinforces the stereotype of "homosexual lust = bestiality". In "Interview with the Vampire", Lesta often laughs at Louis "can't control his emotions". Louie's unquenchable anger, ready to explode at any moment, is a metaphor for gay lust. After his throat was cut, Lesda sucked the blood of toads and snakes to survive and became like a "monster", which is a process of turning gays into monsters and beasts.
The appearance of the little girl Claudia is very interesting. Lesda and Louis look after her together and claim to be Claudia's parents, implying that a gay couple is adopting a child. The story emphasizes Louis' "motherhood" again and again (because Louis is indeed a more feminine side compared to Lesda): he will sleep with Claudia in his arms, and take care of her like a mother. Claudia then said: "You are my father and my mother. (Youaremyfatherandmymother.
It is worth noting that Lesta, Louis and Claudia, although a metaphor for an emerging queer family, are not The family is portrayed as horrific, unstable, dysfunctional. This family brings death (the three must suck blood to survive), is full of strife (Claudia and Lesta), and finally It will definitely dissolve (Lesta's death and the broken relationship between the three) - "Interview with the Vampire", despite presenting a "queer family", still sees the shaping of heterosexual social ideology.
In such an ideology Under the shroud of this state, Lesda became the object of condemnation and hatred, because he firmly identified with his own homosexuality (vampire nature), but did not feel ashamed. This is completely unacceptable to the heterosexual society. Thing. Claudia and Louis blame Lesda for turning them into vampires, just as homosexuals blame their lover for infecting them with AIDS. Claudia, who wants to return to normal human (heterosexual), tries to kill Les In fact, it is a kind of punishment for homosexuality.
Louis later meets Armand, the vampire. He is the leader of a group of "underground" vampires, like the leader of an underground gay group, vowing to overthrow heterosexual society at any time, and is a great "threat". This group of vampires was deliberately shaped into a group of "monsters", and Louis has always condemned them as "beasts", which is actually the hatred and fear of heterosexuals for radical gay groups. In the end, Louis believed that this group of vampires (comrades) was too inhuman (heterosexual identity), so he burned them alive, just like the burning of witches in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, or the Nazi massacre of gays. All these plots are clever, specific and subtle metaphors.
Louie is like a vampire who is saddled with a "dark past" (the past of intercourse with homosexuals), and thus feels lost and tortured in the human world (heterosexual society), but finally because of his "humanity" (heterosexual identity) Obtain the ultimate redemption and the affirmation of the audience. The reporters who interviewed him were nothing more than a symbol of heterosexuality who were afraid but curious about homosexuality, both homophobic and homophobic. They were also the epitome of the audience and even the whole society. In the end, homosexuality is still associated with death, AIDS, darkness, and bestiality, and is therefore "rightfully" condemned, hated, and even killed. The gay metaphors in Interview with the Vampire are everywhere, but they are still shrouded in the ideology of heterosexual society.
However, I think "Interview with the Vampire" actually has more room for interpretation. There is not only gay lust in the story, but also "queer lust". The simple definition of "queer" is all "non-heterosexual" erotic relationships and gender expressions, so not just homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender, cross-dressing, bestiality, asexuality...etc. , can be called "queer". Queer covers a wider range than gays, and Lestat and Louie in "Interview with the Vampire" are definitely "queer".
If "blood-sucking" itself is a behavior with strong sexual desire, then Lesda can definitely be regarded as a symbol of erotic flow, because he not only sucks the blood of men (Louis, male nobles), but also the blood of women. On the other hand, Louis not only sucked the blood of white people, but also sucked the blood of black maids, and even sucked the blood of old women and little girls. Their sexuality has no frame, no boundaries, and no definition. So far, they are not only symbols of gay lust, but also of "trans-sexuality".
In fact, it is not only Lesda and Louis who are lustful, the little girl Claudia is also a representative-because she has not yet accepted socialization and her lust has not yet formed, so there is a lot of room for ambiguous wandering. She seems to crave a grown woman's body more than a man, both wanting to possess that body (thus sucking her dry) and fantasizing about being that plump woman (thus preserving her). This kind of lust transcends gender and age, and is more of a narcissistic lust. At the same time, Claudia couldn't restrain her sexual desire, and her blood-sucking desire even surpassed the two "big men".
The "hyper" sexual Lesda and Louis, and the surging Claudia, add a richer "queer connotation" to the film and liberate it from stereotyped and negative gay metaphors Come out and provide the "queer" audience with more space for interpretation and subversion. This may explain Lesta's eventual "counterattack". Lesda, who was already old and no longer caused the anxiety of the audience, actually "rejuvenated" again by absorbing the blood of reporters, vowing to sweep the human world again.
This ending actually implies: when the heterosexual society thought that suppressing and punishing comrades would make them disappear, comrades did not disappear because of such persecution, but came back with more powerful energy, no longer satisfied with just being Be gay, challenge more gender/sexual frames, and herald a queer age. With this daring ending, director Neil Jordan seems to be shouting to a group of heterosexual audiences who have long since calmed their anxiety: queerness is dead, long live queerness.
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