Why outrage targeted ‘Rings’ but not ‘Interview with the Vampire’ – USA TODAY
There is a Black man playing a vampire, and that’s fine.
But if someone Black is an elf, or a lord of Westeros or a Stormtrooper, there is a loud, vocal minority that has a problem with that: racist backlash that is virtually guaranteed when Hollywood casts an actor of color in a role traditionally thought of as white, especially in fantasy and science fiction films and series.
This fall alone has seen abuse spewed at Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which adds actors of many ethnicities to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon,” which recasts a noble family of Westeros as Black. Even the trailer for Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid,” with Black singer Halle Bailey as the new Ariel, generated absurd outrage (as well as joy and elation from many).
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But another classic fantasy property this year changed the race of some of its primary characters, and there weren’t histrionic op-eds or an avalanche of hateful tweets. In fact, fans seemed quite pleased. That show is AMC’s thoughtful remake of Anne Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire,” starring a Black man, Jacob Anderson, as suave vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (played by Brad Pitt in the 1994 film opposite Tom Cruise as vampire Lestat).
A drastic departure from the source material, “Interview” changes Louis’ backstory to account for his change of race, and makes the queer subtext of the book and original film very much text. It is a story that is often defined by the race and sexuality of its lead character.
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Somehow, the outrage machine missed “Interview.” It might be because the series is available on AMC and its streaming service AMC+, with likely a smaller audience than the likes of “Rings” or “Dragon.” It could be because “Vampire” is a franchise primarily aimed at a female audience, rather than the belligerent male fans of other properties who also cry foul at prominent women characters in addition to characters of color. (Though it should be noted that many white women have participated in this kind of online abuse.) It could be, as Adam Serwer argued in The Atlantic, that these so-called fans get swept up in right-wing cultural resentment about franchises from their childhoods because of their inability to grow up.
That is all part of it, but there is something more. “Interview” takes place in the real world (or close enough to it, with the vampires and all) in which the existence of people of color is impossible to deny. Angry commenters who don’t want non-white actors in Middle Earth or Westeros often fall back on arguments of “historical accuracy” (to medieval Europe, which served as a loose inspiration for these fictional places), or “world building,” suggesting that the original authors, Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, never imagined a world with these different races.
When the world is totally made up, closed-minded “fans” choose not to see anyone in it who doesn’t look like them.
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But it’s hard to ignore other races when shows like “Interview” factor in the consequences of changing race for their characters (Claudia, a young girl who is turned into a vampire, is also recast as Black).
In the new “Interview,” Louis is a Black gay man in 1920s New Orleans and is faced with the realities of that life. He is a business owner insulted by his patrons, left out of important rooms and forced to run brothels after his father’s business collapses. When the glamorous, rich and white vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) offers to make Louis a vampire, Louis’ race plays a part factor in his decision. He wants a more transcendent life than the one this period of history offers a man of color. He wants to be with Lestat. “Interview” is a story that is very Black and very gay, and it never feels like either of these choices is tokenism.
The new “Interview” is a shockingly good show and so is “Rings of Power” (“Dragon” has its moments). None of them are harmed creatively – nor, it seems, commercially – by the decision to be more inclusive in casting.
In the case of “Interview,” race bending makes a remake far more vital and compelling than others in the endless parade of Hollywood reboots. All three series bring people of color into fantasy stories in ways that better reflect the audiences who are watching and take advantage of very talented actors.
We can only hope that the more we see non-white faces in stories like these, the less we will hear from angry, racist voices. Amid the thrills of dragon rides, Elven battles and vampire blood, the “backlash” is just a bunch of white noise.
