June 14, 2024

The Rec Center #441

Hello and welcome to a very special Interview with the Vampire-themed issue of the Rec Center! This week we have some of our usual programming (ie. articles about DC Comics and sober music fandom, plus some multifandom character study fic recs), along with a very enthusiastic explainer/recommendation post about IWTV. If you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about, we are here to help. — Gav

 

new stuff

“Interview with the Vampire Costume Designer Carol Cutshall Delves Into Season 2’s Best Looks” by Gav at TV Guide
Gav interviewed the costume designer behind IWTV’s gorgeous and thoughtful outfits, discussing Armand’s symbolically open-collared shirts (it’s a power play!), Claudia’s eerily childish Baby Lu dress, and much more.

“How Big Barda and Jack Kirby Changed My Life” by Ngozi Ukazu at DC Comics
“But comic lovers know that comics are more than just writing and drawing. There’s something else, a certain spark—a crackle, even—that happens in between the panels.” The creator of Check, Please!’s lovely essay on her recent work for DC.

“The Yellow Balloon Movement” by Maria Temming at Fansplaining
The first of Fansplaining’s many upcoming articles is a deeply reported feature about yellow balloon groups, fandoms-within-fandoms for clean and sober music fans. On navigating fan spaces dominated by substance use, and how fandom itself helps some folks’ recovery.

 

 

older stuff

“Is Anime “Cool” Now? Megan Thee Stallion, Crunchyroll Execs, and More Unpack the Medium's International Rise” by Sara Delgado at Teen Vogue
A deep dive into anime’s mainstreaming outside Japan, featuring Megan Thee Stallion, Rashmika Mandanna, Sally Amaki, plus Gita Rebbapragada Rahul Purini from Crunchyroll.

 

tumblr & beyond

Interview with the Vampire fanart by Pati Cmak

“spock woke up every day and chose to slay in that purple eyeshadow”

a v. beautiful note card from the IWTV season 2 writers room.

an evocative insight into dating armand.

“born too soon to spend my teen years logging onto ao3 on my smartphone”

the two Pacific Rim scientists: a summary.

 

explainer: Interview With The Vampire

Elizabeth: As you’re likely aware, Gav and I are both obsessed with IWTV, which is currently halfway through its second season. In certain corners of social media, you may have seen a lot of people similarly obsessed. At this point, I’ve seen enough Tumblr tags saying “I guess I really should try this show huh.” YES. YOU SHOULD. LET THE TALE SEDUCE YOU. Because I suspect there are at least a few IWTV-curious among our readers, I suggested that we do an explainer/rec for anyone who’s seen the ridiculous gifsets and gone, “Wait…what is this show?”

Louis in the present day. Gif by knifelesbianjo.

SO. Anne Rice published the original Interview With The Vampire in 1976. In it, the titular vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac, tells an interviewer (“the boy”) the story of his life. A Louisiana plantation owner in the late 18th century, he’s turned by French vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (the prancing blond one you have seen in gifs), and they live together in what Louis, two centuries later, frames as a very bitter companionship. Lestat winds up turning a small girl—Claudia—to be their daughter, which is the impetus for the whole story: Rice was processing her grief over the death of her and her husband’s daughter, to leukemia at age 6.

A lot of other stuff happens in the book (Armand!) that I can’t really discuss without spoiling it. (Statute of limitations half a century later?? or more pressingly, the rest of this season of the show.) (You will note a lack of Armand in this explainer—if you have watched s1, you know why.) IWTV was a huge hit when it was published! And then, about a decade later, Rice wrote The Vampire Lestat, which utterly flips the whole thing on its head. Narrated from Lestat’s v fun POV (the opening of “My Immortal” is a clear pastiche of the opening of TVL), she baldly retcons a bunch of stuff she’d obviously changed her mind about. In light of that, Louis’s original interview takes on a totally different tone. 11 more Vampire Chronicles books followed over the next three decades, and she continued to change her mind about stuff and play with the POV (mostly narrated by Lestat—her shift from Louis to Lestat is pretty interesting imo), and the characters explicitly bring up the discrepancies and unreliable narration.

The show takes this big messy long-running canon and REVELS in the discrepancies, all while making incredibly smart changes that bring even more depth to the characters. They move up the timeline, starting the show in New Orleans in 1910. (The second season begins in the early 1940s.) Louis, originally a white slave owner, is now a Black man—still descended from (Creole) plantation owners, now running brothels. (Lestat remains a blond 18th-century French aristocrat…honestly can you imagine him as anything else lol.) Claudia, too, is now Black (as well as aged up to 14 when she’s turned), adding an even more complicated racial layer to the trio’s already-complicated dynamic.

Daniel and Louis. Gif by brotherconstant.

But then there’s the interview itself: the modern scenes you may have seen in gifsets are the new framing story, a 2022 “second interview” in Dubai with a now-elderly Daniel Molloy, the Pulitzer-winning journalist who first tried to interview Louis back when he was a drug-addicted twenty-something in 1973. While the original book presents “the boy” as a kind of useless vessel to which Louis narrates his tale, the show’s Daniel is extremely sharp (and bitchy), constantly poking holes in the story Louis is trying to retell and questioning the reliability of his memories—all while grappling with his own mortality as he faces a Parkinson’s diagnosis.

I think that’s enough set-up! Gav, beyond the basic plot, how would you explain this show?

Gav: Queerness is so central to IWTV that I almost forget what a big deal that is—until, of course, I see the discourse around something like Bridgerton introducing one or two queer characters to a majority-straight ensemble.

Lestat in the 1920s. Gif by amiracleilluminated.

Virtually all of IWTV's main characters are queer, but equally importantly, the show has no interest in the concept of positive representation. It's a luxurious gothic melodrama dominated by mind games and toxic relationships, starring a cast of messy, selfish individuals. (While also being extremely funny!) I actually wrote about this in season 1, praising the show’s ability to balance the classic appeal of vampire romance with telling a clever and complicated story about cycles of abuse.

At the risk of stating the obvious, IWTV is just extraordinarily fucking good. Every department of the creative team is firing on all cylinders, and the result is a gorgeously complex drama that combines the darkly romantic tone of Hannibal with the narrative complexity of Black Sails. (Yes I'm citing my two favorite shows here lol, ITWV DESERVES IT!)

Above all, the writing and acting are stunning, which is why so many fans are frustrated by IWTV's lack of awards recognition. Jacob Anderson is doing astonishingly sophisticated and moving work as Louis, and lifelong Anne Rice fan Sam Reid was BORN to play Lestat. (This newsletter is already running long, so please just imagine me heaping effusive praise on the rest of the cast and crew here.)

Claudia, Louis, and Lestat. Gif by beaulesbian.

As fans, we (and here I refer to the collective Rec Center audience “we”) are used to engaging with media in a passionate, analytical manner. Writing fanfic, developing headcanons, reading reviews and meta on Tumblr, etc. We enjoy thinking deeply about the books and TV shows we love, and—if we're being honest—I think we also enjoy overthinking certain canons that aren't actually all that deep.

I personally maintain a great affection for some world-class fanfic that emerged from Stargate: Atlantis, an unabashedly silly and formulaic show. But now and then, we get something that appeals to that fandom spirit while also being a bona fide masterpiece. IWTV is that something!! And considering the volume of spoilery gifs on every social platform this week, the time to start watching is now. Episode 2x05 you WILL go down in history!

Elizabeth: I second all of this! Especially appealing to the fandom spirit! I’m blessed to share this fandom with both my collaborators, and Flourish and I have often discussed how watching it feels…texturally?…like reading fanfiction, especially old-school fic—and we mean that as a high compliment. Something about the untempered emotionality, maybe, or the maximalism? Rice was a florid writer, and the show’s writers take that up beautifully, in prose folded in from the books as well as matching the tone more broadly. (That the actors, especially Anderson, deliver this stuff so fucking well…it’s absolutely criminal they don’t get more recognition.) The writers have also proven they’re Real Sickos™, both in adapting the source material head-on and when they pen stuff that’s not in the books at all—see 2x05 lol.

(I’m also gonna add here: the books are extremely queer, too, which I feel compelled to toss in because since season 1 first aired, I’ve seen posts about how Rice would clutch her pearls seeing the two hottest men on the planet rawdogging while biting each other or whatever, and let me tell you: l o l this is a deep misunderstanding of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles.)

Lestat and Louis in a non-rawdogging/biting moment. Gif by apaethy.

The show just…makes you feel unhinged! Everyone onscreen is unhinged! Note this a++ post: “iwtv is so fun because it’s not really about vampires who happen to be gay. it’s about gay ppl with personality disorders who also happen to be vampires.” I will say I endorse this statement fully, but also, it very much is about vampires—many of the characters are deeply invested in the performance of their own monstrosity, and the show plays up the camp of that. So many of the biting-victims scenes are downright gleeful, a true delight. That also serves as a content warning: there is a lot of blood, and a bit of gore. (fwiw I’m not a gore person and I found those parts OK!) That goes alongside all the other content warnings for gay vampires with personality disorders: suicide, domestic violence, psychological abuse, torture, sexual assault, murder, probably other fraught things I cannot recall right now. Just know going in that it’s a bunch of ridiculously attractive people Truly Being The Worst.

HOW TO WATCH

There’s been a lot of drama over the past week—partly fueled by one particular article—about whether IWTV will be renewed. Right off the top, the news today that AMC have just re-signed showrunner Rolin Jones & Co for a multi-year deal means I truly don’t think we need to worry much (and it’s highly possible this has been why they’ve delayed announcing).

That being said, not nearly enough people are watching this show! Here is a handy list of how to do so, depending on where you’re based. Importantly, if it’s available in your region, you can get the streamer AMC+ right now for a 30-day free trial with the code IWTV30SH. If you can get AMC+ and you’ve previously been accessing these eps…some other way…we’d suggest signing up for the trial to watch the rest of the season via an official, countable metric! Send the network some positive signals! And if you’re going to try the show for the first time, 30 days is the perfect amount of time—there are 12 episodes out between the two seasons, and the final three will air over the next three Sundays.

And for everyone who has been watching, LET’S ALL TRY TO SURVIVE THE NEXT THREE SUNDAYS!!! :-))

 

 

fanfiction

Our fourth and final call for recs last month was character studies! This is always something we’d love more of in our submissions bank—it’s where we tend to get more gen, as well as stories that center characters outside of juggernaut ships—so please continue to send them our way (see the link to the form at the bottom of the newsletter). And thanks so much to everyone who sent in these recs! — Elizabeth

“Worldwide Lonesome” by loindexter. 40K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS; Ship: Kim Seokjin | Jin/Min Yoongi | Suga
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Jin has been the token straight in his friend group since he was in school... or has he? After his bandmate Yoongi starts bringing guys back to the dorm, Jin is forced to start looking at parts of himself he's been avoiding for a very long time.
Rec: This fic not only draws a very rich and plausible inner world for Jin, but also represents a rare archetype in fic: someone who is very self-aware about how self-ignorant they are trying to be. I loved how Jin would “lean in” to the awkwardness and the truth so hard that joking about it could make it less real, for him and everyone around him. Truly a masterclass of a character study.
Content warnings: Implied/referenced homophobia

“to ask about loyalty” by tasara_bokka. 26K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold; Ship: Gen, background canon pairings
Recced by: qkat
Backstory: The Vorkosigan Saga books mainly focus on Mile Vorkosigan, a man who lives a life of drama at near operatic pitch. Ivan Vorpatril, his cousin, merely strives to be an innocent bystander—but often gets caught up in Miles' adventures.
Rec: A wonderful look at Ivan's character in relation to Miles (and Gregor, and several other characters in canon). We see how intelligent and competent he can be in opposition to how he styles himself, and how his relationships with others affect his emotional landscape.
Content warnings: Grief/mourning, panic Attacks, insecurity, class issues

“The Last Poem of Jedha” by schweinsty. 15K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Rogue One; Ship: Gen
Recced by: vands38
Backstory: Jedha was a thriving city before it was destroyed. Bodhi Rook remembers it, and recalls his own story.
Rec: Beautifully written, poignant, and fascinating. A great take on Bodhi's character.
Content warnings: Self-harm

“The Bastard of Lotus Pier” by aetataureate. 2.2K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Untamed; Ships: Wen Zhuliu/Yu ZiyuanJiang, Fengmian/Yu Ziyuan
Recced by: thekinkstheycarried.
Backstory: The Untamed fandom has so much fic about the Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, but I am so interested in the generation before them, the parents who produced these young kids who are forced into war. This fic gives us insight into what and why and how Madam Yu’s behavior developed, and provides a way to empathize and understand her fears and rage in a way that recontextualizes a lot of the novel. It’s an AU, of course, but it feels like canon.
Rec: A brilliant and incisive character study of Madam Yu that reimagines the details of Jiang Cheng’s conception and birth. I think it’s a must read if you were dissatisfied with the amount of space given to Madam Yu’s character, or ever thought to yourself “what the fuck, lady?” when she’s speaking.
Content warnings: Infidelity

“built a lot of castles” by basketofnovas (slashmarks). 12K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Andy/Quynh
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky.
Backstory: The Old Guard movie concerns a found family of extremely long-lived immortals, including Andy and Quynh, who are strongly implied to have had a romantic and/or sexual relationship in the past. Quynh, however, was captured by English witch hunters somewhere around the 1500s and cast into the ocean in an iron coffin.
Rec: Unlike most fic about Quynh’s return to land and adjustments to modern life, this story takes a beautifully gentle and relatively straightforward approach, considering how someone might rejoin the world as it is (or was, since the story is set in the 1980s) and allowing room for people’s kindness as well as cruelty. Rather than focus on her trauma or default to violence, this story asks what someone who once assumed a mission of doing good in the world might do in these circumstances, and finds a uniquely quiet (and wonderfully readable) answer.
Content warnings: Mentions of canon events, nothing explicit

“Everyday Superhero” by stoneage_woman. 63K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Spider-Man (MCU); Ship: Gen
Recced by: noblecharley
Backstory: A teacher at Peter Parker's discovers his secret identity as Spider-man when bad things happen during a school field trip. The teacher has to grapple between continuing to do his job while having an additional layer of worry by now knowing one of his students is routinely in mortal danger and he has no way of helping.
Rec: It’s a civilian’s look into how knowing a superhero could impact you. The teacher also has his own ptsd from a referenced pre-story school shooting, which compounds his feelings of helplessness in the face of caring about a teenager with powers. It’s a perspective I feel like we rarely see, and it’s a nuanced take on the dangers we face just living our lives, but how even small good deeds can have a big impact on other people’s lives.
Content warnings: School shooting, gun/superhero violence

 

 

FINAL THOUGHT

Thank you so much to everyone who wrote in to my food + fic query—I got a ton of responses, and I’m hoping to reply to everyone over the weekend. I appreciate your patience! — Elizabeth