Interview with a Vampire: B.A.M. Review
26 May, 2023
B.A.M= Book, Adaption, Movie
It is always hard for me to start something new, which is what this series is. Suffice it to say, the adaption of stories from books to movies is a topic of great delight to me, and I simply desired to put my thoughts down somewhere more permanent than air. I will probably write a blog post down the line somewhere on the significance of stories and how they adapt over time, but that is a topic for another date. For today, we are jumping in to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. There will be 3 parts to this review which I should probably split into 3 blog posts, but... I don't want to. Logic.
The 3 parts will follow B.A.M, in that order with the adaptation review in the middle, because my analysis of the movie cannot be completely extracted from it's value as an adaptation (or vice versa) no matter what I do. This order is an acknowledgement of my subconscious bias based on order of viewing.
Ok, enough of that or I will basically be writing that extra blog post.
Characters: I think Rice did a good job of showing some personalities that vampires could take on in her world: a world in which a vampire is stuck not just bodily (their physical bodies don't change), but also somehow in time (products of the cultural outlook of their era), while still being able to learn and grow mentally. I thought this was a fantastic idea, but it did get hard to understand how much a vampire could change before they hit their ceiling. An example of a vampire changing is Claudia, whose mind quickly matures enough to desire to be an adult woman...but whose body cannot reflect this. An example of vampires not changing would be the French vampires, of the Belcourt Theatre, who are stuck in their era of opulence and pursuit of pleasure and cannot progress with the times.
It is always hard for me to start something new, which is what this series is. Suffice it to say, the adaption of stories from books to movies is a topic of great delight to me, and I simply desired to put my thoughts down somewhere more permanent than air. I will probably write a blog post down the line somewhere on the significance of stories and how they adapt over time, but that is a topic for another date. For today, we are jumping in to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. There will be 3 parts to this review which I should probably split into 3 blog posts, but... I don't want to. Logic.
The 3 parts will follow B.A.M, in that order with the adaptation review in the middle, because my analysis of the movie cannot be completely extracted from it's value as an adaptation (or vice versa) no matter what I do. This order is an acknowledgement of my subconscious bias based on order of viewing.
Ok, enough of that or I will basically be writing that extra blog post.
Book Interview with a Vampire by Anna Rice, Book 1 of The Vampire Chronicles
Overall: Thoroughly enjoyable, but give yourself time to get through it to think about it. Also, it isn't about Vampires. Not really. Some will hate this, but I loved it (despite the fact that I'm a sucker for vampires...pun intended). If you're coming for horror, gore, sensuality, violence, or the goth appeal...these aren't the main flavor notes. I am managing expectations here, you're welcome.
Characters: I think Rice did a good job of showing some personalities that vampires could take on in her world: a world in which a vampire is stuck not just bodily (their physical bodies don't change), but also somehow in time (products of the cultural outlook of their era), while still being able to learn and grow mentally. I thought this was a fantastic idea, but it did get hard to understand how much a vampire could change before they hit their ceiling. An example of a vampire changing is Claudia, whose mind quickly matures enough to desire to be an adult woman...but whose body cannot reflect this. An example of vampires not changing would be the French vampires, of the Belcourt Theatre, who are stuck in their era of opulence and pursuit of pleasure and cannot progress with the times.
