Sunday, October 31, 2010

All Hallow's Eve!

Happy Halloween everyone!

On this particular festive occasion, I am inclined to zero in on one small facet of the Halloween-scene... :D













That's right! Vampires! No, nothing to do with glittering Edwards or Forks at Twilight -- no no no. :) My inspiration stems entirely from another Hallow's Eve-worthy cinematic source... Namely: Interview with the Vampire, based on the book of the same title by Anne Rice, starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst, along with a lovely little bit of Antonio Banderas -- Yum!

While most of the film is rather dark, dank, and sinister, as one might typically expect vampiric depictions to be, the poise, timeless knowledge, Victorian style, and confident decorum of the three main characters speaks very much to my fantasy-forming imagination :)


Rather than launching into a thorough breakdown of the entire plot, thus negating the possibility of any of you actually going to see the movie for yourselves, I will provide some brief background knowledge and then highlight the one particular moment that led me to feature this particular film here this Halloween, for reasons that will soon become clear. :)

Claudia, the little girl in the picture above, was a young child when Lestat (far right) made her into a vampire. Lestat also made Louis (left, near Claudia) a vampire -- but Louis, a humanitarian, struggled tremendously with the cold hard fact that he must kill people in order to survive himself as a vampire. Basically, Lestat, distant and self-absorbed, treats Claudia as a prized pupil, while Louis, full of moral fiber, and who lost his wife and child before becoming a vampire, thinks of Claudia almost as his second chance at raising a daughter.

Kinkify-able Theme #1: Two 18th-(to early 19th)-century men of principle, one something of a tutor, one something of a father, taking on the responsibility of rearing a young female charge.

As Claudia grows in experience and intellectual prowess, but not in physical appearance (as a vampire, she is forever bound into her current physical state), she begins to resent the fact that she's been made into an immortal child-doll, never able to grow into womanhood. She loves Louis, her father figure, too much to remain angry with him, but instead lets this rage loose on Lestat, constructing a scheme to kill him. As you may know, however, it is very difficult to kill a vampire.

Kinkify-able Theme #2: Our young heroine, as she comes of age, lashes out in rebellion at the male authority figures in her life (albeit a little more viciously than may be typical), therefore warranting certain disciplinary action.

The scheme backfires, and one night Lestat, gaunt and filthy from trying to eek out a living in the Mississippi river where Claudia and Louis had dumped him, appears again in their home. The two of them discover Lestat creepily sitting at the piano by the window, playing a tune that he had been teaching Claudia to play during happier times. After explaining how he "came back to life," Lestat looks directly at Claudia, and says, emphasizing each word:

"Claudia, you've been, a very, very, naughty, little girl--" and then he immediately springs from behind the piano toward the retreating pair, in a very scary moment of vengeful pursuit.

Kinkify-able Theme #3: Well, this one's obvious... :D

Of course it was this line that struck a chord in me when I first saw the film :D I happened to be watching the movie with a very vanilla friend, which made the moment all the more secretly heated for me... Personally I would have much rather imagined Louis, the compassionate father-figure, uttering such a juicy line, but as it is, it still incites quite an effect... :D

I have been able to find most of this moment captured online for your viewing pleasure if you would care to see it -- unfortunately the closest version I've been able to find cuts out right before Lestat finishes with the word "girl," but since you know what he says, you can imagine the word, or perhaps it's even better this way because it leaves you free to imagine your own final word! Just overlook the fact that he's recently spent a considerable amount of time wallowing around in a river and therefore looks rather distasteful at this particular moment... lol

Even just the fact that this line exists in a movie of rather main-stream capacity is enough for me to fully appreciate it, despite any small imperfections... :)

Here it is: Interview with the Vampire: clip from Warner Bros.

1 comment:

  1. I am sorry that I missed this post. You and I could spend some time talking about the kinky themes in this film. Love, love it, love it.

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