Skip to main content

VAMPIRES: Carmilla (Web series)

I first discovered Carmilla as a concept through this web series. Imagine how satisfying it was to discover that the tales of the lesbian vampiric legend dated all the way back to the original text. Of course, the queer themes and characters are brought even more to the fore in this as it is meant to be a lesbian web series, the first season of which concludes with Laura and Carmilla in a committed relationship with one another.
     That said, vampirism is always a metaphor for some sort of draining toxicity and I don’t think that is entirely untrue of this series. It begins with Laura’s roommate going missing only to be replaced by Carmilla, who seems to switch between aloofness and intrigue with Laura. A thing that is common of the lesbian experience (as much as I can gather, I haven’t identified as such for all that long). This paired with the weird dreams that accompany Carm’s appearance point toward the ways that we can be drawn to people who exhibit toxic behaviors (Carm is a total bad girl). It also winds up being a way to interrogate lesbian trends in media, namely the older, more jaded gay (Carmilla) preying on and manipulating the less experienced one (Laura).
  The dreams then are Laura’s gut, her intuition to fight her attraction to Carmilla. Of course, she doesn’t entirely, but the series does make a point to show a downward spike in Carm’s less pleasant behaviors (including manipulation and feeding on humans) before they lock down a relationship.
  In a way, clearly without meaning, it starts to ask if those who have given up, who have become too jaded to be anything but darkness simply need someone lighter to balance them out again. A contrast to the more traditional vampiric metaphors.
  Laura, much like her Victorian counterpart from the original text, is pure and, in many ways, naive—she focuses on her studies, she’s loyal to her friends, and when there is a threat to them and her community, though she has no powers of her own, she fights anyway. The influence of the traditionally pure heroine makes Carmilla better, willing to be more like Laura in an attempt to regain her humanity as much as possible.
  A welcome change of pace considering how frequently vampiric narratives are about how humanity and life can be drained. Good to be reminded that it can be reinvigorated as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE GOTHIC: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (Novel)

Goddess bless Mary Shelley, mother of my genres. Part of why I took this class was to try and get my feet wet in some of the roots and core ideologies of the genres in which I write. Discussion on this, for example, has helped push me into wanting to pivot the genre of my thesis from straight contemporary fantasy to wanting it to be more neo-southern Gothic.    But I digress! The gothic traditionally is very concerned with questions of mortality. Namely how to escape it or the repercussions of attempting to do so. I’m pushed to think of Edgar Alan Poe, who is constantly grappling with death and what it means in his work—probably because everyone he ever looked at died of TB within 20 minutes of meeting him.       Mary Shelley wasn’t too much better off, so Frankenstein doesn’t come as a shock. But Frankenstein asks what happens when you try to cheat or outwit death. Frankenstein’s monster is the bastardization of life itself, and Doctor Frankenstein realized that immediately,
Post a Comment
Read more

Assessment

What is your reaction to what you just read? One of the most important aspects of storytelling, as I’ve learned it so far, is that you cannot hand the readers everything at once. Confusion is what keeps the reader reading. Questions, intrigue. And while I don’t want to shade Mother Octavia—who the hell am I to shade Octavia Butler anyway?—I think that she may have gone too far onto the other end, at least for me. I went in confused, intrigued. I came out with a feeling of some unresolved confusion.   So as far as I gather, the Tlic…exist…and implant humans with their eggs. They used to herd them like cattle but backed out before deciding on the joint family gig.   I don’t feel like I have a concrete enough grasp on what the Tlic are, what an N’Tlic even is, what T’Khotgif Teh is. I feel like I grasping at something like I’ve grabbed a handful of sand and things are slipping through my fingers.   It’s important to point out that style and taste is a thing worth
Post a Comment
Read more

WITCHES AND WOMEN: Akata Witch (What Sunny Saw in the Flames) by Nnedi Okorafor (Novel)

Before sinking my teeth into Akata Witch , I want it on the record that the book’s title is different in Nigeria and in the UK because of the fact that the word akata is an anti-African-American slur more or less translating to “cotton picker.” Little meaning would be changed if the title were “Nigger Witch," an anti-Black slur. All that is to say, hearing that repeatedly made me itchy. But, as an akata, I will continue using that version of the title in my writing.      Comparing Akata Witch to Harry Potter feels almost like a disservice to Nnedi Okorafor’s work. Mostly because I actively resist the idea of comparing an Author of Color’s work to a white author, basically saying ”it’s this thing but brown.” (Which, by the way, is what everyone seems to say about Roshani Chokshi’s Gilded Wolves , calling it a brown Six of Crows .) It puts an idea on the table that fails to really encompass the depth that Akata Witch goes to. For example, one of the biggest things that stick ou
Post a Comment
Read more