Norma Rodriguez

I have never been more disappointed. For those of you who have never read the books, this might look like a well-thought-out and impressive production. But for those of us who read and fell in love with the books—those who patiently waited for the series to finally be made, pushing through disappointment after disappointment, not giving up on the series even after time and time again the studios, producers, writers, and cast could not come to terms—we kept our hopes up, mainly due to the promise that they would stay true to the original books. Those of us have been left with a bitter taste in our mouths. When you change an original storyline and its character description and setting, it can no longer be called anything other than fan fiction. For me, it has always been an insult to the writer, to the story, and to its characters that screenwriters forsake a strong storyline just to please the masses. For example, changing Louis from being a slave owner to being a black pimp. How is that any better? I get it; the media recently had a field day with "Black Life Matters" and the topic of slavery. And yes, this is a very serious topic with great influence on our community. So, keeping the storyline might have been extremely controversial and angered lots of people. Which for the makers of the show may translate into "not profitable.". However, if the purpose was to avoid any triggers or offenses to the black community, then they royally failed as they stereotyped in a different yet still denigrating direction, all while forgetting that Anne's books became famous and loved by all, because she was not afraid to be controversial, because she did not conform to stereotypes, and because she was a very open-minded, free-willed, and loving human being. Let me make it clear that I would not fully hate this storyline if it had been created as a spinoff or some kind of alternate universe. The production, cast, sets, and costumes were outstanding. Special effects could have been better, but let's not be greedy. For me, what killed it is that the whole vibe of all my favorite characters changed, which works fine for non-readers since they would not know the difference. In place of a lonely yet selfish, petty, animalistic creature, an old soul who had become dissapointed, bored, and detached from humanity and could now only express himself through sarcasm and indolence, he became a deeply disturbed, annoying, whining brat, throwing childish tantrums. (And when I say tantrums, I don't mean cool ones, it wasmore of a bratty kind, with pouts and stomping galore.) Imagine that Lestat was more whiny than Louis! I blame this on poor negotiation in the script-writing process. Scriptwriting should be adjusting the story content, only, to better communicate the original writer's intent on screen; not to change, alter, add or replace content for the sake of the masses. I disagree with all this sensorship because, even if it is an unpleasant topic, bringing them to light teaches people what is right and what is wrong. Just because we deviate from unpleasant topics doesn't mean they never happen, it doesn't mean it erases the wrong doing and or damage caused. Wouldn't it make better sense to instead approach said topic in some kind of humanistic way that shows people how wrong it was, and give the topic means to teach people from further repeting the same mistakes? Anyway, this was just me venting my disappointment. If you haven't read the books, please don't miss out on the series. If you did read, be warned and go in with the mindset that it's a new story; the experience will be much better and you might find yourself truly enjoying all the changes.