Rule Of Symbolism / Interview with the Vampire (2022)

• In the first scene of the series premiere, Daniel has almost finished a large jigsaw puzzle, which is an analogy for how his mind works as an investigative journalist. He's a well-trained Living Lie Detector who can take disparate pieces of information and see how they fit together to form the whole picture even when the subject he's interviewing is attempting to obscure some of the truth.
• The gold typeface that spells out Lestat's full name on the card he gives to Louis is a nod to Lestat being golden-haired and wealthy.
• The playing card that Lestat hands over to Louis during the poker game is the Jack of Hearts; it alludes to Lestat being in love with Louis, who is a much younger man. Furthermore, Louis now has a full house (which is the only poker hand with the word "house" in it), and Lestat wishes to create a home with him.
• As far as Lestat is concerned, New Orleans is Louis. When Louis narrates to Daniel, "[Lestat] was in love with my city, and he wanted to know everything he could about it," Lestat is gazing adoringly at Louis instead of his surroundings at Jackson Square. It's much more accurate to say that "Lestat was in love with Louis, and he wanted to know everything he could about him." In episode 6, Lestat rejects Antoinette's suggestion that they move to another city because "There's no place for me other than New Orleans" — or in other words, "There's no place for me other than with Louis." Episode 7 features Lestat soulfully monologuing about New Orleans to Louis on the balcony, its connotation being that Louis is the product of the environment he grew up in, and Lestat finds him beautiful because of it.
  Lestat: There's not an inch of this city that wasn't built from the fierce wilderness that surrounds it. Hurricanes, floods, fevers. The damp climate on every painted sign, every stone facade. High windows, through which enameled bits of civilization glitter. Silhouettes emerging, wandering out to catch a silent flash of lightning. The silky warmth of summer rain. Desperately alive... and desperately fragile.
• Lestat explains to Lily that he had composed the melody that plays in the music box he brought from France, and it was for a young violinist he once knew (later revealed to be Nicolas, his First Love) of "infinite beauty and sensitivity." The morning after he makes love to Louis for the first time, Lestat closes the music box, signifying that he's ready to move on by closing that chapter of his life and starting a new one with Louis.
• Just before Louis and Paul climb up to the roof of their mansion, there's a shot of two crystal wine glasses: one is standing upright and partially filled with blood-red wine, while the other has been tipped over and is empty — the former symbolizes Louis, who is still alive after the end of this scene, whereas the latter represents Paul, who kills himself by leaping to his death.
• There's an audio example in the third episode. Fryderyk Chopin's "Nocturne Op. 55 No. 1 in F Minor" is heard in two scenes: the first is the sexual encounter between Louis and Jonah at the bayou, and it continues in the next sequence where Lestat and Louis talk in their coffin room (albeit softer to indicate that it's playing on a gramophone). Both Chopin and Lestat are of French descent, pianists and composers (so of course Lestat would love Chopin's music), and it's a clue to the audience that Lestat was present at the bayou and spying on Louis and Jonah.
• Louis and Claudia (who are both biracial) being able to read each other's minds, but Lestat (a Caucasian) cannot because he's their maker mirrors his inability to relate to the racial discrimination that they're constantly exposed to. Lestat's white privilege blinds him to the true extent of their struggles, so he can never understand them the way Louis and Claudia understand each other.
• While Claudia and Louis are both mixed-race, her skin tone is paler than his, and her brown tresses are lighter than his black hair. Claudia symbolizes the offspring born from an interracial couple, with Lestat as the Caucasian father (he's her maker) and Louis as the biracial "mother."
• In a promotional image◊ of Lestat, Louis and Claudia posing for a family photo, Lestat's right hand is touching Louis' shoulder, but his left hand is merely resting on Claudia's chair. It's a visual cue that Lestat loves Louis more than Claudia. Furthermore, Lestat is the only one who's standing in the picture, which denotes that he's the patriarch of their household.
• In the fifth episode, the townhouse becoming a dilapidated Mess of Woe parallels Louis and Lestat's deteriorating relationship. It's hinted that Louis is the Househusband of the pair ("...ignoring all other duties of the role Claudia once mocked me for — the unhappy housewife"), so neglecting the housework echoes him neglecting Lestat both emotionally and sexually.
• During their chess games in the sixth episode, Lestat plays with the white pieces while Claudia plays with the black ones, which is a blatant reference to their respective race. The player on the white side has the first-move advantage over the player on the black side, which is comparable to how Lestat (a white man) has a societal advantage over Claudia (a black woman).
• Claudia wears a blouse with a print featuring keys — she later becomes the key to escaping from Lestat's Gilded Cage that he has confined her and Louis in.
• Claudia wins her first chess match against Lestat by trapping his king with her queen and rook. In the next episode, she (the black queen) recruits Louis (the black rook) as her accomplice, and together they defeat Lestat (the white king) in their respective murder plots.
  Lestat: Queen on one side, rook on the other. You have won.
• In the seventh episode, the striking image of Louis attired in an opulent French period costume is emblematic of how the Frenchman Lestat views and treats his Creole lover. The juxtaposition between Louis' brown skin and his white ensemble reflects his African and French heritage. From Lestat's perspective, he gets the best of both worlds — Louis is both "exotic" and familiar to him. Moreover, Louis being garbed as a duke ^note Lestat calls him "the Duke of Gloom" while Lestat is arrayed as a king represents that Louis is under Lestat's control — it's the latter who holds the power in their relationship. While dancing together, Lestat leads while Louis has the role of the female partner, which makes Lestat the man of the house whereas Louis is the "wife."
• Although Louis and Lestat are dancing in a ballroom packed with guests, just before Louis moves forward to kiss Lestat, the place looks empty. This is a metaphor for them being so in love and so lost in each other's eyes that they feel like they're the only two people there.

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