What you’re really asking is “When people of color are turned, does their skin color change?” because not all African-Americans are people of color, and there are many people of color who are not African-Americans.
I have seen other vampires of color (”VoC”) in other media like Blade (1998), Blacula (1972), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Vamp (1986), Twilight Saga, True Blood (2008-2010), Vampire Diaries (2009-2010). The vampires I’m familiar with in those examples have retained their skin color.
You would probably get a better answer from @askavampirologist-blog, because I think they have a wider spectrum of vampire media knowledge than I do, since this blog is mostly about Ricean vampires.
For Ricean vampires, they retain their original skin color, and over a very long period of time, their skin does become lighter. You would have to ask AR directly why she wrote her novels this way, I’m not going to guess at her intentions on that.
Here’s a VoC in QOTD:
“Davis was a black Dead guy and one damned good-looking black Dead guy,… His skin had a gold glow to it, the Dead glow which in the case of white Dead guys made them look like they were standing in a fluorescent light all the time.”
^We don’t know how old this vampire is, but it appears that his own skin color acquired a “gold glow” when he was turned.
[^X] Akasha is an Egyptian VoC played in movie!QOTD by Aaliyah. According to Wiki, Aaliyah “was African American, and had Native American (Oneida) heritage from a grandmother.” Even though Aaliyah was not the same ethnicity of the fictional character, I was pleased that the filmmakers chose a person of color to play this vampire of color character. She was one of the best parts of the movie.
Akasha is described in the novels as having porcelain white skin because she is very old, and Ricean vampire physiology involves the lightening of the skin over time. This is a point of contention in the VC fandom, that AR has whitewashed her. I don’t have a stand on this partly because there is a debate as to what color the Ancient Egyptians’ skin really was. I have links to 2 articles about that, and some thoughts on the skin lightening issue, in a post from awhile back [X].
^This was from Vampires Suck (2010), a parody vampire movie, and aesthetically, I didn’t like the way they did the makeup for this vampire of color. He looks like someone assaulted him with baby powder! But that was probably intentional, to make him look unattractive? IDK maybe someone digs this look!
Just kidding, just kidding. Just wanted an excuse to use that gif hehehe…
You’re asking face claims, but I’m going to treat this like a VC casting post. Face claims are truly “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and I consider ppl for these characters more for their acting than their faces. An RPer might prefer to choose a face w/o the character that comes with someone who is well-known. So if you’re looking for a face claim for RP purposes, you might want to look at model sites, or instagram accounts, etc., and try to find a face that we’re not already so familiar with.
Casting-wise, it would be great if we could get an ethnically accurate actress, but I would be satisfied with person of color, since I don’t know what ppl from that area looked like back then.
Canonically, she needs to have that little girl beauty AR loves so much, but she also needs to be intensely frightening without trying very hard. I headcanon her dark eyes being hypnotic, seductive, but also terrifying, like a shark’s. Someone who is accustomed to being worshiped and expects it ;]
In no particular order:
Sophia Jawad– I approve of @wicked-felina‘s suggestion of Sophia Jawad [X] who might be the most ethnically accurate, to quote her, “Akasha was from Uruk, which is roughly modern-day Iraq.”
[Xtbh there are not enough pics of Sophia out there, but this was the most Akasha-like pose I could find quickly, I’m sure she can look a lot more fierce]
Rihanna – she’s a fandom fave of sorts. She is extremely regal and childlike at the same time. It would be really hard to demand she wear dark contact lenses tho! Her eyes are so gorgeous! Maybe we can sacrifice that bit of canon.
Tyra Banks – bc she’s a supermodel, she knows how to manipulate her features very subtly, she can smile like a CoverGirl while murdering thousands of men.
Aaliyah – was great, imo the best part of that movie. Idk whose idea it was for her to move the way she did, but it was compelling, like she existed at a different frame-rate than everyone around her, flexing and curling her body, she was more snake than human.
I bet they’d used too much of the budget to re-film her scenes, but really, she was one of the only things they got right (well, maybe not “right” but close enough). I really like that she was a vampire of color who kept her color, despite being described as white (not Caucasian but light-skinned) in canon. I don’t know if ancient Egyptians were in fact light or dark skinned but in a series of alot of white ppl, it was good to see some diversity.
Crew morale was probably very low after she died, they might not have wanted to even try to replace her 😦
So I’ve only seen QOTD 1x all the way through, and I had people helping me through it by making fun of it via group rewatch, so I couldn’t come up with drinking game rules other than just buy one bottle of wine per person and work your way through it the entire time, maybe every 5 minutes take a sip?
Nonono wait, don’t die of alcohol poisoning I can’t afford to lose a follower that way!
Opening this up to everyone. Anyone have drinking game rules for QOTD?
YO I GOT THIS
It’s funny, I was actually thinking about coming up with rules for this movie only a day or two ago. As with all movie-related drinking games, I recommend cherry picking only a few from these, as using them all might result in death, but here’s what I was able to come up with. I like the two rules fairytalesgoneawrysuggested, so I am gonna slap them in here as the first two:
– Every time Marius makes a new vampire – Every time you see Armand’s nipples – Every time you see Lestat’s nipples – Guys, there are just nipples everywhere in this movie, it’s hilarious – Every time a vampire hisses – Every time a vampire’s eyes turn red
– Every time cryptic cello music plays – Every time the word “shadows” is used – Every time the word “friend(s)” is used sarcastically – Drink/drain (your choice) for each nu metal song you recognize in the background
– Every time IRL media-related branding is blatantly mentioned/shown on screen – Every time someone on screen is wearing a fishnet/mesh top – If you’re feeling ambitious, every time a background character is wearing a pleather outfit/every time Lestat is wearing leather pants – Every time a scene has bad vampire slow-fast-mo in it (take it easy on this one there will be plenty of opportunities lmao) – Every time Akasha does something that is intended to look cryptic and alluring, but just comes off as absurd – Every time Akasha hand flicks someone to death – Drain every time there’s a shitty abstract Akasha-related montage
– Every time a vampire goes jet packing into the sky – Every time Lestat makes a joke about “meals/eating” – Every time Lestat gives someone excessive bedroom eyes – Drain every time Marius says “hello, David :D”
– Drink for Marius’s golf clap on stage, I can’t even you guys
– Every time one of Lestat’s managing staff are visibly uncomfortable – Every time Lestat’s journal is passed on to a different person – Every time someone tells Jesse not to do something – Every time Jesse does it anyway – Every time you think “shouldn’t Louis have been in this scene?” – Every time a character dies THAT FUCKING SHOULDN’T HAVE
I-want-my-IWTV 