Dykes That Can't Die: A History of the Lesbian Vampire in Cinema (with Lulenoxx)

The Gifted Children are going back to school! Today’s lesson: LESBIAN VAMPIRES!

Most specifically, their history and legacy, from Carmilla to First Kill and stopping by some of her most iconic cinematic appearances. Joining us for this episode is the utterly brilliant writer and filmmaker Lulenoxx, whose immense knowledge and passion for queer theory, history, and media makes them the perfect guest lecturer on this subject. They also have written their own take on the dykey vampire in the form of the short film “Thirst”.

“At once an image of death and an object of desire”, as Andrea Weiss writes, the Lesbian (NOTE: just as with “Dyke”, we use the term to refer to her as a cultural idea, but it often does not encompass the complexities of her sexual orientation) Vampire is eternally relevant and dangerously alluring. Chronologically tracing this trope, we uncover our personal and societal fascination with this enigmatic figure who throughout all time seems to embody our darkest secrets: human fears of death, men’s anxieties about female power, and, of course, homoerotic desire, preferably in an all-girls boarding school. We focus our discussion mainly on Dracula’s Daughter (1936), The Hunger (1983), and The Moth Diaries (2011), in order to study how the Lesbian Vampire has both reacted to the culture and politics of her time and deeply influenced them.

More seminar than essay, exploration rather than dissertation, this episode’s format is as queer as vampires have always been. Listen in to learn a fang or two about our most beloved and complex monster.

TW: Blood, homophobia, suicide, self-harm.

Music by Max Elliott

Bibliography

• Castle, Terry. The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture. Columbia University Press, 1993.

• Dracula’s Daughter. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, Universal Pictures, 1936.

• Hanson, Ellis. “Lesbians Who Bite”, Out Takes: Essays on Queer Theory and Film, Duke University Press, 1999.

• Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. Carmilla. Edited by Carmen Maria Machado, Lanternfish Press, 2019.

• San Filippo, Maria. The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television, Indiana University Press, 2013.

• Sleeping Beauty. Directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, Walt Disney Productions, 1959.

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, Walt Disney Productions, 1937.

• The Hunger. Directed by Tony Scott, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1983.

• The Moth Diaries. Directed by Mary Harron, IFC FIlms, 2011.

• Verilybitchie. The Lesbian Vampire in Film (A Deep Dive). Youtube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hP8H1kbT1Q&t=1386s

• Weiss, Andrea. Dracula’s Daughters: The Female Vampire on Film, Scarecrow Press, 2014.

• Weiss, Andrea. Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in Film, Penguin Books, 1993.

• Zimmerman, Bonnie. "Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampires." Jump Cut, 1981.