MovieChat Forums > Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) Discussion > Am I the only one who was glad when Clau...

Am I the only one who was glad when Claudia got hers?

posted 8 years ago by ladybyron-13027
4 replies | jump to latest

I will always know in my heart that Kristen Dunst was AMAZING in the movie. She was definitely a tiny acting powerhouse who could hold her own among the adults. But as a character, Claudia was an abomination. Greedy, evil, vindictive and downright spoiled. I understand her frustration of never being able to age and her being cursed to "eternal childhood". But look how good she had it! No longer clutching to the rotting corpse that was her already way too dead mother... no longer suffering from the plague... no longer living in that deplorable plague infused shack... she had it made. Money up the ying/yang, clothes of every material, color, taste, fabric and style, never having to eat the high caloried, fatty and terribly rich human food that can cause high blood pressure and diabetes in us humans, educated by the best minds the world has to offer and even from the world itself, and it STILL WASN'T ENOUGH FOR HER! No. She has to have a hissy fit because she realized that she would NEVER grow tall, have titties, get laid, get knocked up or even have a period, too. If I could offer her one bit of advice on these topics, I probably would have said something like: " Guess what, little girl, as you grow older, your height would have increased a bare minimum of 5 INCHES and then DECREASED as you grow into old age, not to mention the fact that, titties sag, sex is overrated, labor is LITERALLY A HURTFUL BITCH AND A HALF, and periods are AN ANNOYING MONTHLY SMELLY MESS! Yes there is a beauty of all of these things because they are a part of the circle of life, yadda, yadda, yadda, BUT... dear one they have a downside too. So, grow up. Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot... You can't."

Then, she not only kills her co-maker (and underestimates him, too, natch!), she also guilts her other co-maker (fearing that he will eventually grow weary of her and leave her) into making her her very own female mother-type companion (who lost her own daughter, who eerily looks like a... pardon... dead ringer of Claudia, too), because she doesn't have the vampiric physical strength to make one herself, effectively killing the last trace of humanity he held onto with every fiber of his being for so long... and she didn't even realize this until AFTER he said so.

Yes... Claudia was (and I truly LOATH using this term) a "little monster" indeed.

Although, I understood Louis' need for revenge, the child vampire deserved to die, as she should have. I guess the only problem is that, if she really had to die then it should have come from Louis' hand himself. At least, he would have sent her to the other side out of pure love instead of out of the pure evil that was from the Theatre de Vampires, itself.

"Claudia... You... have been a very, very, naughty little girl." -- Lestat de Lioncourt

[–] Talamasca2 8 years ago

Two things I want to say here:

1) In the book, Claudia was 5 years old. That is a LOT more than a 5 inch height difference. I don't know about you, but it ticks me off to no end when people behave in a condescending manner towards me. When you are that little, people pronounce commas when speaking to you and don't expect that you have enough self-awareness and knowledge for a true conversation. All she had were her parents. It wasn't so much her tiny physical form that was torture, it was how the world reacted to it. She could do nothing on her own. She had no rights. She had matured in mind, but not body, and was a prisoner of Lestat, who did not treat them as equals and would tell them nothing. Imagine, never being allowed to leave your parent's home and make a life of your own. Wouldn't it drive you a little crazy, despite your abundant and expensive clothing?

2) Claudia wasn't worried that Louis was going to eventually grow weary of her, Armand was flat out making a play for Louis, and she could see that Louis was succumbing. Armand saw her as nothing more than an obstacle. He didn't tell her "let him go", he told her to "go die". This situation was not going to end well for her so she made the only play for her life that she could... she came up with a Plan B: Madeline. And Plan B would have actually worked out for her, IF Louis actually left her and went to Armand, but he didn't. Louis still felt bound to her. So Armand decided she and her Plan B had to be scrapped.

"But these were the signs. She grew cold to Lestat. She fell to staring at him for hours. When he spoke, often she did't answer him, and one could hardly tell if it was contempt or that she didn't hear. And our fragile domestic tranquility erupted with his outrage. He did not have to be loved, but he would not be ignored; and once he even drew at her, shouting that he would slap her, and I found myself in the wretched position of fighting him as I'd done years before she'd come to us. `She's not a child any longer,' I whispered to him. `I don't know what it is. She's a woman.' I urged him to take it lightly, and he affected disdain and ignored her in turn. But one evening he came in flustered and told me she'd followed him though she'd refused to go with him to kill, she'd followed him afterwards. `What's the matter with her!' he flared at me, as though had given birth to her and must know." Louis (Anne Rice) Interview with the Vampire

[–] bardmore 8 years ago

In the book Claudia was a truly monstrous creature beyond comprehension. Kirsten Dunst does a credible job of bringing her to life, but the character in the film pales by comparison.

[–] Rowan222 8 years ago

I'd be pissed too, stuck in the body of a 5 year old for years.

Renee
Lestatic #15
My very randomness astounds people!

[–] carjones51 7 years ago

I was very happy when the coven killed Claudia! I never liked her after she "killed" Lestat so I didn't care when she burned to death. I did feel bad for the woman w/her. She didn't do anything to deserve that fate!