The Things that Fly in the Night – review

Author: Gizelle Liza Anatol

First published: 2015

Contains Spoilers

The Blurb: The Things That Fly in the Night explores images of vampirism in Caribbean and African diasporic folk traditions and in contemporary fiction. Giselle Liza Anatol focuses on the figure of the soucouyant, or Old Hag—an aged woman by day who sheds her skin during night’s darkest hours in order to fly about her community and suck the blood of her unwitting victims. In contrast to the glitz, glamour, and seductiveness of conventional depictions of the European vampire, the soucouyant triggers unease about old age and female power. Tracing relevant folklore through the English- and French-speaking Caribbean, the U.S. Deep South, and parts of West Africa, Anatol shows how tales of the nocturnal female bloodsuckers not only entertain and encourage obedience in pre-adolescent listeners, but also work to instil particular values about women’s “proper” place and behaviours in society at large.

Alongside traditional legends, Anatol considers the explosion of soucouyant and other vampire narratives among writers of Caribbean and African heritage who in the past twenty years have rejected the demonic image of the character and used her instead to urge for female mobility, racial and cultural empowerment, and anti-colonial resistance. Texts include work by authors as diverse as Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, U.S. National Book Award winner Edwidge Danticat, and science fiction/fantasy writers Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson.

The Review: When I saw that this volume, which carries the secondary title “Female Vampires in Literature of the Circum-Caribbean and African Diaspora”, was due for publication I became very excited as the soucouyant myth receives little attention (in Europe anyway). The name (or a variant thereof, namely soucriant) is used for the vampire type in the film Byzantium but the vampires are whitewashed racially and the core lore of the creatures (shedding their skin, becoming balls of fire and being destroyed in the sun if their skin is not back on by the morning light) is lost. It did not surprise me, therefore, that the film was not mentioned in the book.

The Byzantium vampires were, of course, most definitely vampires (and the film drew inspiration from both Byron and Polidori) but some might question the vampire pedigree of the soucouyant (both students of vampire folklore and scholars of the very circum-Caribbean literature examined in the book). Anatol admits, in her lengthy introduction: “I have also been asked by numerous African Studies Scholars: “Why are you using the word ‘vampire’? Isn’t that a European tradition?”” And suggests that, “I would argue, however, that failing to use the word “vampire” confines the African Americans’ traditions to a marginal status, perpetuating the idea among majority populations that the only “true” vampires – the only “real” vampires – are White/European.” Of course, here at TMtV we use the broadest church of the term vampire.

The book itself is scholarly, with extensive references and indexing. If there was a fault it was with me rather than the book. The majority of the literature looked at was unknown to me and has shown a gap in my reading that I am going to look to fill; certainly I now have a desire to read Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching and Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring. However that gap in my reading made the book that little more difficult to work through than if I had been more familiar of the sources discussed. Of course not all the books were unknown to me, for instance Blood of the Vampire was examined.

I will add that Anatol does not mention the 1819 story The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo, and whilst not based on the soucouyant it was an unfortunate omission given that the 1819 story is the first American vampire story I am aware of, it is the first instance of a black vampire and it is apparently the first story to argue universal emancipation.

There is also no mention that the old hag folklore is not simply Circum-Caribbean and African Diaspora and has a lot of European equivalents (and the use of the same name of hag). Perhaps that is an indication of myth bleeding between the African slaves and the European slavers or perhaps just evidenced of it being a more universal figure. The Old Hag (like the soucouyant) is the outsider, at the edge of society and reviled as a symbol of the female fight against the male dictated “proper place” (and, as much as Byzantium whitewashed race, it did very much base its story on a level of misogyny that saw the two heroines hunted through the centuries by the otherwise exclusively male vampire society).

This is not the easiest book to plough through if the reader is unfamiliar with the majority of sources but it is still a necessary and welcome addition to vampire studies. 6.5 out of 10.

Byzantium – review

Director: Neil Jordan

Release date: 2013

Contains spoilers

When I go to the cinema to see a vampire film I am in the habit of recording my first impressions here on the blog – the first impressions for Byzantium are here - but I developed the further habit of not reviewing the DVD, just editing the first impression by adding a score.

As you can see, by dint of the fact that you are reading this, I have decided to look at Byzantium afresh. The First Impression did say much of what I felt about the film but, like all good stories, I enjoyed watching it again even more. That said, this will tread an awful lot of ground that had been covered in the first article.

Saoirse Ronan as Eleanor

Starting with the fact that this is very much a story, Neil Jordan is a storyteller as much as a director and he creates characters within his stories who are storytellers also. In this case our storyteller is Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) and the film begins with her telling her story, writing it on paper that is not intended to be read. Elsewhere Clara (Gemma Arterton) is in a lap dancing club with a client (David Heap) who is getting rough, she manages to bust his nose – earning herself the sack. Eleanor and Clara are the focus of the film, our two vampires or soucriants.

the Soucriant

The name soucriant is a derivative of Soucayant, a vampire type from the island of Trinidad. The film takes the spelling from a mention in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. However the name is about all the lore that the film takes from this vampire type. According to Bane (Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology, 2010) the Soucayant appears as an old woman who sleeps all day, however at night it sheds its skin and ventures forth as a ball of light. Victims will have two small bite marks but the Soucayant is compulsive and if you throw seeds for it, at a crossroads, it will stop and count them and (interestingly) be destroyed by the rising sun. Our Soucriants are not affected by the sun nor do they bite – they grow a long sharp talon-like nail with which to puncture.

the nail

Getting back to Eleanor and Clara, we watch Eleanor connect with an old man who has found pages of her story. He tells her that there comes a time in life when secrets should be told and then explains that the priests used to tell them stories of the neamh-mhairbh – revenants neither alive nor dead. According to Bane, in mythology, these are created by magic. He is tired and it is time; this is how Eleanor feeds, she takes those who are ready, her feeding is an act of mercy (later described as having a certain grace).

Clara kills her captor

Meanwhile a man searching for Clara has found her in the club, she smashes a bottle over his head and runs. He chases her through the night, through stores and over rooftops. Eventually he captures her and makes her take him to the squat where the two women live. Clara manages to trick him and, with cheese wire, takes his head off. When Eleanor gets home Clara makes the girl pack and, burning the flat behind them, they leave.

walking with the past

The town they reach – a dilapidated seaside town is full circle. Clara, who ever faces forward, doesn’t realise it but Eleanor – holder of the story – see the ghosts of her past walking along the beach. This was the beach where Clara (played young by Caroline Johns), as an innocent girl, was approached by two military officers. Darvell (Sam Riley) is kindly, he even gives her a pearl, however she accedes to ride with Ruthven (Jonny Lee Miller, Dracula 2001 and Dark Shadows) who takes her to a brothel and makes her a whore. If you think the names of the officers are familiar then that is because Ruthven (correctly pronounced in film as Riven) is the vampire in Polidori’s The Vampyre and Darvell shares the antagonist’s name from Byron’s Fragment of a Novel, which was the building block for the Vampyre.

Ruthven accompanied Darvell

Now I am missing a lot of the plot out because the joy of the film is that there is so much plot and characterisation. It is also a fault as many aspects could have withstood more scrutiny and the rounded characters and interesting story/lore could have been opened to a wider series of films. What I do need to cover is the turning method. The prospective vampire is given an ornate box that contains a map. The map shows the way to an island (off the coast of Ireland). The passing of the map is almost ritualistic. As such Ruthven has been to the island but is still given the map when he is invited to turn, and perhaps the island is out of reach without the map as having lost the map Ruthven is condemned to a slow agonising death by syphilis.

meeting the nameless saint

The island is almost nothing but a rock jutting out of the sea, the steep climb up the rock leading to a cairn-like structure. The prospective vampire enters the cairn, causing birds to flock out, and meets the thing inside. What is it? We don’t know. It takes the form of the one facing it but perhaps it is an old Celtic God (Darvell suggests that the vampires’ God is older than the Christian God but also calls it the nameless saint). The prospective vampire is attacked and the waterfalls that cascade down the island turn red. The vampire then emerges, dead and then reborn. What is the full meaning of the ritual? What is its source?

Clara steals immortality

Clara steals immortality from Ruthven only to discover that all the soucriants are male and members of an order that call themselves “the pointed nails of justice”. Clara and Eleanor are on the run from the order as Clara took Eleanor (the daughter she gave up when a harlot) to the island after Ruthven raped the girl (revenge against Clara). It is in breach of the misogynistic order’s rules for a woman to create a soucriant. However Eleanor does not know this secret (and is oblivious to the fact that they are hunted) and it is one that must come out for the story to finally be told – something that will allow Eleanor to move forwards rather than look back.

Frank and Eleanor

Impetus for this comes from Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), an awkward young man who is low on social graces as he has spent his life fighting leukaemia and, due to the anti-coagulants he takes, is a haemophiliac. The scenes between Eleanor and Frank are especially touching due to this awkwardness. She is over two hundred but has never grown due to looking back, he has never had opportunity to grow and thus they complement each other, bringing each other forward. As much as I mention them, however, it has to be said that there isn’t a bad performance in the film.

Sam Riley  as Darvell

The film is steeped in the vampire genre, recognising its roots. It connects the modern – vampire strippers/hookers or the awkward vampire teen haunting colleges – with the old – be that 19th century vampire literature or Hammer, with Dracula, Prince of Darkness playing on a TV, the classic vampire imagery of the blood bath (or shower under a bleeding waterfall) is also done in the most stylish of ways. The storytelling is excellent, though there is almost too much story, as would be expected from a Neil Jordan film. When I gave my first impression I said it was not the best film by Jordan – though even lesser Jordan films are very good. Having rewatched it I have grown to like the film even more and would say it starts off as a great film but then grows on you still further. 8 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

First Impressions: Byzantium

Neil Jordan is a consummate storyteller and that trait often is passed to his characters, so that the story we hear is a story within a story. Narrators reading us bedtime tales to fascinate us; be that in the Company of Wolves or Interview with the Vampire or in his literature works such as Mistaken. The 2013 Byzantium follows a similar trope, with the storyteller being the forever sixteen year old vampire Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan).

I went to see this on opening night, though this first impression is delayed, and came away with the sense that this is a film taking from both the modern and the past, familiar and yet something new. For instance there are scenes from the early 19th century that carry exactly the atmosphere as I would want to see in a serious attempt to film Polidori’s the Vampyre. This is not accidental and the clue is within the two characters Ruthven (Jonny Lee Miller, Dracula 2001 and Dark Shadows) – whose name is correctly pronounced, in film, as Riven – and Darvell (Sam Riley) who shares the protagonist’s name from Byron’s Fragment of a Novel.

Gemma Arterton as Clara

However I also felt overtones of more modern vampire tales, most noticeably I felt that Eleanor’s scenes and her look owed a debt to the Moth Diaries. There are many more references to vampire works within the film, some blatant such as the scenes played from Dracula: Prince of Darkness. I might have misheard but am sure that vampire Clara (Gemma Arterton) joking calls herself Carmilla. Clara herself is first met in a lap dancing club, such establishments (along with strip joints) being a prime location in many modern vampire films.

tasting blood

As well as borrowing from the heritage of vampire stories/films past, Jordan brings us something new, in the form of the film’s mythology. Strangely this is not explored in depth, but simply is. By this I mean that there are aspects of the film that have their own story, aspects that Jordan reveals enough to tantalise, but whose full story remains to be told. This is not so much frustrating, rather Jordan offers enough to feed into this story but they do beg for a further story of their own.

in the cairn-like structure

These aspects include the turning method. The prospective vampire is given an ornate box that contains a map. The map shows the way to an island (off the coast of Ireland). The passing of the map is almost ritualistic. As such Ruthven has been to the island but is still given the map when he is invited to turn, and perhaps the island is out of reach without the map. The island is almost nothing but a rock jutting out of the sea, the steep climb up the rock leading to a cairn-like structure. The prospective vampire enters the cairn causing birds to flock out (bat-like in their swarm) and meets the thing inside. What is it? We don’t know. It takes the form of the one facing it but perhaps it is an old Celtic God (Darvell suggests that the vampires’ God is older than the Christian God). The prospective vampire is attacked and the waterfalls that cascade down the island turn red. The vampire then emerges, dead and then reborn. What is the full meaning of the ritual? What is its source?

mother and daughter

There is more than a hint of feminism to the story; our two female protagonists are on the run (although Clara hides this fact from Eleanor) from a secret society of male vampires. Females cannot be turned, so when Clara stole the map (and thus stole immortality) she was banished. When she passed the map to her daughter, Eleanor, the turning of the younger woman was seen as an abomination. What is the history of this society? How deep are its claws within our world (we see that they have infiltrated the police)? Again questions that are not to be answered. The claw, however, is an appropriate metaphor as the vampires do not have fangs; rather a singular nail sharpens to be used to penetrate their victim. The society being misogynistic and male based gives a feeling that is almost reminiscent of We Are the Night in reverse. Standard vampire movie tropes like lack of reflection and the inability to withstand the sun are lost but the need for invitation remains. EDIT 28.6.13: The vampires in this are called soucriants, this is a derivative of Soucayant a vampire type from the island of Trinidad. The film takes the spelling from a mention in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. However the name is about all the lore that the film takes from this vampire type. According to Bane the Soucayant appears as an old woman who sleeps all day, however at night it sheds its skin and ventures forth as a ball of light. Victims will have two small bite marks but the Soucayant is compulsive and if you throw seeds for it, at a crossroads, it will stop and count them and (interestingly) be destroyed by the rising sun. As mentioned, in this sunlight is not an issue and the vampires show no form of shape shifting ability – ball of light or otherwise.

feeding

If Clara is the hooker with a heart (and a taste for blood), then Eleanor is purity and innocence, her feeds are almost gentile and an act of mercy and she knows nothing of the world that Clara shields her from (of course she understands that Clara is a prostitute, her innocence is with regards the vampire society that hunts them). However things unravel when Eleanor meets a young man named Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), a teenager whose long battle against leukaemia has made him socially awkward – as well as causing him to be on anti-coagulants (you can guess what will happen there). Their romance is difficult, awkward and everything that other modern vampire films might tell us romance isn’t. It is when she decides to finally reveal her story that the story is able to come to a conclusion.

Unfortunately, the theatre was virtually empty when I went to see the film. There was me and my son and then one couple. The couple walked out halfway through. Clearly the film didn’t have what they were looking for and it is a film that concentrates on character and story, rather than action. As I suggested, the film has a romance, but it is dysfunctional, bumbling and hardly an epic sweeping tale designed to impress tweens. It has vampires but all neo-gothic trappings are thrown to the side (there is, as I have indicated, a Byronesque feel but it is 19th century gothic not our post-modern sub cultural version) and instead we get the decay of an urban seaside town. There is also a hint of David Lynch in some of the shots, especially the Byzantium sign.

The film is not Neil Jordan’s finest film but it is still a very good Neil Jordan movie and such a movie is always welcome. I really did enjoy it and, perhaps surprisingly, so did my son. In my opinion, a film that is definitely worth catching. The imdb page is here.