Welcome to a potentially sporadic but informative series in which I, your resident hermit gay-mo, steer you towards excellent queer content. First up is the web series Carmilla.
Carmilla is a re-imagining of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1871 gothic novel of the same name (fun fact: it pre-dates Dracula by 26 years). The web series is co-created by Jordan Hall, Steph Ouaknine and Jay Bennett, and is free to watch on YouTube. It’s super awesome and super gay, and if lesbian vampires aren’t enough to convince you, here are ten other reasons you should watch it:
- The leads are incredible: Tiny Gay Laura (Elise Bauman) is basically Hermione Granger meets Veronica Mars, and Useless Lesbian Vampire Carmilla (Natasha Negovanlis) has three centuries’ worth of angst and badassery up her sleeve.
2. Watching Carmilla automatically overwrites the space taken up by Twilight in your grey matter.
3. It passes the Bechdel test. Obliterates it, even. Most of the characters are strong queer women, and queer relationships are the norm (yay!).
4. References to Anne Rice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars (Laura’s Dad is played by Veronica Mars’ Dad, Enrico Colantoni), and Doctor Who (Laura has a Tardis mug!).
5. You have Seasons 0-3 AND a Christmas special to watch AND the movie comes out 26th October 2017. Buckle up, soon-to-be creampuffs.
6. It’s freaking hilarious, dramatic, and engaging, which is a big ask of a show with 3-5 minute episodes. And, because you’re watching now, you can binge watch the whole thing! No waiting for each week’s episode, no, not for you. You can blitz through the emotional saga in only days.
7.The writing is amazing. Seriously. I want to hug each of the creators.
8. Mystery! Supernatural stuff everywhere! There’s a sentient library, an alchemy club leaving mushroom goop around campus, an anglerfish god…and that’s just the first season.
9. Really cool transmedia storytelling. The main characters all have canon twitter and tumblr accounts that correlate with each episode.
10. Watching these two idiots will clear your skin/bless your crops/nourish your heart/improve your grades.*
*Unverified by peer-reviewed research AS YET.
Convinced? Start watching HERE.