In Bram Stoker’s original novel, the perverted alien Dracula is almost universally read to stand up In for immigrants, gays and Jews. When asked to choose a side, you root for virtuous British heroes, not blood count.
In the new Marvel superhero movie “Morbius”, the vampire is good young man. However, what he is not a fan of the marginalized. Although Dracula has long been an outsider, Morbius spends the entire film trying to be more natural.
In the new Marvel superhero movie “Morbius”, the vampire is the good guy. However, what he is not a fan of the marginalized.
Brilliant doctor Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) suffers from a rare condition that leaves him weak, barely able to walk, and in constant need of blood transfusions. So he devoted his life to studying and defeating this disorder. He first developed artificial blood, which saves millions of lives but does not cure his disease. Then, since this is a superhero movie, it turns out to link the DNA of humans and bats. Experiments, as you’d expect, go awry. And before you say “origin story”, it’s a powerful bat creature that needs to be fed on blood.
In addition to being associated with illness and disability, the vampires in Morbius are also coded as gays. As a child, Morbius became close friends with another like-minded boy, Milo (Matt Smith). We see Milo early in the film being severely bullied by a group of boys who target him in part because he is weak and cannot walk. But they also come after him because he reads what is essentially a love letter sent by Morbius. The outspoken queer bashing gives a painful, pointed edge to Mello’s repeated insistence on Morbius that “we are the few against the many”. It also casts on Milo’s apparent jealousy of co-researcher Morbius and his romantic interest, Dr. Martin Bancroft (Adria Arjona).
Milo helps fund Morbius’ efforts to find a cure for both. But while Morbius is terrified of the bloodshed caused by his “cure”, Milo embraces it. “I’m not ashamed of who I am now!” Announce. And he’s trying to convince Morbius that he shouldn’t be ashamed either.
A separatist villain is a common trope, from Magneto in the “X-Men” franchise to Killmonger in “Black Panther.” The script often admits that the bad guy has a point – mutants are persecuted in the ‘X-Men“ Stories, blacks are oppressed in the movie “Black Panther” (and in real life). Magneto and Killmonger seek excessive revenge, we’re supposed to think, but their call for justice has some merit.
Milo wasn’t given that much sympathy. The film does not acknowledge LGBTQ themes or how disability is exacerbated by adult cruelty, as well as child bullying. Milo’s loud talk is just loud talk; We are not supposed to see his complaint as having any merit.
Morbius sometimes admits that being super strong is fun, and it has something to do with bats. There are scenes when he flies amid all the sticky CGI stuff that the story seems to reach – ineffectively, but nonetheless – to celebrate the lyrical transcending of the bizarre goths. But those moments are fleeting and backward. Morbius never spoke to Milo about the experiences they shared as vampires or thought about the way marginalization shaped him. He just wants to be normal and unsympathetic and settle down with Martin. You don’t cheer up the vampire Morbius. You are the root of Morbius to defeat the vampire inside – She is represented by Milo.
This lack of empathy is especially frustrating because, in many ways, there was no better time to be a vampire (at least culturally). Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer, and many other writers have created romantic and attractive vampires who suggest, to one degree or another, that Bram Stoker was wrong about Dracula and that marginalized people are not an inherently vicious parasite threat.
The most obvious example in this context is another Marvel vampire movie, “Blade,” starring Wesley Snipes. The film was played with negative stereotypes that associate black people with addiction. But it also celebrated Blade’s outsider status. He’s a hero because he’s black and because he’s a vampire, not despite those things. Like Milo, he’s not shy.
So, “Morbius” is a superhero story about defeating aliens and monsters, not a story about how these aliens and monsters can become heroes or how we should rethink our definitions of heroes and monsters. I think that’s what Morbius wanted. But Milo deserved better.
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