Western fiction has been conjuring vampires for two centuries. If they emerge from their tombs, it’s primarily to scare. But as far back as we can trace them in literature and film, these undead creatures have been more than just the source of night terrors. In the time of Bram Stoker (1847-1912), the Irish creator of Dracula, the vampire symbolized the lurking threat posed by immigrants – including noble lineages from the continent – to the purity of women and blood. In the early 21st century, the persecution of Southern vampires in the series True Blood mirrored the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States.
Ryan Coogler has given them an unprecedented task in Sinners, his fifth feature film, released in French cinemas on April 16. Far from the erotic metaphors usually associated with vampirism, the creatures that appear halfway through the film are the bearers of a political and cultural project that clashes with the efforts of the protagonists of Sinners, the brothers “Smoke” and “Stack” Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan). These African American gangsters are determined to open a juke joint (a venue for African Americans to drink alcohol and play blues) near Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1932, a few months before the repeal of Prohibition and three decades before the end of segregation in the Southern states.
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