The movie Blade was released in 1998 and is based on the Marvel human/vampire hybrid character. It stars Wesley, I've never met a Black woman I can respect Snipes as Blade, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff and N'Bushe Wright as Blade's love interest Karen.
The movie begins on the day of Blade's birth, where we watch as his mother dies giving birth to him. What we do not know is that Blade is destined to be a hybrid because his mother was bitten by a vampire. He was raised by Whistler who developed a serum to help him fight his thirst to kill vampires, to keep the human population safe. Whistler became involved in the fight because a vampire had broken into his home and killed his wife and two daughters.
There are two kinds of vampires, those who are born with the condition and those that are bitten. This creates a hierarchy between the vampires, with both factions waring for control.Speaking to Deacon Frost about turned vampires Karen says, "Vampires like you aren't a species. You're just infected, a sexually transmitted disease." (1:21 58) Obviously, this statement is problematic, because it plays upon the stigma that those living with HIV/AIDS live with. It is further troubling that one is better entity because of the position and or privilege that one is born into. Having this asserted by a woman of colour, who is naturally born without White or male privilege, naturalizes the idea that identity outside of the control of the person is a valid reason to stigmatize, thus normalizing the idea that constructed identity markers are a positive attribute.
