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pretty--in--purple · 2 years

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An Examination of Blood Drinking as Sexual Allegory in Vanitas no Carte

(contains spoilers for the VNC anime and discussion of sexual assault. also, it is long :) )

This is referencing the anime alone, as I haven't read the manga. If that makes anything I say incorrect/incomplete, please correct me!

Alright, let's get into it. I've got several points here, so i'll number them.

#1: Blood drinking is an allegory for sex in VNC.

Just to make sure we're all on the same page, blood drinking in VNC is treated as a sexual allegory. It's an extremely intimate physical act which, when consensual, is pleasurable for both parties involved. (We'll get back to the consensual thing later.) When taking place in the context of a relationship, the process requires a lot of trust and represents intimacy between partners.

#1-B: Forced blood drinking is an allegory for sexual assault.

We see two occasions where Lord Ruthven drinks a person's blood without consent. Both of these times, it is framed as an act of violence and an enormous violation.

Ruthven drinks Noe's blood after drugging him with food/drink. Noe then protests that he does not consent to the blood drinking and that he wants to leave. This has a lot of parallels with real-world date rape, and is clearly shown as a violation.

Ruthven forces Chloe against wall and bites her against her will. This scene is especially framed as a grotesque violation and betrayal of their friendship, shot as if the actual bite itself is too dreadful to be seen. She immediately ends their friendship and is clearly deeply traumatised by the experience.

Another scene arguably falls under this heading, although unfortunately not in the same tone.

When Noe wakes up in Chloe's castle, she is drinking his blood. Noe responds to this very negatively, and throughout the remainder of the scene is obviously upset and feeling violated. From Noe's perspective, this scene represents a sexual assault. However, it is not treated with the same gravity as the assaults by Ruthven, with Chloe and Jean-Jacques apparently not caring that she has violated Noe's consent.

This is, sadly, accurate to a lot of portrayal of sexual assault of men. Because Chloe is female and smaller than Noe, she is not treated as threatening and violating Noe the same way that Ruthven is. I don't like this, but it does align with the allegory.

#2: Blood drinking is not ONLY an allegory for sex.

Unlike sex, drinking blood is a nourishing process. (I'm not totally clear whether it's required to sustain vampires, or if they can subsist off normal food alone. Please say if you know!)

In vampire society, drinking another's blood often signifies a close social bond and deep trust between people, but does not necessarily represent a sexual bond between them. This can best be seen in the fact that young vampires drink blood in scenes that are not framed as sexual at all (and thank goodness for that!!).

It can also be an act of violence (divorced from the sexual assault allegory referenced above), used to harm or even kill a person, or a display of power.

Another reason vampires may drink blood is to exert their powers.

#2-B: For vampires with blood-based powers, blood drinking is rarely sexual allegory.

For Lord Ruthven and Noe, blood drinking is how they use certain powers.

The first time Noe drinks anybody's blood does not align with sex, because its primary purpose is to gain a person's memories. It is also often a very traumatic experience for Noe, not pleasurable for him or the person he is drinking from. It is only with people whose memories he has already seen (e.g., Louis and Domi), that the interaction represents emotional and physical intimacy.

This is particularly relevant when it comes to the scene with Mikhail, because if that scene was a sexual allegory it would be Deeply Disturbing. However, for both parties, the blood drinking is a transaction - Mikhail wants Noe to see his memories, Noe wants to save Domi. (There are a couple of uncomfy shots of Mikhail's bare shoulders, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.)

However, for Ruthven in particular, blood drinking is a sexual allegory for his victims, as his attacks clearly represent sexual assault for them. For him, it is merely a way to exact power over them. This can arguably be considered part of the sexual allegory as well, but i thought it relevant.

#3: Sexual pleasure is sometimes (but not always) derived from blood drinking.

Sometimes, blood drinking goes beyond sexual allegory and becomes a sexual act. This is particularly true for Vanitas, and seems to be the case for Dominique when Noe drinks from her. It's unclear whether this sexual pleasure is a biological effect of the blood drinking, or these two just happen to derive pleasure from such an intimate act. There are definitely cases where sexual pleasure is not derived from blood drinking, and the vampire feeding usually does not experience sexual pleasure. Maybe Vanitas and Domi are just kinky.

This fact exists separately to the sexual allegory previously discussed. Just because a scene is a sexual allegory, does not mean that it is actually sexual.

#4: Why is this interesting?

This is interesting (to me) because it's a particularly complicated and interesting example of an idea being represented both literally and allegorically, and how allegory can be abandoned when it conflicts with the specific details of worldbuilding.

Well, that's it! If I've gotten anything wrong, feel free to correct me! You can also add to this with your own thoughts!!

#vnc #vanitas no carte #vnc meta #vanitas anime #the case study of vanitas #vanitas of the blue moon #noe archiviste #dominique de sade #jeanne the hellfire witch #lord ruthven #chloe vnc #mikhail vnc #blood #vampires

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shizukais · 11 months

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Vanitas no Carte [Volumes 1-10], Jun Mochizuki.

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letishery · 2 months

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#vanitas no carte #vnc #my art #rkgk #chloe d'apchier

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hifuus · 4 months

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Vanitas no Carte assorted icons

#vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vnc #vanitas #noe archiviste #jeanne vnc #jeanne #dominique de sade #mikhail #mikhail vnc #chloe d'apchier #astolfo granatum #vanitas no carte icons #the case study of vanitas icons #vnc icons #vanitas icons #icons

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actual-haise · 7 days

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#vnc #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #chloe d'apchier #meme

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sanhatipal · 10 months

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"Noble d'Apchier"

A little watercolor painting of Chloe,with the Zorn palette! I found out about this palette a while ago and I really wanted to try it out! (More on that below )

Chloe's hair is something I adore, it's gotta be one of my absolute favourite character designs ever,I love how swirly and fluffy it is,very fun to draw. I've drawn her normally before,I wanted to do one with her vampire eyes and fangs too. I decided to try to draw a white fuzzy rim around the foreground against the plain background,for a change,like in some of the VnC panels.

The Zorn palette,or Apelles Palette was a colour scheme used by Anders Zorn in the late Victorian/Early Edwardian era. It ,or something similar,might have been used by artists of old civilizations too, because it avoids the use of blue and green entirely: which would eliminate the need for rare pigments . It's essentially a colour mixing challenge,to draw the entire paintings with 4 pigments,2 basic colours: Ochre yellow, Vermillion,and Black and white,which can be mixed into different shades. It can be an excellent exercise and means for portrait painting

Modern artists use red instead of vermillion,but the essence is the same. So that's what I did too. I considered using vermillion,but I realised that it would introduce a lot of yellow tint, making the picture very warm. Which is usually something I prefer honestly,but not what I was going for here. Also,I need to consider the fact that I'm a watercolour artist,which is very different from the original intended palette. Zorn used oil paints,but other artists use it fine for gouache and acrylic too, however,that too is different from watercolor, because instead of mixing with white, I'll be diluting with water,which changes the composition of the palette considerably. So I went with these supplies: ochre yellow and red watercolor pencils (for me, basically watercolor pigments,I don't use them to draw,I grind and dissolve them in water),white and black watercolor tubes,and white ink. In addition: lineart with sepia,grey and black brush pens,which are well within the bounds of the palette

To be honest,I ended up not using the white paint tube at all,water makes more sense to me. I didn't use anything else though,and stuck with the original materials.And the results:

Does it work? Hell yeah. It's not perfect,but I'm happy with how she turned out

Was it restricting? That's kind of the point,to paint with some limitations

Was it hard? Honestly? No. Not at all. It's definitely very different from what I'm used to,I use a lot of colours both as is and mixed,but this was surprisingly easy. Perhaps because of my subject,which didn't have much colour to begin with

Do I recommend it? If you want a small challenge,or to experiment or practice colour mixing,definitely

Will I do it again ? Absolutely. I feel like I haven't utilised much of the potential of this palette. I ended up using mainly red and black, hardly any yellow at all. So I'd like to do something more colourful with this palette, perhaps a sunny painting of a gingerhead girl with flowers,and for this I'll probably use vermillion,not red

Anyways, that's all! If you read all this,thank you for your time!!

#chloe d'apchier #the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #VnC #my art #traditional art #zorn palette #vnc fanart #vanitas no shuki #jun mochizuki #case study of vanitas

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chikinan · 1 year

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Valentine's card comm for @torterrachampion 🐺🧁

[ptrn + twttr + insta on bio]

#vnc #vanitas no carte #vnc fanart #tcsov #chloe d'apchier #jean jacques castel #illustration #anime fanart #mati draws

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thedarkattic · 11 months

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#vanitas no carte #vnc #chloé d'apchier #chloe d'apchier #my art #wip

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huaenrose · 7 months

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We jealous women, a bit like Chloe D'Apchier, who would be capable of materializing a nightmare and giving him a beating just because he dared to touch the NAME of our loved one (something that not even the protagonists were capable of doing, in fact).

#vanitas no carte #vnc #the case study of vanitas #chloe d'apchier #jean jacques #canorus #aprix #vanitas #noe archiviste #jun mochizuki #mochijun #humor

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hangezoehq · 6 months

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whisper something | vanitas no carte

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this video sat unfinished for over a year. i finally got the motivation to finish it - i hope you enjoy! chloe and jean jacques mean the absolute world to me, so i had to explore their characters or i could never be at peace.

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Watch the full video on YT below!