#honestly I think it's not really subtext over all the books | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nalyra-dreaming · 1 year

Note

Hi! I've only read IWTV and TVL and I've seen a youtuber saying that the VC were not intended as LGBTQ+ representation cause sexuality was not that important for vampires and people just read too much into it. I'm at a bit of a loss here, what do you think?

Hey nonny!

Well...

how about we let the characters speak here (a bit)? 🙃 (And this is in no way meant as condescending towards you, I just... really don't understand that youtuber? *laughs*)

Lestat embraced his companion Louis, and they kissed on the mouth, as the mortal musicians put their arms around both of them.

I clasped Louis's arm, gave him a lingering kiss[...]

[...]the lover who had never protected Louis from himself or others

He loves you so much more than he lets on. And others know that Louis loves you, and they see his love, and they’re glad he’s finally here.

"Do you love me now?" I asked. He smiled; oh, it was excruciating to see his face soften and brighten simultaneously when he smiled. "Yes," he said.

And, last but not least maybe...

I begged Lestat to let me stay in the closet, but he laughed, astonished. ‘Don’t you know what you are?’ he asked.

These are only a few quotes. That last one you probably remember, it's right at the beginning of IWTV. And quite the statement, too, quite the play on the known saying, right :))

Anne Rice's vampires always heavily employed (sub)text. Plausible deniability, for a long while.

But as Sam Reid has said so plainly in that one interview... "it's in the book". In the books.

In IWTV we have two men, living together for decades, and adopting a daughter together... yes they may be vampires, but this is still hardly subtle? Lestat has fallen "fatally" in love with Louis, after Nicolas, with whom he had ran away to Paris, together, living together, sharing bed and kissing:

I was still sitting there, too unsure of myself to say anything, when Nicolas kissed me. "Let's go to bed, " he said softly.

There is nothing subtle here. It's quite plain, imho.

Anne set up her vampires with the sex part redirected to the feeding, yes, but then ... LGBTQ+ representation is nothing that should be reduced to that? Imho? Why is it important if the book characters have intercourse with each other? Not that I don't think they'd not enjoy it (and there's something Anne brought into the later books, that... well. Let's just say she made it canonically possible, lol), but why limit representation to this aspect only?

The Vampire Chronicles are in big parts about the longing, and devastation in regards to wanting, needing to be loved. About messily loving, too. About being different. They tackle big philosophical and moral questions, too. Louis and Lestat call each other lovers, how can that not be valid representation? It should not be necessary imho to rip their private bedroom past times open - though that said, I'm very glad and happy with how much NOT subtext they made it in the show, if simply for clarity. But reducing people's identity, love, and sheer lives to sex as the only factor? Naww.

Let's... finish this with a quote from the end of the last book, Blood Communion:

But not before holding Louis for a moment, and then kissing him and telling him low in French that I loved him and always had.

That kiss... is after they dance in a huge ballroom.

The show... took that up already. And I think that's beautiful.

#asks #thank you nonny #honestly I think it's not really subtext over all the books #maybe it still was in the first #but later...#if you like drop me the youtuber so I know who not to watch :)))))#I hope this answers your question and my stance on this? :)#iwtv #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #loustat #book quotes #ask nalyra

51 notes · View notes

lizthewriter · 8 months

Text

gorgeous / roronoa zoro

PAIRING fem!reader x roronoa zoro

SUMMARY you have been absolutely smitten for one gloriously skilled swordsman for a long time now and zoro has been pining over you for as long as you have known each other. however, due to some extenuating circumstances and some accidental happenstances, the two of you think the other loves someone else. your crew takes matters into their own hands, forcing the both of you to admit your feelings for one another.

TAGS fem!reader x roronoa zoro, reader has she/her pronouns, sanji, nami, usopp, luffy, idiots in love, locked closet (well, kitchen in this case), admitting feelings, making out, when you realize the both of you are stupid

QUOTE "if you've got a girlfriend, I'm jealous of her, / but if you're single, that's honestly worse, / cause you're so gorgeous, it actually hurts (honey it hurts)," - gorgeous by taylor swift

WORD COUNT 1.7K

WRITTEN 10.24.2023

You weren't sure what exactly was going on with you and Zoro - you felt as though there was some romantic subtext between you, but it was just impossible to really tell because everytime you came close to kissing or holding hands or admiting your feelings, he left before you could even say "bye." And then there was the case of Nami. Everytime you happened upon him, he was always with her. And that wasn't to say you didn't like Nami. No, far from it, but it was just the unfortunate circumstance of Zoro feeling some type of way about her. It wasn't deniable - they were laughing and sparring and joking around together all the time. They even bickered like an old married couple too.

You sought comfort in the form of a friend - Sanji. The blonde-haired cook was always kind and warm, welcoming you into the kitchen with a smile and a bowl of soup. He allowed you to bring your tomes along with you (you were the crew's scholar) and even went as far to let you rant about your feelings towards Zoro. He would sit there, chopping up carrots and onions and garlic, while you whined and complained and cried.

Today was no different. You stormed into the kitchen, a large leather-bound book tucked under your arm, slamming the door behind you. Sanji didn't even jump, his back towards you as he stirred a large pot of soup.

"What happened this time?" He asked, his voice calm and unwavering.

"He - he - they're sparring and he landed on top of her and they just sat there!" You exclaimed, slamming your book down next to a bowl of soup. You grabbed the bowl and pulled it towards you as you sat down, shoveling a spoonful into your mouth. "Your soup tastes wonderful today," you told him begrudgingly, tone still enraged.

"I'm glad you think so - I added a bit lemon this time," Sanji responded. He turned around, flipping a towel over his shoulder and swinging his hair out of his face. He gripped the edges of the table as he looked down at you with a grin, tilting his head. "I wouldn't worry about the two of them if I were you - they're nothing more than friends."

You held up your fingers, your thumb and forefinger almost touching each other. "Their faces were this far apart. Do you see this? They were practically making out!" You spooned some more soup into your mouth, grumbling a string of noncoherent words.

Sanji sighed, turning back towards his soup with a shake of his head.

"It's almost sad to watch them," Nami said with a small smile, watching you and Zoro talking together while overlooking the vast expanse of the ocean. Both of you were blushing, your hands inches away from each other and pining to be closer. When one of you turned your heads to look at the other, and your eyes met, you immediately looked away with reddened cheeks.

"It is sad to watch them," Usopp responded, cringing as he watched the both of you. He turned to Sanji and Nami. "Are you serious? Zoro thinks she likes Sanji when she's really confiding in Sanji about him, and she thinks that Zoro likes you when he's really confiding in you about her?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is," Sanji responded, letting out a puff of smoke. He put out his cigarette on a crystal ash tray and sighed. "Look, we just have to figure out a way to get them to confess to each other. A way where they can't run away from their feelings."

The three of them went silent, lost in thought. They were startled as something dropped onto the floor in front of them - Luffy had been hanging from the rafters, listening all along. He pushed himself up from the ground, brushing off his Hawaiian shirt and straightening his straw hat. "Why don't you just shove them in a closet together or something?"

Nami raised her eyebrows, glancing towards Sanji and Usopp who were both already looking between each other, grinning.

"You're the smartest one here, you're got to help him!" Sanji exclaimed, dragging you by your arm. You were trying to keep up with his pace, but your heart was beating a thousand miles a minute as aderanline pumped through your veins. Yes you were rhe smartest one here, bur you knew nothing about wounds or blood or bandages! You were all books, no blood. Whyever would the crew think you had an idea on how to heal a knife wound?

"Sanji, I'm a scholar, not a doctor!" You exclaimed with a gasp as you turned down another corridor. "I don't know how to care for wounds properly, much less how to dress one! Besides, weren't you the one that helped him when Mihawk -"

"That was all adrenaline," Sanji responded. "We've got you now, I know you can do it!"

Suddenly, you were shoved into the kitchen and the door slammed shut behind you. You turned around, slamming your hand on the door. "Sanji!" You shouted angrily, fidt pounding on the wood. "Sanji, you asshat, what the hell? Is this some kind of stupid prank, cause it's not. Funny!"

You heard the other door to the kitchen open and watched as someone shoved Zoro into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Zoro glanced at you, then glanced towards the door with a panicked expression. He let out a sigh of irritation, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We'll let you two out in an hour," Sanji shouted from outside. "Once you sort out this - mess you lot have gotten yourselves into." You would've shouted at the bastard some more were it not for the sound of resounding footsteps, leaving the two of you completely alone.

"So . . ." You started, unsure how to approach the situation. You couldn't believe Sanji, that bastard, had locked you in a room with the crew member he knew you were in love with. "You're not wounded?"

"I was told you were hurt," Zoro said gruffly. "But I guess that's not true." His demeanor was awkward, more awkward than had ever been near you. You found it slightly unnerving and doubts began to creep in your mind. Had you done something wrong? Perhaps Nami had convinced Zoro to tell you his true thoughts about you, or even worse, that they were together and you couldn't be friends anymore. Your negative fantasies began to spiral and it was soon evident to Zoro that you were lost.

"You all right? You do look a little sick."

"What?" You asked, returning to reality. You suddenly shook your head with a shy smile, waving your hands in disregard. "No, no, I'm fine, I'm just thinking about - uh - something else."

"Right." Zoro's thumbs settled under his belt as he rocked back on his feet. As he did so, his swords clanked together, providing a lonely noise in the awkward silence.

"So you and Nami -"

"I've noticed you and Sanji -"

The two of you stared at each other for a moment before both responding at once again.

"What about her?"

"Sanji and me? Are you crazy?"

Both of you shared expressions of slight shock. You were the first to respond.

"I just - I've noticed the two of you happen to have spent a lot of time together recently. I thought maybe - you two were . . ." You let your voice trailed off, hoping that Zoro would understand what you were insinuating, but he looked much more like a lost puppy. "You know." It seemed he didn't. You let out an exasperated sigh and sunken over to one of the clean counters, hopping on top of it and gripping the edge of it. "Dating. Together. Or, something along those lines."

"Are you serious?" Zoro asked, bowing his head with a raised eyebrow. He chuckled, glancing away from you and running a hand down his chin. "No, no, Nami is just a friend, nothing more. You and Sanji, however, I thought were much more than that. Everytime I come into the kitchen, you two immediately stop talking with each other. I thought the two of you were fucking or something but Nami's been persistent in the assumption that, well . . ." He slowly made his way towards you until her was standing inbetween your legs, tilting his head upwards to meet your eyes with a strong gaze. "You like me."

You gulped and turned your head away with a nervous laugh. "What? That's - now that's ridiculous. You and me? Me, liking you?" You sputtered out another laugh but failed to hide your rosy cheeks. Zoro continued to stare into your eyes with that indifferent expression of his. You shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, fine, I do . . . like you, Zoro. A lot. I just . . . I didn't think it worthy of mentioning because you seemed like you and Nami were -"

"Well we're not." He placed his hands next to yours, gripping the edge of the counter and leaning in close. "So what are you going to do about it, hm?" His eyes flitted down to your lips and he ran his tounge against his own before returning his gaze to your eyes.

Now, he could be testing you. But see, at this point, you had spent so much time hiding your feelings for him, holding back. It had felt so relieving to finally tell him after all this time that you couldn't just go back to that phase of pretending as though you felt nothing towards the man.

It was rushed - one of your hand tangled in his hair as you ferociously smashed your lips against his. The other you placed onto his hand. He seemed shocked at your sudden confidence but swiftly and hungrily kissed you back, one hand coming up to grip your face. He groaned into your mouth but you quickly swallowed up the noise and wrapped your legs around his hips, urging him closer.

"Been waiting so long . . . I need you," you muttered into his lips before kissing him once more. You toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck, curling it around his fingers.

"Is that so?" Zoro asked in response, pulling away. His breath was hot and heavy on your ear. He planted a sloppy kiss on your neck, causing you to let out an almost imperceptible whimper. "So needy, huh? Don't worry baby, I don't think they'll be opening those doors for a while."

#— [ glizzy posts ☆ ]#zoro x you #zoro roronoa x reader #zoro x reader #one piece zoro #one piece #one piece netflix #one piece fan fiction #my writing #fanfiction #my fanfiction #my fic #writing #fanfic

862 notes · View notes

ravenwoodalum · 7 months

Text

on karamelle, why it sucks, and redeeming azteca's reputation.

I just got to Karamelle for the second time, and good lord. I hadn't forgotten how much I hated it, but it hit me like a wall of bricks. And I'm already preparing myself to marathon it and be fucking done questing here for at least a year.

I think it breaks down like this.

Baby's first workers rights movement/sugary-sweet surveillance state Listen. I know this is a game that doesn't allow for player characters to have much individual impact on the in-game narrative. I know we've had to do errands for cops. I know we work for a war criminal. I KNOW there are flaws in the system. But there's something about the way that Karamelle's set up that makes it all feel so. much. worse. And that's the fact that Karamelle has such a stellar reputation within the Spiral before this. The happiest place in the Spiral, the sweetest treats in the Spiral. Everyone seems to fucking love this place. Almost no one outside of those actually working there seem to understand how corrupt it is. And so the YW is talked down to at every turn, like this is their first exposure to a corrupt environment. And sure, maybe it is within, canon. YW gets isekai'd at a very young age and then made into a child soldier, maybe this is actually the first time in canon that they've been introduced to these concepts. But (and this may just be me) it feels really rude to the player -- who might actually have experience with these ideas -- to make them feel like a fucking idiot with the dialogue options. Karamelle's characters just feel rude.

Oh, so the Gobblers were a fatphobic, Roald Dahl type thing from the start. Cool cool cool. Any of you ever read Roald Dahl's book "The Twits"? It's a very unremarkable story all things considered, except for this bit.

Aside from Roald Dahl's unavoidable history of antisemitism, does this remind you of anything? Honestly, this reminds me of the Gobbblers.

We first meet the Gobblers around level 10 in Wizard City -- creatures driven by consumption. And then we get to Empyrea and hear that the Alphoi -- skinny "civilized" creatures -- can become Gobblers if they eat too much or are unhealthy in their eating habits. Which makes one of our oldest running enemies a loop-around fatphobic thing, ESPECIALLY when we get to them in Karamelle, the home world of the Gobblers. Rosina, especially, just oozes fatphobia and diet culture. The literal vilification of being fat isn't even subtext, it's just text.

The Old One, The Cabal, and what to do when your escape from the world ends up shoving what you were escaping from right back in your face. When I was in sophomore year of college, fall of 2019, I had one of the worst mental health periods of my life. Antisemitism was fucking everywhere, I was always a moment away from a panic attack, and it felt like no one understood. While I'm lucky in the fact that I was able to get an official diagnosis for genetically inherited PTSD, alongside the reassurance that I wasn't fucking crazy, there was a period when I just needed to go home for a moment. So when I was going back to my dorm from the dining hall to make sure all my stuff was ready to go, I opened up tumblr and made a post on a long-gone RP sideblog I had for the Swedish Chef (y'know, from The Muppets? long story), and before I'd even gotten halfway across campus, I'd received threatening and violent messages from someone RPing as Borat, which only got worse when they realized they were talking to an actual Jewish person.

That escape from reality didn't even last five fucking minutes before the horrors I was trying to avoid found me.

Now, Wizard101 has always been a source of comfort for me. I made my account fourteen years ago, and I do not know what my life would look like if I hadn't done that. There are flaws with this game, yes, sure, but over the past five years (since I got a wiz compatible laptop) I've developed a bit of a reliance on it to get me through the horrors. No better form of escapism.

But no art form is free of the horrors.

And Wizard101 has the fucking Cabal and Old One.

The Cabal within the fiction of Wizard101 is a secret, nefarious organization pulling the strings on events across the Spiral, controlling history from the shadows. This term literally originates in antisemitic conspiracy theory, with the term 'cabal' originating from the term for Jewish mysticism, 'kabbalah'. And I promise you, you've heard plenty of applications of this conspiracy theory in real life too. It feeds into the idea that Jews (or 'global elite') control the government, the media, the banks.

And then, we get to the man in control of it all. The Old One. Whether or not this was intended, he's a walking, talking antisemitic caricature. The octopus as a symbol for the mythical Elders of Zion is a longstanding dogwhistle (see attached for a guide to this and many other visual dogwhistles). "Oh, he's based on H.P. Lovecraft-" So he's based on the works of a famous racist and antisemite, cool cool cool.

It's just exhausting, walking through a world that is so clearly modeled after Germany and other parts of eastern Europe, and finding antisemitism around every corner. And even more exhausting considering it's almost impossible to tell if they meant to do it. Antisemitism is so fucking ingrained in the world at this point that I don't actually know what they meant to do here, what they did maliciously or out of ignorance, or if any of it was put in with the purpose of turning it on its head. Over the past few years, it has become glaringly obvious that a lot of people don't realize when they're running across antisemitism, or even taking part in it. Including people I really thought would know better.

Side note. For those of you who know I see Dasein as Jewish, you may be wondering how I balance that out with the antisemitic nature of The Old One, since they share a physical form. I think of it like this. Dasein did not choose The Old One. He did not choose to resemble that, but he can attempt to reclaim it. Dasein's Judaism comes not from the resemblance he holds to the hatred that haunts us, but from the love that keeps us going. He questions authority and longstanding tradition, chooses to do what's right instead of what's expected, and is kind in the face of hatred. He literally makes himself, and a world, out of nothingness. Something out of Nothing. He's so Jewish you guys.

The Spiral's "Worst World Award" goes to... I know we all say "fuck Azteca" pretty often on this website, but I don't think it deserves to be deigned the worst world in Wiz. My main gripe with Azteca is how inaccessible it gets after Xibalba strikes -- the flashing lights aren't exactly photosensitive friendly. Which further lends frustration to my completionist nature, meaning I have to finish all quests, badges, and fishing before I finish the world (making it take forever to finish). Aside from that, there really isn't that much wrong with the world (and if you argue that it sucks because you can't save Azteca, I get it, but some tragedies are inescapable by their very nature). It's a problem of gameplay, versus a problem of plot in the case of Karamelle. And maybe its just because I'm a writer, but problems with plot feel much more egregious. I really do think Karamelle deserves more vitriol than it gets.

G-d, I can't wait to get to Lemuria.

#behold. the long awaited kvetch.#wizblr #w101 #wizzy101 #wiz101 #wizard101 #y'all better check out the resources i've linked :gun:#there really is something to be said about fantasy worlds where Judaism does not textually exist but antisemitism DOES.#like hmm. where did that come from. anyways.

98 notes · View notes

artbyblastweave · 4 months

Text

So on balance I generally do enjoy Mark Millar, and a big part of why I enjoy Mark Millar is that a lot of his superhero stuff demonstrates the same awareness about the genre that Worm does- the sense of an unstable equilibrium, that the center cannot hold in the superhero universe as typically presented. Jupiter's Legacy, Super Crooks, Old Man Logan, Wanted, The Ultimates. Arguably Civil War. I have a whole other post buried in my drafts about how that bleak throughline keeps cropping up in his cape work. Specifically in his cape work, also- the man has written a lot of lighthearted, at times almost cloyingly sincere and optimistic one-off miniseries in other genres. Starlight: The Return Of Duke McQueen, Huck, Chrononauts, Beyond. In tension with this cynicism about the capes is the fact that he also clearly believes that superheroes are really cool, and on some fundamental level a really deeply noble and empowering idea. Even Wanted, which is probably the most thoroughly tasteless thing of his that I've read all the way through, I recall as having had this interesting subtext of anger over the fact that there's an audience for a superhero work as cynical and grotesque as Wanted. ("Fine. We took all the whimsy and wonder and derring-do you claim to have outgrown out back and shot it. The corpse is cooling. Are you happy yet? Dark enough yet? Mature enough yet? This is what you wanted right?") Anyway, I think Kick-Ass the comic suffers gigantically from a failure to break in one direction or another, in regard to that tension. It gets very, very close to saying useful and interesting things about the genre at several points but keeps undercutting itself by transforming back into the object of its own attack. There's this initial line of questioning, right, which is, "what kind of person, in real life, might actually try this? How would it go?" And the comic has some compellingly miserable answers to that question! Everyone in costume is chasing the same power fantasy, clinging to the idea of being somebody. Dave is, in his own words, motivated by "the right combination of loneliness and despair," and he's not competent. He alternates between minor wins and brutal hospitalizations, the first two issues and change is just the world punishing him for being dumb enough to try this, and for the most part he's a LARPer, a self-identified asshole. Red Mist is a rich kid playing with his father's money. Big Daddy and Hit-girl are framed as the "real deal", genuinely competent in their ability to dish out violence, and the comic to some extent has the self-awareness to recognize that people who were actually any good at this would be even more horrifying than the LARPers. The Reveal that Big Daddy was an accountant- that he made up a tragic backstory and made his daughter a human weapon in order to pursue an escapist fantasy- genuinely lands like a meteor! But it fucks it up, because it also needs to be cool, cool enough to keep our attention, and so it pulls an about face. The horror of Hit-girl gets subsumed by the realization that she's also the coolest thing in the whole book, almost loadbearing in terms of having actually cool and interesting things happen on-panel, and so the end of the book turns into the exact kind of superviolent revenge story it was initially skewering as unrealistic and disconnected from the much more grounded grief and loss Dave is experiencing at the start of the book. Dave's costumed escapades goes from being an obviously stupid and egotistical attempt to claw back control of his life to... an actual method by which he claws back control of his life, and not in a way that feels terribly well-earned!

The sequels double down on this- alternating between "in real life this would be cheap and stupid and tinged with anticlimax" and "woooo! Let's ape Tarantino until something cool happens!" and honestly, that feels less worthy of analysis because what I'm pretty sure happened there is that the movie blew up and created A Demand For More Kick-Ass. In general what it feels like fundamentally happened here is that you ask, "what if superheroes were real," you land on the answer of "they'd look stupid, be stupid and die badly," but what does that leave you with? It's not like that wasn't the obvious answer already and it's definitely not eight issues of material. He can't pull the trigger on having everyone involved die badly in meanspirited ways to drive the point home, and he never quite threads the needle back to the reconstructive middle ground he badly wants the book to inhabit, the "real heroes work in soup kitchens and look out for their neighbors" area. Things just happen.

That said, the gag about the astroturfed swear-word "Tunk" is fantastic. 10/10, no notes

#kick-ass #thoughts #meta

36 notes · View notes

wifegideonnav · 2 years

Text

saw a post about the fandoms use of the word chussy and how violating and disrespectful it is and it really got me thinking. not going to name the op because I am absolutely not trying to argue with their take which is clearly fueled by very real anger and hurt, and I fully respect their opinion. so please understand that im not trying to start #discourse and anyone who does so on this post will be blocked (eta: please feel free to disagree with this post and let me know that you do/argue your point. by discourse I mean the annoying and pointless brand of internet arguing that we all know and hate). all that being said, here’s my take on the issue:

1. the post raised some excellent points about the desecration of the body and the implications of sexual assault that the nonconsensual alteration of gideons body carries. so first off: this is absolutely an important point and it’s something that needs to be taken into consideration. additionally, the oversexualization of butches is a huge problem and the use of the word chussy undoubtedly plays into this. all of these things must be acknowledged and respected.

2. my analysis of the joking nature the fandom has taken towards gideons chest wound is that this attitude is fueled by grief and discomfort/despair. muir tends to take her characters past their breaking points and explore how that impacts them, and that is a really hard thing to witness as a reader, especially when it’s a character as beloved as gideon, especially when the change from the first book to the third is so stark. imo, people simply don’t know how to handle these feelings, and funnel them into black humor. inappropriate? yeah, probably. but I think what’s crucial here is that this is a coping mechanism for very real feelings that are stirred up by these books. people aren’t being irreverent purely for the sake of it (though there’s definitely some of that too), they’re processing uncomfortable emotions stirred up by this - crucially - fictional character

3. arguably, this reaction was also brought on by muir herself. violence and sex are inextricably tied in this universe. harrow and ianthe have multiple sexually charged scenes that are explicitly violent - the scene where ianthe knifes harrows hand and obviously the bone arm scene. the dios apate scenes are laden with hatred, deception, and a desire to literally murder one of the participants. joli thinks nona and cam are being prostituted. palamedes’s love interest turns out to be murdered, and he tries to kill her killer in return. pyrrha has sex with a corpse. while the sexual aspect of it is never discussed, harrows conception is marked by genocide. even the excerpt of alecto that muir shared earlier this year combines a description of personal struggle and torment with explicit yonic imagery. this is all to say, the concept of gideons wound being partially sexual within the text is not far fetched at all. i would honestly be surprised if alecto doesn’t address this in some way, either in a joking way or a serious way (knowing muir, probably both). for all muir’s faux outrage over the term in the q&a earlier today (technically yesterday), she always knows exactly what she’s doing and dare I say more or less exactly how the fandom is going to react to things. im certain she anticipated that people would draw a connection between the wound and sexuality. now, muir intentionally planting this subtext does not negate any problematic aspects of said implication. but I think it’s important to note that it’s not purely a “fandom joking about serious topics” thing - it also falls on the writer

overall, I think it’s a very nuanced topic, as with pretty much everything pertaining to muirs work. bodily autonomy is a huge theme in tlt and there is a certain flavor of ignoring or defying muirs message in making a joke out of the bodily violation that gideon has suffered. however, again, i a) think the jokes stem from a place of understanding muirs intent and the discomfort that arises due to this and b) maintain that this is not a case of the fandom disrespecting a creators message but rather the fandom running with the context and tone of the source material. and finally, I want to emphasize that this is a fictional character, and while attitudes toward fiction 100% affect reality, I doubt that the people making these jokes would do so if they were aimed at a real person.

i fully invite conversation on this post and I would love to hear what you guys think, particularly butches (I am a lesbian who considers myself gnc but not masc/butch and i would never presume to speak for/over butches, especially on a topic so important). i don’t mean to be a killjoy, but after reading that post and reflecting I do think it’s important to explore the ramifications of these jokes before continuing to make them.

#i was trying to sleep and couldn’t bc this post was bouncing around in my head #op #tlt #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #nona the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #gideon nav #kiriona gaia

224 notes · View notes

queerxqueen · 2 years

Note

Stranger Things is a very big and popular show right now all over the world. Do you really expect them to write Byler and canonizing it over the favored straight ship in the show after 3 seasons? I am not asking this as a shipper. But as a viewer. I have no problem with Byler. I just cannot realistically see Byler happening all things considered.

also, from another anon: How likely do you think that byler might become Canon? Cuz there's a.lot of people threatening to boycott the show if it "TuRnS GAy"?

Short answer: Yes, I actually do expect them to make Byler canon, lol.

Long answer??? Let's get into it.

Why Byler Can Be Canon

For this post, I'm not gonna bother talking about why it should be canon or all the ways it would make sense. Instead, I'm going to talk about the signs that it can be canon, and why expecting Byler isn't as farfetched as certain homophobic Redditors seem to believe.

The Rise of Queer Media

Queer representation is on the rise. I'm not just talking about Heartstopper, gay rom-coms, and more queer media in general, I'm talking about queer representation in beloved series. Have all of you been brainwashed by Marvel and Star Wars and Disney franchises? Because outside of that, queer characters are popping up more and more. The Thirteenth Doctor is sapphic; Star Trek has queer couples; the new adaptations of It realized the queer subtext of the book and previous adaptations, even if it could have been done... better. The point is, queer representation is quite literally the best it's ever been.

And no one knows what people watch better than Netflix. We talk so much about the general audience but we don't actually know who they are--between the loudly vocal shippers on Tumblr and the vocal homophobes on Reddit, it's hard to see through the internet what people actually think. But Netflix? They have oodles of data of who's watched Stranger Things (and how many times) versus who's watched any number of shows with queer characters. And I genuinely feel that the overall trends would show that the general public at the very least tolerates queer characters on the screen.

Building Themes, Subverting Tropes, and Defying Expectations

The fact that they're main characters several seasons into the show make Certain People sure that they wouldn't switch things up. But Stranger Things is uniquely set up to do that in a way that makes sense and has impact. The characters are young and still figuring out their sexualities, and Mike growing up and realizing what his feelings mean would fit in with the themes of coming of age as well as themes of non-conformity. Additionally, Stranger Things has woven in enough hints toward it throughout the seasons that it truly isn't coming out of nowhere, and if it were canon, viewers could rewatch and notice all the things us Bylers have been screaming about.

Beyond that, Stranger Things has always been about subverting tropes and making you think deeper, with the Duffer Bros repeatedly saying that little details have meaning. Mike confessing his love to Eleven, Will getting rejected, it's all so predictable and unnecessary and uninteresting. For a show that is constantly challenging people to look deeper and which often flips expectations on their head, making Byler canon would honestly make more sense for the show that Stranger Things is.

This is not to mention that the show has always centered around a team of nerds and self-proclaimed "freaks and weirdos" who are canonically bullied and outcast. Is it so hard to believe that people with that background could be queer?

Last, Stranger Things has done one excellent queer coming out scene with Robin and it's not hard to believe they could do it again. Their excellent treatment of Robin is honestly overlooked as evidence that they will do good for Will and for Byler.

"The Favored Straight Ship"

Finally, there's this idea that they would never break up "the favored straight ship." Why do people think that, exactly? There's certainly no evidence in Stranger Things' canon that would support it.

Because they did break up Mileven in season 3, and showed that they were better apart. They never shy away from breaking up other couples for new ones, either, showing people dating around rather than having one person the whole time. (Because again, they're young, it's coming-of-age stuff, come on.) But think of how they introduced Bob for Joyce in place of Jopper, broke up Stancy for Jancy and might be breaking up Jancy for Stancy, broke up Lumax, even if temporary.

Mileven is only "favored" because it's been served to people on a silver platter. Stranger Things has now spent two seasons showing why Mileven isn't actually good for each other romantically, and four seasons developing Mike and Will's importance to each other.

Again, the vocal part of the internet is not representative of the average viewer of Stranger Things, and I think the majority of people might be surprised, but wouldn't be pissed, and might even rewatch with a new perspective. Not to mention the nearly 20,000 people on Tumblr now following the Byler tag who will be thrilled.

TLDR: If anyone was going to do it, Stranger Things would do it. It's a show that subverts expectations and makes viewers look deeper.

#byler #stranger things #stranger things 4 #byler analysis #antimileven #answered #anon

440 notes · View notes

i-am-the-entertainer · 2 years

Text

The show knows the train is bad, actually.

So over the years that I’ve been watching Infinity Train, there’s a recurring argument that the train is actually bad. That the process of being picked up by the train is non-consensual, the train essentially violates its passengers’ personal life in the name of making them improve or else, and that the environment of the train could actually make a person worse (just look at Simon).

The thing about this discourse, though, is that it’s arguing something that the show explicitly agrees with.

The Book 2 DVD commentary includes a discussion of this: in the commentary for both “The Past Car” and “The Number Car”, Alex Horab, Madeline Queripel, and Owen Dennis flat out say that “the train’s not really the good guy here” when showing how the train picks up passengers and leaves them unconscious while harvesting memories from them – they even comment on how, despite having been a protagonist in Book One, One-One is an antagonist to Lake’s story, because he represents the system that she is trying to fight against. Owen Dennis even explicitly highlights in his interview for “The Ethics of Fiction: Infinity Train” that this is a viewpoint that was caked into the show from the start, and in numerous interviews and statements he talks about how the unreleased Book Five would have directly highlighted this.

So, some of the armchair moral philosophers out there may be inclined to ask, “If the show knows the train is bad, why doesn’t it just say that outright?”

Simple. The show isn’t about the train.

It’s about the people onboard the train. The train is just a setting for their stories.

That’s what got the show sold in the first place: it’s an intriguing setting for a show, and part of the fun of watching it is slowly understanding more about the setting.

But, once you know more over 2-4 seasons of television, that’s when you realize, “Hey, wait a second. This place isn’t good for the passengers.” And so the seasons go on-and-on, and eventually that’s gonna be addressed (we know Book Five at the very least would have been about this).

I think a good comparison point is the previously-stated metaphor of the show being “Saw for kids” (something Owen Dennis once used in an interview): every Saw movie is about someone who has committed some sort of wrong being put into an unfamiliar, machine-based environment to learn morality. And yet Saw doesn’t shy away from the fact that there’s nothing moral about what these people are being put through, by an uncaring “authority” who claims some sort of judgment over whether a person is good or not (though from a cultural standpoint, I think Saw does a worse job of highlighting that last part than Infinity Train).

There’s this assumption that I think we’re all taught at a young age that there’s always a white and black morality to everything: media, the world, our personal lives. As we grow older we learn that things are often morally grey, that a situation is more complex than saying “this is good” vs. “this is bad.”

But I honestly think that Infinity Train isn’t arguing that the train is good, bad, or grey. It’s focused on the stories of the people onboard the train, and how their experiences on the train affect them. Again, the train is the setting, not necessarily the point. But one of the numerous storytelling opportunities this show could have had if it had been renewed was getting the chance to explore that issue of the train being a negative force.

For now, I guess, we’ll only have the subtext (which I guess is too imperceptible for some people?).

#infinity train #infinity train meta #infinity train spoilers

244 notes · View notes

irvingcoded · 9 months

Note

I hate book irving and silna but I feel robbed we never see show silna and irving interact

man right?? especially given how the show still maintains irving's narrative connection and relative sympathies toward the surrounding netsilik people it's honestly such a waste! I would have loved to see them interact even just one scene, since it'd be decidedly Not Like The Book! like, even if irving wasn't deep repressed gay denial he's still just Big Repressed in general he isn't going to suddenly start acting inappropriate and horny just because there's a woman in proximity...... anyway, while I do mostly very much like how (and why) they adapted that arc for goodsir in the show instead of irving, it would have still been nice to hold onto a couple more things with irving I think. not the horny fuckboy shit obviously but the more meaningful moments of connection I guess.

irving in the show kind of suffers in general from a lack of introspection I think, in that we do get deeper and more internal insights to a lot of the main / supporting cast, quiet and intentionally revealing moments for us the viewers, but with him we're kind of denied a similar glimpse behind the curtain, aside from how the character is portrayed and interpreted by ronan raftery and the literal context of his scenes. which isnt to say there's not TONS of subtext because there definitely is, it's almost entirely nothing that was actually written into the scripts so I imagine it came later, maybe mainly via ronan's portrayal and how the actor chemistry unfolded which led to dave k's validation of that subtext that (unlike with most other characters!) was again very absent / lacking any significant detail in the transcripts.

and honestly I do think this actually mostly works for his character in particular, because even he is denying himself further insight into who he really is, BUT it definitely also backfires in the sense that so many ppl get blindsided by his actions in ep7, despite there definitely being scenes before that which do inform them, because we never get much access to his logic and process, whereas others you can almost see beat by beat as their opinions/feelings are evolving or changing. ALL THIS TO SAY even just one actual interaction with silna could have maybe helped somewhat bridge the narrative gap for all the people who are not obsessed with microanalysing every tiny crumb of irving content and details, perhaps... 🤪

and honestly irving aside, there is a lot a LOT of book silna content that imo would have been nice to keep or adapt at least. the book undoubtedly has its flaws and weaknesses and given the era of perspectives its being told through its hard to avoid that huge lens of bigotry but, the show could have still incorporated more of her scenes and character insight and even the deeper background of inuit lore but just ofc handled it more appropriately and accurately.

(that's also another thing for me how goodsir and irving never interact [onscreen] EITHER except ofc after irvings dead yet the character /narrative parallels are all over the place between both book AND show & not even limited to just the storyline transference!!!! arrrrrggghh... not that they interact much in the book either, I mean, but SINCE the show goes through so much trouble to have adapted and paralled the characters this way we could have gotten more from the show there too... all I'm sayin...)

#🍓#john irving #the terror #jirv posting #the terror textposts #replies #goodsir #silna #i will say... the goodsir/irving parallels btwn the book the show and the unexplored symmetry that exists btwn both has made me deeplyunwel #im only adding this tag because apparently i already had it?? ok

28 notes · View notes

vickyvicarious · 2 months

Note

If you wanted to read a comparative literature meta between Dracula and another novel, which one would you choose?

Ooh... This is a really interesting ask. First of all, it's not if - I definitely would want to read that! The only difficulty is in narrowing down the candidates. It's hard to choose, honestly. Ideally it would be nice to compare a novel that explores some of the same themes but in a different way.

The Beetle is also a horror novel that has the fear of foreigners/the other as typified by a supernatural entity arriving in London. It also has multiple narrators as well, who all have to hunt down their fleeing foe on a train in order to save the main woman in the cast. But it doesn't really delve much into old vs. new for example, and it is just... so bad. Every character is worse, the writing is worse, comparing these two books is all the way through just a case of ragging on Marsh's work for being worse, honestly. Ideally for me, both books in such a meta would be good.

Varney the Vampire, Carmilla, and The Vampyre are all classic vampire stories, and it's interesting to compare them to Dracula when you think about what kinds of influences Stoker may have taken from them. But they don't share the same themes as much outside of that. Varney is a penny dreadful and outside of superficial aspects of some scenes/character roles I don't see tons of resemblance to Stoker's work; it's written as a sprawling dramatic tale designed to keep entertaining casual readers over time, unlike the still large yet self-contained and more intense in tone novel by Stoker. (Admittedly, I'm less than halfway through Varney so that's what my opinion is based on. I do find the treatment of Flora as a victim of a vampire to be an interesting point of comparison to the way Mina and Lucy were treated.) And the other two are both much shorter and more constrained to their horror story. They don't have as big of a cast and they don't have as prolonged fights against their vampires, either.

Other classic 'gothic fiction' such as The Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have their own merits as well. Phantom has a similar path in adaptations making the main antagonist into a troubled romantic hero. But that's more about adaptations than the novels themselves, which don't have as much in common as others on this list. Dorian Gray could be a good comparison as far as homosexual subtext (or really, just text in DG) and if one wanted to discuss the idea of nonaging beings. But while Dracula doesn't age and doesn't really grow/change and there are some potentially interesting discussions to be had there, that's more a case of those two characters rather than the two novels as a whole. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is presented as more of a detective story, which is both true to, and an aspect of Dracula that doesn't usually get as much attention as it should. So that could be fun. There's also an interesting thread with Jekyll's experimentation as a 'new manmade' horror vs. Dracula's 'old supernatural' horror, and potential contrast between that very homegrown versus foreign danger, and even the idea of an alternate self being released. But the Bloofer Lady and Mr. Hyde, for example, are very different cases in many ways. And there's again a much smaller cast and scale to the story, so there are a lot more pieces of Dracula that don't have as much of an equivalent to compare. (That too could of course be interesting to contrast, but it's a different sort of meta more focused on the novel's role in the genre for example, than the closer comparison your ask makes me envision.) Honestly, with its themes of culpability/respectability, I see it comparing more easily to Dorian Gray than Dracula.

The Woman In White would actually be quite an interesting comparison, even though it's not really in the same genre. It's not a supernatural horror, however much it flirts with dramatic gothic imagery especially at the beginning. But it does have a bunch of other stuff in common. The villainous foreign Count is an obvious one, but specifically Dracula and Fosco's attraction to certain individuals and like of breaking them is another link. Both have intelligent heroes who are quite methodical about their approaches. Jonathan and Laura's experiences have quite interesting similarities (as well as, to an extent, Lucy and Anne, not just to one another but to the aforementioned characters as well), especially in the contrasting ways they are treated later in the novels. The use of female characters in general has some really discussable similarities and differences (Mina vs. Marian as well as in general). Mr. Fairlie and Mrs. Westenra fill a similar role. Both books are epistolary, with a heavy focus on the characters themselves gathering documents with different perspectives of events to help them figure things out (that detective aspect). Trains and timetables are important in both in a way, and though Dracula is more intentional about the contrast of modern/ancient there is a potential thread to be discussed there. In general, they both get weird about foreigners in ways that could also be talked about at length, specifically in regard to the villains vs. the heroes and how nationality and perceived nationality/stereotypes play into their respective roles. The idea of madness vs. sanity is also a theme in both, and both have characters with differing degrees of memory loss and inability to talk about their experiences. If we're looking for an overall comparison of both novels as a whole, as well as multiple different points of connection/comparison, I think this may be the best one so far.

Of course, this is all just thinking of more contemporary works to Dracula. It's also a list influenced by what I've been reading and thinking about more for the past year, so there are probably other books I'll think of later. But for now, that's my long and rambly answer!

#dracula daily #books #dracula meta #not really meta itself so much as discussion of possible meta to be had but hey close enough #this was a great ask lots of fun to think about #i thought of other books too but in terms of both what's in the novel and the role it plays in 'classic fiction' these were the biggest one #that have occurred to me so far at least #replies #anonymous

10 notes · View notes

alwaysahiccupandastrid · 1 year

Text

I didn’t want to be a hater of the new Peter Pan remake before it even started, and I’m not hating, but as someone who cherishes the original book and various adaptations of the story, I do have some things I need to say regarding the Disney remake.

Firstly, I’ve seen people complain about the diversity - namely Peter and Tinkerbell. I don’t have a problem with non-white actors playing any parts - I think Yara is beautiful as Tinkerbell and I’m intrigued to see what Alexander Molony brings since the trailer didn’t really showcase much of him as Peter. The Lost Boys especially being a diverse group makes sense to me as they’re “lost” - they should all look different; I welcome the casting of non-white, disabled etc boys in the gang. Anyone complaining about “wokeness” just because they’re not all pasty white kids is just racist; I’ve even seen people complaining Tiger Lily isn’t white, which…? Hello??? She has NEVER been white, she and her tribe have always been Native Americans.

Having said that, the Lost Boys should all still be boys - “girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams”, and the fact that Wendy is the first girl they meet and they see her as a motherly figure because the only girls/women they’ve ever known have presumably been fairies, Tiger Lily (who is a princess in her tribe) or the distant memories they hold of their own mothers. Supposedly you could argue that “Lost Boys” is just the name of their gang, regardless of whether it’s boys or girls in the group, but still… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I don’t particularly agree with this change. But honestly, it’s not the end of the world, I can get over it.

“Wahhh they’ve made Wendy the main character and not Peter Pan!!!” — my guys… the original novel was LITERALLY called Peter and Wendy. The book literally opens with this paragraph:

“All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather de- lightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!” This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.”

This is literally Wendy’s story that ends with her deciding to go home and grow up; we meet Peter through her eyes, not the other way around. If you’re that mad that Wendy is being given a big part, you clearly haven’t bothered to read the source material and you’re just mad because you don’t like the idea of the female character being the protagonist.

If you want to take an issue with casting/characters, look at Hook/Mr Darling: how they’ve made Hook look aside (although… mmm, yikes), Disney has decided not to have the same actor play Hook and Mr Darling - Hook is Jude Law and Mr Darling is Alan Tudyk. I have nothing to comment on either of them as actors: my issue is that it’s a tradition for the same actor to play both of them that originates back to when the story was a stage play and has carried over to other media adaptations of the story. Having the same actor play both parts adds extra layers to the story (the relationship with the father vs fighting Captain Hook, parallels between the two characters, the subtext between Wendy and Hook as she’s on the cusp of adulthood etc).

My main issue though? The colour palette of this film - and all the Disney remakes, in fact.

I think the current colour palette of dull greys and muted greens could have worked for the London scenes because then the contrast between it and Neverland would have been even more striking; Neverland is a magical place where the children don’t want to grow up. Barrie wrote in his book that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children; although each is "always more or less an island" as well as having a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John’s Neverland had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it," while Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." Neverland should be magical and colourful to reflect this, because a child’s imagination is limitless.

This just looks… dull. Like they’ve put a filter over it to make it look gritty.

In comparison, this is how the original animated film looked:

“But it’s live action, of course it’ll look less colourful” - wrong. The 2003 live action managed to make Neverland look twice as colourful as this new film, and that was released two entire decades before:

It’s not just this remake: it’s most remakes quite frankly - The Lion King, Little Mermaid, etc.

I don’t want to hate on the film when it’s not actually out yet, and I’m going to reserve full judgement until it does release, but I feel like people are claiming anyone with criticism is just being racist when there are genuine critiques and concerns. As I said, I don’t have any issue with the casting or in diversifying the cast, my issue comes from the colour palette of the film, the changes from the source material where there don’t need to be changes, and also the fact that Disney (and most other companies for that matter) should waste less money on pointless remakes and spend more resources producing original content.

#peter pan #peter pan and wendy #disney

51 notes · View notes

akajustmerry · 1 year

Note

I love when you post Haymitch x Effie quotes from the book. They were already one of my favorites from the film but the quotes just make me love them even more.

so glad someone appreciates my insanity posting over them 💕 I love how background/subtext they are because we're reading from katniss' pov and she's got so much else on her mind (rightly so), she doesn't really pay attention. makes it so cute honestly because when she does talk about haymitch and effie directly she's always like "they hate eachother obviously. anyway..." but then there's all these little moments she describes where that's so obviously not the case; like effie fixing Haymitch's phone, the fact that everytime katniss mouths off to effie she knows haymitch will be mad at her for it, effie almost always thinking of haymitch first when it comes to coordinating the team, haymitch warning katniss not to tell effie dangerous info to protect her, effie quitting drinking to help haymitch stay sober, the amount of times they both indirectly compliment each other in katniss' presence, the fact they're always coming out of rooms together, haymitch wanting to hug Effie when he's drunk - and this is just stuff I picked up in the first book and half of the second (which is where I'm up to in my reread). But yeah I loved them in the films. one of the few things I think the movies did do very right was let woody and elisabeth play with that subtext in the limited way they could...imagine what could be achieved if they ordered a tv series of thg instead of, you know, remaking some other ya series <\3

#ambafaerie #haymitch x effie #the hunger games

21 notes · View notes

memingursa · 1 year

Text

I honestly think even ignoring the the transphobia, the racism, the anti semitism, the fascist subtext of the world building, which you shouldn’t; It’s pathetic if you go to bat to defend Harry Potter in 2023. Like. Especially If you’re over the age of 24, then it’s Probably about when it should of been in it’s hay day and to still be “nostalgic” for you, and you are STILL fully defending it. Take the L. You haven’t developed media tastes to move on to since high school. Kids today are playing Fortnite and better shit and probably have better taste than you.

Here’s 8 sources already for the terfs or whoever who will start shit on this post, just on how Harry Potter is shit, not even getting into Rowlings more recent comments. Anyway if anyone else wants to learn here you go.

#harry potter tw #harry potter #transphobia #transphobia tw #anti semitism #anti semetisim tw #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy tw #fascism #jk rowling tw #jk rowling

45 notes · View notes

nalyra-dreaming · 1 year

Note

Hi! Do you remember Sam saying that "lestat needs to understand it's his fault all people he turned into vampire left him" including Gabrielle and Nicki. Do you agree with him? Because unless they'll majorly change dynamics between Lestat and Gabrielle and Nickistat it's not his fault? Gabrielle and Lestat couldn't stay together because they ultimately needed different things and I always felt they understood that, and Nicki was mentally ill... I'm honestly scared how they'll spin those relationship because they changed a lot from loustat dynamic in IWTV (book), while they added more romance, they added more physical abuse too and outcome turned out completely different (in book there's grey area concerning Claudia murdering Lestat, in show he deserved everything and way more etc) I just really hope they know what they're doing. I saw too many takes and theories how bad Lestat was to Nicki and Gabrielle, and if those turned out to be true I don't know what to do. I get that Rolin wants character redemption arc, but the way lestat's character morally made way worse for that is not a good thing IMO. Lestats antagonistic role in first book was more because of Louis general misunderstanding of lestats character, who he truly see in the end of the book. In the show Louis knows way more about Lestats past already AND lestats way more awful to Louis and Claudia. It can't be simple miscommunication (in simplifying terms). So I truly trust Sam with lestats character but I don't trust writers and unfortunately Sam can't influence them (at least majorly) Basically I'm afraid of them making Lestat even MORE removed from book!canon for the sake of future arc when there's no need for that

Sorry for the rant, but you're one of my favorite blogs in fandom, and your answers always do thoughtful, I thought I'd share my concerns with you

Glad you like my blog!

Tbh, I differ a bit with the judgement of Lestat being removed from the books... The show pulled all the subtext up (*ducks away from Sam*), not just the implied sexual components, but also in regards to the abuse. The abuse is in the books, it's text, it's good to remember that.

And Lestat can be quite capricious, and an ass, and he is a killer. They all are. I don't think he is that much removed from book!canon actually, especially when you consider that... we haven't even seen the real Lestat yet.

The only(!!!) "real" Lestat we get in season 1... is "Come To Me". And if you look at the text there, it is surprisingly insightful, I've written about it here (and I'll go over it in today's chapter of 'Laden').

Louis is telling us his story, for an effect. He wanted to omit Lestat in Paris, and for that he had to be dead, and it had to be inevitable for him to be dead. The reason for this interview is still unclear at this point, though I believe it has a lot more to do with Daniel and Armand than the need for an actual second interview^^.

I'd be very careful with theories and metas taking only what is the "first level" of it all at face value, namely what Louis is telling to Daniel. That is a tale, and that tale has already been broken apart at the end of episode 7. Was it all a lie? No, most certainly not.

But it was not the (whole) truth either and told for an effect.

So, I'd... suggest not to fret just yet.

From what I've seen and what I've heard... there is literally no reason to worry. 😅

None.

For all the characters btw, not just Lestat.

I think they did their homework, and magnificently so, too. That will show in all the relationships, in the one to Gabrielle and Nicolas, too, but... remember we are likely on Lestat's POV then... and that will be massively different.

The writers are playwrights, let's let them tell their tale :), and then we can judge after.

But I'm not worried at all tbh. Just giddy.

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #loustat #the devil's minion #armand #daniel molloy #devil's minion

13 notes · View notes

confusedbyinterface · 23 days

Text

So. Margaret.

She knows more than she says: she tells you it's more fun if you figure some things out yourself, and other things she wants to reserve for when she knows you better. And as she says, "You've got to keep people guessing, yeah? You've got to make a name for yourself."

I suspect she could know something about the murder, has figured out Hedwig's investigating it, and that when she reveals the secret passage by Hedwig's old cell it's not just because they were talking about ghosts, but because it's a way to give her an important clue without showing her hand.

But right now I want to talk about Chapter 5, where she first tells you about the abbey's secrets. In this chapter Hedwig's started talking about the gothic and romanesque styles, comparing the different architectural styles used in the abbey with different ways of telling stories. A functional and blunt Romanesque style vs a decorative and aesthetically interesting Gothic style.

H: "Yes, it certainly seems it, I find myself quite overwhelmed!" M: "I think I might know most of the interesting passages and doors and whatnot around here. It's a little boggling. But honestly, I doubt anyone here knows every little secret. If you find anything interesting, let me know. We can compare notes." H: "What's your favourite?" M: "Haha. I don't think I know you well enough to share that just yet... I can tell you my second favourite, if you'd like... If you ever get hungry in the middle of the night, there's a secret way into the stores through the cellar." H: "Really? Where?" M: "Now, now. Where's the fun in that? ...It'll mean more if you find it yourself. Exploring this place is very enriching. You'll have a great time figuring it out, I promise."

I don't have to spell this out. Like this is xeecee speaking directly into your ear. But I would like to expand on the architecture metaphor. If there's secrets all over the abbey, what does that mean for the Gothic and Romanesque constructions?

In a Roman style, even without Hedwig's gothicisms, Misericorde is a murder mystery, not an incident report. You won't be getting every relevant fact, and you'll have to puzzle out what the missing pieces have to look like. Maybe we'll get an answer key, but until then This Proof Left As An Exercise To The Reader.

In the Gothic? Part of it I think is a reminder that not all the mysteries are the murder mystery or the royal conspiracy. The sisters, and their relationships, aren't just open books, and you should take the time to get to know and understand them. But also, it's a reminder that Hedwig, as she so often tells us, is a coward. She does use subtext. And metaphor, motifs, even intertextuality. You should think about this stuff. Hedwig has several conversations in the garden, maybe that means something aside from "Hedwig was just in the garden right then"

#misericorde #misericorde vn #margaret misericorde

6 notes · View notes

amethystroselily · 2 years

Note

considering that dazai isn’t one to show his emotions, it was very surprising for me to see him acknowledge his connection with chuuya. do you think that will affect their dynamic later on?

we’ve seen him be emotional with oda, but he died immediately after, so they didn’t have to live together with that interaction in mind. the only person that knows what happened is dazai, so there’s no risk of someone continuously being able to see past his masks, but (assuming chuuya is alive) that’s not the case this time. chuuya now knows how dazai feels, and i feel like that fact will make dazai uncomfortable.

I was SO surprised when I first saw that scene too! Honestly I was convinced Dazai didn’t care about Chuuya at all until fifteen and even then I was skeptical (but that may have just been bc I was 14-15 at the time and perhaps not the best at picking up on subtext or just… things not being directly told told to the audience…) But like, obviously he does. He just hates acknowledging that he has feelings.

Considering Asagiri’s writing style, I’m not entirely sure the story will fully acknowledge the emotional ramifications of that scene, but I hope it does.

Honestly I think Dazai will just pretend that it never happened and will continue to treat Chuuya exactly like he always has. Because he hates emotionally vulnerability. And because he was already like “jk I hope you die 💕” after he said all that. So I guess it really depends on Chuuya and whether he even remembers that whole speech when he wakes up. Because I’m not entirely sure how the vampires work and if their even conscious during the time they’re under the ability, but I’m going to be a little annoyed if Chuuya doesn’t remember any of that. (Although it is really funny that Sigma will either way.)

But if he does remember, it’s going to be so awkward for the both of them. Chuuya will probably just tell him it was a weird and then perhaps some awkward tense silence and then they’ll go back to normal. Honestly I think Chuuya might be pissed about it, because Dazai’s finally showing some level of ability to care for him right now after… everything. So I imagine it’s very emotionally conflicting.

I guess it depends on how their relationship progressed between Stormbringer and the Dark Era. Because in Stormbringer Chuuya seems to believe Dazai genuinely does not care about him or anyone, while Dazai demonstrates throughout that entire book that while he’s willing to let Chuuya get hurt (both physically and emotionally) he does really care about Chuuya in his own fucked up way. Which I think is how most of Dazai’s relationships are, besides, like, Odasaku (but that was a really unique relationship for Dazai and it’s kind of the only time he let himself care. I think it’s bc Oda was the only person who, idk, seemed to like him? I guess). Because despite constantly manipulating him himself, he does seem to care greatly about Chuuya’s autonomy. You can see it with his reactions to the sheep and his reactions to Verlaine. (Which is kind of insane actually… like is it a “only I can do this” hypocrisy thing or is it something Dazai wishes he didn’t have to do but thinks is justified?) But also the moment he steps away, delaying a plan, to let Chuuya think over a major decision is actually really considerate coming from Dazai. (But I can’t tell if that’s related to Chuuya specifically or the situation in general. I feel like if it had been someone he didn’t know as well he’d just make them do it, but it’s entirely possible that the idea of losing your last chance to find out if your human is something he finds particularly heartbreaking. Who really knows.) Anyways Chuuya seems to have come to care about Dazai more now than in stormbringer. Because he seems more, like, genuinely concerned about Dazai in the manga than in stormbringer. But that would make sense, bc it seems like they were paired up more after that. So I think a lot of their relationship did develop between stormbringer and Dark Era. (This entire paragraph might be pointless now that I think about it. I… kind of forgot what I was trying to say I think…)

#bsd #bsd stormbringer #bsd stormbringer spoilers #bungou stray dogs spoilers #bsd manga spoilers #bsd spoilers #bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai osamu #bsd nakahara chuuya #soukoku

99 notes · View notes