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classic80sand90smovieloves2 · 5 years

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Meeting and being courted by Louis de Pointe du Lac

(Not my gifs)(Requested by anonymous) (I might make poly headcanons for him and Lestat: though I might have already done so I honestly don’t remember)

- You met Louis when Lestat was trying to please him and get him to stay with him. You were Claudia’s sister so when you came home to find a blonde vampire who was also a complete stranger sweeping your sister into his arms you were more than a little terrified and confused.

- He decided he could kill two birds with one stone; get Louis to stay because he was responsible for Claudia being turned and get him to fall for you. Long story short you were taken to his castle and turned before Claudia was.

- Once Claudia had wrapped her arms around Louis Lestat informed him that he had another surprise and he brought you out.

“She is all yours my friend.”

- You could hear a pin drop as you entered; Louis could only think about how beautiful you were and that because of him you would be forced to live the same hell he was living in at that very moment.

- You had expected him to be beautiful; after seeing Lestat you assumed all vampires were attractive but he was nothing like you imagined. He was angelic, godlike even and you could feel yourself already being drawn to him.

- Lestat was very pleased when he saw the looks you were giving each other but soon became distressed when Louis avoided you. He had gotten that ungrateful whiner a larger coffin that was now going to go to waste because he was too obsessed with being miserable.

- You had fallen for him the moment you saw him but after time you began to think Louis hated you. Lestat reassured you it wasn’t true but you found yourself not wanting to be in the house with them knowing the man you who you cared so deeply for didn’t even want to look at you.

- You packed your bags and kissed Claudia goodbye, disappearing as Louis and Lestat were gone. You were sure they would take good care of her and she seemed far more attached to them then she was with you.

- To say Lestat was furious when they arrived home would be the understatement of the century. Claudia really hadn’t put up much of a fight when he demanded she tell him where you went.

- You hadn’t gotten far when Lestat came and angrily dragged you back, muttering about the predicament he had on his hands. He sat you down once you were “home” and asked if you wanted him to turn someone for you so that you would stay; he had grown quite attached to you himself.

- The two of you were shocked when Louis shouted out a harsh “No!” from his spot in the corner of the room. You quickly turned to look at him, watching as he stalked over to you and pulled you along with him as he made his way to his room. Once he closed the door he pushed you against it and kissed you.

- You still to this day aren’t sure exactly what came over him but you think he had gotten jealous even thinking about you wanting another person. It’s the only explanation that really makes sense to you.

“I thought you hated me.”

“I tried.”

- You spent the night making up for lost time and spent the day in his coffin with Claudia sneaking in alongside you in the early evening.

- You were much like Claudia, sleeping for a few hours in your own coffin before carefully creeping into his where he would wrap you up tightly in his arms. You cherished the quiet moments you spent huddled up with him waiting for the sun to disappear below the horizon.

- He’s very protective of you. After what happened to his wife and child along with him knowing just how evil Lestat could be at times he most definitely does not like leaving you alone.

- He’s not extremely jealous or possessive but would rather you stay by his side and keep away from humans or other vampires you may come across.

- You’re going to be spoiled; anything you could ever dream of would be yours the instant you implied that you were even slightly interested in it.

- There’s constant affection coming from him. He hasn’t been in a proper relationship in centuries and definitely misses the feel of it. On that note ~ he has been alone with Lestat for that very long amount of time and that calls for a great buildup of sexual tension and repressed urges.

- He loves watching you with Claudia or whenever you’re doing anything domestic. It has an odd soothing effect on him that he just can’t explain.

- You rarely fight but whenever it would happen it would be a very rough and emotion filled scene. You would give him the silent treatment and avoid him which would rightfully make him fairly upset and extremely tense especially when he knows you’re spending more time with Lestat.

- Sometimes you would creep into Lestats room when the sun is up; finding it hard to spend so long in solitude. Ever since you were turned you hadn’t really spent a night alone and before you and Louis got together you would stay with Lestat.

- Claudia would be the reason you spoke to him again. She would angrily march up to you and drag you behind her tiny body until you were in the same room as him. He would stand up immediately and wrap his arms around you as he apologized, you couldn’t help yourself as you practically melted in his arms.

- None of your arguments are about anything truly serious so it isn’t hard to forgive him. And if you’re ever the one needing to apologize after a fight just stand between his legs and cup his face in your hands while you give him your sincere apology, he’ll forgive you instantly it’s like magic. He can never really stay mad at you.

- If you ever fight with Lestat Louis finds it kind of amusing to watch; the two of you bickering is quite the sight to see. But Lestat is a sadist and enjoys watching you and Louis argue for an entirely different reason.

- Him playing with your hair as you lay your head on his shoulder.

- His hand is always on your waist or holding your hand whenever you are out of the house. He wants to show everyone that he’s courting you and that you belong to him.

- He’s almost always the perfect gentleman. He always opens doors for you and lends you his hand when helping you into your carriage (I guess).

- There’s a very specific scene in my mind with him holding your hand as you walk down the steps of your carriage all the while he stares down a group of men who are ogling you. He’s just watching them closely before you call for his attention once more and he leads you to wherever you were going. (I hope this makes sense lol)

- There’s a lot of buildup before he kisses you ( just think of that scene with Armand in the movie when you probably thought they were about to kiss; love that scene).

- Really passionate kisses and spontaneous groping. He loves pinning you to things as well

- He’s a very honest person; he also can’t keep things from you for very long before he explodes from guilt. He’s an extremely guilty person in general; it’s just a fact.

- He’s incredibly strong and is always picking you up and spinning you around. He loves doing it when you’re dancing together usually as Claudia plays the piano.

- Him calling you darling, dear, my love, and sugar after a few centuries pass.

- Traveling with him and Claudia when the deed is done.

- He tries to keep you away from Lestat for the most part; Lestat is extremely jealous of this and kisses you in front of him just to be petty and spiteful. A threesome will ensue at some point we all know it.Your boyfriend is his boyfriend and you are to be his as well. There is just no way Lestat would have you be just Louis’s and not his too.

- His eyes seem to constantly be on you which is honestly flattering considering how perfect he is.

- Rubbing his shoulders as you sit behind him on a sofa. You usually do it to keep him calm/calm him down while Lestat annoys him or tries to argue.

- He would feel an urge to kill anyone who hurts you even if they just accidentally bump into you,same goes for anyone who disrespects you; it’s usually because Lestats like a little devil on his shoulder.

- Comforting him when he gets upset about his wife and child. You’re always able to brighten him up and make him less melancholy.

- He’ll be telling you how much of a monster he is and how you should really not stay with him as he pulls you closer and snuggles into you.

- He loves laying on any squishy part of you.

- There’s so many apologies for having you turned.

“Louis if I wasn’t turned I wouldn’t have met you and that would have been the true tragedy.”

- He’s such a stressed fucking individual like just hold him in your arms and calm him down before he snaps in half. Although he can honestly be such a drama queen.

“I love you.”

“Say it again?”

“I love you.”

“…One more time please.”

- Kissing your neck but not to be an asshole like Lestat would.

- Him making sure Lestat doesn’t overstep any boundaries or manipulate you.

- He reassures you that he will only and always love you after he feeds because we can all see how sensual they look when they suck someones blood.

“You are mine right my love.”

“Of course my dear.”

- Occasionally you wake up to roses scattered around your coffin. You’ll find him sitting on one of the many couches waiting for you to walk in with one of the softest smiles you’ve ever seen on his face.

- Anything you ask; anything at all, he will do for you.

- Holding hands as you watch the sunrise in movies.

- He always comforts you. It doesn’t matter if you’re only slightly upset or extremely depressed; he’s always going to be there for you.

- Tight Hugs.

- Braiding or just playing with his hair, he pretends he doesn’t like it but he loves the feel of your hands in his hair.

- Hearing stories from when he was young; especially if you get together now a days rather than way back then. (We all have our own different fantasies)

- Him laying out on the balcony rail as you stand beside him; occasionally leaning over him and planting a kiss on his lips. It never fails to make him smile.

- Small smirks whenever you kiss his cheek.

- So many ‘I love you’s’ you’re drowning in love. As well as compliments all the time.

- It’s quite clear that you’re not going to be able to leave anytime soon. His little undead heart couldn’t take the loss.

“I need you my love.”

- You would stay together; just you, him and Claudia living out the rest of your eternal lives like husband and wife.

#interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire headcanon #interview with the vampire headcanons #interview with the vampire imagine #louis imagine #louis headcanons #louis headcanon #louis x reader #90s #90s imagine #90s movie imagine #90s movie headcanons #90s movie headcanon #louis de pointe du lac #louis de pointe du lac headcanons #louis de pointe du lac headcanon #louis de pointe du lac imagine

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delioncrt · 4 years

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𝖎 𝖓 𝖙 𝖗 𝖔 .

𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞… lestat de lioncourt was known as the bold & animated lord with a reputation for being a stuart townsend doppelganger . but now , under the stress of the war on the horizon , the natural born villain original vampire has become widely known for being rather melodramatic & over-indulgent . let’s see how long the villeneuve native will last during this war . after all they’re only forty three / over one thousand years old . + he/him & cis male , the vampire chronicles.

hello hello! my name is ana, i’m 22 and i bring you my dramatic, over-indulgent gay vampire lestat!! i was here before (very shortly) as chiasa, but i was struggling for muse and really wanted to bring in lestat, so i’ve been working on him for a little while now and i’m so excited to finally be able to play him :’)

i have a plots page up, but it’s a REALLY rough draft right now and i plan on adding more depth/a lot more species related plots but i’m also open to plotting anything really! below the cut, i’m going to paste lestats bio but be warned it is very very VERY longs and i need to update it lmao i’ll also put some little tidbits of info to help you get to know him~

lestat is an original vampire, meaning he was changed by spell and not blood transfer

he loves anything theatre related, music related, and he would die for the aesthetic lmao

very over indulgent, he prefers his meals in the form of pretty boyes and the occasional fae sdhfusdj

he’s a lonely bitch who likes to turn others so he can have companions so if you’re ever down to have your character turned *fingerguns*

basically the embodiment of “i’m baby, give me attention”

dsjufsd my brain is dead right now but u get the gift

i am the vampire lestat.

born the seventh son, the youngest of three to survive into manhood. my mother was a literate noblewoman and my father a blind marquis, though i would be left with no prospects. despite my family’s title, near all our wealth had been used up and my eldest brother augustin was the rightful heir to all that we still possessed. as a boy, my father’s castle, the estate, and the nearby village were my universe. the rest of the world around me was dim and old fashioned. i was born restless, the dreamer, the angry one, the complainer. my father and brothers resented me because i was not like them; i didn’t sit around and reminisce on old wars, i didn’t spend all day at my father’s side playing chess, and history had no meaning to me.

do not be fooled though, i was far from idle or feckless. i was the only lord near the village who could ride a horse and shoot a rifle at the same time; it was my duty to hunt for my family. i brought in the pheasant, the venison, and the trout from the mountain streams on easy days. on harder days, it was packs of wolves that threatened the people in the village. it was a noble occupation, hunting one’s ancestral lands, and i alone had the right to do it. the richest of aristocrats couldn’t lift their guns in my forest, but then again, they didn’t have to. they had money.

it was the winter of my twenty-first year, i went out alone on horseback to kill a pack of wolves. it was the worst winter that i could remember, and i do remember, all too vividly. the snow all over those mountains, the wolves that were frightening the villagers and stealing my sheep. on that cold morning in january, i armed myself with a flintlock rifle, a hunting musket, my father’s sword, and an spikes mace that hung on the wall of our old armory. with my weapons, i set off and rode an hour up into the slopes until i reached a valley and heard the first howling.

i had killed eight wolves that morning. my mastiffs had not survived the attack, and i had to put my mare down as she was suffering from her injuries. i still remember every moment of the battle, the rattling cry she let out as she went down, the wolves that closed in on me and nearly took my life until i drew my father’s sword, and i remember sputtering sickly and falling to my knees at the sight of my dogs. it took me nearly two hours with a wolf over my shoulder to trek homeward. whatever i had felt when i was fighting those wolves went on in my mind even as i walked, when i stumbled and fell, something in me hardened and became worse.

by the time I reached the castle gates, i think i was not lestat, i was someone else altogether. my brothers did not believe me when i had shared of my story, and the next thing i remember, i was lying in my room. i didn’t have the dogs in bed with me as always in winter because the dogs were dead, and though there was no fire lighted, i climbed, filthy and bloody under the covers and went into a deep sleep. i stayed there for days.

but, you don’t really want to hear the sad ramblings of an old mans human life, do you? of course not, you want to know of how i came to receive the dark gift, don’t you? tut tut, so impatient.

first, you must know that it began around the turn of the 11th century. i was no longer living in villeneuve with my family, my mother had grown ill. she came to me in the night, begging me to take what valuables she had and escape the castle. she told me to pack my belongings and to leave out while the kingdom slept and to run off far away, somewhere where i could be content. unlike my relationship with my father, my mother understood me. she could not bare the idea of dying and leaving her son stuck in a castle he would never call home.

the thought of leaving her behind, knowing those were likely to be my last moments with her left an emptiness in my chest. despite the lonely ache, i followed her orders and left off into the night with what she’d given me, never to return.

in that time, i had gotten involved in the theatre scene. bouncing from kingdom to kingdom, my love for the stage only grew exponentially the longer i spent on it. i had landed a role as leilo, the young lover to a woman named isabella. my presence on stage was animated, i became my character and by the end of it all, they would nearly have to drag me from the stage as the crowd clapped. it had become my life, and for the first time, i was happy.

it was during my time on stage that i’d met my first love, nicolas. he was beautiful, standing about about five foot ten, with long dark hair and warm clear skin you couldn’t help but want to touch. he was a young violinist who had come from villeneuve himself and had introduced himself to me after recognizing my face during a show. he had asked me to tell him the story of how i’d earned the title of wolf killer, and in return, i asked him about his experiences in the kingdoms i’d yet to explore. we drank all night and shared our tales, our secrets, and our thoughts that night, and then we did it again and again near every night after that. he had magic in his fingers when he played his instrument, the rich melodies were the definition of elegance; graceful, serene, and breathtaking. he often played me to sleep at night when i was at my most somber. he was my closest companion.

that only made it so much more difficult to cope when i lost him. he was a lovely man, one i couldn’t have spent the very rest of my life with, and he deserved a peaceful death. he deserved better.

death did not care for fairness, though. it came in like a harsh storm, destroying and taking away what it wanted selfishly. his death was bloody, and gruesome, the kind of death only spoken of in hushed whispers. how ironic it was, the man who’d come to love the wolfkiller, killed by a wolf. that’s what the people in the kingdom had called it, at least. i knew better though, that beast was nothing like the wolves i’d fought all those years ago. this creature was larger, far more feral and hostile. in the light of the full moon, i could see that it had yellow eyes and sharp fangs protruding from its snout. it was stronger than any wolf i’d experienced in my life, like it had the strength of a supernatural being.

it was the first time in my life that another creature had truly frightened me. it shook me to my very core, and to this day, i only remember the look in its eyes and how it made me run and leave behind the only man i had ever loved.

i mourned for weeks in that forest, weeping and wailing out into the night. i begged and begged for that creature to return, to kill me, until my voice was hoarse and a strained hush. i did not eat, sleep, or move from the forest floor. by the time anyone had found me, all the muscle had gone from my body, my bones protruded from my pale, sickly skin, and my eyes had sunken in so deep that one might assume i was nothing but a skeleton.

i don’t remember much from that night, i only remember the words of the witch who had stumbled upon my body, and the spell that lead me into my newfound immortal life.

“poor little man, frail and broken in the dirt, begging for death. that isn’t what you truly want though, is it? no, you want revenge. you need it. how will you avenge your lover like this? a sad bag of bones, unable to lift his own body, such a depressing sight. i can make you better, lestat. i can gift you power, strength, and everlasting life. tell me, boy, is that what you desire? is that what you need? use your words, tell me yes, and i will give you everything you need to be great.”

yes.

#tales.intro #⁎ ° . ☆ ◞ ( ꜱʏᴍᴘᴀᴛʜʏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ ! 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔 )#tw: blood #tw: animal death #tw: animal harm #tw: death

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thenightling · 6 years

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In defense of The Shape of Water (I can’t believe I have to post this...)

At first I thought I was looking at the occasional troll posts from people who just wanted to get a rise out of Shape of Water fans but as the complaints became more and more plentiful I started to wonder were they really trolls or people who just got the wrong idea from some poorly written articles about the content of the film? Perhaps people who couldn’t follow the sign language portion of the movie for whatever reason?

Warning: This post does contain spoilers and might contain some controversial content.

Okay, here we go...

Item one: Elisa did NOT take sexual advantage of a “helpless” creature.

This is somehow more stupid to me than the claims that Beauty and The Beast is stockholm Syndrome- which I also consider to be exceptionally stupid.

The complaint I’ve been seeing most is the one claiming Elisa “took advantage” of a “Poor, simple” or “Vulnerable” creature.

1. The Creature was learning sign language, very, very rapidly. He actually figured out that her hand motions were language impressively fast considering that no one else around him communicated that way.

He learned the word “Egg” within moments of meeting Elisa and was soon able to form full sentences in sign language. He learned sign language it faster than most adult human beings, proving he is actually highly intelligent- possibly of genius level intellect- either that or he’s subtly psychic / telepathic, which is not outside the realm of possibility. Though many wince at the comparison I have to make it here. He’s pretty much just a non-verbal Abe Sapien from Hellboy and Abe was an intellectual.

It’s actually quite ableist to dismiss or diminish a being’s intelligence just because he does not communicate vocally. Isn’t that what the antagonists often did to Elisa? Constantly underestimate her and judged by appearances?

2. Elisa did NOT “Rape” the creature. This is a hideous thing to play “Boy who cried wolf” with and I am frankly disgusted to see this claim floating around. You want to see a real example of a male victim of rape: I present Jamie from Outlander as an example of a victim of repeated forced sexual acts from a male and later a female character. One by physical force, the other by threat and coercion.

There are even warnings on some episodes of Outlander because it addresses the very serious trauma of male rape.

There is no rape in The Shape of Water. Elisa asked The Creature in sign language if he wanted to be with her. He gave her an affirmative response.

Not only that but his masculine anatomy is retractable. Later Elisa describes this to her friend, Zelda. His organ doesn’t just respond to physical stimulation, it can be hidden and “secured” by will. Also he has very powerful claws that very easily tore a man’s throat open toward the end of the film.

Not only is he physically capable of preventing unwanted sexual actions the scene in question involved a literal request for consent and an affirmative response. In fact, later he asks for her and him to be “Together” again via sign language.

3. No, the film does NOT promote beastiality.

_____

According to the dictionary:

bestiality bes·ti·al·i·ty (běs'chē-āl'ĭ-tē, bēs'-) n. The quality or condition of being an animal or like an animal. Conduct or an action marked by depravity or brutality. Sexual relations between a human and an animal.

_____

The Creature in The Shape of Water does not behave like an animal. Nor does he look like any real-world lesser lifeform. Intellectually he has human intelligence or above that. To call Elisa’s relationship with The Creature Beastiality you might as well claim a man who is attracted to a short, small chested woman, must be a pedophile even if she’s a consenting adult and his intellectual equal.

There is a terrible argument being presented about the film, claiming that some primates can be taught sign language too but that doesn’t make them human or human level intelligence. This is true however The Creature in this movie learned sign language faster than most humans. It takes years to teach primates sign language and even then their conversations are very simple and rarely progress past kindergarten level communication. The Creature in The Shape of Water was learning improbably fast, forming sign language sentences in days. And he figured out that her hand gestures were a form of language even though no one else communicated that way. That takes intelligence beyond that of a chimp or even most human beings who aren’t familiar with sign language. I would argue that not only does he have human intelligence it’s likely above human intelligence.

The claim that because someone is unable to speak out loud they must be simple minded is a cruel argument that has been harmful to mute people for centuries. It’s the view that mute people are seen as simple minded that is part of why cutting out someone’s tongue used to be a popular way to punish people who spoke out against those who were in power, whether politically or religiously. It was done because even if the victim found new ways to communicate they would be perceived (by many) as being simple minded because people associated not being able to speak with being dim witted. And unfortunately there are still people who think this way.

The subject even comes up with the mute slave class of the Avox in The Hunger Games, all punished political prisoners who have been rendered mute to prevent them from spreading their ideas. And even if they try to communicate who would pay attention to them now? It’s a form of culturally accepted ableism that unfortunately has existed in the real world for centuries and as detractors of the Shape of Water have proven, still exists today.

The word dumb even used to mean mute or unable to speak, hence the phrase “Deaf and dumb” or “dumbstruck.” It’s because being unable to speak had been associated with being simple minded that the modern version of the word dumb (to mean stupid) was able to take hold and thankfully we almost never hear it used anymore to mean mute. It is a disgusting and ableist argument.

Let’s use the Frankenstein Monster as an example of this. In Mary Shelley’s original novel when The Frankenstein Monster learned how to speak (within less than a year of him being created) he quickly picked up on German, French and English. He was extremely articulate and eloquent. he was even very old fashioned in his way of wording things. Even by early nineteenth century standards he was old fashioned. He even had a favorite work of literature that he often quoted, John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

However thanks to the Boris Karloff film everyone thinks of the Frankenstein Monster as simple minded and it’s not even really the Karloff film’s fault. There’s something very wrong with that conceit- that Karloff’s version of The Frankenstein Monster is simple minded. If you watch the original 1931 Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie and Bride of Frankenstein you realize that the Frankenstein Monster, who technically should be at infant level, intellectual development (since he was just brought to life), learned to say things like “We belong dead” in a few months. Now just imagine a three month old baby saying that. The baby would be seen as a hyper genius. Seriously depressed but a hyper genius. And yet because The Frankenstein Monster has an adult body (despite only being a few months old himself) people have repeatedly treated him as dim witted in parodies and even other film adaptations and sequels even though The Frankenstein Monster was supposed to be extremely intelligent and if you pay attention even the Karloff version was extremely intelligent with how fast he was learning. The simple fact that he started off as mute has caused this stereotype that The Frankenstein Monster is simple minded even though he is not dim witted at all.

Even Anne Rice is guilty of this with her own characters. She had a set of twins in her Vampire Chronicles, Mekare and Maharet. Maharet is a vampire who was blinded. Mekare was made mute. Maharet’s eyes were torn out and Mekare’s tongue was cut out to make her unable to speak. And yet Anne Rice had it that Maharet (the blinded twin) was intellectually perfectly fine. She even eventually gained sight through scientific means.

And yet poor Mekare was treated as simple minded by Anne Rice’s first person perspective narration from The Vampire Lestat and I don’t think it was just the character’s own bigotry. The characters of Maharet and Mekare were twins and before their mutilations Mekare was the leader of the pair, the more out-spoken. Her mutilation, and what she emotionally suffered after that, should not have diminished that aspect of her personality or rendered her simple minded. And yet Anne Rice, herself, repeatedly treated the character as animal-like because she could not talk. Mekare may have suffered more but there’s no reason her intelligence should have dropped off just because she was unable to talk and yet she was treated this way repeatedly by the protagonist and author.

Too many people associate ability to speak with being simple minded and do not even realized how ableist that truly is. They seem to do it unconsciously.

Those who paid attention to The Shape of Water realize the movie contradicted those old and misguided beliefs and misconceptions about beings that can’t talk out loud.

4. There are plenty of stories where a deity or mythological figure is unable to speak vocal human languages and I don’t just mean in Hans Christian Andersen’s the Little Mermaid. Date with an Angel (1980s movie) = The angel ate a cardboard container and could not speak. Dogma = God was unable to speak in the presence of mortals lest it would kill them. This is also true in some religious beliefs. That's why he had angels and other messengers speak for him. The Old Gods / Old Ones from the lore of H. P. Lovecraft usually cannot or will not speak human languages. In Disney's Gargoyles, Oberon took away The Banshee's power of speech as a form of punishment. In Disney’s Once Upon a Time and in the Little Mermaid Broadway musical The little mermaid was the granddaughter of Poseidon (The sea God) and she spends a great deal of the story mute (if not the rest of her life like in the original Hans Christian Andersen tale.) In Norse Mythology Loki (The Trickster God) spent a long time (likely centuries) unable to speak because dwarves forcibly sewed his mouth shut with an unbreakable thread. Afterward, when he was finally able to free himself, there were, forever, tiny scars around his lips from where the stitches had been. Neil Gaiman's Sandman = Morpheus refused to speak during his seventy-two-years in captivity by humans and Neil originally intended that Morpheus would only talk within dreams and possibly be unable to talk out loud in the waking world but Neil changed his mind by the second issue. In actual Greek mythology Morpheus (The God of Dreams) could not even take human form in the waking world. Also in Greek mythology Echo could not speak except to repeat what others said in her presence. Zeus liked to take away the power of speech as a form of punishment to people who told Harrah of his misconduct. He even had every nymph's tongue cut out so they couldn't speak of his affairs the way Echo had before her punishment. So in Greek mythology nymphs and Echo could not speak and Morpheus could not speak in the waking world. 5. Not only is The Creature in The Shape of Water NOT simple minded but he is revealed to be a REAL God. He wasn’t just worshipped by the natives as a God, he was confirmed as actually being a God. He’s not an animal. Nor is he “another species.” There are no other creatures like him. He is literally a God. When Strickland (the villain) dies his last words are “You really are a God!” He has healing powers. He can cause a bald man to grow hair. He can heal wounds. Just because he doesn’t look like what we consider to be a God doesn’t mean he isn’t a God.

And here’s a quote from the director / writer to prove it.

Quote:

“It is a river God. It’s not an animal. It’s a river God in the Amazon. There was never another one. There was him and Sally Hawkins put on Earth, and their entire existence they were going to each other. And they didn’t know. She was found in a river. No body knows who her parents were. She has these markings since she was a baby. He was in the river. The natives gave flowers. An American company came to drill oil. They killed the natives, saw the creature and said ‘Let’s cage it and take it out.’ That’s the story. And he’s been alone all of his life.“

Source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/if-you-wanted-to-know-where-the-shape-of-waters-fishman-1821051561

6. Apparently some people feel if you rescue someone that having the recued person and rescuer end up together is “wrong.”

So apparently it’s a thing to denounce romances if one person is “dependant” on the other. I understand the logic to this if the significant other is financially dependant on the other, or doesn’t speak the local language. If there’s no effort to make the person self-sufficient this can lead to a dangerous and potentially abusive situation.

The problem is this is being used too liberally. Let me explain. There is someone on here saying The shape of Water is bad even if The Creature is intelligent (which he IS! Confirmed several times over and now by the novelization which gives portions from his perspective) because he’s ‘dependant on Eliza” to escape the laboratory and hide.

...So?

She wasn’t going to keep him forever, cloistered in a giant swimming pool and fed treads. She wasn’t going to prevent him from learning about the outside world. She just planned to hide him until it was safe to help him escape to open water. She wasn’t a potential abuser waiting to take advantage of his “Helplessness.” In fact he was willingly staying there out of trust. He could have run away easily and was physically able to defend himself (as we saw at th end) but was choosing not to.

In the end she’s dependant on him to save her and heal her. In various faery tales the princess is rescued by the prince or in more modern ones the prince is rescued by the princess. Why is this a bad thing? The character can still give consent to a relationship or not. They aren’t beholden to their rescuer.

In the movie Thor you see Jane Foster rescue Thor from a hospital and later a government interrogation. Does this make Thor dependant on her?

In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Overture we learn that Alianora rescued Morpheus when he was held captive by the old Gods who took over The Dreaming.

These characters are not usually helpless. In fact these two characters I have listed are very proud quasi-mythological figures. They still have their agency. They aren’t going to suddenly be given to their enemies if they refuse their love interests. They still have choice.

If someone offers you a ride when your car breaks down, do you suddenly refuse to ever consider that person as a potential romantic interest because you were once “dependant” on them? Do you see how loosely this concept is being misused?

If a date prepares supper for you does that mean you were dependant on them for sustenance?

Because Eliza rescued The River God in The Shape of Water this is suddenly grounds for why they shouldn’t be a couple. ...Why? So what if he needed rescuing? She needed him to rescue her at the end. It’s mutual.

Outside of fantasies with damsels in distress (or princes in peril) sometimes we are dependant on others. And that’s okay. When it’s not a permanent thing it’s nothing to be ashamed of and yes, you can have a relationship with that person. It’s not suddenly ‘wrong” just because you felt you needed them at some point.

__________________________________________

Item 2:

There are (I kid you not) some complaints that the movie is ableist.

Now before anyone gets on any high horse and insist that I’m not the right person to address this (because this is Tumblr, a realm born of self-righteous anger) let me begin with Yeah, I AM disabled. I’m borderline legally blind and my eyesight is more likely to get worse rather than better. I’m looking at a nice, twenty inch computer monitor, set with large print text. I will never be able to drive a car. And I can’t read fine print very well. When I read comic books I have to use magnifying (over the counter / non-perscription) reading glasses or read the digital format versions or I am literally struggling to read. Prescription glasses will not help because what I have is optic nerve damage. The left eye is totally blind (though it sometimes picks up light). The right eye is far from perfect but it’s what I work with. And I grew up with friends and family members who have various disabilities of their own. Having a disability does not define you as a person but I think it does grant some sense of perspective here.

Besides the complaints claiming that Elisa somehow raped a God, who knew sign language, had physical means to defend himself, (can kill with the swipe of his hand), and not only gave consent but asked for sex later but there are also complaints claiming that the film is ableist...

1. I’ve seen people complain that the dance number fantasy is tasteless and that mute people never fantasize about being able to sing. Bullshit. Does anyone remember the episode of the TV series version of Disney’s The little mermaid with the deaf mermaid girl named Gabriella, who had an octopus interpreter? That was based on a real little girl who was a huge fan of the show and DID claim she wanted to be able to sing like Ariel.

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Gabriella

Not everyone who is disabled is perfectly comfortable with their physical limitations. Sometimes we DO fantasize about what we can’t have. We’re not always perfect in how we think or behave- we are human after all. We’re not always perfectly comfortable with who and what we are and it’s not just the rest of the world that “doesn’t get it.” Sometimes we DO want what we don’t have and that’s perfectly okay. That’s normal. That’s human. And it’s okay to feel that way. There’s nothing wrong with feeling this way. And whether fictional or not Elisa shouldn’t be shamed for her fantasy just because she sings in the fantasy.

I’m pretty sure we don’t have wings but how many of us dream of flying? For a disabled person dreaming about the ability you lack is common. There are people who claim that if you are blind from birth you never dream of sight. I and other visually impaired people can tell you this is actually not true. Just because people with perfect eyesight can’t fathom it doesn’t mean it does not happen. I have dreamt of seeing with both eyes and have a pretty good idea of what it would be like even though I have never physically seen through this left eye.

Also Elisa’s fantasy wasn’t specifically about being able to speak or sing. It was a reenactment of a musical number she saw on TV with her friend, Giles. It wasn’t even really about being able to sing. It was about wanting to express how much she loved The Creature. I don’t know how people missed that point.

And no, she didn’t talk “just fine” at the end of the fantasy. That was just meant to be a gradual transition back to reality. It was just a fantasy.

2. The complaint about Elisa’s fantasy lead into the complaint “Every time a disabled person is shown in a film they have to be made able to walk, or made able to see, or speak, before the movie’s over.”

Yes, I hate that too when it happens...

I grew up with the annoying concept in the back of my mind that “You won’t have your happy ending until you’re like everyone else.” That’s why I thought Quest for Camelot was surprisingly refreshing that Garrett never got his sight back. Some people were angry about that but I was glad. It showed that you CAN have a happy ending without the miraculous “cure” being part of it.

There’s a Good Times animated version of The Little Mermaid where though The Mermaid gets the prince, she never does get her voice back and... I’m perfectly okay with that. So what if she’s mute? She was happy. She had her prince and she finally got to be human, what she always wanted anyway. And she didn’t need her voice to triumph anyway.

But no, Elisa never does gain a voice by the end of the movie. And no, it does NOT confirm that she was “never human be to begin with.” I hate that “Interpretation.” Again, see the quote a previously posted. That quote establishes that The Creature is a river God and there really are no others like him. He does not represent some lost race and she was not of that race. She’s his soulmate. It’s as simple as that. He gave her gills so she could come with him into the water. But he didn’t think she needed a voice and neither did she. As I said before, the fantasy sequence was not even really about her wanting a voice, but wanting to express how much she loved him. That is all. That’s why the song used in the scene is “You’ll never know.”

3. This is tied to the ableist nonsenses. People have ACTUALLY complained about Elisa spelling out F-U-C-K you instead of just giving the sign for “Fuck.”

Now, I’m not completely fluent in American sign language (ASL), I only know a little bit but it’s my understanding that there are at least four gestures that mean “Fuck” or similar and at least one for “asshole.” And people are actually complaining that she didn’t use the common sign for “fuck.” Here’s the thing, folks. Sometimes we deliberately want to stretch out what we’re saying, to savor the moment, and sometimes we deliberately spell our words out instead of just saying the word. Or sometimes we avoid swears by spelling them out instead of saying them. Sometimes it makes the word more potent if it’s spelt. If you can’t annunciate stretching out the word, spelling can work to compensate. Like writing “Oooooh” to indicate a gradual realization instead of “Oh.”

We (those of us with normal functional vocal cords) sometimes do the spelling out thing. (“Stevie and Bucky sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”) so why is it suddenly wrong if a mute girl does that too? Isn’t it actually ableist to presume she wouldn’t / couldn’t express herself that way?

4. There are some people complaining that the film should have used an actual mute woman in the role and that there are plenty of disabled actors out there who need the work. There are a few people saying that Sally Hawkins having the role of Elisa is “offensive” and “Ableist.”

Yes, there are disabled actors who need the work but in the case of Elisa, an actress is needed who fit the physical body type that was desired by Guillermo del toro, and you would add on that she would have to be mute but not deaf, and could swim / had no aversion to water. And also had no modern accoutrements to accommodate for the muteness, and was fluent in American Sign language specifically, and could be extremely expressive in their acting as well as learning complex dance moves. It’s not impossible but it would have been very difficult.

I’m not saying a real mute person can’t do the role. I’m just saying that such a role could be difficult for anyone.

As I am possibly ill-suited to judge, I have consulted with verbal and hearing impaired friends that I grew up with on Long Island, and none of them were offended by Elisa. In fact most of them love the character.

With the online complaints that they should have used a mute actress, I saw similar complaints about Angelique in the TV show Penny Dreadful, how she should have been played by an actual Trans woman.

Normally I would see nothing wrong with wanting that but Angelique was a Trans woman in the late nineteenth century- a time when there were no Transition surgeries, no hormone treatments, and there was going to be at least one scene of Angelique not presenting herself as female. This could be traumatic for a Trans actress and requires some specifics that might be seen as troubling, difficult, or impossible for many real Trans actresses. No, not impossible, but definitely difficult if you want realism for someone of that time period trying to present themselves as the gender their soul is but not their physical body. I’m not saying a real Trans woman can’t do it, but it might be very difficult for her and praise for any Trans woman who would take on that type of role.

And here’s a very real question. If we only cast real mute people, or real gay people, or real (insert minority thing here) how long until it’s no longer acting? Yes, gay, disabled, ect, actors of minority backgrounds should be cast for the roles that fit them when they are available but you would be surprised how often they don’t actually come to casting calls. I was made aware once of a play that featured a blind character and literally only one blind actress showed up for the casting and she wasn’t very good at acting either, no matter how much they tried to coach her and she refused to learn the lines. She felt she deserved the role simply for being blind, and didn’t care about the actual acting part.

If we are strict and specific in casting where do we draw the line? Do we stop letting people dye their hair for roles? Do we insist short actors can’t take tall roles anymore? Do we require blue eyes when blue contact lenses are readily available? Do we tell women like Wao Yoka (a popular Japanese theatre actress) that she can’t play male roles because there are plenty of male actors who want the part?

Where do we draw the line? I know that despite my poor eyesight I’m not offended by Charlie Cox as Daredevil.

Yes, I would like to see more actual disabled actors in Hollywood but it’s not that people refuse to cast them. It’s just that not as many people with disabilities make the effort to take the big roles as you may think. If you don’t believe me, check out any open casting for a disabled character role and look how few actual disabled people show up at the audition.

Also we tend to take for granted when celebrities shine that do have disabilities. And often no one thinks of them as disabled. Look at David Bowie for example. David Bowie had no depth perception due to damage in his left eye. When he was in a production of The Elephant Man they pushed back the sets because he stumbled off the stage. For yearsm before David Bowie died, he had a book of his own song lyrics with him whenever he performed and the lyrics were all in large print.

It’s actually good thing that there are quite a few disabled people in Entertainment that no one considers disabled. William Shatner has Tinnitus, Stephen King has deteriorating eyesight, Michael J. Fox has Parkinson’s Disease, Millie Bobby Brown is deaf in one ear, Lou Ferrigno is hearing impaired. And most of these actors (and writers) play or write characters who don’t even have the disabilities they have. Their disabilities don’t define them.

If we create an obligation that characters like Elisa have to be played by a disabled person then what? Do we stop letting Millie Bobby Brown from playing characters who use both ears? Do we stop letting gay men play straight characters? Do we forbid Trans women from playing cis women? Where do we draw the line? Isn’t the whole point of acting to become something you really aren’t? To transcend from yourself into new experiences and identities outside of what you know in your day to day life?

Note: I do not think of being gay as a disability. Nor do I think of being Trans as a disability. I only bring up Gay and Trans roles because I have seen that argument before about Gay and Trans characters and how they should only be played by real Gay people and or real Trans people.

Yes, I agree that more actual disabled, actual Trans, actual minorities of various types, should be cast in Hollywood, but it’s also okay when those cast are not playing roles specific to their “Minority status.” If a disabled person plays someone who doesn’t have their real world disability- great. If a Trans woman plays a Cis woman- great. If a gay man plays a straight role- fine. And I don’t think people like Sally Hawkins should be penalized because she’s not really mute. That’s not fair. All roles should potentially be open to anyone. Perhaps it’s not popular to think this way, but I do.

5. It’s when beautiful films The Shape of Water are discredited as Abelist that Hollywood gets discouraged and stops trying to represent characters like Elisa in Hollywood and frankly I think we need MORE characters like Elisa in Hollywood. She’s not just a strong disabled character. She’s not just a strong woman character. She’s a strong character, period.

Elisa is clever. She’s cunning. She is brave. She is warm. She is caring. She is compassionate. She’s kind. That’s important. She’s kind. You don’t see that too often with Hollywood’s idea of “strong” female characters anymore. They tend to treat kindness like a weakness. Elisa is kind. She is beautiful in her very soul. She is open minded. She does not judge by appearances. She isn’t a bigot. She likes eggs. She hates Key Lime Pie. She has a fondness for old musicals. She does not like to be ignored but is patient for her friends. She does not abide injustice if she can help it. She’s not afraid to speak her mind. She’s poor, working class, but not at all stupid or complacent with her place in the scheme of things. She’s an orphan. She has no family. She’s not afraid of her own sexuality. She has the heart of a secret agent and the tenacity to fool the world. She’s such a great person that she wins the admiration, respect, and love of a God, a God that SHE rescues. She’s more well developed than most Hollywood protagonists today.

Also Elisa’s actress, Sally Hawkins, is nearly forty-two-years-old. Hollywood still has that sexist / agist stigma that most female protagonists (particularly in love stories) have to be in their late teens or early twenties. This character broke a LOT of barriers and should be celebrated not scrutinized and criticized.

______________________

Conclusion:

Honestly, most of this defense of The Shape of Water should have been common sense. The Shape of Water is a gorgeous movie and very respectful to people with disabilities. There was nothing wrong with Elisa. Her true love just happens to be an aquatic God who didn’t know human languages.

And again, just because he got captured and doesn’t look human doesn’t mean he’s not a God.

Ever read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman?

The first issue of Sandman: Prelude and Nocturns features Morpheus (the ruler the dream realm) trapped in a giant glass bubble in a magical binding circle. He was kept naked and held prisoner that way, dehumanized, for seventy years in the basement of an occult organization’s main house. And he doesn’t speak during his entire captivity either.

He was the prisoner of the group that summoned and trapped him. And he looked like an emaciated, naked, alien, with chalk-white skin, wild-dark hair, and sold black eyes. In short, he looks humanoid but not precisely human, much like The Creature in The Shape of Water.

Sometimes deities don’t look the way we expect and it’s human arrogance that makes us not realize their true power. Isn’t that also what happened to Jesus in Christian lore? That he wasn’t recognized for who and what he truly was because of his humble appearance?

The Shape of Water has the same lesson we’re supposed to learn with Beauty and The Beast. Don’t be deceived by appearances. And yet I think many did judge and made assumptions by appearances in regard to The Shape of Water . And that is both ironic and tragic.

In the case of The Shape of Water, I urge you to watch the movie for yourself. It’s a gorgeous film. It deserves the praise. And don’t judge it because you saw some pretentious and self-righteous blog post bashing it based on misinterpretation or hearsay. That is all.

#Shape of Water #The Shape of Water #Sally Hawkins #Elisa #Eliza #Elisa Esposito #Eliza Esposito #Guillermo del Toro

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5thinvictus · 7 years

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The Strain 4x05: A Write Up

Disclaimer: The point of this is not to belittle or undermine anyone else’s interpretation or headcanon of the episode. The point of this is simply to get it off my chest. This is in no way an attack or a troll. It’s simply what I do after episodes, I just normally attach it with GIFs.

As MANY people in this fandom already know ... I’ve never been a Tasa shipper, but I accepted the relationship as a part of Quinlan’s life which allowed him to grow and feel.

I admit, full-heartedly, that The Strain is no longer a good TV show, but until now it was a HELL of a guilty pleasure. I watched it despite some part of myself understanding that it was bad, because I dug some of the characters and actors. I spent a LOT OF TIME pushing the show and creating content for it. I even spent nearly all of my time at SDCC doing so, knowing it wasn’t critically acclaimed or anything. However, this past episode wasn’t a guilty pleasure. This past episode, the creators actually insulted my intelligence a bit.

From the truck action (there were a few cool bits, but i.e. Quinlan falling to the truck for SEVERAL seconds, as the strigoi looks CONFUSED at him before getting cut in half. The wire was REALLY high up. It would have been so much cooler if Q had ducked under it at the perfect time) to the flashbacks to the unnecessary meandering dialogue/romance with Eph and his new lady friend (did we need that scene at all? There are only 5 episodes left and … what was the point of it all?), to Eph just letting that woman go to become the Master and know his location ... the writing and direction in this episode was scattered all over the place. ಠ_ಠ

I could likely go on for pages about the rest of the episode, but I’m not going to rant about anything in this post except the flashbacks and their personal impact on me.

Quinlan: out of Character? Perhaps ... Perhaps not.

The Strain is a bit notorious for not being able to keep any of their own characters straight. I think this might be because of the wide range of writers and I know this happens on TV shows because of that fact, but they flip-flop back in forth for everyone, with the only exceptions being Abraham and possibly Mr. Quinlan. Until now.

The flashbacks.

Very simply put, I would have accepted this all better if he was younger. That’s the crux of my problem with it. Not Louisa. Not that Louisa isn’t Tasa. Not that they’ve, once again, changed canon. I’ve read some arguments for this behavior that conjecture he was just "curious" and he had talked about being “curious” in Rome two thousand years prior. But that was when he was very young. If you follow the canon timeline, he was in his late teens or early 20s in that scene.

That was when he was STILL trying to figure out humans. In this scene, he is 1848 years old (1888 A.D. - 40 A.D.). Take a moment to fathom that number. 1848 years old. If human’s average lifespan is around 70 … that is a little more than 26 lifetimes. At this point in the story, he has lived 26 lifetimes. He has traveled the world, leading the life of a demigod undead hunter, integrating with societies all over. He was a gladiator, which meant he was likely used for sexual purposes. He would not be as curious as a schoolboy, or confused by a woman painting his face. Makeup is not a new invention. Over 1848 years, it’s ludicrous to think that he hasn’t TRIED to paint the strigoi out of himself before.

What I find the most hard to swallow about this scene is not that they replaced Tasa with Louisa or that they gave him a woman at all. I don’t care either way. It is that he acted like a child for most of the flashback. When the little girl ran in and met him, he acted like he’d never met a child before … Wait what?

So, if they had done this "love story" in Rome or sometime around that part of his past, I would have actually bought into it, because he was still on his first lifetime and he was still trusting, and curious, and childish, and … naive.

This leads me back to my headcanon about it. Louisa and her daughter remind him of Tasa and Sura, so he bought into the "romance," or the “idea” of it. He’s been alone for a long time and he’s grown tired and this woman pops out of nowhere and offers him a chance to revisit what he had lost so long ago, then maybe he would be more open to … moving in with her after a couple of days / weeks? (I agree with @theforgottensheikah on this. I fully understand they are rushed, but some kind of montage would have made it seem like more time had passed? The quickness was terribly OoC).

Expectation vs. Execution: The scene itself

Intimacy + Bonding vs. Strange Stinger Kink + Porno Moans

IMHO, this was weird. He’s feeding on her. There’s no kiss, there’s no intimacy, there’s no bonding.

They could have made that scene very sexy and made the audience feel the emotion that was supposedly there (even with the unbelievable Quinlan makeup) by having something like:

Forehead or nose touches (I fucking love these, sorry).

Quinlan refusing at first, telling her he didn’t want to hurt her, expressing concern for her.

Kissing … good lord, some kind of kissing.

Twitching and rattling with excitement over just the possibility of touching her.

I’m not daft or a fool. I get what they were trying to convey, but it fell flat. I’m not a crazy fangirl because I was more than open to see this. I DIDN’T MISS THE POINT AT ALL. But I wanted to see some intimacy. I wanted to see how Rupert would convey that intimacy. I was excited to possibly see Quinlan kissing someone.

IT … FELL … FLAT and then they made it weird.

He drinks her. Hmmm. To him, humans are food. To him, humans have always been food. 1848 years of food food food. I get that she’s got the kink and he conforms to it, but that’s not his kink He does what she asks but I’ve never been a huge vampire/blood play fan because … You like a good steak, but that doesn’t mean you want to fuck the cow, and if you are fucking the cow, doesn’t mean you are eating them at the same time. This disappointed me because it’s an incredibly clichéd vampire trope and I would hope that someone like Quinlan would be beyond it, especially at his age.

Also, I want to point out something particularly poignant here. Given how he reacted to the Master reminding him of Ancharia in 2x07, her death is still very much an open wound. So, I would think that being encouraged to drink from Louisa would be uncomfortable for him, to say the least. Since the Master forced him to drink the last known human that he cared for to survive, this scenario should actually be quite traumatic to him.

And, why would he want to drink someone he loves, especially after she just told him he was more beautiful as a human than a strigoi? Isn’t that confusing? She just painted him up like a human and then told him to drink her like a strigoi. I digress ...

When I watched this part of the episode, I wasn’t crying, I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t even cringing. When I watched this part of the episode, I started laughing. This is no exaggeration. Even my husband asked me what I was ‘cackling’ about because these flashbacks played as if I was watching them re-enact a bad fanfiction. After it was over, I was more embarrassed and a bit creeped out about being a fan than angry or even disappointed.

What ran through my head was:

Oh good god. Is this what the show runners think of us?

Someone who accepts him in all of his unique beauty vs. Someone who tells him he needs to be human to be beautiful

I don’t need to touch on this subject as many already have. Instead, I’ll let Guillermo del Toro speak for all of us:

Well, I have said this in the past, so I hope i don’t bore you by repeating it, but I think that we live or die under the tyranny of perfection. Socially, we are pushed towards being perfect. Physically, beautiful to conform to standards that are cruel and uncommon, to behave and lead our lives in a certain way, to demonstrate to the world that we are happy and healthy and all full of sunshine. We are told to always smile and never sweat, by multiple commercials of shampoo or beer.

And I feel that the most achievable goal of our lives is to have the freedom that imperfection gives us.

And there is no better patron saint of imperfection than a monster.

We will try really hard to be angels, but I think that a balanced, sane life is to accept the monstrosity in ourselves and others as part of what being human is. Imperfection, the acceptance of imperfection, leads to tolerance and liberates us from social models that I find horrible and oppressive.

— Guillermo del Toro, on why he has always been intrigued by monsters

Passive vs. Submissive vs. Dominant

Quinlan was uncharacteristically passive in this episode. HE WAS THE SEXY LAMP THIS TIME. From Ancharia to Rome to modern day, he’s never been this passive. Even when he was working with Abe, he was still contributing and arguing.

This breaks the continuity of his characterization.

Aside

For those comparing him to Dracula AND/OR Lestat and using that as a basis for belittling others into loving what they saw: I didn’t pick Mr. Quinlan because he reminded me of other critically acclaimed vampires. I picked Mr. Quinlan as my favorite fictional character because he was uniquely interesting and beautiful.

I chose him because of how intriguing and new he looked, how he acted and how Mr. Penry-Jones portrayed him. I picked him because he was different than any other vampire/dhampir/nephilim I had ever seen. Comparing what they did to him with other vampires, regardless of how I feel about those other character, actually cheapens his uniqueness for me.

Also, Gary Oldman was a shapeshifter in that movie and thus, it was well within my suspension of disbelief that he could change the contours of his face to look entirely human.

Now ... Understanding Your Fanbase

Part of the reason I, and many more fans, like the character of Quinlan is because he doesn’t conform to modern beauty standards. I loved that he wasn’t your average handsome, makeup-laden (cough - Twilight) vampire hunk. I loved that he was unique and complex. They took one of the most important aspects of his character and they wanted us to buy into a rushed and botched romance with a woman who wanted to fundamentally change him. Tasa fan or not, it’s very clear why this bothered people.

Would you and SHOULD YOU be with someone who convinced you that you needed to get plastic surgery? I guess, since this is made by ‘Hollywood’, then this is an acceptable thing in that space?

In Conclusion: 4x05

No, we did not miss the point. No, we aren’t being stupid fangirls who don’t want to share Quinlan. The fact is, we just aren’t that gullible. Many of the people in this fandom have written their own fics, whether it be explicit or not, whether it be with an original character or Tasa or another canon character.

An impressive amount of us have actually sat down and put pen to paper in an attempt to characterize Quinlan. This is a difficult thing to do, because we like to think that he’s incredibly complex and mysterious. But, everyone is free to have their own interpretation of him.

Mini rant: Why does The Strain always make their female characters so sexually aggressive? From Nora ripping Eph’s clothes off in the middle of an episode, to Anya being the one to invite Gus into her warm bosom, to Dutch VERY AGGRESSIVELY seducing both Fet and Eph, to Louisa begging for it? Is this really the only type of woman that exist in this world?

In Further Conclusion: Quinlan and The Strain Fandom

I’ve never been a superfan of anything in my life and, while it has been a phenomenally creative outlet, the toxicity and ugliness of the current fandom makes me realize that I’ve got to get back to being an adult now. At the end of the day, it’s just any old terrible TV show and they’ve decided to remove the one thing that was inspiring me to continue watching and the bragging that it’s only going to get worse only tires me more.

It’s absolutely no secret that if the Strain didn’t have Quinlan in it, I would have stopped watching it halfway through season 3. It was all over the place, from the plot holes, strange character direction, and … of course … the treatment of women.

On that note, allow me a tiny tangent. Something has seemed significantly off about the Strain since it came back together to film Season 4. Speculation on the cause of this tepidness shown from the creators, crew, and actors has driven mad speculation throughout the remaining members of the dwindling fandom.

What was going on that no one wanted to say anything? Was it that good that they didn’t want to spoil anything or … was it that bad that people are actually embarrassed about their contractual involvement? Why wasn’t the cast promoting it very much anymore? Why wasn’t the social media team themselves promoting it very much? Why weren’t there any teasers or anything to drive anticipation. And … most importantly … where the fuck did Guillermo del Toro go?!?

While we’re desperate to know why everything seemingly fizzled out, as just ‘simple fans’ who’s opinions don’t matter, we will never be privy to such information. If anyone has any insight into this and they’d like to share with me as a parting gift, please do so. It would be a private conversation.

I’ve been putting far too much passion into promoting and generating content for this show and after the atrocity that was the last episode (and the manner in which people reacted to criticism of the episode), I’ll be taking an indefinite hiatus from further involvement in this fandom. (Indefinite: lasting for an unknown or unstated length of time.) After all, I’m just a ‘simple fan’, and the only way that I can really show my disdain for the misdirection is by boycotting further direct involvement in the fandom.

WAIT! WAIT! WHAT ABOUT THE GODDAMN FIC!?!

。゜゜(´Ｏ｀)°゜。

I do not regret the time I’ve put into this as it gave me the confidence to reach beyond what I thought I was capable of and it drove me to start writing finally. I don’t even regret that the Strain was terrible in Season 3, because the best fanfic actually comes out of terrible shows (for obvious reasons). And regardless of what happens next in the show (which I am politely declining to watch further), no one can EVER take away the headcanon that I’ve created for myself and my version of Quinlan. Overall, I am incredibly proud of the characters that I built and the fandom that I have for my own interpretation.

With that being said, the latest episode was amazingly uninspiring and it kinda murdered my muse a bit. I will see what I can do about that. I promise. And if there is enough interest in me continuing it, I will.

Now, my fierce and lovely fandom … prepare yourselves for one final and epic commission for Straining for Originality. I’d wanted to wait until the chapter, but fuck it all …

Gif by @quintustheinvictus

#the strain #quinlan #Mr. Quinlan #quintus sertorius #the born #rant #the strain rant #the strain review #review

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