The exact line in the TVL ep7 is "You are all here tonight because I murdered you, made you, or memorably traumatized you."
Paul fits into the latter category. Also, it was already covered in s01e06 that Lestat had nothing to do with Paul's death PLUS interviews with cast and crew at the time reiterated that Lestat wasn't lying about that PLUS Anne always maintained that Lestat had nothing to do with Paul's death in the books, either.
shows these days try hard to find the most unpredictable story for their finales and so fuck up in the process. someone tell them it's okay to be corny and give the audience a chunk of what the audience really wants!
The decision to shoot in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, where the Indigenous people can’t tell their stories without fear of imprisonment
The simple act of holding a camera in my homeland of Western Sahara can be a crime. When Sahrawi film-makers and journalists attempt to document everyday life under Moroccan occupation, they can often end up in prison cells. For the Moroccan regime, a camera in the hands of a Sahrawi threatens its official narrative that Western Sahara is part of Morocco.
In contrast, when celebrated international names in the film industry wish to capture an ideal picture for an epic journey, and decide that our land is exotic enough to shoot the desired scenes, they are welcomed, escorted and granted access by the same authorities that usually deny us that right.
[...]
Nolan’s choice to film in an occupied territory highlights the extractivist practices embedded in the western film industry. Western cinema has often been complicit in mining stories and immaterial culture from the global south at a scale no smaller than the material resources mined by the western colonial industrial complex. International film crews parachute in, shoot our faces, clothing, dunes and material culture, then fly off. For them, it seems we are simply decorative elements for their sets and back in New York, London or Paris, they gain prestige, box-office returns and awards.
For Nolan’s Dakhla shoot, he appears to have neither sought our consent nor considered the ethics of in effect helping to prop up and legitimise Morocco’s occupation, thus making the space even more unsafe for Sahrawis living under it. He is actively participating in a state-sponsored PR campaign designed to legitimise an illegal occupation.
Now that everyone is discussing Nolan's Odyssey movie, I feel like it's a good time to let non-Italians know that the production dumped plastic props into the Italian sea. Weirdly enough I could not find any article in English about it but it's a fucking problem nonetheless.
I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.
Non è la prima volta che la produzione solleva un vespaio in Sicilia. A Lipari una squadra di sub sarebbe però già impegnata a bonificare i
They dumped plastic skeletons in environmentally protected areas, against the literal contracts they had to sign to get the permits to film in environmentally protected areas. Like they not only did a bad ecological thing that freaked out some divers, they literally broke environmental protection laws and their contract with the Italian government
Favorite thing about renaissance faires is that they have fuck all to to with the renaissance. This thang is not about historical anything this is about dressing up like a fairy and watching a joust
(very long post!) this is actually the second part to my first meta where i address Louis and Lestat's own parental trauma and how this impacts their respective approaches to Claudia. this post is the continuation of that so please read that one first, it covers their parenting styles and abusive tendencies. this was actually inspired by a lot of what Sam Reid spoke about in the BTS/ After Dark about how important it is to give a child the space to hate you as a parent so they can learn about hate, and how Gabriella never gives that Lestat, and it made me think a lot about Louis and Claudia as well, especially after the seance scene.
in 3x06, we see for the first time Louis actually have to contend with the fact that Claudia hated him for the things he did to her, despite the fact he has crafted his entire existence around his grief over her. it's interesting to me because deep down on some level i think Louis was always aware that Claudia resented him, but through his Dubai years and his inability to reckon with his own flaws, he suppresses this, as does talking about his memories of Claudia to Daniel throughout the show which helped him try to paint his failings in a better light and ease his conscience as he pushed most of the blame on Lestat. something i recognise is Louis' ability to accept joint failure of Claudia when it comes to both him and Lestat, in the second interview with Daniel ("she was a band-aid for a shitty marriage?" 1x04) but maintain a complete rejection of responsibility when it specifically comes to his own actions:
"she couldn't burn him." / "you cursed her into the darkness, you chose Lestat over her time and time again." / "she couldn't burn him." (1x07)
we see Louis physically run away from Daniel's truths because of how much he rejects them, which i think is a big contrast to the Loumand fight in 2x05:
"i loved her!" / "but she didn't love you! not like he did...not like i have."/ "...i know. yes!"
the only reason i don't believe that this is even still a full acceptance of how Claudia truly felt about this, is because straight after this scene, Louis walks into the sun because he "hears Claudia calling [him]" (asking him to join her) which is very much not what she wants. i think it's a repeated pattern of behaviour in Louis when it comes to Claudia to forcefully insert himself into areas of her life whether she wants him there or not, or whether it is for the best of not, as long as it means he can still appear to be the "good person" to her. in my previous post i spoke about how Louis uses indulgence as method of keeping young Claudia on his side in the household, and i think this is an extension of it.
when Claudia comes home after the fight, to find some power/respect in the household, she asks to be addressed as Louis and Lestat's sister. metaphorically, Claudia is very sympathetic in this ask due to the fact Loustat's infantilisation made her feel powerless, however, i think it is a very unrealistic ask. all family dynamics are somehow underpinned by fundamental things like birth order, subconsciously it affects most of the familial architecture. basic things like the respect/loyalty children feel they 'owe' their parents stems from the fact that they are the 'superior,' leading figures in the household in terms of birth rank. Claudia trying to cross these kind of carnal, instinctive and even evolutionary lines is simply not achievable. whether you renounce/disown them (in some cases unfortunately) a parent will always be a parent, because they should have an instinctive responsibility over their child(ren). the responsibility of a parent is different to the responsibility of a friend, partner or sibling. therefore, i always find Louis' readiness to accept that was Claudia's "brother" quite interesting.
Louis can easily go along with Claudia's whims, reduce his parental responsibilities as long as it keeps Claudia close to him and paints himself in a better light to her ahem "daughter, sister, throw-pillow." she was not intentionally saved from the fire with the purpose being a daughter (it is Lestat who first brings this suggestion) and Claudia even recognises in 1x05 that she is meant to be a stand-in for the familial female chord he is losing with Grace ("i know why they made me...to be Louis' sister.") of course Louis readily accepts this notion of raising a daughter after Lestat's suggestion, and was content with Claudia as his daughter ("you had a daughter?" / "i had a daughter." ) his ability to agree to being her brother represents the fact that there is always an under-current of self-serving interest in his relationship with Claudia, because as a parent, choosing to become a friend or sibling to your child is not a healthy or reasonable option. it confuses and complicates a very important boundary that exists from birth. if your child wishes to sever the relationship (for very valid reasons in Claudia's case) then as parent you must be willing to accept that, but not remove yourself from the role as parent. even if Claudia never needed to call upon Louis again, it is his duty as a parent to still be there for her in a parental capacity.
this unhealthy way Louis can shape-shift into whatever Claudia expects him to be is a key part of the emotional incest in their relationship. there is no sense of healthy boundaries because Louis almost always says yes to Claudia, because indulging her is most of the time in his best interest. in France, we see their relationship take on this sibling/friend dynamic (Claudia has clearly been growing even more resentful of Louis as Louis has been leaning on her emotionally more than he ever had been because he missed Lestat: "who are you outside of me?" 2x02). something to me is the scene where they discuss the "lust" Louis feels for Armand which i felt crossed the parent-child boundary.
as Lestat says in season one "[she] is a child involving herself in the romantic affairs of her parents." which is completely true. Claudia over-steps so greatly in Louis romantic/sexual life (we see this in her obsession to have Antoinette killed supposedly on Louis behalf) and i think this is because Louis entwines their identities so much because he can never maintain the boundary of patent and child so there is an element of vicariousness that enjoys Claudia in relation to Louis. as Delainey says in the After Dark, Claudia is somewhat jealous of Louis and "wants what he has" (there is connection i think here to pre-vamp Gabriella and Lestat in sense that Gabriella was confined to her womanhood and used Lestat vicariously, in the same way that Claudia is confined to her childhood and uses Louis vicariously through Louis to expose herself to feelings and experiences she feels like she can't have- e.g. the telepathic conversation during the Loustat sex scene in 1x06)
and here is what i think separates Louis and Lestat in their approach to parenthood: responsibility. i find Claudia's "he was always who he said he was" (3x06) to not only mean that Lestat was the least hypocritical parent, but that Lestat always remained her parent. even when she despised him, he refused to give in to her wish for her to be his "companion/sister" and still only ever treated/saw her as his daughter:
"it is not as simple as choosing a new family configuration, i am your maker." (1x06) / "(to Louis) you're not even my maker! that's my blood." (3x06)
i think after all of Claudia's thinking after death, she has come to accept the fact that this was always the correct the response. Lestat allowed her to hate him, he allowed her to perceive him as the kind of "bad cop" of the parental dynamic, but he never compromised on the fact that he was her parent because he knows how bad things can be when the lines between parent/child become blurred due to his history with Gabriella. he embraces the fact that he is not a very good parent, but never shirks his responsibility. even in the same scene where he tells Louis "you wanted her, you fix her" (a line which can be seen as deflecting responsibility) Lestat is still the parent to notice the scars on her arms from her failed attempt to create a fledging, and is one who tries to bring it to attention but once again, Louis is silent in this scene despite the fact he has just reassured Lestat that they are "in this together" when it comes to raising Claudia, because he knows it is much easier to make Lestat take the fall as the bad guy if it means it can unite him and Claudia: "he treats *us* like shit and you take it!" this is not entirely true. whilst Louis and Lestat have their respective faults in the relationship, at this point in the timeline (before the seven years) it is not an abusive relationship, Louis knows he is not just the "housewife" to Lestat, but he never corrects this misinterpretation of his relationship with Lestat because it keeps Claudia with him and continues the us vs. him dynamic between the unholy family that has been present since day one ("so he's the dumb one?" 1x04)
it's why the line "she looked at me at the end, like a child...looking towards her father, but i was never-" (2x08) always sticks out to me, because whilst Lestat was not a great father, he always stayed a father, but at this point in his life he truly believes that he does not deserve the role. why? because he fails to protect/save her in Paris. circling back to my first argument, inherently tied to parenthood is a different kind of responsibility. as a parent, Lestat recognises that he fails in duty to Claudia (even if she doesn't see him as her parent) and therefore deems himself unworthy to be addressed as a father. Louis on the other hand clings to this fatherly identity (once again, "i had a daughter") as a way to ironically absolve himself of the responsibility for being such a large component as to why Claudia had such a "miserable" life. Louis uses fatherhood to romanticise his treatment of Claudia and hide the darker elements to their relationship ("i loved her unconditionally") and it's interesting that we see this defence mechanism triggered during the seance.
when Claudia starts laying into him, Louis instinctively says (almost as a knee-jerk reaction) "what about the thing you should be thanking me for?" -> though it referenced Bruce, almost in effect also means means "what about what you owe me as your father? what about the life i gave you?" (i love the way Jacob Anderson breaks this down it's such a brilliant suggestion to be placed into the script.)
Louis uses fatherhood to reject responsibility for failing Claudia as to him, fatherhood almost acts as blanket 'fix-it' for all his mistakes because at least he can say, i am ultimately your dad, you exist because of me and would have no life if it was not for me.
so to me a lot of people saying that what was said to Louis was somehow undeserving or what Claudia says to Lestat is retcon of their relationship is not entirely accurate. that scene is the culmination of all the events of Paris and NOLA, and Loustat's individual responses to Claudia's behaviour and individual approaches to her upbringing. she most definitely meant the things she said to the both of them because have been subtly reinforced time and time again right from season one.
as a fan of the vampire chronicles for 11 years and with tvl being my favorite book, i definitely have very mixed feelings on this season purely as an adaptation. it's obviously not what we all expected, and we know there was network/budget interference in some written scenes they wanted to film, but clearly certain choices were made for this to be a non-traditional adaptation regardless of episode count or them just filming in toronto. i've had ups and downs with that aspect of it, and have really, really missed my book accurate masc gabrielle, my lesmand scenes, my full nickistat arc, etc.
at the same time, i truly feel this has been a stellar season of television. i've adored (nearly) every episode beyond all reason, especially once i let go of my long-held book expectations and just enjoyed the show for what it is, this particular story that these writers wanted to tell. the head writers are all the same as seasons 1 and 2, and i personally do not feel any nuance or quality has been lost in that regard at all. it's been a huge stylistic shift, but i don't see how that wasn't the expectation from everyone, considering how much of a whiplash the source material perspective shift is. i've watched each episode at least 3 times and get something new out of them every time.
what ended up mattering more to me at the end of the day than specific book scenes being faithfully adapted was that book lestat was there in all his glory. to me, the most important aspects of my favorite character have been on full display - his chaos, his vulnerability, his love for humans, his theatricality, the violence inside him he reckons with. i love it all, and this season feels so unbelievably true to the character across ALL books in the series (specifically those 90s/00s years, like totbt and memnoch) in a way that s1 lestat actually didn't for me.
i used to say that showstat, while i also loved him dearly, was not quite the same for me as my bookstat, but that's really changed this season. this is the most book accurate the character has ever been, and again, that's the most important thing to me. i just love him so so much, and having a full season of him being so *himself* has made me extremely giddy.
Lestat's dedication to Halloween is charming. He answers his door with a plastic pumpkin full of sweets after just learning something earth-shattering, even if he is... not very mannerly to the children once he sees them dressed as his dead daughters, her murderer, and his estranged husband.
Then he is going to be out for the evening and leaves out a bowl and a sign on the door telling people to take some sweets.
He is so convinced of his own monstrosity but he does try to be good. He wants to be. And that is the essence of Anne's Lestat.
People saying 'why didn't Lestat get talked down' as if they didn't see Claudia saying shit about Lestat for two seasons, lmao. You are so fake watchers. For Lestat it was just another day to get dragged by her, it's Louis who was delusional.
Not to mention the Merrick seance in the books was worse because it was solely Louis' idea and Claudia went solely at Louis. If anything, Louis got little here.
That is what Lestat said to her when Claudia turned her ire toward him here. Because yes, not only is he used to it, he expected it, and accepts it because she's always done so with him.
Claudia's hate for Lestat was never a secret, not even to Lestat himself. It never has been. So his getting dragged by her was not, in any way, some new thing to either him or her.
It's Louis who had the selfish delusions about Claudia and how she felt about him, not Lestat.
Lestat always saw Claudia -- and how she felt about him -- with clear eyes.
Louis, in contrast, never has. For him, he always saw Claudia in relation to his own issues and feelings, starting from the very moment he took her home and begged Lestat to turn her.
Hence why she reamed him wrt what he did with Bruce. Because that whole revenge thing wasn't about her, it was about making himself feel better.
And that is always what it's been with Louis when it comes to Claudia. And he has never broken out of his self-delusion about that, even after Paris and her death.
So yes, damn right Claudia went as hard at Louis as she did.
Whereas, with Lestat, it was just another day at the office between him and her.
And yeah, in the book Merrick, Claudia reads Louis so hard, he basically goes and tries to kill himself afterwards, by taking his coffin out into the garden and leaving it open for the sun to burn him to death as he's sleeping.
Because ghost-Claudia in the book not only told Louis to kill himself because it would give her pleasure in it, but then stabbed him herself for good measure, too:
[...]
[...]
---
So yeah, Louis in the show got off a bit more easily compared to the book, because at least Claudia didn't stab him before she left. And his guilt-ridden suicide attempt already happened back in 1973.
And that is because the show changed it to Claudia not even wanting Louis dead, because she didn't want him with her in the afterlife/hell, after having finally "ditched him for someone more worthy." (Whom she can't now even find again now, after finally finding her.)
okay but we can't know for sure that the loud noise and bright flash offstage—which occurred after the character who was holding the gun exited the stage with it—was a gunshot, because we didn't get to directly see it
I've never seen a tag with so much unfiltered neg in it, I'm having to block people left and right.
It's not hard to understand fandom etiquette, you're absolutely free to post neg (you're allowed and welcome to share your thoughts and critiques!), but if you want to put it in the main tags, then tag it accordingly. Thank you
titsay
tangentwithtanner
snowghoul
2087
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ellievsbear
