我希望你能幸福

何伍/uranium-orb | juat an orb,English/CH | block me at your will,plz DONT argue with me

[sneez]

the idiot at the salzburg festival in 2024 :D i will always treasure this production (and beloved @swallow-wind for making me aware of it) for 1. introducing me to opera and 2. lebedev with eyeliner. i also took inspiration for myshkin’s outfit from this wonderful artwork by my dear friend @exchanging-crosses ^_^

[hewu-orb]

I finished watching the idiot opera...I couldn't find subtitles but it's SO interesting

Maybe I'll find the subtitled version and watch it again, but right now I can't stop thinking about this production... I know there's probably just some acne on actor's face in this version, but I just feel like Myshkin would break out in crazy acne when he gets too nervous and then unconsciously pick at it (?) and Nastasya's necklace is just a decoration from the musical version - I just think it's so cute :)

（I hope Nastasya could smile more…and every time I hear her voice that reminds me of how in the original story she sang to make Myshkin happy...）

[dailyphantomhands]

Lon Chaney (with Mary Philbin)

[hewu-orb]

some stupid doodles because recently I read the idiot and the man who laughs like crazy

there's no definite character design yet, so it's just some little ones

[hewu-orb]

the man who laughs(1928)

some comparison between the US version（left，screenshots from FA's fix version)and European version（right,from Kino) lenses

I recently noticed that the European version focuses more on shots of Gwyn and the shots are also taken from further away. Also, the shots of Dea are kinda "blank-faced", but the continuity of the shots is better in the European version (the US version I found even had duplicate shots,but fix version issues maybe).

The US version focuses more on shots of Dea, and Dea's expressions are more varied

[classichorrorcemetery]

While we are talking about what more obscure Universal Monsters characters we want to see added I'd like to throw one of my underrated favorite characters that, kinda fits the category I'd love to see added in.

And before y'all jump me for adding him into the Universal Monsters category please read the whole post.

I'd love to see them give Gwenplaine more attention. I feel he is definitely one of their more underrated characters. But, he's been part of the Universal Monsters group before.

For example, when they made Universal Monsters Online and added a lot of their very obscure characters as playable characters, Gwenplaine was actually one of them. Picture below:

Now...as much as I love Gwenplaine, and want to see him in more, and as much as I love HHN, and the stories they're creating there, I hesitate to outright say I want them to put him in Halloween Horror Nights.

Because, as the Man who Laughs fandom knows well and has to deal with, the Man Who Laughs is not actually horror. It's, pretty much a dark romantic drama/tragedy. (I've read both the book where I got to hear about the philosophy of water and seen the 1928 silent movie if anyone is curious).

Because there's really only two ways that's going to go. One is they make him the "Monster" of the story and, even if they give him reason and an explanation, so maybe it can be done right, I just am not thrilled with the endgame of that being making him a mass murderer with innocent people being involved.

The other option is he's one of the people opposing the monster of the show, in which case it's likely he'll be killed off eventually. Again, could he done correctly, that would just be my main concern if they took this approach.

So, don't get me wrong I'd be excited if this is how they decided to bring him back. I've even tried to think about a few ideas. I just think it would need to be done right and I'd be concerned if it actually happened it wouldn't be.

But, what Universal is also doing, is with the Dark Universe, they have finally decided to really take a deep dive into the Universal Monsters. As horror but also, to explore all the complications and depth that is in their characters and movies.

And I, actually, really really love this. That they're going into a deep dive of exploring the characters. Letting people decide for themselves. Letting there be complications for any character. Showing even that, a lot of characters, human or "monster" are case by case. No, the Monsters aren't all purely evil. But they're also not all just misunderstood either. And I love that they're, exploring that more.

So I think actually this would be a great time for them to bring Gwenplaine back. Because, like it or not he is considered to generally be one of the Universal Monsters, a lot of people usually think of his story as a horror movie.

So, have him there, make a new story for him. Show he's one of those that have had horrible things happen to him, but is not actually a monster. (Both literally and figuratively).

Maybe have Victoria have also captured him and put him in Darkmoor. If this is shown either through the park or the ride. Maybe she made him, Dea and any others of his group there recreate their show in Darkmoor.

Maybe they're just some of the people residing there because of her. She has Erik, who is in a very similar situation as Gwenplaine. Maybe even have them walk about as characters, Gwenplaine having a scarf when not in show and walking about with Dea. (And hear me out...we get actresses with her who are actually blind).

And all this can also be in video walk-throughs for people like me who can't actually go but participate by watching walk-through videos.

Anyway, while we're talking about our Universal Monsters wishes and ideas, I wanted to throw in some of mine. Thank you for reading!

As a side note to all this I would also like to say I really like his Universal Monsters Online design.

[indistinctmumblings]

"God closed my eyes so I could see only the real Gwynplaine." Mary Philbin as Dea in THE MAN WHO LAUGHS 1928, dir. Paul Leni

[sneez]

more pictures from this production which i would give several limbs to see

[hewu-orb]

我还没深入思考但是我现在在想梅什金娜斯塔霞罗戈任三个形成了一个恶性死循局的诡异平衡，我觉得罗戈任其实到最后也不恨娜斯塔霞，他等娜斯塔霞睡着后看到刀临时起意小心翼翼地杀了她可能是出于爱或者怜悯做的他认为的一件“好事”，有谁听得懂我在说什么吗我好像自己也说不明白而且说出来好诡异，，他学不来梅什金那种去治愈的爱所以他的爱是结束一切痛苦，我觉得无论是梅什金还是罗戈任，他们都不恨娜斯塔霞，最恨娜斯塔霞的其实是她自己

“让她现在就躺那儿，躺在咱俩旁边，挨着我和你……那么，不自首，也不让抬走。” “对，说什么也不————让！坚决不————让！” “说什么也不让，老弟，不把她交给任何人！”

[sneez]

Finished the book yesterday. It wiped me out.

The whole final scene in Rogózhin's house was as beautiful as it was terrible. Rogózhin confuses me though. I'll have to reread his first scene. I wanted to ask for your thoughts about him. He feels like a mirror, but it's not clear to me for whom, if Nastasya or Myshkin. Perhaps for Nastasya only in her regards to Myshkin, because it did feel like he could have murdered M, not out of jealousy but for the same reason for which he murdered N.

I wonder what I would have thought reading the scenes before Rogózhin's house had I not known already what had happened, because it is said multiple times that marrying R would be like suicide for N, but at the same time the "horrible thought" that M has regarding R and the knife refers to R's attempted murder of M. Does this make any sense? The walk to the house gave me chills, especially R appearing out of nowhere and whispering in M's ear before we can even see him, and then admitting that he has been waiting for him in the hotel hallway. Also the whole thing about the flowers and the bed and N making sure they entered the house without being heard. She tried so hard to change her life that in the end she chooses suicide. It almost feels inevitable but it's an unfair though. Myshkin broke my heart.

I'll conclude with Aglaia, who went back to baffling me. Girl what. Honestly it's hard not to think of her as spoiled and cruel, because as complicated as her family might have been they all loved each other and did good towards each other, so what's her problem! At the same time, they've put her on a pedestal her whole life, and she has just realised she didn't deserve the love of the one person she considered to be above everyone else. And she's so young. Besides, in her marriage it feels like she both looked for and fought against M. She marries a foreigner that is also a russian (M lived abroad, the count is polish but Poland was under Russian control), she looks for faith (on that note, I need to reread the speech at the soirée) in a good man and finds it in charismatic priests, she rejects hypocritical Russian society and seeks to dismantle it (fighting for Poland's freedom). At the same time, in doing so she opposed the slavophilia (russophilia) M loves, rejects orthodoxy in favour of catholicism and abandons children and, as such, sincerity (according to my reading. Does it even make sense?)

I'm glad some people remained close to the prince, I'm glad for Lisaveta. I'll admit I can't not hope that M will get better. It's only been six months, that's not even enough time to grieve properly, but who knows. Lisaveta's closing words, about russians being a dream to europeans and not something real, were interesting in a book so full of premonitions and hallucinations. Something about Russia being a dream to M and his being not real outside of it. And yet he's unreal everywhere and he had found a small corner of peace in Switzerland, with the children

I don't know. What a book

hello again!!!! one squillion years of pain and torment!!!!

i am so glad you asked about rogozhin because I Love Talking About Rogozhin and i think he is so much more interesting than he could perhaps appear to be at a surface level. ive talked about this elsewhere i think, but something i think about a lot with regard to rogozhin is his relationship with both nastasya and myshkin as almost extensions of his own self. the murder attempt after the cross-exchanging scene, for instance, i think could be seen to represent his rejection of his own capacity for 'goodness', and his decision (though ultimately aborted due to myshkin's seizure) to fully embrace the 'dark' side of his personality which he sees reflected in nastasya: in her eyes, he believes, he is a violent, uneducated brute, and, having identified himself so closely with her as to see his life as interchangeable with hers, that is necessarily what he must be. (i've also seen it suggested that the instance when he beats her is a kind of self-punishment for this reason, which i think is very interesting.) myshkin's insistence on viewing him as a person with the capacity for kindness and compassion therefore poses an ontological threat only registered once rogozhin is no longer in myshkin's presence ('When you are not with me I hate you … Now, you have been with me but a quarter of an hour, and all my malice seems to have melted away, and you are as dear to me as ever'; 'I trust your voice, when I hear you speak'). his decision to kill myshkin, therefore, is his attempt to reconcile the two contradictory versions of himself by obliterating the 'corrupting influence'. his failure to do so may at least partly explain the oscillation of his character across the rest of the book: both the 'good' and the 'bad' rogozhin are still extant, so he cannot fully commit himself to one or the other. perhaps his successful murder of nastasya, in contrast to his failure to kill myshkin, suggests that it is the 'good' which ultimately triumphs (however terrible that sounds).

in that respect, too, i do believe that he was trying to 'do good' by nastasya by murdering her. maybe i am viewing him too generously, but i really feel that he genuinely loved and cared for her in his own way, to the point that she felt she could trust him with this last demonstration of his love for her. i certainly think that she knew exactly what was going to happen when she went to rogozhin, that he knew she knew it, and that she knew he knew she knew it (at risk of quoting the lion in winter :D). she had to choose rogozhin because myshkin could never 'save' her from her suffering by releasing her from it. likewise i have never countenanced the possibility that he raped her in that final scene; in fact i never even considered it as a possibility until i had it pointed out to me that the scattered wedding clothes carry a very obvious subtextual weight to them which went right over my head. i think this ambiguity was intentional on dostoevsky's part, but, at risk of sounding absurd given what he did to her, i think rogozhin respected her far too much for that. again, perhaps i am treating him too kindly (in large part because i find it comforting to believe that nastasya at least had some agency in choosing her death if not her life), but these are the thoughts which have remained in my mind after many many Many hours of thinking about them and their relationship.

i've already inflicted enough aglaya analysis upon you, so i'll be brief here, however much i love talking about her :D! i hadnt considered her marriage in the way you described, but that is such an astute and interesting way of looking at it. i have always had the sense (particularly as her husband is specified to be polish given dostoevsky's opinions about poland) that her ending was supposed to be a kind of punishment for her as a character, which is partly why i have attempted in my post-canon au to depict her marriage and post-book life in general as something she wanted and which brings her at least some measure of satisfaction, however incomprehensible to her family. as i have said before, it has taken me a very long time to stop seeing aglaya as anything but entitled and cruel; but i think you are absolutely right to emphasise her youth, as it's her immaturity and desperation to escape the life to which she believes herself confined which is the root of her tragedy to me -- and of course, in true tragic fashion, it's this 'childishness' which attracts myshkin to her in the first place. a horrible ouroboros of misery T___T

and finally, i am so glad you mentioned lizaveta!!! you might have already got a sense from my posts and writings but she is my absolute favourite character apart from myshkin, i love her so so much. her relationship with him drives me nuts. they are so central to the book!!! the themes!!! god sent him from switzerland to be her true friend and brother, the only one she has ever had!!! for that reason the most excruciating part of the book for me is after the confrontation between nastasya and aglaya when myshkin is ostracised by his social circle, and the yepanchins in particular, because (however brusquely she treated him at times) lizaveta was on his side in almost everything when nobody else was. she defends him so staunchly and clearly loves him more than she would or could ever admit. truly nothing torments me (and her) more than the thought that the last time she saw him, at least when he recognised her, she told him he was no longer a friend of the family and she never wanted to see him again. the 2003 miniseries adds an absolutely unbearable epilogue scene in this vein which makes me want to blow up horribly. in any case, i absolutely agree with you that i hope and believe that myshkin does get better! i don't think he would ever be the same again but i believe he recovers. i have to believe this for my sanity. hence why i keep writing about it :,D what a book!!! what a book!!!

[sneez]

i love you, i would die for you, i won't let anyone say a word against you

[sneez]

myshkin in the different parts of the book :D i imagine him being briefly fashionable after he gets new clothes and cuts his hair between the first two parts and then increasingly less so on account of the fact that he does not care at all

[gegengestalt]

This broke my heart... No, Myshkin... Absolutely not... Never change... We love you the way you are.

[sneez]

myshkin in the different parts of the book :D i imagine him being briefly fashionable after he gets new clothes and cuts his hair between the first two parts and then increasingly less so on account of the fact that he does not care at all

[hewu-orb]

the man who laughs(1928)

some photos with deleted scenes

actually I'm really curious about this……Dea in noble attire,and Gwyn's black wig??

[hewu-orb]

I figured out what this is. The first two are probably just stills, and the third one's a real scene. This is just Gwynplaine having a daydream after learning about his origins, and it was cut to save film,and the black wig ,well,it's from poor David

if you interested，you can find the complete original film script ：Lon Chaney as The man who laughs : an alternate history for classic film monsters

[trans-ralsei]

[trans-ralsei]

[hewu-orb]

yes…？