ODNLB comparison to French Romanticism (and some art nouveau)
As one of the many people who is following every update from @wackus-bonkus-maximus on One Does Not Love Breathing, this is my contribution to the extreme over-analysis of this miraculous ladybug fan fiction 😅
I love reading the discourse about relating song lyrics to ODNLB so this post is kinda in the same vein of "this is cool art that makes me feel the same things ONDLB makes me feel." Full disclosure I am not an art expert so all of my opinions about this art might be Academically Incorrect but eeeeeh idc im gonna share my thoughts anyway.
bottom line if u like odnlb u might like this art I picked out so lmk what u think (also this might have spoilers up to ch28 of odnlb and cw for mentions of self harm)
La Justice et la Vengeance Poursuivent le Crime- Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1808)
(eng: Justice and Vengeance in pursuit of Crime) This painting was originally commissioned to hang in a courtroom and features four figures: Themis (Justice); Nemesis (Divine Revenge) Crime, and the Victim. What really gets me about this piece is the cold look of rage on Nemesis's face and her intimidating posture which almost makes the still painting look like it's in motion. Even Themis looks a little afraid of her!
I relate this to how Chat Noir and Ladybug as public figures have diverged since Chat Noir "died." In the public psyche, Chat Noir has been allowed to continue to represent the pursuit of Justice, even as a martyr. To an extent, even after his pubic death, he accepts his own misfortune by telling himself he "deserves" it and that this fate is justice. Meanwhile Ladybug has continued to have to fight in an ever-escalating conflict, unable to keep her hands completely clean. She is motivated by the revenge she seeks for the death of her partner. She has become Devine Revenge and is prioritizing making all the people who hurt Chat Noir pay.
Crime in this analogy could be either Gabriel or Lila or even Felix (see keys to the kingdom) but whoever it is needs to watch out. This is what the artist Prud'hon had to say about the subjects of the painting:
« [Le Crime] ne voit pas que Némésis, cette agente terrible de la Justice, comme un vautour fondant sur sa proie, le poursuit, va l’atteindre et le livrer à son inflexible compagne… » (from napoleon.org)
"[Crime] does not see that Nemesis, this terrible agent of Justice, like a vulture swooping down on her prey, is pursuing him, will reach him and deliver him to her inflexible companion..."
Ladybug is the vulture and anyone who crosses her is the prey. We've seen already that she's willing to kill Chloe (and it's implied possibly even Catwalker himself before she discovers his identity) and Luka's time loops is the only thing preventing her from becoming a permanent murderer. Until her partner is back at her side, there won't be any justice achieved, but also that justice will be inflexible and absolute.
Le Rêve du bonheur - Constance Mayer (1819)
(eng: The Happy Dream) This painting by Constance Mayer was actually based on a sketch by her teacher Prud'hon. It depicts a small row boat on a river with a simple background. On the right is a man with his sleeping companion and infant resting in his lap. On the left is a woman with two angelots meant to represent the personification of love.
Prud'hon's sketch is thought to be based on his own "happy dream" of building a life with his family. But that dream was unattainable for him as he couldn't be with the woman he loved.
I think this relates really strongly to Marinette and Adrien's relationship. They both want to be together so badly but they are both imprisoned by their own situation. The Man dreams of being with his lover and children just like Marinette dreams of being with Adrien... of rescuing him and protecting him. But Adrien, just like Prud'hon's lover Constance has very little control over the situation, and while he is the primary object of the dream and shares the dream himself, he can't do anything to make it his reality.
The sad part of the story is that Constance eventually took her own life. I KNOW wackus promised us a happy ending for odnlb but where we stand now (ch 28) Adrien seems to be headed down the same path of self-destruction.
La Malédiction paternelle: le fils ingrat - Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1777)
(eng: The Father's Curse: The Ungrateful Son) oooh these two are from Gabriel's POV! These pair of paintings are based off the parable of the prodigal son from the Bible. In this first one, the father is furious and cursing his son for abandoning his family to join the army. Some of the women are begging the son to stay, meanwhile one woman holds the father back from striking his son.
I relate this to odnlb's storyline but also to an extent the canon storyline. We've seen in canon that when Gabriel finds out his son is Chat Noir and has been fighting against him, he is furious at his son's betrayal. We haven't gotten this scene in odnlb yet so I'm not sure if Gabriel will have the same judgement of his son, but he certainly won't be pleased at the news.
Like the prodigal son Adrien is seeking indolence from his father, but from the father's point of view, his son is ungrateful and does not realize all the benefits the father has given him.
La Malédiction paternelle: le fils puni - Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1778)
(eng: The Father's Curse: The punished son) In this second painting in the same series, the son has returned from his time in the army to find his father dead from grief. The father was never able to forgive the son before he passed and now the son has to live with the unresolved dispute. This is his "punishment."
For me this scene really resonates with the Gabriel and Adrien's relationship as father and son. Despite being Chat Noir, despite his disavowment of his father's goals, Adrien still loves his father (and may be the only person left who does). Especially after the big reveal in chapter 28, I think Adrien would mourn his father's fate if he ever found out, especially since Adrien is one of the few people who can truly relate.
Chat mort - Géricault (c. 1820)
(eng: Dead Cat) haha, get it, because Chat Noir is "dead"? Ok no that's not really why I picked this one. Despite Adrien not really being dead, Chat Noir's "death" was very real to everyone else, most notably Ladybug. If any other member of her team had been lost, while it would have been devistating to her, none would have had the same effect on her that Chat Noir's death did.
The artist Géricault painted the famous and physically massive painting The Raft of the Medusa. By comparison this piece is much smaller and less significant. But to him, this piece was very significant. This painting depicts Géricault's own pet cat after it's passing.
I think this passagedutemps blog post really sums it up (this is a translation from French):
"It is a incomplete story of which we only know the end. The painter lived on Rue des Martyrs and his studio was located at No. 23. It was probably from there that his cat fell, who died of it. The painter had to pick up the animal and gently put it on the table. He still had a beautiful coat, beige and gray. Nothing of a carrion, but he was no longer there, his eye already closed, his mouth open, his legs stiffened. There was only one life lost."
Géricault painted his cat with the same love and detail as his greatest works. The loving care put into the art juxtaposed with the finality of the subject matter is heart wrenching and offers only a sliver of the pain Ladybug must have felt at the loss of her cat.
L'Age Mûr - Camille Claudel (1897)
ok and last one is a sculpture not a painting!
On the left is a older man being lead away by the strong embrace of an old woman. on the right is a young woman on the ground pleading for the man to stay with her. One interpretation is that the old woman represents death and the man, at his old age, accepts his fate, leaving youth behind. Another interpretation is that it may represent the sculptors despair at losing her teacher, mentor, and lover to an older woman.
I think both interpretations work for Marinette and Adrien's relationship in odnlb. Lila is Death or Fate, leading Adrien away from Marinette and not allowing him to return to his youthful days of being her partner. Marinette is helpless to save Adrien from his own fate because of the nature of him being a sentimonster, he will always be able to be controlled.
The desperation of the young woman, the resigned acceptance of the man, and the confident satisfaction of the old woman all come together to tell this tragedy of a story in a single pose and I cannot stop thinking about it I really really like this piece.
whew ok that's all for tonight. did I intent to write 1.5k words on this topic? no but I just had too many opinions to shut up about it so congrats now you all are cursed with this extra long post on ur dash 🥰
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