[lilacs-in-the-wind]

"His beauty has always maddened me. I think I idealize him in my mind when I'm not with him; but then when I see him again I'm overcome" ——— Lestat, The Tale of the Body Thief

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I used to laugh at Louis ate the baby jokes until I realised some people were apparently not joking 😭😭😭. I wouldn’t care if any of the vamps ate babies in the show tbh but like thinking that Louis ate that specific baby is hilarious to me.

[sophsun1]

JACOB ANDERSON as Louis de Pointe du Lac

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

People will be like Louis is a capitalist money-minded man and Lestat is the one in the relationship with any kind of artistic sensibility, no mfs that’s on you for watching this show with your eyes and ears closed for the first two seasons. Lestat specifically falls fatally in love with Louis because he carries himself like a ruthless businessman who plays the tough guy while actually being a man with a gentle disposition and an emotional vulnerability that rivals Nicki. Louis appreciates going to the opera during their courting era and he only shares how much he loved it with Lestat because Lestat becomes his safe space to express his vulnerability. The show tells you that Lestat sought Louis’ help and dragged him across Nola businesses to decorate their beautiful house and the upkeep of the townhouse largely fell on Louis after he started living there with Lestat. Louis is also explicitly shown to have a deep appreciation for literature and it’s the one thing that engages him during his depression induced haze towards the end of their time in Nola. He is rarely seen without a book in Season 1 and 2 and before people say that’s just Louis’ narration or whatever, the bedroom in the Dubai penthouse has books strewn all around. Louis and Lestat along with Claudia went to the movies regularly. Louis also apparently loved dancing to the point that Claudia uses it to berate him in their arguments.

In Paris, Louis’ one source of joy is his opportunity to interact with the artists, the poets and the philosophers of the time. He’s unabashedly proud of the slightest of appreciation he receives for his photography from his human peers and even though he is a proud man, he does realise that he is woefully ordinary when it comes to the art. In fact, one of his most human character journey in Paris is him trying to make it as an artist and failing miserably while coming to a slow but devastating realisation that as a Vampire while he has the time and the opportunity to indulge in art, he lacks the innate skill to be exceptional. He parallels so many Parisian dreamers in that sense but that doesn’t mean he loses his appreciation for the arts. He continues to be an art collector and a voracious reader. In Season 3, where these aspects of his character are rarely addressed Lestat still uses the excuse of needing Louis’ opinion on a painting for his guest room to get him to visit.

“But Louis was annoyed that Lestat dragged him to the operas” “But Louis disliked the theatre in Paris and had no appreciation for Armand’s art” Gee I wonder if there were very good canonical reasons that explain both of these things in the fucking show. People fail to see that Louis’ relationship with money and his talent for business don’t automatically negate his love for a good book or art. People also fail to see that Louis’ relationship with money also has a lot to do with his need to be respected as a black man who was born in the Jim Crow south. This doesn’t negate the exploitative nature of his capitalism. Allow Louis the interiority and complexity that the show explicitly provides him with at least in the seasons where he is the lead omg.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

No OP, the third season doesn’t imply that but it’s clearly written by people who didn’t have this aspect of his character at the front of their minds and people have been doing this thing where they pick a singular aspect of a character to focus on (capitalism and being a pimp with Louis) when the actual character is much more nuanced. This has been a problem long before tvl as well. And you’re right about Louis’ race being a factor. Ironically enough some parts of the fandom view Louis as pompous just because of the way he is always with a book lol.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

People will be like Louis is a capitalist money-minded man and Lestat is the one in the relationship with any kind of artistic sensibility, no mfs that’s on you for watching this show with your eyes and ears closed for the first two seasons. Lestat specifically falls fatally in love with Louis because he carries himself like a ruthless businessman who plays the tough guy while actually being a man with a gentle disposition and an emotional vulnerability that rivals Nicki. Louis appreciates going to the opera during their courting era and he only shares how much he loved it with Lestat because Lestat becomes his safe space to express his vulnerability. The show tells you that Lestat sought Louis’ help and dragged him across Nola businesses to decorate their beautiful house and the upkeep of the townhouse largely fell on Louis after he started living there with Lestat. Louis is also explicitly shown to have a deep appreciation for literature and it’s the one thing that engages him during his depression induced haze towards the end of their time in Nola. He is rarely seen without a book in Season 1 and 2 and before people say that’s just Louis’ narration or whatever, the bedroom in the Dubai penthouse has books strewn all around. Louis and Lestat along with Claudia went to the movies regularly. Louis also apparently loved dancing to the point that Claudia uses it to berate him in their arguments.

In Paris, Louis’ one source of joy is his opportunity to interact with the artists, the poets and the philosophers of the time. He’s unabashedly proud of the slightest of appreciation he receives for his photography from his human peers and even though he is a proud man, he does realise that he is woefully ordinary when it comes to the art. In fact, one of his most human character journey in Paris is him trying to make it as an artist and failing miserably while coming to a slow but devastating realisation that as a Vampire while he has the time and the opportunity to indulge in art, he lacks the innate skill to be exceptional. He parallels so many Parisian dreamers in that sense but that doesn’t mean he loses his appreciation for the arts. He continues to be an art collector and a voracious reader. In Season 3, where these aspects of his character are rarely addressed Lestat still uses the excuse of needing Louis’ opinion on a painting for his guest room to get him to visit.

“But Louis was annoyed that Lestat dragged him to the operas” “But Louis disliked the theatre in Paris and had no appreciation for Armand’s art” Gee I wonder if there were very good canonical reasons that explain both of these things in the fucking show. People fail to see that Louis’ relationship with money and his talent for business don’t automatically negate his love for a good book or art. People also fail to see that Louis’ relationship with money also has a lot to do with his need to be respected as a black man who was born in the Jim Crow south. This doesn’t negate the exploitative nature of his capitalism. Allow Louis the interiority and complexity that the show explicitly provides him with at least in the seasons where he is the lead omg.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I only know the Pod Save America guys as people on twitter who have podcasts that talk about American politics with a heavy neoliberal slant (I don’t care about local American politics cuz I'm not American but their Palestine takes drive me up the wall). Today, however, I found out that there is actual Crooked Media RPF on ao3 featuring these men being gay for each other and I'm truly speechless. I think my mind is breaking beyond repair trying to imagine Tommy Vietor flirting with Jon Lovett or Jon Favreau. Brother who is the audience?? Who are these people shipping corpo-pilled former Obama staffers??

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I think I finally got being sad about tvl out of my system but now I need to actively purge Loustat from my brain and it’s going to be a near impossible endeavour.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

Love calling Claudia “The Vampire Claudia”. You will never catch me giving her a surname.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I used to think this as well and when I read Lady Lazarus for the first time I had visions of her charred corpse reciting the poem in front of me. I was a teen going through a complicated time in my life with my own family and the poems were like heroine served to an addict at the end of their rope. Almost a decade later, I do not know how I survived reading literature like that while actively going through a mental breakdown of my own.

[kirbyofthestars]

you’ll be like “i think racism is bad” and tumblr users will be like “so you hate transgender people?” no bitch thats a whole new sentence

[heliza24]

I keep trying to articulate this thought I've been having about TVL. I don't know that this is fully formed but I keep returning to how the season seems to be engaging in a kind of "love is determined by a mathematical formula" logic.

Lestat abused Louis, so in order for Louis to get back with Lestat the show has to prove that Louis is actually just as bad as Lestat (via Claudia's condemnation and the things Louis engages in with Regina). Armand's abuse of Louis was less physically obvious than Lestat's, so in order for Louis to comfortably get back with Lestat, Armand's abuse needs to become physical.

Armand needs to be seen as evil, and Lestat needs to be seen as good, so they paint Lestat as uncaring and Armand as desperate. We can't see them hookup on screen or care about each other, because then that puts them on an equal playing field. Even though none of what happened in the 1700s should affect Louis's choice. It still feels calculated as a way to justify Loustat.

They decide they don't have time to explain DM's connection, so they create a vampiric bond for them that forces them to be connected. The apocalypse effect does the love math for them.

The bananas thing is that there was a very simple solution to this, and it was for Lestat *to become better* until he was worthy of Louis. There was no need to humble Louis to bring him down to Lestat's level. I've seen a lot of complaints that it didn't feel like Lestat had much agency or much of a character arc this season. THIS WAS THE CHARACTER ARC THAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED. It would have solved so many issues with the season- the feeling that the plot is spinning its wheels, the feeling of so much exposition, etc if Lestat had been actively changing the whole time. Him defying Gabriella is a good first step, but if the writers think this and this alone will make him a good partner to Louis, they are once again operating in extremely broken monogamist "love is a formula" land. I keep seeing Sam and Jacob saying "well who would have them other than each other" in interviews. That is not a compelling basis for a romance! That is not a connection I want to watch! I want to watch them fall in love because they like each other, and make an effort to be better for each other because they love each other. Loustat has this foundation already. They didn't need to reinvent the wheel. I don't understand why the writers forget how normal human emotion works in TVL.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

They absolutely wrote themselves into a corner with Loustat because if they wanted Lestat to be universally well-liked as he is in tvc, they shouldn’t have dialled up the domestic abuse to 11. They certainly didn’t think through some of the racial aspects of the violence in Season 1 because I genuinely don’t understand how you write “Those were wonderful memories to me” for Lestat about their opera dates as a response to Louis’ complaint about being dragged to them when in season 1 we’re explicitly shown that a proud man like Louis had to act as a valet to his white lover for them to attend some of them. That’s systemic violence in the form of racial humiliation that Louis suffers because Lestat decided to take them to the Opera and since Loustat are romantic partners that counts as domestic abuse. Lestat explicitly participates in the system of segregation that marginalises Louis as a black man when they are both VAMPIRES. It blows my mind how fandom doesn’t think this is that big of a deal when it comes to their relationship or that race doesn’t play a role in how the season 1 domestic abuse is perceived by certain audiences. No amount of flattening any character in Season 3 to drag them to Lestat’s level of being “bad” will erase the racial dynamics at play in the first season.

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I’m always amused by how Lestat didn’t even bother to clean up. Like bro you also live there why are you okay living with raccoons??

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

I have seen so many people talk about how Louis had to come to terms with how he treated Lestat and how cruel he was to him and I’m like he did??? In the first two seasons of the show??? He understands that he let grief and his struggles with vampirism consume him throughout his relationship with Lestat and hence the reconciliation in 2.08. Silly old me had hoped the showrunners wouldn’t imply that this is an inherent flaw with Louis that makes him difficult to love or whatever because depression is an actual mental health condition but that’s on me for having misplaced expectations. My counter question is where is Lestat reflecting on the way he has treated Louis beyond the drop that’s kind of hand waved with Akasha’s blood or whatever? Why can’t Lestat be written to have any sort of revelations about the way he pushed Louis around and the way he failed to understand his struggles both from a racial perspective and from a mental health perspective? Why couldn’t the writers even make the most obvious parallels with Nicki (canon to the books) apparent in the text and deliver it as a Loustat conversation? You cannot convince me that Lestat not having any new revelations or a serious contemplation of his relationship with Louis after reading an entire book full of new insight into Louis’ thought process during said relationship is a sound choice. Without an actual reflection of Louis’ struggles that Lestat was canonically ignorant of in s1 and the trial, the scene where Lestat says that he loved Louis despite how monstrous that Louis found it during 3.07 becomes sauceless and unearned. The Antoinette discussion doesn’t count because the writing is so awfully irreverent when it comes to heavy scenes that it’s just unsatisfying (“because Louis, I’m a monster”…where is the resolution for that emotional revelation later on in the show? You wouldn’t know because they didn’t write it!!!!)

[lilacs-in-the-wind]

This is who I’m imagining when people talk about 21st century human Louis and it’s insane how cute he is

[helianthus21]

I need to remember bookstat bc they made showstat suck so bad i get mad every time a gif of him crosses my dash

[mapofthedreams]

cigarette tips touching.

[gaypeople]

I tried to paint alternatives. Lucid what ifs. Wear a different suit the night you meet Lestat at the Fair Play. Snatch the piece of candy back from the barber when you're seven years old. Would I have been stronger sooner? Would I have resisted Lestat two decades later? Snatch the candy! Be the man in the different suit. But the suit changes nothing, and again... I'm kissing Lestat on the altar.