Tosco Feelings

They/She, Queer & Pan. 39, Brazilian. Films/TV/Books/MCU Saltiness || TJLC - Alibi/ Blog Theory [Holmes & Watson wrote the end of the canon APART (?)] //  Moriarty is unimportant & the domestic cases are IT || 4Ever in love with Annie Morrison, Doc. Leslie Armstrong The Viole(n)ts & Evil!Molly Hooper || the presence of the observer changes the nature of the observed || Her name is Irene NORTON & she has a gang w Sophy Kratides, Rachel Howells, Kitty Winter 😀 Chuck WON. BL Dramas & Merciless Evil Devil From Hell. IWTV & TVC. Fujodanshi. Multifandom: All the queer ships

[orpheuslament]

now say it with me: authors/artists dont owe you moral purity. an author/artist job is not to hold you by the hand & tell you exactly what is Good™ & what is Bad™. you should be able to think for yourself

[orpheuslament]

"yes but depictions of (morally questionable thing) are only okay if its punished in the story" thats the hays code. you just reinvented the hays code

[lestatthevamp]

People: you either are someone who liked IWTV or someone who liked TVL.

me (the third kind of person who liked both):

[misodraws45]

he’s kicking his feet giggling about his zone two girly with a grifters resume

[fascinationstreetmp3]

Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field as Daniel Molloy INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

[cannibalspicnic]

How are people mad at the amount of Devil's Minion we're getting this season? In the books, Daniel didn't even have a NAME yet in The Vampire Lestat. Now, our boys are BEHEADING the protagonists together!

People are claiming crumbs? My siblings in Christ, the Queen of the Damned arc is when Devil's Minion burrowed into our heads and removed our brains to be liquified in the blender of obsession before lovingly being placed back in our skulls. Crumbs? I am savoring this amuse fucking bouche because the meal is on its way.

[dykesynthezoid]

Me thinking ppl would be able to remember that television is a deeply collaborative project and that it simply makes no sense to assume every bad decision and offensive detail is a result of malicious intent from 1-2 people and also that people wouldn’t immediately start leveling misogyny and antisemitism at Hannah Moscovitch

[ferencka]

Butcher Shop Scene Theory - TVL ep7 was brilliant and here's why (#2)

Ground rules:

>Posting it under the #tvl critical or #iwtv critical tags to intentionally provoke thought and to experiment with angles. If you wanna see which ep7 bits I've covered previously, check out the other parts, you might find an answer to a seemingly missing piece of information in past posts~

>I'm gonna view the 3 seasons together, as a coherent body of work that is able to stand on its own, naturally, as an adaptation of the chronicles. RJ and Anne's logic is sometimes hard to decipher, but I'm giving it my best shot. If something isn't making sense, I'm gonna call that out as well.

>I love musing on creative works; I'm also a silly rl cultural history and modern english lit academic and an aspiring professional lit critic. This doesn't mean that my thoughts are always immaculate and I'm incapable of saying shit, but trust me, one thing is for sure: my thoughts were formed by employing critical thinking and are, hopefully, not just based on personal feelings nor on parroted identity politics narratives.

My my, the first part (#1) blew up (in a sense lol), so let's continue.

Question: Why was the Louis/Armand scene set in a kosher butcher shop?

Answer 1: 'Because the writers are racist, insult religions and faith, and their sole purpose was to make a villanized Brown character torture a Black mc in a Jewish space.'

Answer 2: 'I agree with the criticism saying the setting was a bit bizzare and unexpected, but it really made me ponder. Nothing in this show is without hidden meaning, so let's try to puzzle it together. A kosher shop sounds too specific to be a random choice for an apology scene.'

Abrahamic religions all share the story of Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) and his son Isaac (Ishmael) where the attempted blood sacrifice equals a test of devotion and gratitute. The Quran rejects the idea that physical blood has inherent spiritual value or directly atones for sins committed; even so, blood is categorised as impure (najis) and its consumption is strictly prohibited. An Sunnah tradition, Aqiqah is a goat or sheep sacrifice to celebrate a newborn baby, usually performed on the 7th day after birth, the meat being shared with the community afterwards. Ancient Judaism also practiced animal blood sacrifices for the same reasons, identical with the practices mentioned in the Christian interpretation of the Old Testament. Special dietaries also accompany several religions (eg. kosher or halal) and focus on consuming purified or clean foods which are prepared according to strict regulations, typically having one thing in common: the blood must be drained from the animal bodies in order to purify them. This strangely reflects vampiric practices. Vampires are, by human definition, unnatural or supernatural beings, and the slaughter of a thing already deceased is an unthinkably abject and liminal experience noted by Julia Kristeva, neither objective or subjective, but existing in between, just like blood or gore.

Ep6 and 7 take place during Allhallowtide, a three-day Christian observance period beginning with Halloween on October 31 and ending with All Soul's Day on November 2. While November 1, All Saint's Day is dedicated those who have officially reached heaven, the latter honours all the faithful departed who are being purified before entering heaven. Lestat's purgatory is taking place in a mental sphere, while Louis' in the butcher shop that is a dedicated human space for spiritual purification, like a church, a synagogue or a mosque.

Abstractly speaking, Lestat and Louis weren't 'properly slaughtered, yet, because Armand has got to still extract an apology out of them, especially Louis. They're momentarily immobilized, just like Isaac being tied to the pyre. Armand was desperate to conjure, to 'bleed' an apology out of Louis in his singular, godly way (seeing his history of attributing a godlike imagery to himself in order to shield his vast trauma and protect himself), wanted to gain Louis's abstract devotion, possessedly yet rightfully craving the due, loud admittance of all the pain Louis has caused him. He bleeds him out to artifically induce this state. We saw previously that both Armand and Louis have strong yet very particular and personal ties to their human religions which also shaped the eras and its conventions, worldviews they were brought up in, including the Kievan Rus, the Indian Penninsula in the 15th century or the Italian Rennaissance period. Religion is a natural, unquestionable net hanging above their identities at all times.

Armand has placed a metal pan under Louis's severed head to collect his blood and his outpouring apology that he expects from him. This is his purgatory, too, in a sense, because if Louis finally admits the hurt, the misalignment he caused him during their companionship, some of his actions can be excused as self-defense. Note that the majority of hurt we see in the show is the result of severe trauma responses, not actual physical hurt. The devotion is attempted to be forcefully extracted - even if Armand succeeds so, would it be a genuine win???

Also, it's important to emphasize that IF the characters have religious sympathies worth to analyse, these connections are largely personal, private and very unlikely to exactly conform real life Christian, Muslim or Jewish practices.

This is just my theory, but would be curious to hear from official sources touching up on this 'controversy'.

Religious symbolism in s3 is just as heavy as in past seasons, just think of the twin witches, Merrick's chants and Paul's 'Yes Ma'am' at the end of the ep.~

[ferencka]

TVL ep7 was brilliant and here's why (#1)

For some reason, tvl seems to invite a wave of dislike from the fandom none of the previous seasons did and i geniuenly. Don't. Get. Why. Yes, the season has its flops because shrinking the material into 7 episodes while still including and giving significance to characters who aren't in the book takes a lot of pondering. BUT. But. but.

First, let's get something straight: iwtv is a NOT A GOTHIC ROMANCE. For god's sake, please stop calling it like that. Let's not mix up period styles, 'romance' (~early novel) components and the adjectives 'romantic' (loveable) and 'gothic' (eerie) as qualificatives etc. It is a supernatural horror. Like Hannibal level of horror. I would add, psychological (or queer). Most aspects I'm gonna touch on are psychological. The sole purpose is not loustat, loumand or dm, so crying or complaining about not getting any 'saucy scenes' or kisses this season show a lot about misaligned viewer attitudes. Yes, and these are usually the same people that criticise the show's realistic SA rep, saying it's not needed or deeming it distasteful towards survivors. Just because you don't want something this disturbing to exist, it won't disappear from the world. Quite frankly, consent becomes very blurry in the vampiric context, so I would argue that most sexual encounters we see in the show would be considered plain violations in the real world. See? Pretty horrific, and not romantic at all. And yet again, so horribly realistic.

(I’m gonna view the 3 seasons together, as a coherent body of work that is able to stand on its own, naturally, as an adaptation of the chronicles. RJ’s logic is sometimes hard to decipher but I’m giving it my best shot. If something isn’t making sense, I’m gonna call that out as well.)

but humbly, let's dive in, let's continue.

#1/ Eternalized human experience: It is human experience that inherently shapes all vampire into the form they're going to be trapped in enternity in. For example, Louis is often mocked for being sentimental, melanchonic, too attached to his humanistic (!) humanity by Lestat and others. Ep7 showed us that no vampires are able to overstep the limitations they faced as humans, almost all cases getting more serious with the amounts of trauma they've inherited and accumulated since their turning. Selfishness, pimping, domestic and sexual abuse, rape, sexual slavery, a fear of loneliness or sickness or death, possessiveness, thirst for appreciation, love, recognition, reassurance, guidance. An obsession to control, to rein, to gain the upper, decisive hand, to dominate, to use, to eternalize the 'rotten experience' Marius uses to conquer his own narrative because, in their vampiric minds, there is no o-t-h-e-r option. Failure falls on top of failure. At the end, all vampires remain humans. No transformation took place. We have yet to encounter a sane, independent one. That's why Lestat's purgatory especially important: he, and not others we thought as better equipped for an inner therapy process like this, took the FIRST STEP.

#2/ Louis's pimp identity: As I have propagated for YEARS, Louis's human identity as a 'collaborative' Black pimp is essential to his character and now it is finally canonically proved. The practice of human Louis conforming white standards in order to satisfy his desire of ambition, personal significance, wealth and status is historically inevitable, since minorities were forced to compete within the colonial economy or market. Louis abstractly or quite literally 'enslaved' his own community, the residents of his new orleans quarter in order to rise up on the social ladder. Once, turning, he refused to conform anymore, because he partly got out of the human 'oppressed-oppressor cycle'. At the same time, he didn't consider that his newfound immunity didn't extend to his community (the lynching leading to Claudia's turning). Obviously, during the process of conforming, he's hurt just like any Black person. He's a vamp but his pimp identity influences his relationship dynamics. He knows it and what's more important, consciously utilizes it to get the upper hand, like we saw in the kitchen scene with Armand.

#3/ Armand's breakdown: Armand's character is the most realistic and painful SA representation I've seen on screen so far. No miraculous recovery, no sudden realisation, no 'speaking-out' for himself. He was born in 1481. He knows, recognizes modern terms, but cannot internalize them, cannot understand them the way we do. The abuse is normalized by not being recognized by the very people he claims to have made him happy in the past (Louis, Lestat) or even people who are capable of contextualising the vocabulary needed for voicing the experience (Daniel). The uncomfortable power-exchange hierarchy in loumand briefly touched on in previous seasons becomes obvious and very frontal. As Assad said "Armand has given up on others understanding him". Each vampire is basically a solitary confinement and Armand doesn't have a voice, doesn't have a vocabulary to express what has happened to him. Louis tips him over the edge once again. His primal instincts: "how I make this right quickly so I can avoid forthcoming punishment?" "oh god, I need to set everything right in this instant to escape the retaliation." "please, I'll do anything, quickly, just don't hurt me anymore." Complete fawning. For a traumatized individual, no clear thoughts exist in that moment. Just the frantic need to escape and to redo any mistakes they've made. All other sectors of their reality are blocked, floating, drifting, slowing down, shutting down. Armand is so deep down in this, he can only act out of hurt because that is the sole emotion capable of occassionally outmatching the burden he carries within. But make no mistake, this does NOT make him a disney level sole villain, nor villainistic.

Let's train back our minds into critically engaging with a viewed material.

Let me know your thoughts whatever they may be~🫶

[ainosgarden]

louis lying about armand being the love of his life in s1 finale and louis confessing with his dying breath that lestat was always the love of his life in s3 finale. lestat willingly giving in to death under louis's blade bc he's given up on receiving his love in s1 finale and lestat clinging to life in his final minutes by the mere idea that louis might love him after all in s3 finale.

[velvetdevotion]

Are you stupid? There's no way Daniel could ever cradle Armand. He's a total asshole in both the books and the series.

„How could a creature shimmer with such beauty yet incite such... what was it, revulsion? No, he had never been revolted by Armand, he had to admit it.“

„He dreamed Armand was near him; he awoke weeping stupidly. Then the morning would come and he would be sad but calm.“

„Daniel had been trembling, on the edge of tears. And why was that? So glad to see him, touch him, ah, damn him!“

„He saw this being like a great insect, a monstrous evil predator who had devoured a million human lives. And yet he loved this thing. He loved its smooth white skin, its great dark brown eyes. He loved it not because it looked like a gentle, thoughtful young man, but because it was ghastly and awful and loathsome, and beautiful all at the same time.“

„Daniel, you are a gift to me from Louis. What would I do without you?“

„Damn you, Daniel,“ he said, so that Daniel heard the words aloud. A chill passed over Daniel. Horrid to see him suffering.“

„I promise you nothing. How can I? I've told you what lies ahead.“ „ I don’t care. I’ll go towards it with you.“

„Armand’s eyes were reddened, weary, old. Such delicate clothes these were, hand sewn, dusty, like the clothes of a ghost. Were they what the mind conjured effortlessly when it wanted to be purely itself?“

„I want to live forever with you.“

„He steadied himself, but the sight of Armand made him want to cry. Even in deep shadow, Armand‘s dark brown eyes were filled with a vibrant light. And the expression on his face, so loving. He reached out very carefully and touched Armand‘s eyelashes. He wanted to touch the tiny fine lines in Armand‘s lips. Armand kissed him. He began to tremble. The way it felt, the cool silky mouth, like a kiss of the brain, the electric purity of a thought!“

„I love you“ Daniel said. „Are you certain?“ Armand answered. It made him laugh.

„Is it all right, the way I am now?“ he’d asked Armand. „Are you happy?“

„Armand had stopped, at once surrounded by tiny upturned faces covered in store-bought masks, plastic spooks, ghouls, witches; a lovely warm light had filled his brown eyes“. „I love it well enough the way you turned out,“ he had whispered with a sudden irrepressible smile, the warmth still there. You’re my firstborn, he‘d said. Was there a catch in his throat, a sudden glancing from right to left as if he‘d found himself cornered?“

„It was Daniel, who captured the damaged heart of the vampire Armand."

„Armand and Daniel Molloy were hunting alone in the gentle warm rain.“ -> In literature, gentle warm rain is commonly associated with renewal, healing, forgiveness, emotional openness, and new beginnings. It often reflects a character’s inner emotional journey and marks moments of reconciliation and growth.

„Marius was weary. Marius was anguished. Marius was alone. After all, he’d lost his longtime companion, Daniel Molloy, to Armand again, and these two remained at Court only because of the threat to the Prince, and hoped some night to be free to go to Trinity Gate in New York.“

You know what? This fandom is making me sick.

It‘s really exhausting that you guys keep ignoring the other side of Daniel, the one that‘s just as clearly written in the book, and instead reduce him to his asshole side. (Never mind his exhaustion caused by Armand, his addiction to Armand’s blood, which Armand himself caused, or the fact that Daniel feels like an insignificant mortal lover who is more of a toy than an equal partner -> „And what would a mortal lover matter then, a human who’d been no more than a toy for a decade“?/„Armand had proceeded without him towards a destiny that Daniel would never fully understand“. <-Nevertheless, he wanted to be by Armand’s side. And no, not just because of the blood. The relationship had more to offer than just that toxic side. They took evening classes together, studied art history, went to the movies, got a telescope to look at the stars, traveled, and went sailing together. Armand gave him a damn island with a villa. And an amulet that he had kissed and tried to warm with his hands before hanging it around Daniel’s neck.)

By the way, in Season 3, Daniel ist traumatized and scared, and that's why he acts so out of line.

At the same time, i’m just as tired of seeing Armand constantly reduced to either a helpless victim or nothing more than a villain. Armand is a monster. He does terrible things. The books never pretend otherwise. But he‘s also capable of love, vulnerability, tenderness, devotion, and growth. The exact same thing applies to Daniel. He is sarcastic. He is harsh. He is an asshole. But that‘s not all he is.

Daniel sees Armand for who he truly is and loves him for it. Isn’t that what love is supposed to be like? Seeing someone for who they truly are. Choosing them. Being willing to face even the hardest parts of life together. Wanting to be with them forever. And don‘t we all want someone who can be honest about their feelings and call us out on our bullshit?

Oh and by the way, this is Gothic romance. These relationships are not supposed to be sunshine, rainbows, and perfect communication all the time.

That said, i do find the fandom’s double standards quite amusing at times. Louis and Lestat lied to each other; there was manipulation, cheating, physical abuse, and murder. They both hurt each other, threw nasty words at each other, and Louis couldn‘t even tell Lestat that he loved him. Yet, you have no problem acknowledging the love between them, and can‘t wait to see them reunited. Make it make sense!

Now, as for the show version of Daniel; We’ve already seen that there‘s far more to him than the sarcasm and harshness that people often reduce him to. Whether the show continues building on that remains to be seen.

But whatever the show does, it doesn’t change what‘s already written. You can call me stupid or disagree with me if you want. But you can’t change what‘s already canon.

Daniel and Armand love each other. They find their way back to each other.

Live with it.

Cry about it.

I honestly don’t care.

Just leave me the fuck alone.

[makerissues]

wishes he were a woman sometimes...... knows what yaoi is.... "japanime eyes"..... lestat fujoshi confirmed

[saintvoids]

Actually wild how many people think Paul being there means Lestat killed him. If anything it totally confirmed to me that he didn’t: Lestat would not envision such mercy from a Paul he had driven to death.

[irisbleufic]

I’m not clear on where you stand re: the finale and this season. Your most recent answers to asks seemed mostly finale-positive with a small handful of writing criticisms, but then you reblogged that post about supporting the black writers from prev seasons. I need to know where you stand.

Anon, I think you’ve actually understood quite well where I stand—because my posts have, at face-value, told you as much. I’m not in the habit of concealing what I think. Overall, I enjoyed this season; I just feel that the finale was one of the weakest episodes. Do you not believe it’s possible for someone to like the season and want to support the Black writers who worked on previous seasons? I’m puzzled by the tone of this ask. You seem to be demanding that I come down on either the side of loving this season or the side of hating this season (on the basis of the finale). However, it can’t possibly be that hard for you to understand that many of us don’t see this as an either/or situation, not in any of the either/or paradigms for which you seem to be fishing here (i.e. either someone loves the season [or] hates the season, no in-between; either someone loves the season and doesn't support the past Black writers [or] hates the season and does support the past Black writers, no in-between; someone shouldn't have to conform to one extreme or the other to pass a purity test, because complex stances, such as liking the season and wanting to support the Black writers from previous seasons [and wanting to see more Black writers in future], are entirely possible).

[veryintricaterituals]

And if I say that I love crazy, unhinged, saw trap, terrifying, creature of the night, monologuing, torturing and scheming Armand? What then?

Yes, yes, he did all that...

[zkaus]

Gabrielle / Gabriella:

Much has been said about the differences in Gabrielle's characterisation in the books, to Gabriella in the TV show. And I agree, it's quite different, if we're only looking at TVL. But, I recently re-read The Vampire Armand, and [minus the sexual abuse] his description of her is much, much closer to the one in the show.

Highlights of Armand's description of Gabrielle include:

Everyone hates her.

She abandons Lestat for centuries

Doesn't heed Lestat’s frantic cries for help

Looks just like Lestat, except she’s a woman,

small-waisted

big-breasted

Sweet-eyed in the most unnerving and dishonest fashion

Looks gorgeous in a black ball gown with her hair free

A vampire so cunning and cold that she has forgotten what it ever meant to be human or in pain... if she ever knew it.

In mortal life...she always wondered what the others were carrying on about.

Low-voiced

Unintentionally vicious

Glacial

Forbidding

Ungiving

a wanderer

Something more akin to a prehistoric reptile than a human.

A stalker

a quick killer

a pitiless and seemingly thoughtful but eternally secretive thing.

virtually useless to anyone but herself

See what I mean?!

It makes me suspect that Rolin and Hannah agree with Armand. In writing her character for Season 3, it seems likely they consciously decided to put aside much of Lestat's perspective on her personality, in favor of Armand's much more blunt and unforgiving assessment.

Fascinating choice!

(full TVA quotes under the cut)

"Gabrielle. She’s around now. She was around on The Night Island. Everyone hates her. She is Lestat’s Mother, and abandons him for centuries, and somehow doesn’t manage to heed Lestat’s periodic and inevitable frantic cries for help, which though she could not receive them, being his fledgling, could certainly learn of them from other vampiric minds which are on fire with the news round the world when Lestat is in trouble. Gabrielle, she looks just like him, except she’s a woman, totally a woman, that is, sharper of feature, small-waisted, big-breasted, sweet-eyed in the most unnerving and dishonest fashion, gorgeous in a black ball gown with her hair free, more often dusty, genderless, sheathed in supple leather or belted khaki, a steady walker, and a vampire so cunning and cold that she has forgotten what it ever meant to be human or in pain. Indeed, I think she forgot overnight, if she ever knew it. She was in mortal life one of those creatures who always wondered what the others were carrying on about. Gabrielle, low-voiced, unintentionally vicious, glacial, forbidding, ungiving, a wanderer through snowy forests of the far north, a slayer of giant white bears and white tigers, an indifferent legend to untamed tribes, something more akin to a prehistoric reptile than a human. Beautiful, naturally, blond hair in a braid down her back, almost regal in a chocolate-colored leather safari jacket and a small droopy brimmed rain hat, a stalker, a quick killer, a pitiless and seemingly thoughtful but eternally secretive thing. Gabrielle, virtually useless to anyone but herself. Some night she’ll say something to someone, I suppose. "

[lukelemon-art]

☀️Touching the sun☀️

I would imagine it starts with small things and tiny steps… And drinking buckets of your maker's blood, but that's a matter for some art in the future.

[netbathetic]

Me getting into de tvl critical tag only to block stupid takes => cleans the soul, the birds are singing, the vamp monsters will be vamp monsters (including the poc ones and these ex husbands) & Lesmand will come when the show will deal with Akasha bc she will be courting him exactly like Armand did

I cant wait for s4 & Devil's minion 🥰