some infinitesimal shred of self-preservation

RWRB sideblog. Main blog: @lizzybeth1986

[notyourmajesty]

Does anyone in the fandom have a translation or knows anyone who understands the lyrics to the song Oscar plays as Nora, Pez, Henry and Alex enter the lake house? (ALSO! The title is Alejandra 😁😁😁). It's this one:

I've seen other versions of the tune with what I think are different lyrics (like Javier Solis' version, for which a I did find a translation - there, the song is addressed to this woman called Alejandra who he says is the "queen of his heart"). I'm having a tough time finding either lyrics or translations for this particular one (made even more challenging by the fact that Luiz Pérez Meza has two different songs named Alejandra 🤦🏽‍♀️), and I don't know the language.

I'm basically trying to get a meta done on the literature and music choices in the film. I'd appreciate any help with translation!

[notyourmajesty]

SO! This makes me really happy coz I couldn't find a translation for this song anywhere, and the awesome @nisseramirez both showed me what the actual Spanish lyrics would look like, AND translated them! (I'm so sorry for the delay in putting this up...these past few weeks have been bonkers!).

Thanks so much for the help @nisseramirez, and for this awesome translation! She was kind enough to show me the Spanish lyrics, and follow it up with the English translation:

Soy feliz desde que te vi,

Te entregue mi amor

Y la calma perdí

(I am happy since i saw you,

I give you my love

and I lost my calm)

Son tus ojos tan divinos

Y fascina Lores al mirar

Tu sonrisa enamorada

Y tus labios de coral

(Are you eyes so divine

and fascinates Lords as they look,

you smile in love

and your coral lips)

Con el fuego de tu amor,

Con la luz de tu mirar

Haz feliz al que te quiere amar

(With the fire of your love,

With the light of your gaze,

Make happy the one who wants to love you)

Soy feliz desde que te vi,

Te entregue mi amor

Y la calma perdí.

(I am happy since I saw you,

I give you my love

and I've lost my calm)

Que felices horas paso yo pensando en ti.

Vas las ilusiones en mi mente

Mas ser feliz, pienso yo

(What happy hours I spend thinking about you,

the illusions go in my mind

but to be happy, I think)

Si tú comprendieras lo que sufro yo por ti.

Me llenas la dicha,

Me hicieras feliz

(If you understood what I suffer for you,

you will give me joy,

you made me happy)

Eres tú, Alejandra mía,

Me dieras la dicha

Me hicieras feliz

(It's you, My Alejandra,

you will give me joy,

you made me happy)

Que felices horas paso yo pensando en ti.

Vas las ilusiones en mi mente

Mas ser feliz, pienso yo

(What happy hours I spend thinking about you,

the illusions go in my mind

but to be happy, I think)

Si tú comprendieras lo que sufro yo por ti.

Me dieras la dicha,

Me hicieras feliz

(If you understood what I suffer for you,

You will give me joy,

You made me happy)

This is the song Oscar plays just as the four enter the lake house when Henry and Pez visit Alex and Nora in Texas.

(The particular lines played in the movie is the first verse "soy feliz..." - where the singer speaks about the joy he experiences seeing Alejandra, and the calm he has lost since loving her. It's symbolic, given that the titular character of the song has the feminine version of Alex's name, and would be a rather cheeky choice from Oscar's end IMO 😂)

Alex complains that the song is "totally not the vibe" and puts on Rigoberta Bandini's Canciones De Amor A Ti (which I love!!!!), where the female singer talks about how from now on, all the love songs she will create are only for the person she loves...which leads us to the wonderful Lake House montage 💖💖💖

At some point I really really want to explore the music and literature in this movie in full!

[notyourmajesty]

This has probably been said before but I think the campfire shot in Alex's speech could have been from one of the other takes they'd taken for the scene, and the deleted scene a different one.

This is what I'm sure is the "devastatingly handsome peasant boy" moment shown in the speech, no dialogue:

And this is as per the recent deleted scene:

The first gif from the speech has Henry place his hand on Alex's shoulder, looking up as they both break out into laughter. The second and third has Henry grasping Alex's hands in his, caressing them, and I think he's in bit more of a storyteller mode in this version of the scene.

And honestly? I love both!! I feel like the released scene probably gives us the best in terms of overall performance - Alex's dreamy romantic gaze juxtaposed with Henry's pathos.

And the little shot we finally see in the speech montage is perfect to show the kind of intimacy these two have (esp since it's part of a montage of alternate shots of things we have either seen, or that have been cut - meeting at polo, running in the V&A, the tree kiss...) because Henry gets to touch Alex's shoulder, and Alex really nails that love-drenched gaze.

I think both takes are perfect, for different reasons and different purposes 💖

[classynightdreamer-deactivated2]

This is just my thought, but I think the take we see in the montage is actually one that they couldn't use as a whole scene because I think Nick forgot his lines. He already knows that after what he just said he doesn't know what to do next and then he "steals" his time by putting his hand on Taylor's shoulder and starts laughing. You can see how he's about to say "from a far away country," but he doesn't get any further than "from." And I find that incredibly cute. And yes, this happy take fits the montage much better than the one from the published deleted scene. Both takes are great. I would love to see the other 5. Could be wrong. Just my feeling.

[notyourmajesty]

@classynightdreamer I'm kinda getting that vibe about the scene from the montage too! That there was maybe a blooper there that could make them break character, but that as a standalone shot with no dialogue it effectively delivered on the intimacy that the montage required. Whereas the deleted scene we've got now, delivers so we'll on making us see how Henry and Alex's perspectives diverge so much at this point, even on the same thing. I definitely agree with your observations.

[notyourmajesty]

Does anyone in the fandom have a translation or knows anyone who understands the lyrics to the song Oscar plays as Nora, Pez, Henry and Alex enter the lake house? (ALSO! The title is Alejandra 😁😁😁). It's this one:

I've seen other versions of the tune with what I think are different lyrics (like Javier Solis' version, for which a I did find a translation - there, the song is addressed to this woman called Alejandra who he says is the "queen of his heart"). I'm having a tough time finding either lyrics or translations for this particular one (made even more challenging by the fact that Luiz Pérez Meza has two different songs named Alejandra 🤦🏽‍♀️), and I don't know the language.

I'm basically trying to get a meta done on the literature and music choices in the film. I'd appreciate any help with translation!

[notyourmajesty]

SO! This makes me really happy coz I couldn't find a translation for this song anywhere, and the awesome @nisseramirez both showed me what the actual Spanish lyrics would look like, AND translated them! (I'm so sorry for the delay in putting this up...these past few weeks have been bonkers!).

Thanks so much for the help @nisseramirez, and for this awesome translation! She was kind enough to show me the Spanish lyrics, and follow it up with the English translation:

Soy feliz desde que te vi,

Te entregue mi amor

Y la calma perdí

(I am happy since i saw you,

I give you my love

and I lost my calm)

Son tus ojos tan divinos

Y fascina Lores al mirar

Tu sonrisa enamorada

Y tus labios de coral

(Are you eyes so divine

and fascinates Lords as they look,

you smile in love

and your coral lips)

Con el fuego de tu amor,

Con la luz de tu mirar

Haz feliz al que te quiere amar

(With the fire of your love,

With the light of your gaze,

Make happy the one who wants to love you)

Soy feliz desde que te vi,

Te entregue mi amor

Y la calma perdí.

(I am happy since I saw you,

I give you my love

and I've lost my calm)

Que felices horas paso yo pensando en ti.

Vas las ilusiones en mi mente

Mas ser feliz, pienso yo

(What happy hours I spend thinking about you,

the illusions go in my mind

but to be happy, I think)

Si tú comprendieras lo que sufro yo por ti.

Me llenas la dicha,

Me hicieras feliz

(If you understood what I suffer for you,

you will give me joy,

you made me happy)

Eres tú, Alejandra mía,

Me dieras la dicha

Me hicieras feliz

(It's you, My Alejandra,

you will give me joy,

you made me happy)

Que felices horas paso yo pensando en ti.

Vas las ilusiones en mi mente

Mas ser feliz, pienso yo

(What happy hours I spend thinking about you,

the illusions go in my mind

but to be happy, I think)

Si tú comprendieras lo que sufro yo por ti.

Me dieras la dicha,

Me hicieras feliz

(If you understood what I suffer for you,

You will give me joy,

You made me happy)

This is the song Oscar plays just as the four enter the lake house when Henry and Pez visit Alex and Nora in Texas.

(The particular lines played in the movie is the first verse "soy feliz..." - where the singer speaks about the joy he experiences seeing Alejandra, and the calm he has lost since loving her. It's symbolic, given that the titular character of the song has the feminine version of Alex's name, and would be a rather cheeky choice from Oscar's end IMO 😂)

Alex complains that the song is "totally not the vibe" and puts on Rigoberta Bandini's Canciones De Amor A Ti (which I love!!!!), where the female singer talks about how from now on, all the love songs she will create are only for the person she loves...which leads us to the wonderful Lake House montage 💖💖💖

At some point I really really want to explore the music and literature in this movie in full!

[notyourmajesty]

This has probably been said before but I think the campfire shot in Alex's speech could have been from one of the other takes they'd taken for the scene, and the deleted scene a different one.

This is what I'm sure is the "devastatingly handsome peasant boy" moment shown in the speech, no dialogue:

And this is as per the recent deleted scene:

The first gif from the speech has Henry place his hand on Alex's shoulder, looking up as they both break out into laughter. The second and third has Henry grasping Alex's hands in his, caressing them, and I think he's in bit more of a storyteller mode in this version of the scene.

And honestly? I love both!! I feel like the released scene probably gives us the best in terms of overall performance - Alex's dreamy romantic gaze juxtaposed with Henry's pathos.

And the little shot we finally see in the speech montage is perfect to show the kind of intimacy these two have (esp since it's part of a montage of alternate shots of things we have either seen, or that have been cut - meeting at polo, running in the V&A, the tree kiss...) because Henry gets to touch Alex's shoulder, and Alex really nails that love-drenched gaze.

I think both takes are perfect, for different reasons and different purposes 💖

[meraki-yao]

Okay this is honestly a really minor thing but it's been bugging me when I read RWRB fics

Prince of Wales is the title given to the male heir apparent of the British monarchy

The children of the heir apparent are Prince/Princess xxx of Wales

These two are different

To use a real-life example real quick, the children of Prince William and Kate Middleton are Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Wales, but the Prince of Wales is William. Before that, the kids were Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Cambridge because William's primary title was Duke of Cambridge

So back to RWRB

In the book, Henry is Prince Henry of Wales, but he is not the Prince of Wales. His mother Catherine is the Princess of Wales, and when she is queen Philip will be the Prince of Wales. (Even that's not entirely accurate because there isn't a designated title for a female heir apparent, and Princess of Wales is for the wife of the Prince of Wales, I'm guessing because before 2011 older sisters ranked lower than their younger brothers in the line of succession)

So the movie changing Catherine to Duchess of Edinburgh and Philip to Duke of Cambridge actually is closer to reality, in that case, Movie Henry's full title should be HRH Prince Henry of Edinburgh

Which is kinda nice since Nick's acting career started with him doing a version of Spring Awakening in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Yeah again it's a minor thing but I'm a nerd about this stuff so yeah

[notyourmajesty]

Yes to all of this!! And another interesting detail I learned over the course of reading up on titles (it's been an interest for years), is that it's more than likely that Catherine got her title as Duchess because Queen Mary conferred the same upon Arthur upon their marriage (I think the royal family usually preferred for the princesses to marry an already-titled man). I am modelling this after how Queen Elizabeth II got her title, and I'm really glad that's the way the film went. Typically "Princess of Wales" was a title that went to the wife of the man who was next in line to the Queen. So that's probably a title eventually reserved in the RWRB universe for Martha.

Irl, the rules around primogeniture had changed almost 10-11 years ago so that daughters can be in line for the throne by virtue of their age rather than only having a chance if there are no male members in the family (for instance I've seen articles about King Charles III showing an interest in conferring the late Queen's former title of Duchess of Edinburgh on his granddaughter Princess Charlotte once she's of age and ready to marry). Depending on when the UK of the RWRB universe would have allowed for such a shift in their primogeniture laws, Bea would probably have a chance at a Duchess title too without needing to marry someone with that title like Catherine likely did.

Also a lot of these titles are awarded upon marriage. So Philip would have - once he married Martha - been awarded Duke of Cambridge, and other titles like baron and earl of some other places as well.

Henry too would probably have received titles when he got married (tho acc to the bonus chapter he may have abdicated before his marriage to Alex?) and (if the laws changed in the book's universe) he could have gotten a title like Duke of York (I'm basing this on Prince William's children, since there's a similar order there of eldest male - middle child female - youngest male. I've read it's likely Prince Louis may get the Duke of York title) among some others.

The film however seems to change around the birth order of the Royal children, going by Henry stating that he's "technically the spare" (if Bea was older, he would be the "spare spare" 😄 like in the book). So in the world of the movie I can see him as being similar to irl Prince Harry in the line of succession? Probably down the line he would have gotten a Duke of Sussex title upon marriage.

My memory on a lot of these may be a bit spotty and I may be wrong...but yeah I kinda find it fun too to look up those titles and their history 😁

[ninzied]

That made him feel truly alive for the first time in his life.

[henryzalex]

@notyourmajesty the "ghastly" word that we discussed earlier

[notyourmajesty]

The way I had a wholeass essay in my head on the way Henry uses the word "ghastly" for Alex immediately after rewatching this scene!! 😭😭😭 So glad OP noticed this too!!

[rwrbsource]

matthewlopez: One of my favorite moments in Casey McQuiston’s novel is when Henry explains himself to Alex in an email, using the literary tradition of a fairy tale. I wanted to get that idea into the movie and so I wrote this scene inspired by that moment in the book. I ended up cutting it as we didn’t ultimately learn anything we didn’t already know/intuit and because the three and a half minutes the scene runs was ultimately hindering our momentum. It was a painful but necessary cut and I’m happy to finally share the scene with you all. The speech ran over a page and half in the shooting script and Nick performed it beautifully in a single extended take that we then got coverage on for the end. For those of you who know the film (and there are a few of you), it was intended to go after the scene between Alex and Oscar in the kitchen and before the scene on the raft. I hope you enjoy!

[turkeysandyellowroses]

[manic-pixie-fever-dream]

RWRB x Sadda Haq edit

Disclaimer: Hindi is not my mother tongue. It's a learned language.

Hindi rock song for a RWRB edit? Why not?! The song is about revolution and wanting to live life on one's own terms.

"Sadda haq aithe rakh" roughly translates to "give me what's mine, right here (and right now)".

Alex and Henry taking what's theirs, their right to love who they want.

Desi RWRB fans, feel free to give me your feedback. Reblog if you liked it. ❤️

[notyourmajesty]

Ok so when I say I went on a mind journey with this video edit, I mean a real mind journey!! I'm going to put the rest under a cut coz I'm kinda rambling here 😂

I'm really impressed with how the edits in the video (and your rough translation of the chorus line which btw I think you did a good job with!!) matched with the lyrics, esp since Hindi is a learned language (it's a learned language for me too so I understand the translation struggle well!!) Just wanted to add here also that haq typically also refers to one's rights as well. So it's also about people who've had their rights taken away from them, demanding their agency.

And I'll maybe get into how you interpreted the specific "Sadda Haq" lines in the vm as well coz I really loved that...but in a bit 🤓

So I absolutely loved that you used the opening lines of the song. I'll be honest - initially, I wondered whether the final lines of the song would work well too with Henry and Alex ("why do you preach about the truth, when you can't even bear to hear it/if anyone tries to tell the truth, you bring up rules and laws/your fear...your love...your praise...keep it to yourself").

The above lines were perhaps the most popular part of Sadda Haq, and it did fit the situation, technically...but the most I thought about it, the more I realized the lines you chose fit FirstPrince (esp Henry) far better. Especially the lines "Matlab ki tum sabka mujhpe/Mujhse bhi zyada haq hai" - roughly translated to "does this mean you all have more of a right on me, more than I do?" (rhetorical question). Henry and Alex aren't going to go fire and brimstone on this - like the final lines of the song - but they will raise those questions to the people in power. They will not apologize for being their true selves in front of the world. And the lines you used here perfectly capture that.

To get back to the bits in the vm that show up during the chorus - perfection!! Because it is about their right... specifically their right to love a man unashamedly and with pride. So when you combine shots of their love for each other, with the chant of "my rights, give them to me now!" - I think that's powerful 💖💖

@tell-a-tale check this out 🤓

[notyourmajesty]

Does anyone in the fandom have a translation or knows anyone who understands the lyrics to the song Oscar plays as Nora, Pez, Henry and Alex enter the lake house? (ALSO! The title is Alejandra 😁😁😁). It's this one:

I've seen other versions of the tune with what I think are different lyrics (like Javier Solis' version, for which a I did find a translation - there, the song is addressed to this woman called Alejandra who he says is the "queen of his heart"). I'm having a tough time finding either lyrics or translations for this particular one (made even more challenging by the fact that Luiz Pérez Meza has two different songs named Alejandra 🤦🏽‍♀️), and I don't know the language.

I'm basically trying to get a meta done on the literature and music choices in the film. I'd appreciate any help with translation!

[manic-pixie-fever-dream]

It's giving 'exhausted dads' vibe.

Look Papa! Look here Daddy! I painted on the walls!

Image: tinytzp on twitter

[notyourmajesty]

@tell-a-tale GLASSES 🤓

[creationdreamobservation]

Red, White & Royal Blue [2023]

Requested by @carolinahope

[notyourmajesty]

What this is telling me (symbolically, besides Alex purposely being a little shit 💖) is that whether or not Henry is the "Prince of England's Hearts", he's the most definitely the king of Alex's.

[notyourmajesty]

This is the look of a man who was probably going to open his mouth to talk, before his brain short-circuited at the mere sight of his four-year crush 🤧

[onpurposeilovehimonpurpose]

This

VS.

I will forever stare at the differences between these two pictures of Henry. Press Face VS. "I Love Him" face is one of the best bits of acting in the whole film. Have I talked about this scene before? Sure have. Not gonna stop.

[alasse9]

rwrb fic: (did my love aid and abet you?)

Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Summary: AU - Canon Divergence. That night in Kensington Palace, Henry told Alex to leave. Eleven years later, Alex watches on the news as Henry comes out, and abdicates. A story of what came before, and what comes after.

Read on Ao3 HERE

It’s been eleven fucking years, and Henry is finally free. It’s been eleven fucking years, and Henry is finally out. It’s been eleven fucking years, and Alex Claremont-Diaz still hasn’t learned how to be normal about Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor.

[inexplicablymine]

K YALL I’m not kidding around drop everything you are doing right now and go read this. It has lived in my head rent free from the moment I read it. Go fast go NOW.

[lightningboltreader]

I dropped everything. I read it. I sobbed. It’s heartbreaking but beautiful and oh my god the ending is such a sweet balm for the pain.

I respectfully implore you to experience it for yourself if you go here.

edit to add: suspiciously looking at @welcometololaland re: bella swan reference

[manic-pixie-fever-dream]

Guess who used the wrong fork?!

He got served though!!

[autiacorart]

wake up, new bond just dropped