Birds in a Cage
You know how as soon as you complete something you realize there was something you meant to include and forgot. You review it a million times before submitting and miss the thing, and then you do an after-submission review and see it right away. And all you can do is slap your forehead because it’s now too late.
That’s me right now. There was one idea I had in my original script but must have deleted when I edited it down for time and never realized until I watched my video of the Glass Menagerie Hidden inside IWTV after uploading to YT. I did mention the scene but forgot this specific and important point I wanted to make.
In the mirrored silhouette scenes of Louis and Lestat crossing in front of golden sunlight, with the bars of the bedroom frame for Louis and on the theater landing for Lestat, casting shadows that suggest both are caged by Armand as the Stage Magician. Well, I talked about the visual symmetry and what it's doing structurally. What I didn't get to was the clothing aspect.
Look at what each of them does in that scene. Lestat angrily throws his suit jacket on the floor. Louis puts his pajama top on.
Those are opposite gestures, and they're telling you opposite things. Lestat is discarding — refusing the cage, fighting the frame, rejecting the performance being staged around him. He knows what's happening. He has always known what Armand is. His anger in that scene isn't just emotion; it's comprehension. He will not be dressed for the role Armand has assigned him.
Louis puts his pajama top on. He is settling in…getting comfortable. He’s preparing for rest in a cage he doesn't recognize as one. His unawareness is embodied in that gesture. He is literally clothing himself in his own captivity.
The Stage Magician doesn't need to chain the bird who doesn't know it's in a cage.
I love the writers of this show and how they can tell such an important point is just the staging.
Woh 😯
