#rapha writes

[rapha-reads]

Been rereading my thesis on folktales, rewritings and Beauty and the Beast to prepare for writing my PhD thesis proposal, and although it's not a part I need to save for that, I reached that passage and felt like sharing, because it's a little paragraph I'm quite proud of:

There is a crucial distinction to be made between the notion of kindness and that of niceness. In the simplest of terms, being kind implies a conscious choice to go towards others and help them for the sake of helping them, while being nice is a social act that expects a reward. One can be kind without coming off as nice, and nice people are not necessarily kind. Niceness comes with social repercussions and expectations: I will be nice to these people so that they will talk positively about me, and it will bring me popularity and social standing. But behind closed doors, the mask falls and all these actions turn out to be pretence. On the other hand, kindness is often invisible, and does not offer any compensation. Being nice is acting as society expects you to because you are afraid that if you do not, you will not be accepted. Being kind is acting selflessly for the good of others without thinking of society’s requirements, nor even thinking of one’s own self.

[thornetabris]

Have you considered Neve walking up to a sweaty Rook during a mission and delicately blowing icy air down their neck then chuckling real quiet to herself as she walks away from a flustered mess that used to be her Trouble

what the hell. sure

That the Anderfels was a place of extremes she had already known. Had read about it somewhere, but reading and experiencing it were two very different things: heavy fabrics she wears is well-suited to the nights at Lavendel, but they're scratchy and damn near claustrophobic underneath the blazing sun during the day.

Poor Rook seems to have it the worst, though.

"C'mon, Thorne," pokes Davrin, a slight laugh in his words as he passes them by, sword bloody. "You're embarrassing your Clan's First tripping over roots."

"I'm from the city, asshole."

The answer to her grumbling is another laugh, already well ahead of them.

She's still muttering nervously under her breath when Neve approaches, a bloodied palm trying to gather hair away from a sticky neck without dirtying herself even more. It had grown: she had commented on it a few days earlier, getting a cheeky "hair tends to do that, yeah" in response that had only made her sigh. She bets her own leg that it wouldn't be past a few more days before the elf snatches a sharp enough knife to cut it to her chin again.

Rook's gathered enough in her hand when she manages to get closer. Pulling it up in a barely there, loose grip, fingers still shaking tiredly from the bowstring. Dips her head enough to try and feel some sort of non-existent breeze snaking inside the high collar of the padded tunic.

It is not so easy to pull in humidity and freeze it up. She had been relying on the staff to carve through the darkspawn; at least during the day. Whatever had been going on with the Veil she had thought would make it easier: she's proven wrong once again as she chills her own hand.

The hand that fits snugly against a flushed nape, fingers curling.

She hadn't done that with ulterior motives. When Rook tenses up beneath her palm, though, when she hears a hitch catch in her breaths, her lips curl too; palm and fingers following the shifting muscles beneath the high collar, pulling it slightly away.

The chilled breath directed down the collar is done purely out of ulterior motives.

"Better?"

Rook chokes and nods. They pretend not to hear Davrin chuckling, up ahead.

[merlinfanficquotes]

There was no one more suited for him than Arthur. Merlin believed the two of them had been carved out of the same stone, a strong beautiful stone, at the very beginning of time and had somehow been parted, sadly, tragically, and had wandered until they finally found one another again and could safely lock themselves back into place. Side by side.

All These Things They’ll Never Know by giselleslash

[rapha-reads]

Villains, clowns or misunderstood characters?

A study of Tybalt and Mercutio, from play to movies

Introduction:

Most movie adaptations only focus on the star-crossed lovers and often cut or misunderstand the roles of Tybalt and Mercutio. The goal is to shed another light on these two characters through a study of the text and an analysis of chosen scenes in the movies.

Part 1A

Part I – A royal jester, a mercurial clown: who is Mercutio?

A – The one who talks a lot: five centuries of analysis and interpretations

Mercutio’s weapon of choice is language. He loves to hear himself, he loves puns and jokes. He goes from prose to verse incessantly, showing his volatile and erratic temperament. He also strives on public admiration, and often makes a spectacle of himself to attract attention.

Part 1B

Part I – A royal jester, a mercurial clown: who is Mercutio?

B – The Queen Mab tirade: Mercutio’s bravura

One of the most famous tirades of Romeo and Juliet is said by Mercutio. He launches into the phantasmagorical recital of his dream after Romeo reveals that he had a dream. The Queen Mab speech is riddled with innuendo. But it is not just a long speech made of puns and funny, goofy, Mercutio-esque jokes.

Part 2A

Part 2 - Tybalt, honour and loyalty: the angry Prince of Cats

A – Villain?

Tybalt is skilled with a sword. Indeed, Tybalt’s first appearance in the play is sword in hand. He is the second main character to appear, after Benvolio, and his very first course of action is to insult and seek a fight. The same way Mercutio’s weapon is words, Tybalt’s is his skills with a sword.

Part 2B

Part 2 - Tybalt, honour and loyalty: the angry Prince of Cats

B - Or another victim?

There is something else already in these two lines, the first he speaks: his attention to ranks and social value, his obsession with the system of Verona. The realisation that Tybalt is perhaps not all that he seems to be sheds another light on his behaviour on the streets and towards the Montagues.

Part 3A

Part 3 - A strange rivalry: Tybalt vs Mercutio

A – Through each other’s eyes

Their personalities, beliefs and views of the world end up clashing and the resulting fight is the turning point of the play. Up until the Duel, the play was more axed towards comedy than tragedy, but the fire that Mercutio and Tybalt alight by meeting tips the play towards tragedy. But who are they to each other, really?

Part 3B

Part 3 - A strange rivalry: Tybalt vs Mercutio

B - Death comes for everyone

The Duel is the tipping point of the play. While the prologue says that the feud is ancient and has been reawakened with a new rage, the Prince’s warning speech in act 1 scene 1 implies that the fights had not yet been deadly – nobody has died because of the feud.

The END

Conclusion

References

Tybalt is often misrepresented as the villain of the play, when he is just as much a victim as the rest of Verona’s youth. As for Mercutio, he is most of the time only remembered for his puns and innuendos, even though there is much more to him than just a clown.

If you've liked this essay, don't hesitate to leave me a heart, a comment, or even buy me a cup of coffee!

[rapha-reads]

Interview With The Vampire rewatch + books parallels

Season 1 masterpost

Now that I've finished reading all the main books of The Vampire Chronicles, I'm rewatching the entire show and commenting each episodes one by one. I welcome all kinds of replies, comments and reactions, by the way, here to discuss, not scream in the void. Meta, reactions, book spoilers, humor, emotions and theories ahead:

Episode 1:

Part 1

Part 2

Episode 2:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Episode 3

Episode 4:

Part 1

Part 2

Episode 5:

Part 1

Part 2

Episode 6:

Part 1

Part 2

Episode 7:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Season 2 masterpost

[rapha-reads]

A history of Earth in Hayao Miyazaki's environmentalism

Rapha published a post on Ko-fi

"One no longer needs to demonstrate Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's environmentalist sentiments. Environmentalism, feminism and anti-war pacifism are the three main themes that can be highlighted from movie to movie. Nonetheless, in our current political climate, bringing specific attention to the environmental issues at hand is more important than ever. [...] The environmentalist fight is not only at the heart of the 21st century's worries, but is also a fight for the future of humanity, fuelled by the sagacity of some wise people and the experiences of the past. Hayao Miyazaki understands this well as he who bears the scars of the great traumas of the 20th century and yet continues to dream of a bright future."

[rapha-reads]

Meta-literature: The Princess Bride - Part 1/4

Rapha published a post on Ko-fi

Meta-literature: the “mise en abyme” of the narration in William Goldman's The Princess Bride “This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it”. With these words, William Goldman provides us with the crux of the novel in our hands. He is the author, yet he is also the reader and the interpreter of this book which is all at once his and another writer's book. Convoluted? It is only the beginning.

An essay in four parts about metafiction, what a narrator is, and The Princess Bride.

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

Season 2 episode 1 [What Can The Damned Really Say to the Damned] - part 4/4

- And now... Mood shift, setting change, back to Dubai, 2022, and the 77 year-long lie. And lord oh lord, we jump right into it with the shot of the bedroom being a cell and Armand selling Louis' art without even telling him the works are up for sale. Greaaaat. This is gonna be fun.

[Louis] "'Could I see the pages we removed? Of Claudia's diaries?'

[Armand] 'We made an agreement.'

[Louis] 'I don't know what else is blurred or misremembered.'

[Armand] 'My name is in some of those pages.'

[Louis] 'I sit across from him and reckon with the knowledge I don't know what other misrememberings made into it. I won't share them with him but I need to read them again.'"

Brb, need to SCREAM. Oh, the control Armand us exercising over Louis... The way he micromanages every aspect of his life. The way Louis has to bargain for everything he wants, and the way he thanks (thanks!!!) Armand for every breadcrumb thrown his way. The way Armand cares more about his image, his reputation, his grip on Louis, than Louis' well-being and peace of soul and mind. And the way the scene is shot and designed, the bars behind the bed and the skyscraper settling, the lack of any colors and any homey furniture, the huge bed with an ocean separating them, contrasting with the comfy house and room of 1132 rue Royale, and how Lestat and Louis used to sleep entwined in each other's embrace... I will go mad.

- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE ENTRANCE HAND IN HAND, ARE THEY SERIOUS. Oh, this is too hilarious. And how they drop the hands as soon as they're seated, yeah, real convincing, fellas.

- Oh, Devil's Minion's crumb! Armand responding to Daniel by mimicking his "Yeah" and those big eyes looking so amused and fond at that old man. Couldn't care less about the Loumand, I'm here for the Devil's Minion. What a performance, Louis rubbing Armand's shoulder, lmao.

- Daniel shutting down Armand immediately is hilarious. "Sure, sire, you're on the record, but you still haven't made an appearance in the story so for now stfu and wait for your turn". No wonder Armand goes crazy about Daniel, that guy doesn't know how to be afraid. And second shoulder pat, Lou, hon... You're enjoying this, aren't you. You are enjoying the way Daniel puts Armand back in his place, something you haven't managed to do in years, despite what you both like to pretend.

- Oh, I love that piece of music! That one is "The Whole World Was Ready to Return" and it is gorgeous. It's played here, as Claudia and Louis go to Paris, and at the end, when Louis issues his threat/warning to the vampires in Dubai. Very thematic. The music in s2 is different from the music in s1, by the way. S1 soundtrack had very folk/blues undertones, New Orleans style, while s2 is much more orchestral/symphonic, Paris style. The music adapts itself to the setting, and I adore that. It gives so much more texture to the story.

- [Louis] "The war had turned off the lights, stripped its streets of their beauty, sent its avant-garde into exile. But now, the whole world was ready to return, to remake their lives. Pilgrims, on their hopeful way."

Nah, the avant-garde, at least artistic, was there, just, waaay underground or dangerously flirting with censorship and hidden meanings. In Paris itself during the war, there were several plays written and played against fascism while the Gestapo was patrolling the streets. Notably, though conflictingly, Jean Anouilh's famous "Antigone", in 1944, Josephine Baker singing and spying , as well as Sacha Guitry, who was arrested after the Liberation and accused of collaboration without any evidence, but who managed to save a lot of Jewish artists and personalities by playing double agent, or good ol' Sartre (who hilariously makes a cameo later on in the show) who writes a lot of stuff between '40 and' 44. Anyway. There's more but I ain't have time right now to do serious research. Back to Louis.

- [Louis] "'I wanna say something to you. I don't need to hear anything back I just need you to hear me. Hard words and soft words. The hard. Our life is shit. It's been shit. It is shit. It's gonna be shit again. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. No one's watching, no one cares. A shit life beats no life. But where we're going now we can't be running away again. Doesn't mean we forget what we saw. What she did in front of us. I see you going that way I'm gonna pull you back. I don't need that from you. As long as you walk the Earth, I'll never taste the fire, you understand me? We're going to find others like us. Aind if it ain't here, cos life is shit, or I fuck it up again, or you fuck it up, we'll go to the next place. We can't be the only good ones out there. Soft words. If you were the last vampire on Earth... it would be enough. It's you and me. Me and you. You and me. Me and you. You and me.'"

And my hallucination of your dead father.

Anyway that's his child, that's her parent.

Gotta give it to Louis tho, he doesn't lie. Embellishes, obfuscates, but lying, no. As long as Claudia's alive, he's not gonna try the sun. But if she dies... All bets are off.

Also Louis is right and hey, actually needed to hear that right now, thanks bae. Now someone needs to tell him back his own words, I think he needs to hear it back.

Episode insider:

Jacob talking about the heart full of sugar and how he spent the rest of the night on a sugar high is so adorable and hilarious when the part that comes next is Dreamstat. Also hey, "Dreamstat" was coined by Jacob himself, nice!

[Jacob] "Anne Rice's vampires are so human. This is kind of a departure from these sort of beautified, glamorous vampires. It's just really fun." - yeah, I like the glam vamp, but the monstrous vampire, a bit like Mike Flanagan does in Midnight Mass, is also a thrill.

Love Delainey saying she loved doing her stunts and all the physical stuff!

[Assad] "Armand wants to protect himself, but also wants to protect his relationship with Louis, what they have. He feels he has no choice except to come in, sharing the narrative with Louis." - yep. Protecting himself. Protecting what he has with Louis, even at the expanse of Louis' own will. Because what does Armand fear above all else? To be unloved. Not necessarily alone, like most vampires, but to be considered unlovable and unworthy of people's care. So if he can't be sure that people's feelings for him are genuine, he will orchestrate and manipulate them to tie them to himself. That's Armand's schtick.

season 1 masterpost

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | episode 6 | episode 7 | episode 8