Looking down on a thunderstorm from above the clouds. Taken by Christian van Heijst.
VCTV series pilot episode cover page, May 2, 2018 [X]
“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”
― Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat
Why include that quote? It may be setting the tone of philosophical hunger in the series generally. That quote probably wouldn’t be in the pilot episode, since Lestat won’t meet Marius until a lot of other stuff has happened first. That quote was very ahead of its time, and yet, even before social media, ppl have sought info that fed their confirmation bias.
Marius is right tho, to truly ask questions and be open to hearing answers one might not like, can be damaging to the asker, but it can also lead to enlightenment.
I think she’s (or whoever decided to include it now) choosing this quote to remind ppl that the TV series is not going to please everyone, that we all ought to keep an open mind about it, and to trust in the ppl creating it that they are trying for the best adaptation for their own headcanon. Does that make sense? Maybe that’s my own confirmation bias, that I would want them to be trying to manage expectations of it, but that they have to move forward and continue with their own vision, or it won’t get done at all. Then NO ONE gets even a little bit of what they want.
At this point I just want to see this thing begin during AR’s lifetime!
I will continue to fantasize about them hiring a Lestat who can sing and act, and sending him on a world tour with real concerts as part of the promotion for the series, and having a seasoned rock star (Sting? Bon Jovi?) write the music and coach the Lestat on stage presence and all that.
Sometimes my motto really is TREAT YO SELF. In other words, draw pretty boy elf faces. I think when I initially went to art school, whether I voiced it or not, was so I could learn to draw elves better…
Lestat by @good-evening-kiss, this is a cropped version of the fanart I commissioned, will post the larger image later! I love it, and g.e.k. was lovely to work with, highly recommend ❤
.
I’m on a soft hiatus, sorry for not responding to messages. I wanted to post this note bc there are ppl I’ve seen drift away from fandom and I’ve missed them, and wanted to know that they’re at least okay, that nothing bad happened that’s preventing them from being available. Whether they needed a break from me or from fandom in general, just a check in is a good thing to do…
There is one such person I have in mind talking about this, and we’ve communicated 2x in about a year and a half, they had shut off all their regular social media (Tumblr, twitter, FB) and they are living peacefully offline, as far as I know. This person really needed to be with themselves and heal from the fighting that can happen online, where controversy seems to be encouraged.
So my story is that Real Life has had me away from a desk for a few weeks now, on special assignments, and beyond that, I’ll just say that I needed some time to myself. To reflect on all the recent info from the past year or so, reflect and recalibrate my attitude on things. Like vampires going to ground, which I haven’t really done except in short breaks over the last several years here.
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately and can recommend some. I’m in a state where I’m absorbing ideas, and I think it will enrich my presence here and my fanfic writing, which I miss very much.
I’m focused on cults, public shaming, controversial ppl with personalities… I’ll make a separate post for that.
ANYWAY I’m sorry for my absence, I’m doing fine, and I hope to return on a more regular basis soon.
I rewatched Queen of the Damned and Lestat personally burst through the screen and punched me in the face with 80s trash glam-punk vibes 👌✨
PUNK BABE
please stop reblogging sylvia plath poetry
For ppl asking why she’s an anti black, anti Semite. She has used the n word and compared her depression to the holocaust
Even not counting her poetry her private journals are full of disgusting, overblown antisemitism. She didn’t just use Jewish people for her metaphors, she outright hated them irl and yet decided to use their suffering for her own gain
okay, I’m Jewish and I appreciate this sentiment. and if someone wants to cut out Sylvia Plath, go for it, I get it.
But. by this logic we’d also need to stop reblogging TS Eliot, Oscar Wilde, and Shakespeare quotes. Virginia Woolf wrote anti-semetic things in her private journals, too. If you only want to read classic poets who liked Jews and black people, that’s fine, but like. good luck? Sylvia Plath isn’t an exception.
idk. Tumblr’s attitude of “consume nothing problematic” just doesn’t work if you’re part of a group that most culture-creators over the last few centuries have hated by default. For people actually in those groups, it’s not like the only two choices are 1) worship authors who hate you or 2) completely cut the majority of literature out of your life. You learn to read critically and acknowledge flaws where you find them.
anyway, as a Jewish woman, I would much rather see a version of this post that said “please read Sylvia Plath poetry critically because she’s anti black and antisemetic” than just “stop reblogging Sylvia Plath poetry.”
IMO, reblog Sylvia Plath all you want, just not unthinkingly.
Sometimes I fell like tumblr has put itself on the the extreme opposite of “consume stuff incritically”
“Don’t consume stuff instead of dealing with it.”
If I ignore its existence then I won’t have to take a layered view on it.
But guys… anti-semitism is a thing and it’s been a rampant thing for centuries. You can’t ignore that the middle ages or the early 20th century existed. Or heck, the middle of the 20th century in the US.
People always are a product of their times. And some times where just racist as fuck! That was normal! And that is something you have to look at and look at critically because these times will return. And very normal people who are talented and nice will have very horrible, unthinking opinions.
That includes you, btw.
So think instead of ignore.
My history professors were always trying to tell us that you CAN NOT view the past through a contemporary lens if you expect to have any kind of understanding of the past. And “understanding” does not mean acceptance, so let’s get that out of the way right now.
We have the privilege–yes, PRIVILEGE–of living in a time that is the product of other people’s grueling hard work, of centuries of people before us being arrested, beaten up, impoverished, KILLED so that we could stand on our high horses and be proud of growing up in the enlightenment they made for us. Any one of us unlucky enough to have been born 100, 200 year ago would like 99% be racists, anti Semites, and probably misogynists (yes, even minority groups, because anti Semitism and misogyny have long histories in black culture too) because the only way to not be all that in a world where it was so normal it was like believing in gravity was to be exceptional. I mean, beyond your time philosophical genius kind of exceptional. For any of us to believe that we would just magically be all enlightened and woke if we hadn’t had the benefit of a world around us teaching us not to be is an insane level of arrogance. It would be like trust-fund Brad insisting he would still be a success even if he hadn’t inherited 80% of a company to start. No, Brad, someone did all that work before you were born buddy.
Even the amazing people who were taking leaps to end various discriminations a century ago are still problematic. The white abolitionists were definitely racist by our standards, just not racist enough to want slavery (and most of them were insane Christian fundamentalists who had no tolerance for any other creed). But it would be insane and a gross dereliction of historical duty to just ignore these people and pretend they didn’t exist because they couldn’t magically meet all our privileged standards 170 years ago.
Headcanon that Louis, despite his stuffy erudite persona, is a huge fucking nerd, and accompanies Daniel and Armand to all the midnight premieres of the new Star Wars and Marvel movies. He has Opinions on the prequels and has gotten into literal fights with Lestat over them. His favorite Avenger is Hawkeye, even though Daniel constantly bashes him for being lame. He also read Tolkien before it was cool and is lowkey salty about it but also had a crush on Orlando Bloom’s Legolas so there’s that. (Also don’t even get me started into how deep he is in the Harry Potter fandom. Like, this bitch would die for Hermione Granger okay).
I-want-my-IWTV 