Tag Archives: iwantmyiwtv has opinions

I have a little doubt, are ricean vampires racist?

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Y’know, that is a good question but also a tough one to answer. I’m sure there are academic articles on it (here’s one I skimmed, looks intriguing, thanks to takemetocoffin-or-losemeforever for the link!), and I did a movie!IWTV kill tally (according to the tally, 73% of the on-screen mortals killed were Caucasian). 

I percolated on this with coldinhumanity, and the short answer is: Maybe, but if so, it’s unintentional. These are 200+ yr old vampires, and they have outdated conceptions of things.

In movie!IWTV: Louis kills Yvette, a poc, it was accidental. We see him struggling with it and trying to make Yvette leave him alone, but she seems to actually care about him, “Are you still our master at all? You must send away this friend of yours… they’re frightened of him. And they’re frightened of you.” I headcanon that they had a good relationship prior to his turning, maybe the best possible relationship under the circumstances.

Not saying that Louis was a fantastic slave owner, but we aren’t told negative things about him in that role, only that movie!Yvette (and I think it’s in book!IWTV, too) NOTICED his daytime absence in the fields, and seemed to want him back out there. 

I think Anne Rice attempts to consider political concepts and weave them into her work if possible, but it’s not her main focus. Akasha’s idea for world peace was presented, and refuted. Was Akasha a misandrist? That’s not racism, but it’s hatred of a group of people who all share a certain characteristic having and/or being a dick, and AR strove to show us how impractical it was to try to remove them, 40% of the world’s population, in order to “improve” the remainder. 

In the books, I’d say that:

  • Anne Rice began the first one in the style of the Victorian-era gothic novels she loved, and emulated the way those novels exoticised anything that could be exoticised, such as, exotic people. 
  • The whole series are basically white men from the capitals of Europe.
  • She has had some non-Caucasian vampires (I won’t spoil anything by mentioning them by name), who are typically from places that western history acknowledge as good and impressive, like Ancient Egypt and India.

I don’t think she intends to be racist, and her characters rarely have dialogue that would explicitly state such. In the narration, however, one could argue that there are implied racial opinions.  

Hello! After years of re-reading the first 3 books, I am about to start book 4, ttotbt. However, I was looking at the order of books on Wikipedia and I noticed Pandora and Vittorio are kind of separate? When should I read them so that the series is in order?((your blog is PERFECT, by the way))

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((My blog is perfect, indeed. Pffft must pretend to have some level of humility! Thank u *u* ))

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Starting TOBT, you’re still on the more sane side of canon. JUST YOU WAIT.

When to read Pandora and Vittorio? That’s a good question. Other ppl may have different answers for you, so anyone feel free to reblog this w/ commentary or send me a message on this.

Pandora

This is the story of Pandora, who was with Marius for quite some time, so I would read this one right before Blood and Gold (which is Marius’ story) so that her perspective is fresh in your mind when Marius starts talking smack about her. AR wrote Blood and Gold after Pandora, so she had to keep that information in mind, too.

Vittorio

HONESTLY, I don’t see that Vittorio really fits into canon at all, I think the Coven of the Articulate are mentioned briefly in his book? His story won’t spoil any of the other books, bc it’s completely separate from theirs, so I’d leave it till later. After Blood and Gold. Maybe even after Prince Lestat, since he’s not in that book, either.

When I started the series, the first 4 had already been published, and I read the fresh VC in the order they were released. This meant that I read Pandora between MtD and TVA, not really ideal placement, as, if I recall correctly, she has only brief cameos in those. I read Vittorio between TVA and Merrick, and I don’t think he appears in either.

Back then we read everything immediately, fearing every VC novel would be the last; trying times. Hope this helped ^______^

A silly question, but would I be considered any less apart of the fandom if I haven’t read all of the books? I’ve read the main ones but many of them, especially the later ones have pretty bad reputations and I am just unsure whether I should either bother with them? I have read the first 3 A LOT and some others, too.

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Not a silly question! There are 11 VC books now (13 if you include the New Tales’ Pandora and Vittorio) THATS A LOT OF STORY (just imagine this gif 11-13 times bc I don’t wanna actually throw it in 11-13 times not aesthetically pleasing)

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What is being part of a fandom? 

  • Everyone’s idea of this is different. 
  • The short answer is simply: You’ve read enough to be part of the fandom! Welcome! I, Mater Fabuloso, decree you worthy.

As far as the later books having a bad reputation…

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Yes! Some of them are so crazy and wildly cracky! That’s why we also call them the #Vampire Crackicles. It’s a term of endearment. The crazy is a big part of why we enjoy it. Dysfunctional vampires! The first 3-4 books in the series seem to be the more highly regarded, VC-fandom-wide, maybe bc the crazy was better woven in.

If you liked the first 3 – and some others – enough to reread them, you must also enjoy the sense of humor that’s mixed in with the angst, the love, the overall crazy! The bad-reputation VC have some silly/angsty/etc. quotes and scenes that are not to be missed (like that quote about Lestat’s foot size insecurity pfffft).

Short answer is: give it all a chance, skim if you must, and decide for yourself, it’s meant to be fun, it’s not a religion, there are no chants to memorize, you will not be quizzed next Monday ;]

Personally, and I hope this goes for others, I welcome anyone into the fandom who loves any of the characters. Maybe someone’s gateway drug was movie!IWTV. Maybe it was Claudia’s Story (graphic novel). Any combination of VC books/media counts!

I think the more VC you read, the better-informed your “headcanon” (let me explain you a thing about headcanon if you aren’t familiar with the concept) will be, as you choose which parts of (or scenes within) the series feel believable to you. 

I sound like a broken record bc I write this SO OFTEN: my idea of being “part of the fandom” just means engaging in discussions about the series, making fanworks, and making friendships with ppl who share your interests. I don’t know how other fandoms behave, but that’s a summary of my positive experiences in the VC fandom.

Which books do you personally and/or (if you might feel differently) the majority of the fandom regard as canon?

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Dear anon, this is an impossible question to answer a simple “Books 1-4″ or “Books 1-3, and then 5″ or such and so forth…

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… as some ppl refuse to read Prince Lestat, or a bunch of the other books, won’t even give them a chance not that they all deserve a wholehearted chance necessarily… 

Most of the fandom, in my experience, have had different gateway drugs to the series. I love collecting stories of how people first got into it (#I love these kind of stories tag). They first saw movie!IWTV or movie!QOTD and then read the corresponding book, or a friend gave them a random one from the series, or someone donated the whole series to them, etc. From there, some people read in order, some people skipped around.

PERSONALLY, I first started with IWTV and at that time (1994) the movie was out but being rated R, I was too young to see it, so I read the books that were available at the time (1-4), in order. I also snuck over to a friend’s house to see movie!IWTV when it came out on VHS (I’M OLD), which we watched repeatedly, and it attained this *~forbidden-fruit~* sort of connotation for me which has never dissipated. 

Then I continued and just read the books as they came out. Hard to imagine, but there was a time when we waited, not knowing when the next book would come out, or if there would be another at all. AR originally intended to end the series at Memnoch the Devil, which is probably why it ends like this: 

“Let me pass now from fiction into legend. 

THE END

9:43 February 28, 1994

Adieu, mon amour.”

THAT SAID, if you want to make VC fanworks (including fic, meta discussion, fanart, etc.) or do VC RP, it seems to help if you’ve read at least IWTV, TVL, and TVA (TVA might spoil previous events in canon but it’s really THE authority on Armand)(and read some fanfic!). 

I think those VC contain the crux of the fan fave characters (Lestat, Louis, ((Nicki)), Gabrielle, Armand, Daniel, Marius) and scenes that have had alot of impact in developing the main characters. Your fanworks/RP will be richer if you know the background of the characters, because you’ll be able to refer to the events, or quotes, or take them as a jumping-off point in your work.

However, in the later books, you get new info, new characters, and new perspectives on previous events (example: Claudia’s diary entry in QOTD is heartwrenching).

Honestly, the song Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks to me as a song represents the fabulousness of Lestat. I don’t know, whenever I hear that song I just feel like all of his antics go with that song’s level of energy. Lestat is fierce and even though he’s a Brat Prince he’s still fabulous. I also think that song has a bit of sass in it which I always thought Lestat had in spades.

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I have to agree with you on that. It’s a very ballsy anthem, a very, “I may not know everything about this world, but when I get knocked down, hell if I’m gonna let it keep me down!”

There’s a mention of a guy in it, and it’s easy to see this as a young and fragile Lestat:

He was no more
(He was no more)
Than a baby then
Well, he seemed broken hearted
Somethin’ within him
But the moment
That I first laid
Eyes on him
All alone on the edge of seventeen

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[fanart by garama]

He’s only ever wanted to be loved, if you look at all the instances of him Doing the Thing, it was in pursuit of that goal. Religion taught him that to be loved, you must be Good. The idea is that Goodness makes one worthy of love, even when his religious beliefs have waned. The trouble is that his formative years were a confusing series of neglect and abuse (with little love from Gabrielle), the first real love he ever really shared was probably with Nicolas. And that ended pretty badly ;A;

So he still struggles with how to love (and not merely possess), and be loved (allow people to love him).

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merciful-death:

nodominion:

//I can’t believe I’m only now coming to the realization that Rose hates flower nicknames because of acid-man. He’s the one who calls her that, and though Lestat also calls her a ‘flower’, it rings differently for Rose.

“I take Holy Communion,” whispered Gardner as he kissed her, “my innocent one, my sweet and gentle one, my flower.”

ooc; I still can’t believe Rose dated a guy whose name was one letter away from being fucking Gardener.

mY FLOWER

-tAkeS pRuNeRs AnD dEsTrOyS-

IKR??!?? ROSE/GARD-E-NER LIKE C’MON ARGH 

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Gallery

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on left: R u seriusly takin my pic rn omg not ready…

on right: OK DO IT *blue steel*

Source: tomc-ruise