(The temptation to drop this image and post is pretty strong but I’ll go on just a little more in the remote chance that you’re being serious.)(But really when you look at him, there’s pain there, in addition to the humor he’s trying to cover it up with, what he’s actually saying here is pretty flippant “We’re lucky to have such a home,” No honey, it’s not luck and you know it, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

NO CUTS WE LONGPOST LIKE MEN

I’ve been there, Anon, and at least in my case, I’m an adult and I don’t live with my parents, so I don’t need them to also like what I like, and I don’t need their approval to like the things that I like, but I remember feeling so validated when they DID like what I liked. I had a very good relationship with my parents over and above the fact that I admired them and respected their opinions on pretty much everything.

I talked about VC when I lived with them and they were receptive when I needed them to clarify things for me that

I didn’t understand at 11 years old. But this is the case with every piece of media and every new thing that I came across as I was growing up and all the way to currently, they were and are a valuable resource and sounding board for my developing ideas.

Sometimes I brought up VC to illustrate a point. Like Armand’s line in the movie was pretty motivational and helped me immensely when I was a bullied kid and needed confidence:

~We must be powerful, beautiful, and without regret.~

^Which Louis rejects bc he knows that regret absolutely does have value, especially to him in that scene. But I think, isolated, I took it as: 

“You’re carrying too much regret, wallowing in guilt is not working for you, and you need to let go of those things that are out of your control now, past mistakes are in the past, try to learn from them and do better, move on and you can be happier.” 

And I think that while my parents may not have been thrilled that I loved a series that centered around murderers, they had no issue with it as long as I wasn’t taking inspiration from it out in the backyard sacrificing rats to Louis or whatever! We would watch reruns of the Twilight Zone, Unsolved Mysteries, the X-Files, plenty of shows with crazy shit happening, we liked the thrill of monster stories, murder mysteries, all that stuff that takes you to dark places safely. Stories that didn’t shy away from exploring the various aspects of crime, accidents, monsters, and we talked about all of it! As we did then and still do, the lively debates about these things were and are very intellectually stimulating.

I don’t know how old you are, but do you agree with your parents that you talk about VC too much? I think it depends on what you’re saying when you talk about VC. It’s a work of fiction, if it’s making you unhappy you can chuck it out the window. If it’s making you happy, then keep talking about it. 

There are those who have asked Anne Rice to denounce the VC. When she returned to religion, there were Christians who felt that writing about ghosts, witches, and vampires was very wrong and bad, with no consideration as to the actual content of her books. There are so many more reasons for censorship out there. Some ppl might want to censor her books for daring to suggest that the same gender person can love the same gender person, and I know from conversations with other fans that it was a heartbreaking epiphany, to find fictional characters who could do that, that simple and natural thing, those readers who identified with that felt validated and relieved that someone was writing about it, someone was finally accepting them. It helped some of them realize that they were not alone. 

VC brought people together for what it contains, it continues to bring people together, I have met some of my best friends through VC. One of them I have driven my claws into and will not release has stuck with me for over 20 years, my first Real Life VC friend, and we met because I saw her reading QOTD on the bus to school. How dark and miserable my life would be without her.  

Censorship, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. 

I have to bring it up for the millionth time, #sorry not sorry. I’ll bring it up until my dying breath.

Censorship has become a bat some fans use to bludgeon other fans. I can’t support the crusaders who on a daily basis want to shame other fans for liking fictional characters. Despite their flaws, there are characters that have inspired readers. There are characters who have saved lives by opening readers’ eyes to the beauty of living.

Knowing what I know now, I think it would be hard for me to decide whether to let a child of mine read these books at the age that I did, and yet, I started to read them when I was 11 and I loved them. I think as long as a reader of any age has someone(s) they can rely on for clarification, then the books can be read. They can be discussed. They can inspire.  

What is storytelling? In so many forms, whether it’s sculpture, painting, music, theatre, TV, movies, books, cave-painting…  It’s sharing one’s own experience, trying to spin straw into gold, trying to find the silver lining, trying to tell one’s story to exorcise one’s own demons, and maybe, to try to give others the tools to exorcise theirs, too.

I hope your parents can see that when you talk about it, you’re looking for a connection with them, whether to share your impressions or get their feedback and clarification as they have more life experience than you do. Many parents miss out on the best part of having kids, which is the mutual sharing of ideas and perspectives. Mine knew it. I hope you have the kind of parents who know that, too.