monstersinthecosmos:

secret-les-mis-blog-ooo:

lestat & his relationship with abuse

there’s something to be said for lestat being abused in a home of disgraced aristocrats struggling financially and then becoming abusive later in life, using money & material possessions as a means of affection, communication, and control, all whilst relying heavily on social status. it’s almost like because he felt powerless, the second he was given this immense strength over virtually anyone or anything, he decided to make for himself what he associated with power. he knew his father had control over him, so he mimicked his controlling ways. he didn’t have as much money as he liked? well now he does! disgraced social standing? patron of the arts, member of high society! also louis loves to read and is in general, a fan of all things intellectual. we know lestat at one point wanted to go to school, wanted to read, wanted to write and was kept from that… yet he rags on louis for doing just that. louis was a plantation owner, he had plenty of money and overall good status to back it. he takes this man as his fledgling, and instantly he has control over him. he keeps him down, because even as a mortal he’s all the things he ever wanted and never got. he, in the very core of his being, is envious of louis. louis, however, in a way wears his heart on his sleeve. he’s very empathetic and feeling and is prone to depressive moods. lestat exploits this weakness and tries to position himself as “stronger” by pretending he isn’t hurting just as much inside from the “mortal coil” he claims he left behind. they both have their traumas. they’re struggling to deal with them in different ways… lestat won’t let it out, and louis won’t move on. they’re mirrors of each other. it’s the same dance to a different tune, and that is why they clash so aggressively in IWTV. i think each of them sees what they hate in themselves in each other, and also what they love. this is why in healthier circumstances than those created in IWTV, they are perfect for each other—they each provide something for each other that they can not consistently manufacture on their own. and this growth is what i think would have been a better path for canon to take as opposed to louis becoming complacent to lestat’s aggression, and lestat repeating the same broken patterns. but this is why we have fan fiction..im very glad that this is in the hands of arguably more consistent authors than anne.

bottom line is, i think people overlook the fact that lestat is also hurting but is just very good at hiding it + lying to himself about it. this isn’t to say that it excuses the way he treats louis, but it is more information about where these patterns are coming from and why. i think after being with lestat awhile, louis, being the intuitive person he is, probably sees through his act. even in IWTV he begins to assert himself to lestat, he isn’t afraid of him per say because he doesn’t genuinely believe him to be heartless like he pretends to be. because louis knows that in his own, broken way lestat loves him. and he loves him too. but if they want to grow that love, they have to begin to heal themselves before healing one another. and i like to interpret the times when louis goes to armand as his moments where he says, “i need to sit with my issues with someone quieter than you, and you need to do the same, because this just isn’t working right now”. each of them holds the key to everything the other fears, loves, and craves.

I wanna add @covenofthearticulate

‘s tags cause this is meaningful

these 👏🏻 two 👏🏻 fucks 👏🏻

I’m glad to see this addressed and there’s been some good discussion on this post, I think everyone on it has come to it with their own interpretations of the characters and the ship in question. I think overall, at least at the time of this reblog, the ppl on the post can agree to disagree. #Your headcanon may vary.

Personally, I do think Lestat was abusive towards Louis and I think @secret-les-mis-blog-ooo and @covenofthearticulate had some very astute comments about that, bringing up points about what might have led Lestat to be abusive, not providing excuses, but unpacking what makes an abuser tick, which can help us recognize abuse and stop ppl from becoming abusers in the real world.

I’m adding to the post but not looking to stir up any drama, I did want to add that @theoneandonlylestat was approaching the topic from a valid point of view, too, it’s true that all the VC characters are problematic in their own way. I thought that they had a good point that Louis’ interpretation of events could also be unreliable, and I’ve even thought about how Daniel’s publisher may have made things more scandalous to sell more books. Louis might also have lied by ommission.

^That said, I am more inclined to trust Louis’s report of things, even though I do think he left things out. There was only so much cassette tape available that night!  

The other thing I wanted to add is that abuse in fiction can be difficult for a reader to define. The first time I read IWTV I was 11 yrs old, and I loved Lestat, as one fan once put it, falling in love with Lestat is like falling headfirst down a flight of stairs. It’s an awkward falling in love, bc you know it’s wrong, but he’s fictional! Why not?!

And I didn’t see Lestat as abusive. I saw him as this fun bad guy, this antagonist who would make snappy comments at Louis and Claudia and threaten them sometimes, but usually with some humor laced in, his bark was usually worse than his bite, and he’d physically push them around somewhat, but 11 yr old me was accustomed to Looney Tunes characters being pushed off of cliffs, stabbed, shot, steamrolled, etc. and coming back for a new cycle of violence every few minutes. Physical violence can be entertaining, it can be cathartic.

Later on when I reread IWTV, and read posts, and had discussions with other fans like @wicked-felina, I realized that Lestat certainly was being abusive, with the things he would say and do to Louis and Claudia. The physical abuse came into a new light bc I understood the concept of abuse in the real world much better.

^All this is not to say that I demand everyone agree with me and we all denounce Lestat as a horrible abusive demon!! <—-sarcasm. Not at all, not what this is about. It’s not about vilifying a problematic character, which tumblr discussion can veer towards, so I can see why this post had friction.

Too often it’s “This character was/is abusive, THEREFORE, he should be deleted from canon and fandom!”

Here, it’s “We see that this character was/is abusive, FURTHERMORE, this may be why he acted this way, not excusing the abuse, but we want to know WHY.” <—which can lead to understanding the roots of abuse and recognizing it in the real world. Which, to me, is part of the point of fiction. To entertain, yes, but also, to teach us something about the real world.

Being able to discuss abusers in fiction is useful in that it can show that abusers can come across as beautiful, charming, and loving, when they’re not being abusive. Abuse comes in subtle and not-so-subtle forms. It’s good to be able to talk about it and be able to see it for what it is.

But in the same respect, not everyone will define smtg in fiction as abuse. When I was 11 yrs old it was amusing to me. I still find it entertaining in fiction but I 100% do not endorse it in real life.

We can all still love an abusive character and not support his actions in real life.