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THE SANDMAN 2.08

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Camille on her deathbed (detail) by Claude Monet, 1879 // Twin Peaks (1x01) by David Lynch, 1990

Monet was so fascinated by the face of dead Camilla, that he could not help but capture it. ‘I found myself staring at the tragic countenance,’ he wrote to his friend later, ‘automatically trying to identify the sequence, the proportions of light and shade in the colors that death had imposed on her immobile face. Shades of blue,yellow, gray, and I don’t know what. That’s what I had become… But even before the thought occurred to record the face that meant so much to me, my first involuntary reflex was so tremble at the shock of the colors. In spite of myself, my reflexes drew me into the unconscious operation that is but the daily order of my life.’

(…)

The posthumous image of Laura was most probably inspired by the painting of Monet. Reconstructed by Lynch in similar Impressionist tones, it produces the same magnetizing effect. It even appeared on the cover of one of the issues of the Esquire magazine: a photograph of a dead body wrapped in polyethylene was published with the signature ‘Woman of the Year’. (x)

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you found it disgusting and immoral i found it sexy and arousing that’s why i’m happier than you

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🗣️📢 L O U D E R

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One of the many perils of engaging with Internet Discourse is that sometimes you realize after the fact that the person you were responding to is a literal child who has mistaken their first big feeling about a wildly complex adult topic for an informed opinion, at which point you have to just stare wearily into the middle distance like: ah, yes, this is my cosmic punishment for having once also been fourteen and convinced I knew everything.

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it really is beautiful how much mark s has changed. during s1 he was on a parallel journey to omark where he was trying to forget about petey in the same way omark tried to forget gemma. removing every trace of him from the office because he’s unable to look at him, repressing how much he misses him, and shredding the photo. all actions that have direct comparisons to how omark treats gemma’s memory. but then helly changes imark’s heart. through s2 we now see a new imark who would never try to forget helly if he lost her. who would never tuck her things away and never rip her photo. who would never turn his back on her!!!!

this is what makes their connection so strong and helps it transcend. this is why omark felt something stir within him when he met helena at zufu. he is loyal to helly in a way he wasn’t to gemma and petey. and i don’t believe that has anything to do with him loving helly more than anyone else, i think that shift can be attributed to an personal change within imark that omark hasn’t gone through yet. of which helly was the catalyst of. the marks started the same, but now they’ve diverged down these separate paths. hopefully omark catches up…

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the thing that they don't tell you about being in the same fandom(s) for a long time is how the same types of discussions and "discoveries" are just recycled and resurface over and over again like they're brand new and at some point you just sit there smoking a metaphorical cigarette like... ah, here we go again.

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“i asked grok” “i asked chatgpt” well i asked tywin lannister and he said the lion does not concern himself with the opinions of sheep

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yes subordinate whom i've only known for a combined 15 or so hours please spit directly into my palm and not into a conveniently located trashcan, tissue, or sink.

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can we talk about how when she’s trying to break out and the alarm blares the red is inside? the color of love? and the outside is blue? can we talk about that? and how mark is bathed in red light when he goes to her? and how this was season 1?

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how was this on television

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so (because i have clown blood) i keep thinking about the s2 finale of severance and figured that a few good months later was the best time to revisit the orphic retelling that had everyone in a chokehold

imo gemma is primarily eurydice here, with mark as the obvious orphic figure. she is eurydice because she is in an even deeper layer of hell (the testing floor is below the severed floor) and mark literally descends in the elevator to get her. but i can also see how helly can be considered an eurydice stand-in, too, because mark physically turns around for her, thus derailing the entire plan. so i really enjoyed how fresh this remix of the myth was and how it could function simultaneously in different directions

but, to me, the story of orpheus revolves around not accepting the natural order. the fact that sometimes tragedies just happen. grief is a part of life. and you cannot undo the past, no matter how painful or unfair it is. it's not about making a mistake or not loving someone enough, it's about how we have to continue to live in spite of loss

orpheus goes down into the depths of hell and strikes a bargain with the gods precisely because he loves eurydice so much. and he receives a particular task, precisely tailored to his personality and sensitivities, with the specific intent of making him fail. because he cannot undo death, no mortal can, and the only path open to him is for him to process his grief and move on.

"if i were orpheus, i'd simply not look back." then you wouldn't be orpheus. then you wouldn't have been given this task, but another one that you would fail, catered to your specific brand of reactivity.

in this sense, i find the recreation of the myth in "cold harbour" so interesting, because mark!orpheus does get eurydice!gemma out, but doesn't get what he wants (his marriage back). so it's still the same leitmotif of being unable to undo the tragedies of the past, but with a slight twist on it (because there are three people involved here, obviously). which is why, in this context, i consider 'looking back' to be a visual leitmotif more than anything, a familiar callback, something to trigger the substance of the myth as a conceptual framework.

it's not a mistake or a selfish/negative gesture, it's doing something pure and true to himself (choosing the woman he loves). orpheus does not turn back because he is impatient, but because he wants to make sure eurydice is okay (because he loves her and is the type of person who would care for her wellbeing). he doesn't get her back because death is not something you can bargain your way out of. omark and gemma are not separated because imark made a wrong move or was being inconsiderate / shortsighted, they're separated because avoidance of grief is not the same as moving on. 'you can never go back. you can scream and beg and yell but you can never go back' etc

but, consider this alternative interpretation: helly cannot ultimately be eurydice because mark does succeed in being with her. as the frame freezes: we are meant to consider the moment in its singularity, even if their "togetherness" will only last for a few hours.

and, for all the love in the world, eurydice still represents the past, a sorrow that orpheus has to sink into and overcome. in severance, gemma survives, but her bond with mark does not.

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CERSEI LANNISTER | S01E10 FIRE AND BLOOD

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so (because i have clown blood) i keep thinking about the s2 finale of severance and figured that a few good months later was the best time to revisit the orphic retelling that had everyone in a chokehold

imo gemma is primarily eurydice here, with mark as the obvious orphic figure. she is eurydice because she is in an even deeper layer of hell (the testing floor is below the severed floor) and mark literally descends in the elevator to get her. but i can also see how helly can be considered an eurydice stand-in, too, because mark physically turns around for her, thus derailing the entire plan. so i really enjoyed how fresh this remix of the myth was and how it could function simultaneously in different directions

but, to me, the story of orpheus revolves around not accepting the natural order. the fact that sometimes tragedies just happen. grief is a part of life. and you cannot undo the past, no matter how painful or unfair it is. it's not about making a mistake or not loving someone enough, it's about how we have to continue to live in spite of loss

orpheus goes down into the depths of hell and strikes a bargain with the gods precisely because he loves eurydice so much. and he receives a particular task, precisely tailored to his personality and sensitivities, with the specific intent of making him fail. because he cannot undo death, no mortal can, and the only path open to him is for him to process his grief and move on.

"if i were orpheus, i'd simply not look back." then you wouldn't be orpheus. then you wouldn't have been given this task, but another one that you would fail, catered to your specific brand of reactivity.

in this sense, i find the recreation of the myth in "cold harbour" so interesting, because mark!orpheus does get eurydice!gemma out, but doesn't get what he wants (his marriage back). so it's still the same leitmotif of being unable to undo the tragedies of the past, but with a slight twist on it (because there are three people involved here, obviously). which is why, in this context, i consider 'looking back' to be a visual leitmotif more than anything, a familiar callback, something to trigger the substance of the myth as a conceptual framework.

it's not a mistake or a selfish/negative gesture, it's doing something pure and true to himself (choosing the woman he loves). orpheus does not turn back because he is impatient, but because he wants to make sure eurydice is okay (because he loves her and is the type of person who would care for her wellbeing). he doesn't get her back because death is not something you can bargain your way out of. omark and gemma are not separated because imark made a wrong move or was being inconsiderate / shortsighted, they're separated because avoidance of grief is not the same as moving on. 'you can never go back. you can scream and beg and yell but you can never go back' etc

but, consider this alternative interpretation: helly cannot ultimately be eurydice because mark does succeed in being with her. as the frame freezes: we are meant to consider the moment in its singularity, even if their "togetherness" will only last for a few hours.

and, for all the love in the world, eurydice still represents the past, a sorrow that orpheus has to sink into and overcome. in severance, gemma survives, but her bond with mark does not.

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Hannibal (2013-2015) / House of the Dragon (2022-)