#Mrs. Danvers

[inthedarktrees]

She said she'd rather destroy Manderley than see us happy here.

Judith Anderson in Rebecca (1940) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

[cementbeverage]

Was wird aus uns, wenn man ihn hängt? By @jon-withnoh lives in my head rent free. And now I can’t stop drawing them.

[cookiekitten91]

Her voice

[aliesafenlock]

A Chicago-inspired "Rebecca Alternate Ending" video by Kara Lane and Lauren Jones!

"We've been sent so much fanfic from all over the world, and we've loved every single alternate ending! We thought we'd create our own. Chicago the play was first performed on Broadway in 1926, the same year Rebecca is set... Maybe that's where the similarities end... or maybe not!"

[ludevika]

Went to Rebecca in Vienna recently - and just had to draw the iconic Mrs. Danvers. I may have opinions about the musical, but mhmmm, the aesthetics!!

[thepillovvbook]

REBECCA (1940)

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

[sassmill]

I’m always thinking about clothes and clothes hold so much significance in Rebecca and I just need to say that I would redesign Danny’s costume for the musical to set her firmly in the past that she can’t let go of. Everybody else dressed for 1926, Danny dressed for 1916 or thereabouts. I don’t recall if it’s ever explicitly stated how long Maxim and Rebecca were married, but the number 10 is rattling around in my head so it’s what I’m going with. It would distance her further from reality and do some of the storytelling for her character visually. She doesn’t care for what’s new, she wants things to stay the way they were with Rebecca. So she would probably be wearing the same kind of uniform in 1926 that she would’ve been wearing when she and Rebecca first came to Manderley however many years ago.

Something along the lines of this silhouette, which isn’t terribly far off from the existing costume, but is still different. A wash dress or tub dress would simply be the most practical daily attire!

No weird hip peplum thing, and proper undergarments so that the frumpy unfitted bodice has that soft pigeon-breast shape.

There’s still quite a bit of fabric in the skirt, but rather than flaring out at the hips it falls more straight—flattened hips are in from this point on until curves start to come back into fashion later in the 1930s. Remember, fabric was rationed during WW1–and the kind of thrift that was instilled in everyone during that time, let alone someone like Mrs. Danvers, is a value that would likely stick around for awhile in rural areas like the coast where Manderley sits (as opposed to cities, where trends and goods cycle much faster), giving her more reason to keep wearing the same things: they are perfectly serviceable garments, no need to spend the time or money making replacements. That would be inefficient and wasteful.

I’m almost certain that the existing hip peplum and slouchy bodice are intentional to make the actress appear stern and frumpy, but that also doesn’t scan right for me—Mrs. Danvers would keep her clothes perfectly tailored. There’s also something to be said of the implications of an older style—even if you’re not a fashion historian, most people see an older style and immediately have some sort of association of seniority or authority (it distinguishes an older person when in contrast to newer styles) as well as a certain frumpiness or orneriness (the resolution not to change). If it’s properly tailored and has the proper support garments (girdle and brassiere at this point, maybe a bust bodice for shaping, but we’re past corsets and into flattening the hips without accentuating the natural waist), it can have the same effect and communicate more about the character’s past and motivations.

I think one of the best examples of this tactic I’ve seen in costuming is Jessica chastain’s character in crimson peak—I clocked immediately that her clothing was 15-20 years out of style, and it told me right away that the passage of time (and the refusal to accept the passage of time) was an important aspect of the story.

Anyway I’m absolutely supposed to be doing something else right now and none of the books I have in the office go past the 1890s so. This post would be better if I had access to the 1910s catalog reproductions that I have in my workshop at home.

[teresiel]

Favourite Character Bingo - 2023

Characters I first encountered in 2023 (not necessarily part of media released in that year).

These are intended to be ordered loosely according to genre, moving from classic to contemporary horror, sci-fi horror, thriller horror, on to drama, comedy, then comic/cartoon and fantasy. Naturally, plenty of these don't quite stay in their own prescribed mould and could be considered fitting for another genre, but this is MY PARTY and I make the rules >:(

The hardest thing I've ever done may just be forcing myself to choose only one Baldur's Gate 3 character. If this was ordered by fondness for the characters, Astarion would be up top, but it's not and I'm petty so he's last and least.

As may surprise no-one, the prevailing trends are trickster archetypes, gothic looks, autism coding, and sympathetic or misunderstood status and/or rebellion. Also Billy Crystal is there.

Listing below the cut!

Countess Marya Zeleska - Dracula's Daughter (1936)

Mrs. Danvers - Rebecca (1940)

Lady Sylvia Marsh - The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

Nevena - You Won't Be Alone (2022)

Kim Diamond - Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

Brynn AND the Aliens - No One Will Save You (2023) (as an interacting set of characters, not necessarily as interesting actors singularly)

Violet and Corky - Bound (1996)

Andrea "Dre" Greene - Swarm (2023)

Gunther - V/H/S/85 (2023) - Goth boy who saves the day through his prescient lucid dreaming and rebels against being falsely cast as the villain, hell yeah.

Willard - Willard (1971) - would be in the top three if this were sorted by level of favoritism.

Gerd Wiesler - The Lives of Others/Das Leben der Anderen (2006)

Primo - Big Night (1996)

Walter Tattersall - Yellowjackets (2021-) - of call the cast and I fixate on THIS GUY. Got me again, Elijah!

Willie Jack Sampson - Reservation Dogs (2021)

Barabara Howard and Melissa Schemmenti - Abbott Elementary (2022-) - My god these two gripped me. Just give them an entire season. Gregory can be there too.

Gregory Eddie - Abbott Elementary (2022-)

Sally Albright and Harry Burns - When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Raven - Teen Titans: Beast World (2023-) - solely for her design; I am practically floating at the departure from emo/punk Raven and a return to a more whimsical gothic look. Another artist draws her looking like Billie Lourd and I'm into it.

Sharon Apple - Macross Plus (1994/1995)

Spider-Punk/Hobie Brown - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

The Medicine Seller/Kusuriuri/薬売り - Mononoke/モノノ怪 (2007)

Astarion - Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) - He's my best friend, he's my pal, he's my homeboy, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good time boy, and I've been so excited for you all to see his whole schtick since way back in 2020.

Runner Up's: Shin Hati (Ahsoka), Mirror Woman (The Art of Mirrors) - don't ask, Nearly everyone else form Baldur's Gate 3 but especially all the companions and the Emperor oopsies I'm a sucker, Padraic (Banshees of Inisherin), Mary (Carnival of Souls), everyone from Dungeon Meshi but esepecially Marcille and Senshi, Lorne Malvo (Fargo), Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell), Brigitte (Ginger Snaps), The Harppy (Harpya), Joel and Ellie (The Last of Us; kept out because of the Zionist higher plot), Dracula and Clemens (The Last Voyage of the Demeter), Martin (Martin), Izzy Hands (Our Flag Means Death), Father Amorth (The Pope's Exorcist), Deer Lady (Reservation Dogs), Elora Danan (Reservation Dogs), Adam (SAW), Carl (Skyman), Kris (Solaris), Kurt Kunkle (Spree), Sammi Curr and Eddie (Trick or Treat), Bitch Cat (V/H/S/94),

[inthedarktrees]

Rebecca | Alfred Hitchcock | 1940

[pintsizedprinter]

I was lucky enough to finally see Rebecca the musical 💕. We were lucky enough to have Willemijn Verkaik as Mrs. Danvers. Everyone of us might have also had a big crush on her 👀….

[cookiekitten91]

Mrs. Danvers

[aliesafenlock]

✨Kara Lane as Rebecca's ghost appreciation post ✨

[mrsdannydanvers]

Willemijn Verkaik as Mrs. Danvers in the trailer for Rebecca (Vienna, 2022-2023) pt 1

[notalisonyet]

In the Hitchcock film Rebecca, Maxim is kind of a jerk. The man of the estate is not going to have a lot of in-depth interaction with the housekeeper, and as a product of his class he will take it for granted that you simply give orders to servants and they carry them out. But he can’t be this oblivious to what’s happening or this unaware of his housekeeper’s personal character. Surely on some level he knows his new wife—the young woman he chose precisely because she was the opposite of the powerful, imposing Rebecca—is being bullied. At the very least he should be aware she’s unprepared for her new position. Is Maxim enjoying the situation, perhaps amused by his inept wife’s childish insecurity? Does he like seeing her flounder? It’s hard to think ill of anyone played by Laurence Olivier, but still.

[roomfullofhampires]

I’m thinking about how Mrs. Danvers had to keep reminding/convincing herself that Rebecca was a good person (she WASN’T) and she’s not wrong for loving her. But when the truth is revealed she loses all her tethers and the only way out is when she kills herself and literally burns manderley to the ground.

So relatable girl.

[sassmill]

A writing warmup flashfic!