#anti roderick usher

[couragehopelovefaith]

"Don't think I'll find forgiveness as fast as mom did And, God, I love you, but you're such a dipshit Please fucking fix this 'Cause you were all I looked up to Now I can't even look at you." - Sabrina Carpenter

...one of the most heartbreaking lyrics ever. (Also, it fits many of my favorite and also not so favorite characters, so there's that.)

[citizensun]

Queerness and the House of Usher (spoilers!)

See I just added these Thoughts to the tags in @quecksilvereyes 's post but now I have Feelings too

TFotHoU (or HoU, as I will refer to it here), as expected from a Mike Flannagan show, has a bunch of Queer Rep™ to talk about. HoU is, also, about remarkably evil people - amoral capitalists who'll step over anyone if it means they'll get something from it. And look! Some of them are queer! Kinky too!

That's bad queer representation... right?

The show isn't that clear when stablishing sexualities, but we see that at least three of the Usher kids - Napoleon, Camille and Victorine - have same sex SOs/assistants with curious job descriptions. Prospero's taste for orgies probably implies queerness too, but honestly I don't remember if he gets it going with any guys in the story. I honestly have no idea about Tamerlane's voyerism thingie and Frederick is the only one with a "traditional family" going on.

Unrelated, but: Leo is definitely cheating on his bf Julius. Completely dismissing about his worries for him too. And for his cat. That's objectively evil, clearly. Vic literally killed her fiancée Alessandra, though she didn't stuff her under the floorboard, which is an L when compared to Poe's original. Cam doesn't believe in true love. Perry blackmailed his sister in law. Mean. He's also got a surprisingly high kill count for the family's disappointment, but since unlike Roderick he only killed rich people, we stan. I don't belong in Kinky spaces so I haven't got a big take on Tammie, only that - well, she's completely dismissing of her husband and sees him as a prop, just like the sex worker she hires.

Huh.

See, the nature of a story called "the fall of X family" is that X family is going to be the main character. The title kinda implies that they're falling for a reason, ergo, they're despicable fucking people. And they're queer! They're very queer. Many flavors of gay. They're the main characters, and they're monsters, and they're gay.

No, that's not bad rep.

Queerness as a movement, a community and a theory is very focused on scaping a cisheteronormative society's binaries (ie man/woman, husband/wife, public/private) and creating living conditions to those who fall outside of these categories - mlms and wlws, the trans, the nbs, the aros and aces... we are all queer, strange and estranged from this weird and limited worldview. And so we create a community for ourselves. It's very focused on care and anti-stablishment. Since a cisheteronormative society tends to be very white, rich and western, it's also focuses on anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism. Y'all know that, this is Tumblr and we love leftist Discourse.

I also know many, many gay people irl who are not like that at all. Libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, terfs, completely apolitical people and the like. Sexuality at it's core is personal, not political, so there are gay people out there who are perfectly comfortable with their sexuality on an individual level but do not see the point of getting involved in the broader context. They're queer, but are they...?

Well—

Not to mention there's lots of asshole gays out there! Don't you have a shitty ex? Have you never been almost run over by a drunken butch who blew cigar smoke into your face? I have! Life experiences are just like that. Maybe you should touch more grass. You'll probably find a lucky gift from your neighbour's dog, who is an astrology-obsessed bisexual and also really hot but stopped making out with you at a party once she found out you're a pisces (the neighbour, not the dog).

(Granted, none of this is as bad as implanting an experimental heart contraption into the fiancée you just killed because she dared to have ethical principles and then being so consumed with grief you stab yourself in front you'd your dad but you know how it goes. We're not the 1%.)

My point is, queer people are people. We are complex. We fuck up, and sometimes there's still times to fix things and sometimes... there isn't. We're consumed by jealousy and regret and sometimes we're so locked into our own head we stop believing the rest of the world is real too. Just like any other people, because unfortunately, queerness isn't a sign of morality.

And even if queerness does mean community, kindness and acceptance, tell me... Where the hell would the Usher kids get those from? The people around them are not really peers – they're ass-istants, blowjob-giving apartments, orgy mates, heart surgery providers, hired fitness moneybags, perfect housewives. Even if the partners are all shown to care for the Ushers, there's still a distance, a power gap, that makes the relationships fundamentally wrong.

And the partners? Arguably they're the good queer rep in the show, but look – even when Julius and Alessandra are shown to be good people (or at least people with an ethical boundary), they're not the good gays, they're simply the good SO's to a family of psychos. Exactly like Bill and Morrie, who afawk are straight people.

Which leads us to HoU's parameter of morality - Auguste Dupin. He refuses to drink the Amontillado, symbol of all the Usher opulence over the years. He got screwed over by the Usher twins and by the Raven herself, but he refused to cave in (except for the informant part, admittedly). He's not a good gay guy; he is gay and he is a good man.

The fundamental difference between our show's main tragic yaoi couple isn't that Auggie is a happily out gay man (and therefore is good) while Roderick is a sad divorced hetero (and therefore is bad). Auggie is the richer man because he is a good man; he has a spouse and children and grandchildren he loves with all his heart. He has a family and a community and he has found a sort of happiness no money can buy. Roderick owns the world – but what does he really have? What do his children even have? How could they ever build communities for themselves if they were never in one? Their father made them compete for his love. He never nurtured their bonds, he just showered them with money and excess until it was too much for them to handle. Juno herself pointed out - they were never a family. The House of Usher was only that. A house. It is empty and soulless.

What is queerness without a community? How could the people who represent the relentless corporate normativity and cutthroat capitalism ever be good queer rep? How can they even be queer?

Hear me out: on the most individual, simple level, being queer is still about not fitting in. These kids are bastards. They are are PoC and women in a predominantly male and white dominated space. They're on top of the world, but they're still outsiders to their own House. How could they not be queer?

And yes, I know this discussion takes a different turn when it comes to representation in media, but it's not like Flannagan fell into a Hays Code-era flamboyant villain trope. Queerness is just there. Just like Victorine and August are both black people in (arguably) the opposite ends of the morality spectrum, there are queer characters of many kinds here. The story just happens to be about the fucked up ones.

HoU is a poignant critique of capitalism and a surprisingly funny adaptation of Poe. We'll judge it by that. It happens to be queer – more things should be.

[labcrowndiaries]

House of Usher AU (Eng)

Something that's been on my mind lately is an AU based on the Mike Flanagan series The Fall of the House of Usher. So far, I have in mind a few of the family dynamics in this AU.

So far, this is the cast:

Roderick Usher - Clay Fermin

Madeline Usher - Kazarina

Frederick Usher - Keith Fermin

Tamerlane Usher - Mira Fermin

Victorine LaFourcade - Soleil Fermin (OC)

Napoleon Usher - Asher Fermin (OC)

Camille L'Espanaye - Lucine Fermin (OC)

Prospero Usher - Dylan Fermin (OC)

Leonore Usher - Kentatzu (OC)

Juno - Hydron

Arthur Pym - Barodius (TENTATIVE)

Changes to the original series:

Clay and Kazarina aren't twins. They're actually half-siblings who were born on the same day, and both ended up in social services, which is where they met and started being close friends.

All the "bastards" are Hydron's kids. Clay married Hydron when he was 15 and he impregnated Hydron 3 times (Soleil and Lucine are twin sisters) when he was between 15 and 19. He wasn't even 20 and he already had 4 kids, poor Hydron. Oh, btw, in this AU Hydron is transgender (I'm personally not too keen on A/B/O dynamics and, for me, it's easier to just make him AFAB and that's the end of it, that's how he got pregnant, he has a pussy, the end), he went under an experimental hormone treatment that Clay's pharmaceutical developed, but that was after having his kids.

Kentatzu is Barodius and Kazarina's son, but he was born through an artificial womb to which both Kazarina and Barodius gave their DNA. Kazarina pretty much raised Kentatzu alone since she only asked for Barodius' genes as a favor bc she trusts Barodius that much. Kentatzu does know who his father is but doesn't talk much about it. He's the one that actually manages to talk Hydron into leaving Clay once and for all after Clay ruined Hydron's whole youth.

Mira and Keith have some kind of incestous relationship. Gus finds out and he himself kills Keith out of jealousy. I think I'll dispose of a Morilla Usher in this AU since the change Kentatzu does to the world is motivating Hydron to leave Clay, which completely erases a Morilla here. Besides, I don't think Gus would be capable of betraying Keith and the idea of Keith abusing Gus out of jealousy is so OOC for me. Canonically, Keith only shows interest in Gus when he finds there's no one there to do the stuff Gus did. He only cared about Gus in an utilitarian manner, and I want to respect that one-sided relationship Keith and Gus have where Gus worships Keith and Keith just gives him crumbs of affection. Besides, I don't think Keith is as mad as Gus to torture someone with his own hands, but Gus is actually crazy, so I do believe him capable of killing Keith bc he found out Keith bangs with his sister in secret. Ace also knows this, but he pretends it doesn't bother him.

The order of the deaths changed to respect the way they went from the youngest of Roderick's kids to the oldest in the series. Dylan dies first and Lucine dies second, of course, but Soleil is the third one to die and Asher the fourth one before Mira and Keith die in that respective order.

Hydron is 50 by the time the events of the story take place (his kids are in their 30's when they die). However, he still looks kinda young bc Clay subjected Hydron to an experimental anti-aging treatment his pharmaceutical was doing. Hydron only accepted it for the sake of his kids. Hydron has wanted to leave Clay since day one, but when he had his kids, he started fearing the quality of life he could give them, so he stayed with Clay to ensure a good life for his kids. His kids always told him to leave Clay, but he always said no to that proposal bc he actually believed he couldn't raise his kids without Clay's money. It's until they die and Kentatzu talks with Hydron that Hydron finally does what's best for him: Leaving Clay's ass.

That's what I have of this AU for now. I'll make another post talking about Clay and Hydron's kids, they've been living in my head rent-free. I admit they're probably my laziest OCs ever when it comes to their physical appearance, but I'm having lots of fun building their lore (which differs somewhat from the original series). I hope you enjoy reading every now and then of this AU as much as I enjoy writing about it 💖

[thealmightyemprex]

10 Favorite Vincent Price roles

In honor of Spooky month ,one of my absolute favorite actors ,Vincent Price.So this was hard as Price had a marvelous career,and as I havent seen all his films this list is by no means definitive

Waldo Trumbull  from Comedy of Terrors(1963)

A comedically reprehensible character,Trumbull is an  abusive  alcoholic greedy owner of a funeral parlor who murders people when buisness is slow.Price played villains often but usually they were somewhat understandable  while Trumbull is just a jerk but Price gives him a love to hate quality as well as excelent comedic chemistry with Peter Lorre

Professor Henry Jarrod from House of Wax (1953)

This is  Prices defining character ,as an artist left to die in a fire,hands destroyed ,who must find other ,gruesomer means of pursuing his art .Many of Prices characters are wronged men who fall into villainy ,and I think Jarrod is the creepiest ,with an unhinged quality to him that is subtle  before he is betrayed and really evident afterwards 

The narrator from Vincent (1982)

This early Tim Burton short film is a tribute to Price and Gothic horror in general .This short is about a young boy who imagines himself to be Vincent Price,and Vincent himself narrates the story very beautifully .I honestly highly reccomend this short film,it’s gorgeous ,macarbe and very charming 

Dr.Phibes from the Abominable Dr Phibes(1971)

A disfigured genius  seeking revenge on the doctors who failed to save his wife .My favorite live action Price performance ,as while Price  is famous for his voice ,this film strips him of that  .Yes he talks but only through a special device ,which not only give him this mechanical monotone .....Alll his lines where  dubbed in later ,and even then he doesnt say much.Most of this film it’s like he is in a silent movie ....And he is so good at that .This film takes away his greatest strength exposing his other ones mainly gesture and his eyes ,which just say everything.Adding to that is Phibes is just a facinating character ,a man consumed by grief ,of his “Wronged men “characters,Phibes is  my absolute favorite 

Zigzag from The Thief and the Cobbler(1993)

Whether it is the butchered theatrical version or the unfinished Recobbled Cut (Which is what I reccomend) ,Price is the highlight  of this animated fillm.Zigzag is the films heavy ,not the main villain (That would be the one dimensional evil warlord One Eye ) but is the most personal villain ,a wicked traitorous vizier who speaks entirely in rhyme .He’s gorgeously animated and Price delivers his lines beautifuly. It was Prices final role (Technically he recorded his lines in the 70′s but this film had a hellish production ) ,and it is a great send off to Price 

Professor Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective(1986)

Prices favorite role and mine as well .A genius rat who surpresses an animalistic monstrous side for a facade of sophistication,a character who just relishes  being an over the top super villain.He has a great dynamic with his nemesis,he’s funny while having moments of being genuinely scary and he is one of my favorite Disney villains ,I just adore this character   

Edward Lionheart  from Theater of Blood(1973)

A somewhat parody of his “Wronged men” characters ,Edward Lionheart is just fun .He’s an ultra hammy Shakesperian actor who is murdering his critics .This film is just a blast and  Price is clearly having a ball hamming it up.Plus you get to hear Vincent Price reciting Shakespeare 

Roderick Usher from The House of Usher(1960)

Roderick is a man with a series of ailments,who seeks to end his family’s bloodline,which has a history of madness and villainy  .He’s a very melancholy  character ,more of an anti villain

Dr.Erasmus Craven from the Raven(1963)

Here we have Price as an unambiguous hero ,a good hearted wizard who becomes the target of an older wicked wizard 

Robert Morgan from The Last Man on Earth (1964)

The best adaptation of  I Am Legend and honestly one of Prices best roles .The lone survivor of a plague that has turned everyone into vampires.The scene where he is laugh crying to old home movies is one of my favorite scenes in any movie ,he is excelent in this film 

@cinefantastiquemitho​

[100ssarahmeg]

More than 100: While reading Craig Santos Perez, Christina Sharpe, and the world side by side (Sarah 1/26)

Thought 1, Friday afternoon: At the Queer Ecopoetics Studio meeting, Petra asks how we all feel about the fact that [lukao] revolves around the birth of the biological child, familiarly heteronormative as that is. My first thought, thankfully not verbalized, is “reproduction in this book is queer as shit”; my second thought, only partially expressed, is that Perez’s book indexes (perhaps more than any other “environmental” text I’ve ever read) the very real fact that not all children are harbingers of the future, that not all children are born into life (normatively conceived), that not all children are metonyms of the innocence or clean slate that mainstream environmentalism so desperately wishes we could achieve. Which is to say: to do a queer reading of [lukao] may be to ask less after sexuality than after race and ethnicity and colonial power.

“The meaning of child, as it abuts Blackness, falls … apart” (Sharpe 80, ellipsis in the original)

“…in hiroshima, enewetak, mororua

//the branches of our unborn

daughter’s respiratory tree

are just beginning to radiate \\

[we] lather in coconut oil,

spoon tight like the vowels

in nagasaki, trinity, bikini //the sky

breaks into a thousand suns

\\ rain clouds baptize guam

in strontium-90 fallout,

circa 1954 // what cancers remain

buried in pacific bodies like unexploded

ordinances \\ what downwind toxins

will [neni] inhale when her lungs

first expand….”

--from “ginen understory,” Craig Santos Perez

If, for Roderick Ferguson, African Americans have never been heteronormative (think here of Tish’s belly swelling with Fonny’s prison sentence, delivery in some respects coming to neither by not coming to both*) and if, for Christina Sharpe, the “total climate” of anti-blackness transforms the birth canal into another Middle Passage (74), “ushering … children into [the mother’s] … non/being” (74) and into “the impossibility of Black childhood” (79), then we might ask after the status of indigenous childhood, might ask what [neni]’s birth makes (im)possible, might ask what she inherits, which is in part asking how the newborn’s body incorporates what remains.

(from UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY: [lukao])

I am thinking of this, of course, not just because I have been reading Craig Santos Perez and Christina Sharpe side by side (the afterlives of Queer Ecologies) but also because of the Covington Catholic MAGA boys at the Lincoln Memorial, tomahawk chopping in the face of Omaha elder Nathan Phillips. I’m thinking of this because of Nick Sandmann on the Today show, his still-smug face standing in for the familiar sunrise logo, NBC welcoming another day dawning with white innocence – or demonstrating how white innocence is the cultural force that can always make a new day dawn. I’m thinking about how Nick Sandmann is a child with a future, whereas Trayvon Martin is a threat. I’m thinking of how (say the reports, I can’t bear to watch) Nick Sandmann told Savannah Guthrie that he had every right to “stand [his] ground” as Phillips approached. I’m wondering about how indigenous (non-)futurity figures into all of this, given the cultural figuring of the American Indian as always already fading, as always already gone. The Last of the Mohicans. “Species extinction.” I am not the person to write about this, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Indelible in the hippocampus. This one made me even angrier than Kavanaugh, in part because I found myself watching him yet again.

“For the past 30 years,” Perez reminds us, “a straw poll on Guam has accurately predicted U.S. presidential elections, even though our votes don’t actually count in the electoral college… This ironic streak ended in 2016, when Hillary Clinton received 70% of the votes cast on Guam, yet Donald Trump still won #notmycolonizerinchief.”

Thought 2, Friday night: Donna Haraway, turning more explicitly to environmental questions than ever before, insists that we need to “stay with the trouble.” But what happens, I wonder (pace Sharpe, pace Perez), when the problem is that the trouble stays with us?

Thought 3, Friday night: How does Black as life [in my word document it is life crossed out, but Tumblr can't do that!] or being [crossed out] (Sharpe’s argument) relate to queer as life [crossed out] or future [crossed out] (a long-standing argument, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS, and the basis of my argument about queer extinction)? How do we understand the afterlives of those who have never been deemed socially living to begin with?

“Who is in possession of a life that can be saved?” (Sharpe 86)

What would it mean to develop an environmentalism that takes seriously the figure of the child [crossed out]?

Thought 4, Saturday morning: How do I make sense of Sharpe’s grammar (both the queer grammar of her own prose and her interest in capacious presents and pasts, in anagrammaticality, in dysgraphia and the orthography of the wake? How do I make sense of the relationship between Perez’s “unexploded/ordinances” and “unincorporated territor[ies]” – the latter the title of all four books in the series? (Sharpe, again: “Black un/mothers grieving Black un/children.”)

And what of fallout – for me, a key term – in all of this?

The slave ship, the womb and the coffle, and the long dehumaning project; we continue to feel and be the fall … out. (74, ellipsis original)

My friend and her son are held by the state and mother and child … fall apart. (78)

And, as we already read above: “The meaning of child, as it abuts Blackness, falls … apart” (80).

*“In the wake, we must connect the birth industry to the prison industry, the machine that degrades and denies and eviscerates reproductive justice to the machine that incarcerates” (87).

*“Do we understand ‘cradle to grave’ here as a command or a description of Black life lived, as I have argued, always in the present tense of death? … [T]o be Black is to be continually produced by the wait toward death; that the cradle and the grave double as far as Black flesh is concerned” (88).