#aotv initial thoughts!!

[matrixrry]

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[27goldensun]

My thoughts on AOTV (Part 1 - Babygate)

I am dividing my thoughts on the film otherwise the post would be to long and confusing

I think that most people have now watched or heard about the scenes with Freddie so I will avoid describing them and will give my opinions

1. Putting shoes and jacket

The first time Freddie appears in the doc starts with Louis helping him put on his jacket and shoes.

That to me was super funny actually because my experience with the young kids in my family is that they absolutely hate getting help when getting dressed, they always want to be independent LOL

Freddie didn’t seem exactly comfortable in this part, and Louis’ apartment didn’t look like he spend too much time there nor that a kid lived there for some time

2. Walking the same way with stuff swinging

As they leave the building Freddie is carrying his Switch and sort of swinging it. Louis, who was previously not carrying anything, gets some sort of plastic bag, looks at Freddie and literally mirrors his pose

This had everyone swooning in the theater because “they look just the same” (it was so forced I laughed and had to cough to cover it up LOL)

3. The beach scene

This has been discussed in detail, but I just though it was funny how Oli was there the entire time (in the flat also) and how Freddie kept looking at the camera

They actually play rock paper scissors out of the blue?! I told my dad that and he laughed so much, it just isn’t something we’d ever do and my goddaughter would laugh at me if I suggested this game

4. The LA show scenes

Again, this scenes have been discussed by everyone, so I’m just adding my two cents.

Freddie doesn’t initiate any contact with Louis, the one part he seems excited is when he describes jumping with his sign and when he is playing with Jackson (Harry’s godson)

Louis is very tactile with Freddie and appears to treat him like “one of the lads”, just generally roughhousing the kid (like, he actually poked Freddie’s eyes) which didn’t really align with what Louis’ sisters described him as (very protective and all) but could be just how I perceive (although if we compare it to say, Louis with baby Lux, it just very different)

He doesn’t leave with Freddie and tells him to be good on his way home

Louis gets emotional when seeing Freddie in the audience and drops some line of “there where 6k people but I only had eyes for you”

A part that I think was really funny was when he pointed at F, because if you watched the live for this show you’ll remember he pointed once, talked to Charlie and probably realized the video wasn’t good than pointed again to make sure it was filmed (very organic)

Not once does Freddie call him dad, but “his” sign says “go dad”

They did record Freddie singing Two of Us and he kept checking the camera during it

5. The grandfather

Louis grandpa talks about how they are “literal copies of each other”

This part was professionally filmed and during the same day they talk about Jay and how hard her loss impacted louis

During the sections that seem to be home videos, Freddie isn’t really mentioned

6. My general thoughts

They once more reinforced the “carbon copy” narrative, which is really funny when knowing how much like Bret the kid looks

I realized that, while they tried to make it clear that while Louis does see the kid, he doesn’t have any type of custody (talking about F going home and the apartment not looking very child-inhabited)

Do I think that Freddie knows louis or spends more time with him than we know of? Not actually, he seemed to know who Louis is, obviously, but didn’t have any greater familiarity like you’d expect, and seemed to lean away from Louis at times

Not once were Louis and Freddie alone (even just them and the cameras), so Oli is as much a father to him as Louis

The bbg parts really do feel like an attempt at gaslighting the fandom, so I wasn’t happy about them, but let me know what you all thought of it please (also please forgive any mistakes, I’m still a bit sleepy LOL)

I’m finishing up a timeline regarding louis bs of spending “3 weeks or a month” with the kid, since he would have had to mastered the ability to be in two places at once (you don’t really get to lie about where you have been when not only your location but the child’s has been plastered all over the internet daily)

[so-idialed-9]

During the Mexican premiere, Charlie stated that he felt the events that took place between Louis and Freddie were very natural and not forced or orchestrated. Charlie mentioned that it was unclear whether they were going to see Freddie or just covering the event, but either way, nothing was set up or planned. Regarding the specific incident of Louise kissing Freddie on the lips, to the best of my knowledge, I have never witnessed Freddie addressing Louis as "daddy." Instead, it has consistently been Louis who initiates physical contact by kissing Freddie, and it appears that Freddie does not acknowledge or recognize Louis in return.Let me know, what are your thoughts on this?"

Hi friend! I think Louis' AOTV was very carefully orchestrated to further the story that Louis wants to tell. One thing that I pointed out after the movie was that Louis' "brand" during 1D was that he was the perfect, long-term boyfriend. And yet if you watched this movie and didn't know anything about Louis, you'd think he'd never dated anyone in his life. His public GFs were entirely...Danielle'd. Freddie is what Louis has left that makes some people say, "He must be straight." Because we live in a heteronormative society, and people think the default setting on sexuality is straight.

I think it's unlikely Charlie Lightening would know the truth about Babygate. Everyone loves Louis, and he's great at seeming to be completely open, but actually being private. I think few people are on the inner circle. Probably Oli and a small handful of others at most. Even Liam, who became his best friend in 1D, seemed to have no idea what Louis had been struggling with. So Charlie likely just sees Louis interacting with a cute kid that he's told is Louis' son, and he gets some good footage. I think as a videographer he was visually pleased with the sunset footage. It looked nice. But it also looked too perfect to be real. And I agree F seems to like Louis just fine but doesn't really treat him as dad. Louis seems to enjoy being around other people's kids, including F. The kid is cute, so why not? Who wouldn't enjoy flying a kite at sunset and running in the sand? But F never really seems entirely comfortable.

I think Louis has come to an acceptance of the situation with F for the moment at least. It's got to be exhausting to have fought so hard at the start and lost....for now.

[savebylou]

I wanted to write my thoughts about aotv otherwise I will forget my initial reaction. I really can't write short thoughts so it's a long post.

Things that I like or stand out in not particular order:

-The confidence of Louis: It's really show in the documentary, the fact that he didn't think to be a solo artist after 1d and then after the x factor performance and seeing with time how still had love and support from fans and he started to think about it and the support of his mom, team and loves ones help him wanted to be a solo artist.

Even I know being on 1D was really meaningful for him, the team behind the band suck, Syco and Modest where the worst combination for everyone but particularly for Louis they never let him feel worth it and that is something he had to build himself on the band against "all of those voices" who were telling him he is not important (that part of him wanted a solo on Gotta Be You and he didn't get it was horrible), thank god for Louis character that he didn't stop fighting and find his place during one direction and after, because I can't imagine a world without Louis music and songwriting.

The Louis you see on the first Dallas show is a different Louis than the one in Milán. The Louis from Milán had 80+ show under his belt, he saw the love of fans around the world, he saw the meaning of his songs, he saw that he was love and worth it and that even if people in the industry didn't believe in him, his family , friends, team and fans believe in him. His confidence in each show keep growing and it was something beautiful to see.

-Louis team/band: I think is so great that Louis has find people that he can trust and understand him, support him, love him and see the artist and person he is and how much things he can and will achieve because he is talented and is determined. Is so nice to see how close he and the band are and the difference between Louis vs. other artist in terms of them hanging out and being treated equally.

Since AFHF documentary I had so much appreciation for Helene. She is such a supportive and amazing vocal coach. Is so nice to see how she is always encouraging Louis to trust his ability and that he will be a different artist after every tour getting better and better.

Oli was so sweet and fun to see. I supposed he was a fun guy to be friends with Louis but it was nice to see on the documentary and I like that he was so supportive after Louis performed and said it was better than 1d. Joni in a voice over said that Louis took the best fans of one direction and I thought that was sweet.

-Louis family: Even I knew for spoilers they will talk about Jay and Fizzy it was hard to watch and I can imagine how hard was for Louis to let that part of his life show for all the people to see. He is really brave and same with their family, can't imagine how hard was for them to talk about such a difficult time. It's nice to see they all support each other.

-Behind the tour: I like to see the night behind Portland night 2 and how everything work, that was by far my favorite show. The times in Iceland or Brasil, it was great to see that they hang out and be normal.

- Doing FITF: Even if it was brief I love this part, it was so interesting to see him on the studio and how the other collaborators said to him that if he does the vocals the way that he wants they don't really have to retouch or do a lot of post production with his vocal (something like that) which I find it so refreshing to hear people said to him that his voice is enough, the way he sings it it's great. I also found it so interesting him hearing the album on the plane with his manager making notes of what he wanted to change. This man was on a plane making changes to create the masterpiece of FITF. I wish we had see more of that but I get that not everyone want cameras on the writing process.

-One direction: This was really heartbreaking, you can see the struggle on Louis face before the last performance, and he talking on camera about how he handle the news etc. It's different to hear it in interviews that see it the footage of him being sad and dealing with that change and even after how weird was for him that Liam or Nail sing 1d songs.

-The car interview. There is a fragment after the James Corden show when outside he is taking pictures with fans and leaves in a car, he explains how it takes time to adjust mentally when fans ask for pictures etc. Because when he doesn't do that he is a normal guy doing his life and it takes times to adjust to that change when he does press and see fans, I find it really interesting the thought process.

-The soundtrack: I think the way they place the songs from 1D and especially the ones with Louis album fit so well. I just love hearing Louis songs on the cinema it sounds so freaking good.

-The final line of finally feel that what he has achieve thinks he deserves it and saying out loud for the first time was beautiful to hear and really meaningful and showing the footage from kid to him in the solo tour, perfect editing.

Things I didn't like:

-I guess I wanted more content? I think because I saw AFHF documentary they use part of the footage so it was kind of boring for me that segment, I get why they put that fragment because it explains the timeline with COVID but I wish they use other footage or only a brief narration with Louis talking about it. I just wanted more content. The Fallon and Corden interview they weren't necessary, maybe just the backstage part and after him with fans and the interview on the car, but at some points was a little repetitive of content I really had saw and was hoping for more new content I mean Charlie has footage for years.

-The fans interviews: I really felt that they show only one type of fan, the fan that spends so much money on so many shows and is willing to camp for days just to be more close to him and travel around the world to see him. This type of fan is a privilege fan, which I mean good for them that is how they want to spend their money and time, but there are different fans of Louis (also there are negative aspects of camping for days in terms of health of the fans). I wish it was show more of how fans see Louis, his music, him as an artist, how much the music mean to them, something, it doesn't have to be that specific but jus this only type of fan just shows fans who put the life on hold to follow Louis around, it just shows a devouted-crazy fan but not a meaningful why they are a fan. The stalker purple girl was a choice, I just really don't get why this people get so much validation when some behavior is scary.

-About the LATAM crowd/shows. I really hate this US/UK whatever nationality they have fans speak about the LATAM audience, I didn't think I need it outside fans to tell how Latinos(as) are as fans, it was already explain in the documentary by Louis and his team and now you interviews this privilege fans to explain it? Why? There are plenty of fans who speak English and can explain it and you can also film it speaking in Spanish or Portuguese and then find a translator. I just think it was a waste opportunity to not interview more LATAM fans and if he did at least show more that footage. I think Charlie wasn't in a lot of the LATAM tour but at least ask Joshua to do it. You know why the energy different Charlie? Because international artist visit each countries like once every 3-5 years, so when they visit there is a lot of excitement and you want the artist to feel love and with the feeling of wanting to come back soon. I think they only show some interviews from fans who camp for months? Again this narrative of fans putting the life on hold just to be as close as possible to Louis. Gracias pero no gracias.

-I really don't want to talk to much about the obvious but I will said it it's really clear that Louis want to show certain narrative and it's working for some fans so..I will just said that body languages speaks volumes and it felt awkward and really long for me. But he knows what he is doing even if I don't understand it the reason behind it.

-I wish they show the Asia leg tour and the Australia shows at least some. I guess they didn't show it because post production?

Overall it was a good documentary, I think it shows Louis as a person and the different things he had to deal with in his life & career to get to a certain point of success and confidence of him as an artist. I'm just so proud he did this worldwide, the amount of excitement and fans around the world who got the opportunity to see him on the big screen was something really special and seems from articles that did great in sells in different countries. Hopefully soon it can stream for fans who couldn't watch it and I think the gp could watch it when it's on streaming platforms and learn about Louis.

I always love Louis content, either small interview or a documentary is great to learn a little bit more about his thought process and experiences as an artist. I hope this is not the last documentary he does and I know the sky is the limit for Louis, can't wait to see what he has plan for the future.