#back on the iwtv bullshit yet again

[pinkdreamcollectorsworld]

Has anyone asked Sam Reid if he's excited for his character to swap saliva with his on screen mommy yet?

[kutputli]

Can't find the post but someone here made a good point about how it's doubly fucked up because there's money involved on both sides. Money that the network doesn't want to spend campaigning for a Muslim man and chose to instead spend it on a white man who had less importance this season. And money potentially being lost on Assad's side from the advantages that comes with simply being nominated for prestige awards. Especially because AMC pays them not so great salaries. Insane. You make a great point about the type of environment decisions like these foster. Idk how I'd move on from that going into another shooting season

You're absolutely right, but the even more fucked up thing about it is that, as @dreadfuldevotee pointed out - this isn't the kind of high stakes serious money involved awards campaign that a mainstream show might invest in, because no one seriously thinks that a vampire show is going to get any nominations, let alone awards. (Buffy fans wanted to make this happen back in the day - it didn't then and it won't now.)

So really it's only a question of AMC and the IWTV producers making a statement about their belief in the awardability of their actors. And to pointedly exclude Assad Zaman from such a statement is the kind of liberal white bullshit that you'd think a show that is trying to be 'clever about race' would know better than to do, and yet.

It does hurt on behalf of Assad because, again, Black and Brown actors in breakout roles that would transform the careers of white people so rarely see that happen to them, and it would have cost absolutely nothing to the show to give him that boost.

It is true that I am biased in favour of Assad because I think he has demonstrated enormous craft as an actor and really burnished the material he was given to work with in a way that only Jacob has outmatched. But subjective opinions aside, to cast aside the actor who has had the second-most number of episodes and who took centre-stage in season 2 is just inequitable treatment.

[indelicateink]

in amc iwtv I get the sense everyone is bad yet no one is naughty.

I’m finding it really interesting that the creators of iwtv have indicated they’re going for three-dimensional characters—which is seemingly as defined by "not setting out to be villainous." they’re not…naughty.

here’s my metric: “bad” is doing bad things as one is swept up by circumstances. “naughty” is creating the circumstances.

in the (book) world of Anne Rice, both are forgivable, in time. yet in the show, naughty seems to be shunned? which is a pity to me, because i felt Naughty was a delicious part of AR's wild ride.

and lbr: even avoiding Naughty and sticking to Bad, there are a fair number of audience members who will never, ever, ever, forgive characters for their bad crimes of passion to date. frex, book!armand’s malicious push of lestat from a tower was instead transmuted into lestat becoming a partner who would drop his less powerful partner from the height of a 747. it’s been explained as a crime of passion: he hurt his husband catastrophically after losing control when they had a physical fight that exploded after years of resentment and acrimony. this pivotal intimate partner violence was a line in the sand for many, and the show’s choice for lestat has made him irredeemable in their eyes.

“bad” is weakness. relatable. condemnable.

“naughty,” counterintuitively, is somehow so beyond the bounds of acceptability that it can practically just be chalked up to a character flaw. the horror can almost be fun.

i mean, is anyone ever truly naughty in amc iwtv? will anyone ever do the cut-and-dried very intentional Very Naughty Shit that’s hard to waive away, and get forgiven anyway?

maybe amc!claudia comes to the closest to enjoying Naughty--serial killer trophies, endangering her parents. but her experience is so shaded with pain and trauma it pretty much veers back into Circumstances. but still: there is some extravagant Naughty to be enjoyed there. likewise, when louis kills the lawyer and later butchers the alderman to gory effect, there's righteous Naughty in rejecting consequences and the oppressive bullshit role societally assigned to him, and coming down on these racists like the fucking hand of god. but again, it's less about the decadence of selfishly indulging in the id and more about expressing rage and pain. in amc!louis’s “memory is a monster” telling, he described lestat dipping his toe into “naughty” with torturing the tenor who didn’t measure up. killing indiscriminately. throwing a hedonistic mardi gras murder party. small beer in the Anne Rice world. but we can’t even enjoy those acts as Naughty, because it’s not lestat’s point of view: we “hadn’t met the real lestat yet.” maybe circumstances will reveal a slant that makes the acts just Bad. maybe some didn’t even happen.

in canon, one of lestat’s more eye-searingly Naughty acts was turning david to vampirism against his will. he took his time and did it thoughtfully; it was unambiguously heinous. (could also be construed as rape in book!vampire blood-drinking lore.) lestat acknowledges turning david against his will was Naughty, lestat cried over it at the time, and said he would do it again anyway. to litigate this as Bad we'd say oh, he did it out of loneliness, he didn’t want david to live that new mortal life and for lestat to not have david for eternity. but really: he admits it was naughty--he did it just to see if he could, because he wanted to. everyone chastises him for being naughty.

and then everyone forgives him, even david.

in book!iwtv, armand straight up arranges claudia’s murder. per post-finale interviews, it sounds like in amc!iwtv, armand doesn’t care about her, but goes along with killing her (and louis) to stay in the coven; he’s a victim of trauma, circumstance, weakness, fear. but in book!iwtv, armand is Naughty: he owns his shit. he deliberately kills claudia to make sure he has louis to himself. (long after the fact, he admits to his book readers he also performs some frankensteinian torture on claudia before her death—out of curiosity. and then no one in canon ever addresses this. maybe no one reads armand’s book?? but hey, the audience sure has to sit with it.) litigating this as Bad, we could say oh, book!armand did it out of insecurity and fear—he had been so lonely for so long, and he didn’t want to lose louis, he wanted him unambiguously; also his life of trauma has shaped him in unimaginable ways. but no, man: shit’s Naughty. it was deliciously self-serving.

louis and lestat grieve for the rest of their lives. but everyone eventually moves on re: armand, or is at least able to sit with both the atrocity and the fact that they love him.

i’m getting the sense amc!armand is just a victim of circumstance in the paris debacle: he’s not masterminding anything; the coven is in control here. armand betrays louis so armand is able to stay with the TdV. armand doesn’t care about claudia—he does care about louis—but he’s been shaped by trauma and learned helplessness to commit to assisting in their deaths so he doesn’t lose the life he knows. armand later affirms louis's mistaken assumption that armand was the one to save louis from execution, and rolls with the continued lie even to the point that it lands him in an acrimonious situationship with louis for possibly the rest of his life. amc!armand? enduring on the path of least resistance.

honestly i resent that armand has been weaksaucified compared to book!armand? (tbf: this show is an organic work in progress with ambiguous storytelling, but that’s the current sense I’m getting from post-finale explanatory interviews. time will tell.)

here’s what’s interesting about the Naughty Shit in the world of Anne Rice: the vampires are eternal beings who let loose some fucked-up abhorrent acts against victims and each other--but living those eternal lives, our vampires quickly or gradually they come to forgive each other these things. (insert dissertation about anne rice’s Catholicism here.) it’s implied vampires are living on an entirely different scale of time, reality, and morality, and we’re never going to truly get it: you’re just a human reader along for the ride.

there’s something marvelously transgressive about Naughty. book!lestat is one of the most naughty--it's a point of pride among the characters, who call him their Brat Prince: he does what he wants, when he wants, and is rarely out of the backsplash zone when the shit hits the fan, but almost never seems to learn from it.

with Naughty, you can go on Adventures and intentionally do terrible things that should not be forgiven (yet in this universe they mostly are), and on these Adventures horrible things happen to you, and you grieve and hurt about the terrible things that you’ve done and that are done to you, and eventually you pick yourself up and go on to have another Adventure.

“bad”: relatable and uncomfortable. “naughty”: lol, that was some evil shit! thank god it was entertaining; irl we Would Not But Up With That, but hey, they’re vampires. both “bad” and “naughty” are valid! but damn, I’m missing the latter? armand lost his naughty storyline in s2, but here’s hoping real!lestat (and maybe even armand! louis? daniel??) gets to lay down some wicked naughty in s3.

[mech-bull]

IWTV Predictions

Entertaining myself by speculating about how the complete series of IWTV is going to go. (Maybe less speculation, more wishful thinking of how I would do it or want it to go.) Writing it down here just to see if I get ANY of it right.

Some important caveats: I have not read the books, although I finally gave in and am slowly slogging through the first one (more because I want to read more real books again than because I want to read it specifically.) I have read some general synopses of the series. I also know enough to know that AR’s obsession with Lestat and her responses to fanfic were among the least of her issues and that the books get really, um, whackadoodle as the series progresses. I’m not-so-secretly thrilled knowing she probably would have hated some/many of the aspects of the series that I think are among the best changes they made. Death to the author, baby. Adaptations should be just that.

With a prestige genre show on a smaller network, frankly, I think we’ll be lucky to get 5, maybe 6 seasons of the main show and I’m not considering the spin-offs here at all because I doubt there will be much crossover (despite recent spoiler-y filming shots). (I probably will give Talamasca a shot. I couldn’t get through a single ep of the witch one.)

OK, so broadly: I hope they’ll keep the body swapping and tours of heaven and hell (ahem, not to mention the pedophilia and incest, frankly) out of it as much as possible. What makes this show/premise interesting is that it’s about vampires who are incredibly human. The more outlandishly supernatural it gets, the less I personally will care (and of course it’s all about me).

More specific expectations: Obviously season 3 is primarily adapting Vampire Lestat. I think it will continue to lay groundwork for the whole great conversion thing as well as specific threats to Louis and Daniel. Louis and Lestat will not get back together yet but will become more entwined as they deal with that. Armand will not appear in the present day during most of it, but to give Assad something to do he will be in flashbacks with a) Lestat and b) Young Daniel, which Old Daniel is remembering more and more of. At the end of the season, keeping the tradition of the twisty cliffhanger involving Armand revealing something, he shows up with some important piece of news related to Marius or Akasha or something like that.

In season 4 (+ maybe 5) – Lestat and Louis will be primarily involved in plots related to Queen of the Damned stuff, with the B plot being a nod especially to the DM chapter by incorporating more of The Vampire Armand (he gives Daniel his real, full story as they work through their bullshit). Sadly, I don’t think they can justify a whole season devoted solely or even primarily to TVA, as much as I would throw money at them for it, and I also think they will and should change it to Daniel as the “audience” rather than David.  

Season 5 or 6 will be a kind of a wrap-up of the overall great conversion/Akasha stuff, with a sort of Prince Lestat-adapted story. They all endure happily(?) ever after. 

[ca-suffit]

Virginia's black anon has to be anon because we all know the only accounts who associate with her already and it's only 3 at most 😂 I guess nobody can make fake accounts when it's supposed to be for a black fan they don't hate.

There have been some racists comments floating around, but I never saw that from your blog.

Get your reading glasses then girl.

Your opinions have been a reflection of Louis as a character and not about Jacob as a black man.

This is where this nonny comment reads white as hell because what the fuck does this even mean? These are not separate things, baby. Louis is still a black man too! That's your whole fucking problem.

You can defend Jacob all day and say you love black people all day and still say the most antiblack shit ever in the next breath. You've been being told this and instead of listening, you and others keep targeting black fans as some kind of ignorant, illiterate mob out to get you. Idek why you started doing this but THAT is the antiblack part. It's not all just about claiming you "accept" this or that. You also have to actually DO THAT PART. Now it's clear why you think black fans gently teasing Jacob's hair is the real racism while you call Louis, Claudia, and Armand liars and manipulators solely to protect the character of Lestat (the REAL victim to you) and don't see a problem with it. This is why the white fandom mindset is dumb and dangerous af because it leads to stripping race from everything and defaulting to whiteness. This is why your insistence on "the books!!!" is bullshit and nobody cares, because the books are about white people and you're acting like that's still what this is when it's not! And when anyone says otherwise you make a big dramatic show of how you're being unfairly attacked.

IWTV fandom needs a scapegoat and that will be me so here’s my controversial takes..

And here's Neil's stupid ass once again missing the point of anything and still going on about fictional shit instead of reflecting on her antiblackness as well (why does everyone talk like a cartoon villain too lol). You love being the victim and changing topics instead of directly addressing anything. You all are the ones always saying you're such big critical thinkers, yet someone comes and spells it out real slow for you over and over and you still miss the point. This is why nobody is afraid of you or even takes you seriously, you're so fucking constantly stupid.

-way WAYYYY before the show I had a theory for the book that Louis killed Paul but now I’m afraid to talk about it even though it would make so much sense to him refusing to be labeled as a “killer”

Why are you so afraid to talk about it? Afraid the big, mean black fans might call you racist? If you have things to say, why don't you say them? Stop being such a baby about it. It's always the loudest mouths who want to say "I'm so scared u guys" over things that anyone else could just talk about. You're afraid to be called a racist because you only think about yourself and have nothing to really say after all.

You're the only ones who constantly move goalposts when it comes to talking about Louis. You make up this intentionally manipulative shit to say it's others (really just black fans tbh) who strip away Louis as a full character by not wanting him labeled as a liar or "bad person" but then you go around slinging this horseshit. If you think he killed Paul then write your big essay why. Why are you holding back now because they're black, you giant ass coward? Say it if you're gonna say it. This half assed ready-to-go-victim shit is ugly. I thought you were a tough book reader who could handle big topics. Pick a side already, asshole.

[vole-mon-amour]

IWTV, 1x06, part 2.

Now you're just torturing yourself, Lestat. :( Get some respect and leave.

When will you stop bullshitting him with this spectacle? He's more than 500 old. Stop it.

They both deserve better but somehow don't see it? Will this misery ever end?

APPLAUDING. POETIC CINEMA!

I still think "There's life in the old lady yet!" is better, but this is a masterpiece of its own kind. Just a little silly conductor hat added, but what a change. <3

Two babies. To think an actual dog was nervous and Sam tried to comfort it, ahh.

I adore him. He's everything. I low key want to grab Sam and never let go. What a performance.

Magnificent. Iconic. Breathtaking.

Perfect in every way.

Crying and listening to the dog licking his fingers. Crying some more. I love him, your honor. Friendship ended with Louis and Claudia completely, friendship started with Lestat.

I don't care about ANYTHING else from now on. Lestat and the doggo. ;_____; Lestat petting the doggo with both hands ;_____; Sam, thank you for your service.

The dog enjoys itself and LIVES after the petting session (it would never if Louis was there), with Lestat being so gentle and loving towards it, "Back in your cage, sweetheart." Sam gives the performance of the century while having the time of his life, his hand shining from the dog's saliva.

The train scene is e v e r y t h i n g. Consider me lost in him, completely.

On another note, did he seriously just threatened Claudia with finding Bruce, telling him where Claudia is, and letting him rape her again? DID HE or is it just my mind? Cause, after all, he did say it was "very poor taste".

You should have, then. This is all very mean and toxic but I can't help but love him and be biased towards him. He sees right through her & still allows her to go with her plan to kill him. And I hate every second of it. I hate the idea of it. I hate even thinking of it.

Everything about him.

an au in which Lestat doesn't let Claudia continue with her plan. an AU in which he's safe and well and never injured and— ;__; i want him to snap her neck and turn her to dust, i am losing it here. her inner monologue and Louis' reaction is straight out of the book, I can give them that. how Louis holds onto Lestat still being alive and trying to convince Claudia to stop, but also not being able to resist to the full extend.

The entire moment when Lestat frowns as Claudia outplays him in chess. "No, that can be." STOP IT. STOP IT. S T O P _ I T, i am going to lose my mind over him getting his throat cut. It's been a while since I felt this sick about a piece of media and let it get to me.

I just want to hug him. Or protect, even. Hello, darkness, my old friend.

Crying. I think it's time for bed for me, too. Sam is... truly something else, playing that outburst. And I hate how Claudia speaks for Louis, tries to convince him, "You want to kill him too. And you'll enjoy doing it." Thinking about the book and how miserable Louis was about the idea of killing him and when Lestat was choking on the poison and his own blood as Claudia was stabbing him. This is nauseating.

"Rashid, are you awake?"

"I can be."

I'm so curious about the nature of their relationship. What lies in the core of it & what they want eventually from it. If Armand has another plan for Louis.

Young Daniel is basically Jeff Goldblum.

The reveal is perfect. This was, for once, a good episode.

P.S.:

Contrary to me crying at a chess scene, at least I've been blessed with a hand and nails. I need an entire gifset with his hands.