#deirdre mayfair young

[fabledenigma]

In the Source Link, you will find a gif pack of Cameron Inman in Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches.

Cameron plays the role of the young Deirdre Mayfair, one night changes the young woman's life forever.

Please use on a Desktop view for the best version.

Source - FabledEnigma

[sihayadunee]

Sleeping Beauty in Mayfair Witches

Finally getting to my Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale analysis, inspired by @allgirlsareprincesses. This first instalment will cover the ATU type 410, aka Sleeping Beauty or the Search for the Lost Bride. Future posts will cover ATU type 425, aka Beauty and the Beast or Search for the Lost Husband.

A fair warning, this post will cover some spoilers for Deirdre’s storyline. Rowan’s story potentially has some similarities to a tale variant called The Nineth Captain’s Tale, but I will save that for another time when we cover the Animal Husband motif. For more of a focus on our protagonist Rowan, you can check out my mythic symbolism series: Part One, Part Two. If you wish to watch the show first, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is available to stream on AMC+ as well as purchase physically on DVD and Blue-Ray. Now let’s jump right in!

The tale type 410, or Sleeping Beauty, is related to Snow White, and other such Lost Bride tales. Typically a princess is the subject of a warning or prophecy, before succumbing to a cursed sleep either by consuming poison or being pricked. She is then awakened by a prince.

In the first episode, we open with an overgrown and desolate house in New Orleans. Much like the hidden castle overgrown with forest and thorns. This is the Mayfair House, and we follow Dr. Vernon Lamb as he makes his first house call to his new patient Deirdre Mayfair, who exists in a medically induced catatonic state. Dr. Lamb is the first of three characters who fill the role of the “prince” in this tale.

BEFORE THE SUN SETS ON HER 16th BIRTHDAY, SHE SHALL PRICK HER FINGER ON THE SPINDLE OF A SPINNING WHEEL — AND DIE!

The pricking of Sleeping Beauty’s finger, is a phallic symbolic of sexual awakening, first blood and transition out of childhood. This is represented a number of ways in the show. In our flashbacks, we see Deirdre as a young women at the age between childhood and adulthood. Her Aunt Carlotta and the local priest, constantly warn her against indulging “The Man�� who we learn is called Lasher.

In her room she has a snow globe depicting the Eiffel Tower, a phallic symbol, which represents her yearning to escape from her overbearing aunts. Interestingly, she will actually cut her self on this broken snow globe at some point. She also longs for a relationship with Lasher, which she can’t have while she is a child.

When she sneaks away to her Uncle Cortland’s party, he secretly arranges for a handsome youth to sweep her off her feet and deflower her. Here Deirdre physically crosses that threshold into maturity.

Later after a great trauma, her Aunt Carlotta arranges with Deirdre’s doctors to give her Thorazine shots. This is the first of many terrible procedures which eventually cause Deirdre to become catatonic in adulthood.

*trigger warning for mentions of sexual assault in the following section*

It is revealed later in the season, that the night Deirdre had her first sexual experience, she is also raped. Her Uncle Cortland has his own ulterior motives, and wants to ensure she gets pregnant before her aunts lock her away forever. So after the young man leaves, and while Deirdre lies sleeping, Cortland puts on a mask and forces himself on her. She is still in a dream like state during this so does not know, and afterwards regardless of who it was, Deirdre becomes pregnant. This is something we often see in variations like The Sun, Moon, and Talia. A passing king or prince raping the sleeping princess, after which she becomes pregnant.

*end of trigger warning*

FROM THIS SLUMBER YOU SHALL WAKE, WHEN TRUE LOVE’S KISS, THE SPELL SHALL BREAK

When Dr. Lamb sees how young and otherwise healthy Deirdre is, he reviews her file and decides she is in danger from her Aunt Carlotta. He decided to pretend to give her the Thorazine shot, intending to help Deirdre wake up and be free. This is similar to the accidental removal of the curse, such as in The Sun, and Moon, and Talia where her child sucks the flax from her finger and she awakens.

While there isn’t a formal awakening kiss, the power of true love component presents itself through Lasher, who is technically trapped with Deirdre inside her mind. He helps coax her awake, telling her to take control again. So she does.

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE: THE LOST BRIDE TALE

Unfortunately for Deirdre, like Padmé in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and Eurydice before them, she meets a grim fate. No pun intended. Lasher is bound to each Designee of the Mayfair bloodline, and Carlotta Mayfair often found the most suitable means to suppress his power and keep him at bay, to be killing his witches.

As they pass on to the next life, Lasher’s only connection to them is through the other Designees. So with each death, he feels each loss. But Deirdre is particularly representative of this Lost Bride myth, because she was already in a death-like sleep which he was trying to save her from.

Even before Dr. Lamb arrived, it’s clear Lasher had been trying and failing to get through to Deirdre, thanks to the Thorazine. Once the doctor stops her dosages, Lasher can finally find her. Just like Orpheus, it is his voice that leads her back to the realm of the living. And just like Orpheus loses Eurydice at the last moment, so too does Lasher lose Deirdre.

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

It has been a long while since I last read this book, so it completely passed me by when I watched the show, but there is a strong parallel in the Mayfair Witches show from a scene that happens in Blackwood Farm.

In this scene, the ghost of Julien Mayfair reveals to Quinn Blackwood that he is his ancestor, and he reveals the manner of how it came to be.

TW for rape by deception bellow:

This is very similar to the show, when Deirdre thinks she's having sex with the young man she met at the party...

But it was actually Cortland, wearing a mask and a costume.

[agroveinthesavagegarden]

I thought Mayfair Witches ep 2 was way better than ep 1.

The little detail about the Mayfair family paying to have the house taken off the ghost tour was a great way to give us an idea of how they operate: one of those details that feels like it could’ve come from the books (iirc it did not).

I was thrilled they started us off with a scene from the family history, that sort of flashback is mostly what I want from this show. Most of my favorite characters live in the flashbacks.

The ending really caught me by surprise both in how completely unexpected it was and how much I felt for Rowan. Alexandra Daddario is acting harder in this than in anything I’ve seen her do before.

I didn’t like Deirdre using Lasher’s name out loud to Cortland so casually, as I always loved the pervading creepiness of the family only calling him “the man,” the idea that apart from the current Mayfair witch most of the family doesn’t know his name or even that he has one.

I am still really interested to see how they’re going to make the timeline work out. The 1920s pics give me hope we’re going to get Stella in her original context, but I feel like there’s no way to get from her dying young in 1929 to Rowan being born in the 90s without adding a generation that wasn’t in the books.

I was going to keep watching anyway for Goth Nostalgia reasons but this episode definitely raised my opinion of the show and I am excited to see what happens next.

[13thwitch]

S1 E1: THE WITCHING HOUR inside the episode

"This episode is called 'The Witching Hour' and it's named 'The Witching Hour' because that is the title of the first book in Anne Rice's Mayfair trilogy. Michelle Ashford and I, who created the show together, really wanted to signal that we were embarking on, in this first season, telling the story of this first book.

"Rowan is this extraordinarily independent spirit. I love this character who's, like, out in the open ocean, on a boat, in the elements on her own, but part of the mystery of Rowan is that she's searching for who she is, she's searching for an understanding of where home is.

"Is Ellie her true home, or is there some other, larger home and family out there?

"It felt really important that we see Lemle as someone who's stopping her from being able to achieve what she wants to achieve, which is a real natural desire to save her mother's life. What he's saying to her is, 'I have an instinct that you are a killer.' And in arguing with him that she is not a killer, that he is wrong about her, she kills him. And so, in fact, he was right in his instinct about her in some way. This is a question that's going to plague Rowan through the entire first season: 'Am I a destroyer or not?'

"Deirdre has been locked up in the First Street house and not allowed to go anywhere except to school and to confession, because her aunts are so terrified of the power of Lasher, who is this being who's connected to her. This is one of the scenes that comes out of the book, where rose petals are falling and young girls outside the church are dancing in them, and that idea that throughout her childhood there's then been this magical being in her life who showers her with rose petals and makes her feel special and makes her feel divine, is a part of the seduction of this figure, Lasher. She believes Lasher is the only one who sees or understands her because her aunts have made any kind of other human interaction impossible for her.

"Corland is such a wonderful character. Just full of that Mayfair kind of joy and lavishness and decadence. And he's also a nefarious character, he's got all kinds of hidden agendas. The snake seemed to embody him perfectly.

"It felt really important that Rowan's birth, the origin of this character, be embedded in the story of the pilot. We wanted the audience to be in on the secret of Rowan's origins, this kind of fairy tale story of this baby who's taken from a family, moved somewhere else, doesn't know who she is, doesn't know her name. Anne Rice's book is all about mothers and the power of women. So it felt really important to have Rowan's birth in this first episode.

"We wanted to end the episode with Rowan out in the elements again, just as we met her, but with so much having changed. She's lost her mother; she is beginning to think of herself as a kind of monster who has a power she doesn't understand, and in Deirdre's story, this necklace comes off and now, Lasher has been released. What will happen now that Lasher has come into proximity with Rowan?"

[gayjaytodd]

@armandaniels

I can totally see where you're coming from here -- if I hadn't read the books, I probably wouldn't be invested in any of the characters either; we don't actually meet Rowan in the first book until, like, chapter five or six (I think? can't remember the specific one), but we've got three chapters of outside-perspective on the Mayfair family and the situation with Deirdre, and a couple of chapters abt Michael Curry (who doesn't exist in the show obviously, which. Ugh. don't get me started).

michael is a lead character, rowan's main love interest, and he's one of my absolute fave characters! but that's bc the book goes to great lengths to tell me abt him, who he is and what he comes from, how much he loves his parents and his aunt, that he has lived in california most of his life but misses the working class new orleans of his childhood, that he's a big strong guy who looks and acts working class but put himself through university and got a degree in history, who's built his own successful business restoring historic homes, and that he's been through a near-death experience which has left him with Magic Hands and an obsession with visions he had while dead but has now forgotten -- and all that is just from his first chapter!

it's the same with Rowan; she's introduced as competent and admired, but lonely and grieving the death of her adoptive mother, haunted by having killed her adoptive father and scared of her own ambition, she promised her adoptive mother that she'd never go to new orleans to learn abt her family background but she longs for the community of family

and in the chapters abt deirdre, the entire mystery of the Mayfair family is built up through gossip and half-forgotten stories told by people outside the family to other people outside the family -- one chapter is from the perspective of a young doctor, there's one from a catholic priest, and then deirdre's childhood bestie rita lonigan

like. There's A Lot of build-up in the book (which doesn't necessarily work on-screen, I know), and it really gives you (I feel) reason to care abt the characters pretty much immediately

(I will say tho that the writing isn't for everyone, and can definitely feel too slow)

am kinda on the fence abt Mayfair Witches so far -- it doesn't feel anywhere near as sumptuous as iwtv, and the story feels kinda,,, rushed? idk, the buildup to the deaths in ep1 wasn't really there for me -- what makes especially lemle's death impactful for rowan in the book (where it's part of her backstory obviously) is that he's her mentor, she's been working with him for years, and she's almost corrupted by him

I don't remember keck at all, I think he's made up for the show? idk -- but it also feels odd that they would make up a new character for rowan to kill instead of using her adoptive dad

I do like that we got to see ellie mayfair and that she got a bit of a story

I don't mind that ellie knows abt the talamasca (can't remember if she knew in the book) or that she contacts them, but I don't like that they've combined michael and aaron into one character; I've always loved michael for the contradictions of him (blue collar, self made, college educated, intellectual) and combining him with aaron kinda erases those contradictions -- and I think some of the story is lost if michael isn't there with his new orleans background and his near-death experience

(also, erasing michael means erasing the meet-cute of rowan saving him from drowning which sucks)

(wanna stress this is nothing to do with the actor being black; I would've loved for a black man to play michael -- that could even work as a change from the Irish roots of book!michael)

having the guy who's gonna become the love interest be a member of the secret magic society kinda feels too --- cw teen drama imo

also aaron lightner is just a neat guy, like, he's old, he's british, he's an intellectual, he's psychic, he's everyone's grandfather, idk, I just love him, and I think removing him takes smth away from rowan -- denies her a guide in a way

actually, that also does smth to the dynamic between rowan and michael/ciprien bc in the books it's like. rowan is far superior intellectually to michael, and there's no doubt she's in charge; as outsiders to the supernatural world, they're on even footing re. knowledge of what's going on, but by making ciprien a member of the talamasca, they lose that equality; now he's suddenly the one with answers, the guide she has to look to -- and I don't like that

I'm very curious to see what's gonna happen with deirdre tho bc the preview kinda suggested that she's gonna wake up from her sedation -- which would be a humongous departure from the books (and not a change I'm personally in favour of)

also its seems they've combined carlotta and nancy into one character which just. Doesn't work

I do very much like alexandra daddario tho, I think she's really well-cast, and the same goes for harry hamlin as cortland -- cortland has always been a favourite character of mine, and harry hamlin seems to have hit the nail on the head with him

[duamuteffe]

So Anne Rice kicked the bucket.

Do not deify this woman now that she's dead. Are some of her books a fucked up but mostly fun time? Sure, but that does not absolve the fact that Rice absolutely was racist and classist - as just one example, David Talbot fetishizing non-white countries like the colonizer he is, "I was so eager for it, for the sheer alien quality of it! That’s what sends us Englishmen into the tropics. We have to get away from all this propriety, this tradition—and immerse ourselves in some seemingly savage culture which we can never tame or really understand." (And jesus, the tangle of issues when he takes over the body of a young Indian man and how exoticized he then becomes - that's a whole essay in itself.) She supported Paula Deen during the plantation wedding fuckery. "The Wolf Gift" is a novel about how only rich people are good and worthwhile - the entire thing is a very clear look into Rice's Rich White Southern Lady philosophy. And those collided in a spectacularly messed up manner in the character of Jasmine in Blackwood Farm, a stereotypical Southern servant who is still made to sleep platonically with the adult main character she helped raised as though she were some kind of teddy bear or security blanket. Rice also was a misogynist (tell me what happens to Rowan and the rest of the Mayfair witches isn't just a pure hatred and/or distaste for women, I dare you. Deirdre drugged with thorazine her whole life because of her desire for Lasher is "so intense" - VC Andrews was kinder to her characters.) In just general assholery she threatened legal action against fanfic writers and had her fans doxx them. She lost her shit over poor reviews on Memnoch the Devil and wrote a massive angry rant in the reviews section calling into question the taste and comprehension of anyone who dared criticize her work.

It's not a loss.

[javitrulovesims]

V: - Here she is Doctor, let me present you to Miss Deirdre Mayfair.

My patient, Deirdre Mayfair, was forty-two years old, and she looked old and young at the same time, a pale and slightly stooped girl, oblivious to the worries of adults or to the passion adorned with beautiful jewels that she never took off.

L: - Nice to meet you Deirdre, How are you doing today?

D: - ...

V: - Don’t waste your breath doctor, she haven’t spoken in years. 

[fabledenigma]

In the Source Link, you will find a gif pack of Annabeth Gish in Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches.

Annabeth plays the role of the older Deirdre Mayfair, one night changes the young woman's life forever.

Source - FabledEnigma

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

Since the first Mayfair Witches episode came out early, I’m watching it and tbh first twenty minutes in and I’m actually impressed that is somewhat accurate lmao to the whole scene with Deirdre’s doctor smelling Something Off with the drugs given to her to Lasher stealing flowers for young Deirdre and the girls at her school...

Also glad they kept Rowan’s taste in picking up working class men in bars for one night stands lmao