#faltburn

[overleftdown]

okay i wanna think on this.

"the relationship between venetia and a woman first of all ... & felix def wouldn’t have been as mad about it i think, honestly i think he’d be more upset abt her hooking up w farleigh." it's quickly made clear by venetia that felix's reason for being upset is out of possessiveness. venetia is fetishized and judged for her sexuality. in the same way that felix discusses farleigh's sexcapades with teachers, there is no empathy or understanding in regard to her or farleigh's sexuality. we, as viewers, understand that venetia was sexually driven by her insecurity. we, as viewers, should reasonably understand that any scenario where a teacher is having sexual relations with a student is abusive. neither felix nor his parents seem to understand or acknowledge the tragedy of venetia and farleigh's actions. understanding that leads me to think that venetia having a sexual relationship with another woman, especially one that "belongs" to felix, would genuinely freak felix out. it would be another level of sexual deviancy.

another interesting thing. felix hadn't even implied that he was "mad" at venetia, he was more-so mad at oliver. he was embarrassed by venetia. felix isn't mad at venetia because he, along with their parents, think that venetia lacks any agency or self-control. she just can't help herself. she's easy. perhaps the most interesting aspect of f!oliver, in that regard, would be how felix would see oliver. whether felix would consider oliver as having any agency. which leads me to another point you made, about oliver being able to slip into the catton family even more subtly. (just to add, felix sees farleigh's sexual relations in an entirely opposite way. venetia, as a white woman, is easily seen as having no control or agency over her choices. her sexuality is "masochistic," "incontinent." by contrast, farleigh, as a black man, is considered to have entire agency. his sexual relationships with authority figures are his fault, highlighted by the fact that he was expelled numerous times instead of a teacher being fired.)

women are very often considered a non-threat. this is for many reasons, all of which i'm sure we're aware. and, as much as it pains some viewers to acknowledge, felix is (at least mostly) heterosexual. there is a sense of ambiguity, sure, and the viewer can interpret felix's feelings about oliver in a lot of different ways. but if oliver was a girl... man i have no idea how that would work. it's boys, that felix brings back to saltburn. felix isn't indicated to have any long-lasting, close relationships with women. like, i just don't know how that would go over. would felix have been sexually attracted to oliver? would felix have been drawn to the chase of oliver? i think the way in which emerald wrote the characters sort of makes it sort of impossible to imagine the endless possibilities of f!oliver.

one of the most fascinating aspects of saltburn is its representation of different modes of privilege. i've talked about it extensively cuz i just eat that shit up. f!oliver would throw the entire intricate power dynamic off. no longer would oliver have the same power over venetia and farleigh. no longer would oliver be obsessed with felix for the exact same reasons. it would twist most of oliver's motivations, actually. my question is, if oliver had been a woman... would venetia have even wanted oliver? would oliver have been able to manipulate venetia, who cared so much about male validation? farleigh... that would be interesting. white woman tears scenario, there. bold commentary and a vastly more complicated dynamic than a white man and a black man. lorddd, this is truly an interesting thing to think about. i'm just rambling, though.

Oliver being a woman instead is such an interesting concept because I feel like things could have gone way different in that scenario. Anyways, your Farleigh fic was very enjoyable to read :)

thanks so much for reading i’m so glad u liked it! & yes i love the concept. while we’d def lose some elements of story that barry’s character had like how interesting oliver and farleigh’s relationship was, but it would be super interesting to see that pan out differently. like the relationship between venetia and a woman first of all (i may have just wanted to see her kiss a lady) & felix def wouldn’t have been as mad about it i think, honestly i think he’d be more upset abt her hooking up w farleigh. and bc women are sooooo often socialized to be receptive and accommodating to other’s needs/feelings/wants/etc they learn to fit in faster bc it becomes an intuitive skill, one i personally think oliver doesn’t possess and that’s why he’s forced to be so calculated. i’m not saying these things are exclusive to women and men obvi but it’s a lot more prominent so it would’ve been cool to see a character who had moments like ollie where their etiquette was incorrect but who was still able to smooth things over and could fake the family out a little bit better. like not totally fool them (farleigh would def still be able to see right thru it but he’d have a harder time finding ways to embarrass or insult them) and we could’ve seen how ollie’s plan would’ve panned out had felix not found out about the parent lie.

i have a continuation in the works sooo i’ll get to expand on that warning it will be freaky nasty but that’s kinda what my blog’s here for lol.