#fouché tw

[ic-napology]

Me at reblogging probably old things again!

I'm here to give the opinion of someone who read most of Max Gallo's Napoleon saga, if you want. Sorry in advance for the rant.

I never understand why everyone says this miniseries is inspired by it and not simply by Napoleon's actual life. Like, they are nothing alike! Not new in history of novels' adaptations, but wasn't it easier to tell it was inspired by Napoleon's life? My main issue with Simoneau's work was that I see no personal take on the subject, to the point that it just seems a stock for documentary fillers in costume rather than a movie.

On the other way, Max Gallo gave a very strong personal take on his personality, his way of seeing things and acting consequently. I personally don't like it, but I love the subtleness in the way he delivered it.

Even if it's written in the third person, you feel like you are caged in Napoleon's head thanks to the writing style, which emulates his straightforwardness in speeches. Very short phrases, brief. Many imperatives. Gotta go, never stop. Napoleon's too distant to care for this. How can someone want peace without making war? No time to waste. Because reasons. Because glory calls. How can someone want peace without making war? Glory calls.

THE WHOLE FUCKING SAGA IS LIKE THIS SINCE HE'S NINE. It's so tiresome. And unnerving. And Napoleon is basically a neurotic uptight bastard all the time. He's not totally well. His head made me claustrophobic. And wow I'm talking like him just right now!

The implications of this way of telling things are deep and they ascribe his entire existence. According to Gallo, Napoleon was this blind, spiteful, uncompromising ram who never settled down to nothing. Too focused on getting something even he didn't know what it was to be satysfied by anything. Also never allowing himself to get emotional, but also never suffering, never having a serious crisis or doubt about this way of living. And seeing others as nothing more than pawns to use or obstacles to annihilate in this strange path he walked.

And lastly, openly hungry of pussy such as I never figured the actual man. But maybe I'm just "jealous" for my OTP. Of course Josephine is slut-shamed and Napoleon resents her for life about something which could have never happened.

Absolutely NOT like Clavier's Napoleon at all. He's a much more normal person. And to me it came off more as cantankerous rather than an arrogant bastard. He actually sees there's people around him, not evanescent ghosts across his lonely path to whatever.

In the books, Josephine isn't that relevant in his attention like in the miniseries, just like everyone in Napoleon's eye but himself. But I understand, depriving Isabella Rossellini of screen attention would have been a sin. She's not my favourite Josephine, but she's good at doing it!

And the books don't have long chats with Betsy as a narrative frame, she's not even a relevant character (of course).

The only similarity I find between the two works is the shallowness of characters who are not Napoleon. But for different reasons.

MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 3: NAPOLEON (2002)

1. The Introduction

Hello, Neighbors. Welcome back to our little salon. Unfortunately, this time the soirée will have to be organized without my personal presence since I have Covid and need to do the responsible thing. That said, I promised to make this review so here you go.

This series came up on my radar thanks to @tairin but I also saw @joachimnapoleon talk about it so this review will be dedicated to both of them, as promised. I love both of you, my friends!

(That said, I remember catching snippets of the episodes on TV back in Russia, but I didn’t watch the entire thing back then.)

I watched all 4 episodes in Russian so I don’t know where it can be obtained in other languages. If you have ways to watch it in English, dear Neighbors, please let me know.

Oh, and also please keep in mind that since I’m from the Frev community and the First Empire isn’t my area of interest, I won’t tackle any potential inaccuracies because I don’t feel like stepping on minefields.

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s begin our soirée before I run out of whatever energy I have. I hope you enjoy yourselves though.

Feel free to take a seat and grab some food. :)

2. The Summary

I think the title pretty much speaks for itself. The miniseries is about, well, Napoleon. Or rather, about his journey from a republican general to emperor. It also tackles his downfall so there’s a lot of stuff to work with.

Let’s take a look at how this series handles the topic.

3. The Story

Oh dear god, the pacing! I don’t think I’ll be considered a revolutionary for saying that cramming the entire fucking Napoleonic era into 4 episodes in hard as shit! And I don’t think this series does a really good job, to be very honest.

A lot of parts are skipped (like the Russian campaign) which makes things really confusing, especially because there is no narration nor clues to provide the unfamiliar spectators with the context they need to understand what the fuck is happening. The only thing we have are maps of campaign locations, but that’s just not enough for people like me,

There are just too many time skips and it makes me wish the creators either made a longer series or focused their miniseries on something in particular, like a particular campaign for example. But alas, that’s not what we see in the series.

Another issue I have is the fact that (partially due to the pacing), unfortunately, the narrative kind of idolizes Napoleon too much for my liking. My personal bias aside, a lot of his abusive actions are glossed over. But, since the framing device is that of Napoleon himself telling the story, I guess it makes sense.

Speaking of which, I actually like the framing device that the creators chose. It has Napoleon tell his story to Betsy Balcombe and I find the scenes of these two together extremely heartwarming. A genuine friendship, which is portrayed quite well. Props for that.

Other moments that I find pretty adorable are Napoleon’s interactions with Josephine in the first episode, but there’s just not enough of such moments to redeem the clunky and confusing story.

4. The Characters

Like I said in the previous section, Napoleon is idolized a bit too much for my liking. Look, I understand his contributions and whatnot but I couldn’t bring myself to like the guy even in the series. Why, you may ask?

Well, if I see the narrative idolize a character all the time, I actually end up having the exact opposite feelings I’m supposed to have and really dislike that character instead. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe I just got fed up with the characterization of Napoleon and couldn’t bring myself to care about him.

Josephine is portrayed in a pretty sympathetic way at first, but becomes more bitchy later, which is apparently a common trope in Napoleonic media,

Caroline and Murat are once again ungrateful ambitious traitors, but their portrayals lack nuance. As in, they’re portrayed as traitors simply due to ambitions and very little attention is given to other motives they may have had or their inner conflicts. That’s wasted potential right there.

Hortense is, as usual, innocent and sweet, which is apparently far from accurate. Thanks to @josefavomjaaga for posting evidence of her bitchiness.

Unfortunately, most characters here lack the complexity that real people have, at least in my opinion. Which is sad, but maybe the condensed narrative played into this. That and propaganda of course.

I love Betsy as a character here though. She is genuinely sweet and kind, but also confident. I like that and her heartwarming friendship with Napoleon.

5. The Acting

Most of the actors are pretty good at portrayed what they were told to but, again, there’s not much nuance and complexity here so the entire potential ends up being completely wasted.

The casting choices (save Josephine and maybe F**ché), however, are questionable at best. The actors look too old for the characters they’re portraying and most people don’t look like themselves at all. But that’s the fault of the casting director, not the actors.

6. The Setting

The decorations and the costumes are pretty good, but I have an issue with the camera pulling a dramatic slow motion a bit too much.

Oh, and also the series doesn’t shy away from showing blood so, if you’re squeamish, be careful.

7. The Music

I think the soundtrack is pretty good. Nothing to complain about.

8. The Conclusion

All in all, the style of the series is pretty, but the substance... The substance is turned into condensed, clunky, confusing mess with characters who are either too good or too bad to feel like real humans, heaps of propaganda that ends up becoming annoying and really questionable casting choices.

I personally wouldn’t really recommend this miniseries but I won’t stop you from watching it if you’re curious. The choice is up to you.

Anyway, with that, let’s finish our little soirée. I’m still weak but I already know what I’m going to review next so stay tuned for updates!

And also stay safe. Please. I mean it.

Love,

- Citizen Green Pixel

[wazili]

Rare Chéché portrait

Don't bother him, he's doing his homework

From Le Grand amour de Fouché : Ernestine de Castellane, 1931

[usergreenpixel]

Hi, Neighbors!

So, a while back @trashpoppaea posted this:

https://trashpoppaea.tumblr.com/post/662813413781700608/wtf-i-guess-naps-and-fouche-are-now-the-palpatine

And I got naturally curious about what the fuck this book is all about. Turns out there’s an entire trilogy!

Take a look:

Sounds like I found what to review after the “Austerlitz” movie!

And sounds like Naps is really understaffed if Fuckché is a general! Where did the other generals and marshals go?! Did F**ché lock them up in a basement?!

Okay, jokes aside, I haven’t seen Napoleonic media in space and naively thought that nothing can surprise me after Temeraire. Welp, I was clearly wrong so I need to check this out. Pronto.

[usergreenpixel]

If it was only the face I would’ve assumed it’s a portrait but apparently your computer DRAWS THE LINE (get it?) on the hands for now.

Okay Fouché

I tried to draw without line.

My old computer is almost dead. And me too

[michel-feuilly]

Fragment of NSFW—commission

I can't post a full, but I'm happy with Fouche

[usergreenpixel]

MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 3: NAPOLEON (2002)

1. The Introduction

Hello, Neighbors. Welcome back to our little salon. Unfortunately, this time the soirée will have to be organized without my personal presence since I have Covid and need to do the responsible thing. That said, I promised to make this review so here you go.

This series came up on my radar thanks to @tairin but I also saw @joachimnapoleon talk about it so this review will be dedicated to both of them, as promised. I love both of you, my friends!

(That said, I remember catching snippets of the episodes on TV back in Russia, but I didn’t watch the entire thing back then.)

I watched all 4 episodes in Russian so I don’t know where it can be obtained in other languages. If you have ways to watch it in English, dear Neighbors, please let me know.

Oh, and also please keep in mind that since I’m from the Frev community and the First Empire isn’t my area of interest, I won’t tackle any potential inaccuracies because I don’t feel like stepping on minefields.

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s begin our soirée before I run out of whatever energy I have. I hope you enjoy yourselves though.

Feel free to take a seat and grab some food. :)

2. The Summary

I think the title pretty much speaks for itself. The miniseries is about, well, Napoleon. Or rather, about his journey from a republican general to emperor. It also tackles his downfall so there’s a lot of stuff to work with.

Let’s take a look at how this series handles the topic.

3. The Story

Oh dear god, the pacing! I don’t think I’ll be considered a revolutionary for saying that cramming the entire fucking Napoleonic era into 4 episodes in hard as shit! And I don’t think this series does a really good job, to be very honest.

A lot of parts are skipped (like the Russian campaign) which makes things really confusing, especially because there is no narration nor clues to provide the unfamiliar spectators with the context they need to understand what the fuck is happening. The only thing we have are maps of campaign locations, but that’s just not enough for people like me,

There are just too many time skips and it makes me wish the creators either made a longer series or focused their miniseries on something in particular, like a particular campaign for example. But alas, that’s not what we see in the series.

Another issue I have is the fact that (partially due to the pacing), unfortunately, the narrative kind of idolizes Napoleon too much for my liking. My personal bias aside, a lot of his abusive actions are glossed over. But, since the framing device is that of Napoleon himself telling the story, I guess it makes sense.

Speaking of which, I actually like the framing device that the creators chose. It has Napoleon tell his story to Betsy Balcombe and I find the scenes of these two together extremely heartwarming. A genuine friendship, which is portrayed quite well. Props for that.

Other moments that I find pretty adorable are Napoleon’s interactions with Josephine in the first episode, but there’s just not enough of such moments to redeem the clunky and confusing story.

4. The Characters

Like I said in the previous section, Napoleon is idolized a bit too much for my liking. Look, I understand his contributions and whatnot but I couldn’t bring myself to like the guy even in the series. Why, you may ask?

Well, if I see the narrative idolize a character all the time, I actually end up having the exact opposite feelings I’m supposed to have and really dislike that character instead. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe I just got fed up with the characterization of Napoleon and couldn’t bring myself to care about him.

Josephine is portrayed in a pretty sympathetic way at first, but becomes more bitchy later, which is apparently a common trope in Napoleonic media,

Caroline and Murat are once again ungrateful ambitious traitors, but their portrayals lack nuance. As in, they’re portrayed as traitors simply due to ambitions and very little attention is given to other motives they may have had or their inner conflicts. That’s wasted potential right there.

Hortense is, as usual, innocent and sweet, which is apparently far from accurate. Thanks to @josefavomjaaga for posting evidence of her bitchiness.

Unfortunately, most characters here lack the complexity that real people have, at least in my opinion. Which is sad, but maybe the condensed narrative played into this. That and propaganda of course.

I love Betsy as a character here though. She is genuinely sweet and kind, but also confident. I like that and her heartwarming friendship with Napoleon.

5. The Acting

Most of the actors are pretty good at portrayed what they were told to but, again, there’s not much nuance and complexity here so the entire potential ends up being completely wasted.

The casting choices (save Josephine and maybe F**ché), however, are questionable at best. The actors look too old for the characters they’re portraying and most people don’t look like themselves at all. But that’s the fault of the casting director, not the actors.

6. The Setting

The decorations and the costumes are pretty good, but I have an issue with the camera pulling a dramatic slow motion a bit too much.

Oh, and also the series doesn’t shy away from showing blood so, if you’re squeamish, be careful.

7. The Music

I think the soundtrack is pretty good. Nothing to complain about.

8. The Conclusion

All in all, the style of the series is pretty, but the substance... The substance is turned into condensed, clunky, confusing mess with characters who are either too good or too bad to feel like real humans, heaps of propaganda that ends up becoming annoying and really questionable casting choices.

I personally wouldn’t really recommend this miniseries but I won’t stop you from watching it if you’re curious. The choice is up to you.

Anyway, with that, let’s finish our little soirée. I’m still weak but I already know what I’m going to review next so stay tuned for updates!

And also stay safe. Please. I mean it.

Love,

- Citizen Green Pixel

[michel-feuilly]

Fouché and his little daughter🤲🏻

Their story hurts my heart.

[usergreenpixel]

Oh my goodness, the look so amazing!!!

Excellent work, Citizen @janellefeng ! Although I think all your work is excellent ☺️

Happy Holiday

[usergreenpixel]

I mean, we do clash with some of the Neighbors who believe in Thermidorian propaganda but I can’t blame anyone for believing it (two centuries of propaganda engraved in everything won’t disappear easily).

That aside, we “share” quite a few characters (people who pop up in both eras) and some media about one era overlaps with the other one so we really are like actual neighbors.

Oh, and we have Anglophone propaganda and F**ché as common enemies, so...

No matter what i think of Napoleon personally I just love the fact that the french revolution community and nepoleonic era community are basically neighbours borrowing sugar or flour from each other when they run out of ingredients while baking

[usergreenpixel]

🤣

Thank you, Citizen @morbidquill and Citizen @jaeee-e ! We now have a Frev Plinko! (Maybe we should put all Thermidorians there...)

Joseph F**ché in Hell? 😈 (I censored the name)

The Breton Fox must suffer!

we should dump him down the horse plinko

[usergreenpixel]

Citizen @saintjustitude , Citizen @revolution-and-football and Citizen @frevandrest , weren’t the atheist deputies behind the Cult of Reason or something along those lines? Because that was also a thing.

Cult of the Supreme Being was an effort to combat dechristianisation, anonymous OP Citizen. At no point did it serve a purpose to make a god out of Robespierre (he actually was against being admired to this extent) or to eliminate religion, despite everything the propaganda claims.

Robespierre (and plenty of his colleagues) believed that there is some kind of god. They were NOT atheists. Citizen @frevandrest , I believe you referenced F**ché, who really was a radical atheist.

What was the point of the cult of the supreme being? Why did Robespierre engage in it?

I guess he just believed that a nation had to have some kind of faith and or loyalty to a “supreme being” in order to really function, but in a sort of “maintaining religious liberty” way

[usergreenpixel]

Okay, what in the fuck is that?! The author must have smoked some stuff that I’d rather not touch. Aside from that, it seems like the Anglophone propaganda has entered the chat yet again!

P. S. F**ché as a general, SERIOUSLY?! Neighbors, you have to see this!

wtf. I guess Naps and Fouche are now the Palpatine and Darth Vader of this particular space opera?? @jefflion and @tierseta

[usergreenpixel]

Hey Jeanne, would you like to see my cannon? 😏

(I just realized how it sounds 😳)

Fouche prepares for a conversation with the Lyons✨✨

[usergreenpixel]

Err, I have tag suggestions for him.

imagine if robespierre was like "i was running on autopilot I didn't realize I was sending people to the guillotine 🥺" kgkkjdinkfkdjglsjfh

[usergreenpixel]

I will always hate F**ché but let’s just agree that nobody deserves to lose children. Plus he did have the “loving father” thing going for him so at least there’s something good.

Beautiful work, Citizen!

Fouché and his little daughter🤲🏻

Their story hurts my heart.

[usergreenpixel]

Fouché doesn’t mind having snakes on his face? Maybe like does attract like after all

Joyeaux anniversaire Fouché