#it's craft analysis. literally just craft analysis. i am doing media literacy.
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
captive prince book 1 highlights & annotations
chapter 5
indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!
also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!
i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.
this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.
Laurent moved off a few steps. Damen saw him lift a hand to the back of his own neck, as if to release tension. Saw him do nothing for a moment but stand and be quiet and breathe the cool air scented with night flowers. It occurred to Damen for the first time that Laurent might have his own reasons for wanting to escape the attention of the court.
i appreciate this hint of their future dynamic :)
A silence opened up around Laurentās words. In it, their meaning changed. Herode began, āIāā Then he looked at Damen, and his expression grew alarmed. āIs this safe? Heās broken his leash. Guard!ā
context: laurent needs herode to think that damen deserved the flogging, so he took him somewhere private and broke his bindings, framing damen as disobedient. nice moment ruined >:(
āIf youāre concerned that my memory for wrongs against me is longer than ten months,ā said Laurent, āthereās no need for anxiety. I am sure you can persuade me you were genuinely mistaken.ā
translation: āmake it up to me, disloyal coward.ā the way laurent deals with this person, who lacks loyalty and integrity, foreshadows how much he will struggle to hate damen, who has more loyalty and integrity than any sane person probably should
āHow thoughtful of you, Councillor,ā said Laurent. āHe turned to Damen and said in a melting voice, āYour back must hurt terribly.ā āItās fine,ā said Damen. āKneel on the ground, then,ā Laurent said.
absolutely no strategy here, laurent just sucks. "oh you're comfortable for once? let's see what i can do about that." also the fact that laurent is trying to appear likable to herode but still cannot resist being a bitch to damen is sooo funny
His best feature was a pair of amazing blue eyes, unmatched by any Damen had ever seen, except for the ones he had recently been staring into.
damen has a talent for thirsting over laurent in the most backhanded manner possible
His skin was fair and his curling light brown hair was burnished with gold. He was exactly the type that Damen could have drawn down onto the sheets and spent a very pleasant couple of hours enjoying.
damen likes blondes mention #4. erasmus barely scrapes by, but the word āgoldā tells us everything we need to know
āWell?ā Laurent said. āCan you couple adequately, or do you just kill things?ā
god he sucks. also, āadequate.ā
Damen thought that given the choice between the lash and a conversation with Laurent, he might actually choose the lash.
āHeās not very talkative,ā remarked Vannes. āIt comes and goes,ā said Laurent.
laurent continues to shoulder the burden of being the funniest bitch in this entire court
Damen was sickened by the idea of some noblemanās boy offering himself up to be hurt on the assumption that it would play to Laurentās tastes. Then he thought of all he knew of Laurent, and only felt sicker, because of course the boyās assumptions were probably correct.
context: i donāt think laurent is an equal-opportunity sadist, or even a sadist at all. he just really hates damen specifically, and mirrors the viciousness of his culture to survive
If there was anything explicit on view, it must be the absence of all desire to be where he was.
the garden scene. okay.Ā
first, context: a possible explanation for laurent volunteering damen could be a desire to see him experience a similar situation to his own abuse from his uncle, since damen is the reason laurent lost his protector. however, that doesnāt quite sound right to me, because wouldnāt seeing this whole tableau just re-traumatize laurent? then again, laurentās life in the veretian court is pretty much endless re-traumatization, all day every day. so i suppose in his mind, he might as well get something out of his own shitty circumstances, and that something in this case is revenge. misery loves company, after all.Ā
also, sex to laurent is a matter of control and power, rather than love or pleasure. so to him, both this and the fighting ring might feel the same as any other kind of violence. he doesnāt care about the additional violation that sexual assault carries towards his enemiesāand at the end of the day, laurent knows that he himself has probably been through worse.Ā
the exception to this is nicaise, or anyone else who laurent deems innocent and disempowered. those people, he will try to protect to the very best of his ability. but at this point in the series, laurent sees damen not only as a shitty person, but also a shitty person with power. he knows that damen is not a slave, but a prince. a prince who keeps slaves of his own. so in laurent-brain, i can see how this could be twisted into something justifiable.Ā or just not worth justifying at all.
it still isnāt right, though. they could have done this and been just as horny about it with, like, dubious consent rather than none. i think i would feel more comfortable finding elements of this scene hot if that were the case, but i respect and appreciate that the point of this book is not simply to Be Hot. and to be fairāinstant gratification, moral simplicity, and straightforward execution are not very compelling qualities for an erotic scene to possess. iām just glad that the rest of the sex-adjacent scenes in this series between damen and laurent are explicitly consensual, because this scene would be harder to accept within the seriesās ethical framework and the development of their love story if it happened multiple times.
i want to analyze the craft here, but i feel uncomfortable dissecting what i know to be a non-consensual scene in order to determine what makes it hot. but i also know, undeniably, that the events of this scene are hot, and that hotness was almost certainly written on purpose.Ā
for me, the hotness does not come from the lack of consent itself, but rather the action and dialogue happening on the page. i donāt think the lack of consent is necessarily meant to be hot hereāitās the absolute insanity of laurentās approach to oral sex, and the power dynamic it creates, that makes the scene memorable. and those elements could easily be reproduced in a consensual scene and have the same effect. so i want to study those elements specifically, to see how they work as erotic writing, removed from the parts that donāt.Ā
tl;dr: the garden scene is unequivocally non-consensual. however, it is written in a way that eroticizes the circumstances. i can still study the writing where it is effective without finding the circumstances of the scene morally justifiable or hot, in fiction or real life.Ā
anyway. i'm trying to study the craft of scenes like this, so i'm going full analysis on this one. garden scene, summarized: Ā
setup: laurent is rumored to be frigid and does not partake in the sexual activities of veretian nobility. yet he goes along with this tableau, allowing damen to be used as a participant. i do not think that this is for laurentās own sexual gratification, because i donāt think laurent is in touch with his own sexuality in general. sex means something different to laurent than it does to damen, and the other characters in the scene, and (iād hope) to the reader as well.
beginning: ancel isnāt damenās type. damen has no strong feelings about ancel as a person. he is not attracted to ancelās frivolity or weak will. being serviced by ancel is not doing anything for damen. he feels smug about this. it gives him power over laurent, who has permitted this tableau in order to emphasize the power he has over damen.
then: laurentļæ½ļæ½ļæ½who is damenās type, his worst enemy, and the reason heās in this situation in the first placeāstarts coaching ancel on how to give head. laurent is completely methodical and detached with his instructions, and is clearly focusing on psychologically tormenting damen, rather than getting off on the display. in other words, he is neither frivolous nor weak-willed. heās exactly the opposite.Ā
meanwhile: damen, our pov character, is no longer immune to whatever the fuck is going on in this scene. he is into this and canāt hide it. he has lost the power he briefly had over laurent, and now possesses even less power than he started with. not only is he owned by laurent in the technical sense, but he is being owned by laurent in the horny sense too.Ā
and i believe that the intention is for the reader to understand how he's feelingānot to blame him for his interest, because this situation is clearly compelling, to damen and possibly the person reading. laurentās ability to essentially mindfuck damen across the room, fully clothed, is honestly insane. cs pacat herself says that about laurent in a commentary videoāheās a mindfucker. itās intentional and itās the focal point of the scene. much later on in the series, i think damen even admits that he was paying attention to laurent the whole time. itās hot. it just is.Ā
iāll point out more specific things in the following passages, but thatās the gist of it.Ā i'm cringing so hard posting this publicly, but if heterosexual women on booktok can post their whole-ass face and gps location while fangirling over colleen hoover sex scenes, i think i can share my messy gay mindfucking analysis on a website that hasn't been a part of the public consciousness since like 2017
Laurent was watching Damenās face with the same cerebral attention that he might apply to a strategic problem. āHe likes that. Do it harder,ā said Laurent.
craft note: laurent openly observes damenās responses, notices exactly what works, tells ancel to do that specifically because āhe likes it,ā and that turns damen on even more
personal note: oh my god
Damen could feel his thighs tighten, then, minutely, spread, his breath quickening in his chest... He turned towards Laurent. It was a mistake to look at him. Even in the shadows of evening, Damen could see the relaxed arrangement of Laurentās body, the marmoreal perfection of his features, and the detached unconcern with which he gazed at Damen, not bothering to so much as glance down at Ancelās moving head.
craft note: damen loses his resolve, looks to laurent for mercy, and is just even more mindfucked by the fact that laurent is completely unaffected, not even interested at all
If you believed the Princeās Guard, Laurent was the impregnable citadel, and took no lovers at all. Right now Laurent gave the impression of a mind somewhat engaged, and a body wholly aloof, untouched by ardour. The ribald fancy of the Princeās Guard held a kernel of plausibility. On the other hand, the aloof, untouched Laurent was at this moment delivering a precise treatise on cocksucking.
god, this is SO fucking good. damen is basically admitting that he canāt believe laurent is entirely sexless, because he is managing to fuck him without even having sex at all.
craft note: that is the perfect moment to insert a crass word, after paragraphs of more clinical descriptions. i love that the only time we hear ācocksuckingā in this scene is in reference to laurent not actually sucking cock, while it is (intentionally, i assume) not used in reference to the actual cocksucking thatās happening on the page.Ā
also, "precise treatise" cracks me up, as someone currently writing what could be considered a precise treatise on this scene.
The image of Ancel... was joined in his fragmenting thoughts by the sudden harsh desire to get his hands on Laurentās body and exact revengeāboth for his actions and for his airy absence.
damenās desire to get laurentās attention because he wants to fight him, but also because he wants laurent to see him comeā¦ diabolical writing. craft. whatever.Ā this is an objective and academic analysis.
Damen was... pushed back down onto his knees. Laurent was seated opposite, legs crossed. Damenās eyes fixed on him, and looked nowhere else; his breathing was still noticeable, and his pulse rapid, but anger produced all the same effects.
whoās ancel?
additional thoughts on erotic elements in the garden scene: i think what i like here, is thatā¦ yeah, itās horny. itās indulgent, easily the most blatant instance of kink weāve seen so far. but itās not really what i think frequent readers of this kink genre would expect, or even want to readāit is a subversion, with laurent completely disrupting the basic scenario that everyone else (but damen) in the scene wants to mindlessly enjoy.Ā
but that subversion, to me, just makes it hotter. thereās physical stuff happening, sure, but the real eroticism comes from the words, emotions, and power exchange between laurent and damen. the scene doesnāt give the reader the simplicity of āsomeone topped, someone bottomed, here are several pages of mechanical description.ā the actual sex act is described almost clinically, just how laurent dictates. and itās definitely not as simple as whoās topping and whoās bottomingāwhatever the fuck happens here is way weirder and messier than that, and so much more compelling.Ā
basically, i think that this scene fails to be hot in all the ways a reader of this kink genre would expect it to be hot. the real hotness comes from the bizarre subversion we get instead, that we just have to kind of accept without any closure or explanation. itās either an unsexy sex scene, or a sexy not-sex scene. maybe itās both. either way, itās insane.
how can i replicate this?Ā
set up a thing that follows expectations. donāt actually do the thing. do something significantly more insane than the expected thing. do not elaborate on the insane thing, leaving more questions than answers, and move on as if it wasnāt insane at all. this is a good method for not-sex scenes, too.
Laurent, for his part, was relaxed, one arm spread out over the back of the bench.
laurent lean #4
āIāll offer for you, if you like. When the time comes. I wouldnāt want you in my bed, but youād have all the same privileges. You might prefer that. Iād offer.ā
context: this is the best possible way laurent can protect nicaise within the confines of their culture. and āyou might prefer thatāālaurent wants nicaise to be able to foster his intelligence and talents (his "privileges") as a growing person, without having to be a sexual object.
āHe gives them all up,ā said Laurent, āeven if youāre more enterprising than the others have been.ā āHe likes me better than the others.ā A scornful laugh. āYouāre jealous.ā And then it was Nicaiseās turn to react to something he saw in Laurentās face, and he said, with a horror Damen didnāt understand, āYouāre going to tell him you want me.ā āOh,ā said Laurent. āNo. Nicaise . . . no. That would wreck you. I wouldnāt do that.ā Then his voice became almost tired. āMaybe itās better if you think that I would. You have quite a good mind for strategy, to have thought of that. Maybe you will hold him longer than the others.ā For a moment it seemed as if Laurent would say something else, but in the end he just stood up from the bench, and held his hand out to the boy. āCome on. Letās go. You can watch me get told off by my uncle.ā
context: nicaise knows that anything laurent wants, his uncle will not let him have. believing that laurent hates him and would offer for him out of spite, nicaise takes the offer is a threat. laurent, who isnāt threatening him at all, realizes that nicaise is right. laurentās attempts at protection would only get nicaise hurt. the best he can do is banter with the kid and look after him from a distance. this house is a fucking nightmare.
#there's some uhhhhh vaguely nsft stuff in this one#it's craft analysis. literally just craft analysis. i am doing media literacy.#capri#captive prince#lamen#laurent of vere#damen of akielos#niciase#sam reads capri
22 notes
Ā·
View notes
Note
Hey Emily, I hope this doesnāt come off as a deep question but Iāve been wanting to ask you this since you have a bit of a thorough knowledge with the film medium.
When you first started branching out, was there ever a time when you felt nervous or expressed self doubt when it comes to fully understanding a piece of art? For as much as I have my own comfort zone, I still try to find pursuit in the unconventional.
However, even if I have the drive to do so, I always feel like Iām going to come across a roadblock sooner or later. That and combined with the recent discussions about anti-intellectualism, I canāt help but be a little self-conscious about the stuff I engage with. Itās probably why I renewed my library card if it meant that i could expand on my media literacy. Which is ironic since Iām normally someone who appreciates old and new things.
Like am I overthinking this? Or is it just natural?
Oh gosh, I definitely felt that. I mean, I was literally graded in college on media literacy, so I totally understand the pressure lol and especially now, as a niche internet public figure, I always worry about whether one bad or uninformed take is going to be used as ammo against me for the rest of my life.
My main advice is honestly to just keep engaging! When you watch or read something, look up essays, reviews, analysis stuff. Generally the more you engage with, the easier it'll be to tell the difference between valid ones and weaker ones. The main goal of media literacy isn't to find the source that'll give you all the answers, but to engage in a conversation with the work and the greater culture around it. And with that, the other big thing you can do is just keep your mind open. Even if it's something you dislike, be willing to hear out several arguments and other perspectives on the issue. Like I said, there are potentially bad sources out there, but it helps to at least be aware of others' arguments so you can contrast them against your own and better understand why you feel how you feel.
It sounds like you're on the right track with a library card! Honestly just checking out a lot of classics and culturally important films will help a lot! Check out the Criterion Collection for movies. Basically any film they release is going to be important in some way, and they usually come with written essays and other educational resources with them, which helps a lot with learning theory and technical craft.
I hope this helps! More than anything, just remember that you can like the things you like and it doesn't matter what others think because the only taste that should matter to you is your own.
51 notes
Ā·
View notes