#like i think lestat would love their art quite a bit

[theresthespark]

too many halsey songs reming of iwtv. I think it's the intensity and histrionics

[savagewildnerness]

There’s really an awful lot of pondering on death & suicide & what it takes to endure existence in The Vampire Lestat… for all it’s viewed as a lighter book than Interview with the Vampire! Like, to the degree that every single main character is at some point either suicidal or wishes to die… or that actually happens. Even though the majority of them are immortal!

It’s making me wonder on this re-read, where I try to think about it more deeply, rather than just reading it - is an innate understanding of how difficult it is to endure/how easy it could be to just slip from existence a reason many of us initially loved this book? Is that Anne can articulate so well that desire to escape oneself & how it feels when that’s impossible one of the most important themes of the books?

Obviously, I’ve spoken about it often: I always associated with Nicolas a lot. Primarily due to how he perceives his own ability/experience of violin playing (I was 12. I definitely wasn’t then, nor am I now anywhere near as cynical as Nicolas….) but I don’t say it is *only* the violin & Nicolas’ music & how he feels to play and about his music that I associate with. Not least because in my opinion, how Nicolas perceives his own music is a reflection of how he perceives himself & how he perceives the world.

In any case, after my last night pondering on Armand’s internal desolation & the way he is actually most emptied of feeling when filled with some external source… yet that’s what he desires/needs because it is the only way he can feel safe… and he’d welcome death it feels if it came to him rather than him having to seek it, and going against God.

Well anyway, I haven’t read on yet, but I listened to the next bit on audiobook as I drive today. And it really struck me how delicate everyone’s mind & heart is.

Nicolas is actually like a fragile genius as a vampire - creating wildly creative, dark plays, articulating the horrors he feels are true (& thus creating Good Art Actually Lestat!) yet he cannot cope. But is it really *madness* that Nicolas screams of horrors in the streets to mortals; that he wants to create a league of vampires; that he wants humans to destroy them all; that he cannot bear it? It seems quite natural to me. Not mad really at all!

And Lestat too, gives himself over to death in despair. For all he talks of enduring, he would not have been able to rise this first time he went into The Earth, but for Marius saving him. And no wonder. He has lost everything. Lestat, talking on fate & how if we escape it, perhaps it waits for us.

It’s hard for me, as a friend died last week at a similar mortal age to Nicolas’ 30 years & this whole part is death & inability to cope with the simple Horror of existence. (Albeit; monstrous existence… but existence *is* monstrous as it is, right? Vampires are a fantastical representation of the very real & way more horrific in my opinion (as it can’t be contained in beautiful, sensual, philosophical vampires in reality…) truth of the actual horror of existence for us all.)

And Lestat speaking on fate reminds me too of Debbie. A girl I went to secondary school with. When she was 11 she got Lupus & her secondary school years were awful, but she endured. I didn’t keep in touch with her after school & her Uncle worked in aircraft engineering & got her a good job. But she survived Lupus in her teenage years, only for death to claim her at 23 in a totally unrelated way… as if it had always just lain in wait. She had escaped it, but then fate waited for her.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I kind of want to create a poll, but I’ve just made myself laugh out loud at what that poll would be - like something like *Did your wee tween self relate to the self-immolatory desires of vampires?* Nice cheery question for a Monday!

I don’t mean it in a depressing way though. We can talk about The Horrors, while allowing joy & fun & play & amusement & silliness & innocence & childlikeness, right? Can we? I am not sure what I’m getting at…?

But this part is hard for me to read right now. And yet cathartic always too. Because… we all feel it, right? Anne is expressing what we humans feel in our tiny existences too.

How to bear it? The overwhelmingness of that.

Right?

[nightcolorz]

Hiii. I love your acc and the analyses you've made of TVC characters; reading your posts has expanded and helped me articulate the ideas I already had. Anne Rice as an author was very revealing, I mean, by reading her books and analyzing the characters and their dynamics, you get a lot of information about her as a person. That's very interesting. I think all authors put a bit of themselves into their works, but with Anne Rice it feels more personal, maybe because there are quite a few books following the same characters. What do you think?

omg thank you so much 🥹❤️ the makes me so happy. I agree wholeheartedly with ur take on Anne rice. The books are suuuper personal, sometimes to the point where I almost feel like I shouldn’t have access to them 😭 like I’m reading someone’s weird diary. I think this was because her writing functioned as her only outlet. like iwtv was so visceral and sad bcus it was such a raw unfiltered expression of her grief, and the rest of the books all follow the same format (to varying degrees of quality lol).

When it comes to the characters, she was open about how every character is in some way representative of a part of her (especially Lestat and Louis). U can analyze for days how Louis and lestats evolutions r akin to witnessing evolutions of Anne rices mental health, Louis her former self insert created during probably the darkest time in her life later becoming a representation of what she considers the worst parts of herself that she is ashamed of and being basically cut from the series, and Lestat going from an embodiment of her fraught relationship with her husband in iwtv to in tvl a power fantasy who she wishes she was like to at the same time a mouth piece for her existential dread and loneliness and anxieties

The way that lestats religious crisis and manic breakdown from Memnoch to blood canticle aligns perfectly with Anne rice’s own religious crisis and sudden shift in her work is so crazy to me😭 and then there’s Anne rice literally using Lestat as a blatant mouth piece to scream at the audience in the iconic blood canticle opening monologue of course, how could we forget. A lot of the time the personal nature of these books makes the technical quality of them worse, but even still it is one of the major reasons why I love them so much. Part of it is that reading something so personal and unfiltered, where u get the impression that the author wasn’t thinking at all about how it would come off to people while writing it, makes it feel almost more real to me? Or more authentic? Reading tvc sometimes makes me feel like I’m reading actual history or personal accounts from real people. And the bad writing and offensiveness and heaps of bullshit and the pages of unrelated tangents adds to this in a way 😭. Like yeah this is exactly what reading a biography by a hundreds of years old vampire would be like lmao.

I love interpreting themes in these books so much because I often feel like Anne rice didn’t place them there on purpose. She had a very “I’ll just write whatever is in my mind and the themes will happen on there own” approach, and they did! and for someone like me analyzing it is super rewarding. Figuring stuff out that the author wasn’t even aware of, basically. Tvc are rich with meaning in a way that only these books are, and the personal nature and the lack of thought into meaning or themes is I think majorly responsible. For me when it comes to fiction, I like to do the work. And Anne rice throwing her personal as hell freak sex vampire yaoi with the most agonizing portrayals of trauma and mental illness ever no editing no forethought out into the world definitely gives me room to do the work 😭

Also, I tend to really only enjoy art if I feel like it is a messy reflection of the creator. I’m not sure why but I can never really get into something unless I can see some of the creators flaws or baggage reflected in the work 😭 I feel like art isn’t rlly art to me if I don’t feel like a know the person who made it a little too well after seeing it. There’s something really special about finding out the worst parts of someone in a book, honestly. I love reading these and being like there is so much wrong with this woman and I know way too much about it 😭 she’s horrible but I’ve lived in her mind and I don’t wanna leave.

I admire in a way Anne rices unhinged abandon with how blatantly vent-like and unfiltered her books were (literally unedited 😭). She got extremely lucky making a career from it, typing out all her insane thoughts and feelings into gay vampires and becoming rich and famous. A girl can only dream for that life, I do that shit for free on a03. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything published that has the same energy as tvc in this way. The only thing that comes close would be like, a quotev fan fiction I read for laughs written by a ten year old in 2010 who is unintentionally revealing way too much to me about their semi concerning home life 😭. It’s wonderful! Thank u Anne rice for ur beautiful scary lack of shame u have given me so many things to write about on tumblr

[pynkhues]

your fic ideas for the kinktober are so delicious. can you elaborate a bit on the Week 2 fic? 👀 also Week 3, because i'm intrigued with "Lestat gets Real Weird About It" line.

(x)

Sure, haha.

Mmm, so both are just kind of areas I've been thinking about in terms of character generally right now, not even just in terms of fic, so sorry if this also sounds a bit meta-y, haha.

I've been thinking a lot lately about Louis having multiple forms of investment, and we tend to focus a lot on the art for obvious reasons, but we know he's in real estate too and he tells Daniel in 2.05 that he likes predicting what overlooked product will flourish in time. I'm kind of interested in the way investment has changed over the last fifty years in the context of the show, and how Louis' approach to it all might have evolved, which in many ways has been bolstered too by watching Industry and getting a bit of a sense of that high-end, high-value, high-stakes investment banking and where Louis might fit in that sort of context in 2024.

The thing that really stands out to me is that there's this detachment and clinicalness to that sort of investment / capitalism that feels really different to the Louis who both genuinely connected to art and obviously got off on the hunt for it and commodifying it, which in turn made me think about the Louis of '73 who was, again, more clinical perhaps professionally, but then like - - indulging his more carnal and passionate needs through drugs and boys in San Francisco.

This fic was kind of inspired by having read an article recently that cruising is on the rise again internationally, and I kind of love that we know that Louis did cruise across the decades given the implications of the Bayou as a cruising site in New Orleans, the parks in Paris, and of course, those San Francisco bars, especially because it really seems to be a distinction between him and Lestat. In the show, we've seen Lestat's really way more of a relationship hopper, even in his adultery, between Louis, Nicki, Armand and Antoinette, whereas Louis hits-and-quits, at least with his own adultery (although y'know, he tried to hit-and-quit both Lestat and Armand too lol).

So yeah, the fic's basically contextualising Louis in this sort of finance world, and him and Lestat being half-together, half-not-together and kind of orchestrating a role play in a local cruising park that gets just. Wildly out of hand, lmao, because they're both insane, but also because Louis' feeling maybe a little bored with modern investment and Lestat's' feeling creatively constrained when working on his album. Drugs may have been imbibed, and they might get a little bit (a lot) feral, haha. Witnesses will be eaten!

As for the week 3 fic:

I'm still really percolating on this one, so it's not quite as developed, but I've been thinking about how different Armand and Louis' relationship is to Lestat and Louis' in general, particularly with the BDSM-element, and wondering what the response would be to that? I really loved Marbleflan's The Things We Did and Didn't Do which captured a discomfort Lestat might have with it in the period where they have to get to know each other again, and Louis' need for it as a means of controlling not anyone else, but himself.

I also - - mmm. I've been thinking a LOT recently too about the fact that the Lestat prior to Paris is pretty naive and cut-off from schools of thought which I think would include different types of sexuality? When he arrives in Paris in the late 1700s, it would actually be right around the time Marquis De Sade was starting to publish, and given his writing literally gave birth to the BDSM movement, it's kind of interesting to think what impact that may have had on Lestat. He wouldn't have read any of it, of course, he's illiterate in that part of his life, but it's interesting to think of the conversations that were happening when he was still a young and naive mortal man.

The fact that Lestat's traumatised in that period by Magnus assaulting him and turning him, and then by Nicki's kidnapping then suicide, that he then sleeps through the French Revolution only to be woken up presumably sometime in the early 1900s by Marius before heading to America where he meets Louis, then is seemingly in his hovel from the late 1940s to, well, now, means that Lestat's lost huge chapters of time where social understandings of sex and sexuality and, well, sex toys have really changed. Louis was fucking his way through all of this, both Armand and other men, and it just kind of makes me curious as to what that actually means when they're back together.

I'm still figuring it out, I just think it's an interesting area to explore that Lestat might have some baggage around all of that (and that that baggage might be in regards to a lot of different things).

[licncourt]

What do you think about Nicki? On the one hand I don’t like how he and Louis are often conflated as ‘twins’ (although that’s largely due to AR) since both are uniquely their own person despite their similarities and Lestat definitely having a type. I also believe Lestat genuinely loved Nicki and even though that relationship was probably never one built to last, I also think Lestat never wanted him to die and felt real remorse over it (the trauma of that relationship clearly spilled into his ‘marriage’ with Louis) and would always love him as his first love. It just makes me sad they couldn’t amicably part or have any sort of closure. Sorry I just get sad over Nicki lol

(Okay this is my second time writing this after the hellsite ate it so it's probably not going to be quite as insanely long, but here you go! Maybe that was Tumblr nerfing me for talking too damn much)

God NICKI. I am always crying in the club over Nicki.

First of all, like you said, I absolutely do not see Nicki and Louis as interchangeable. They are both clearly Lestat's infamous Type (sad, rich, intellectual brunette with a drinking problem), but I think Lestat sums up the difference between them pretty well in TVL and IWTV, which I'll get to later.

To start off, Lestat is clearly drawn to men who are a foil to himself, and he seems to seek out partners who will need him (Nicki touches on this a bit when he talks about how much he needs Lestat's "light", his joy and optimism) and I don't think that's a coincidence. Lestat has a deep need to BE needed, and I think Nicki filled that niche for him. He also has what I would diagnose as I Can Fix Him Syndrome and it's terminal, so again, sad, morbid, angry Nicki was the perfect person for baby Lestat to fall for.

Nicki was absolutely Lestat's first love and I think it was mutual too. There are so many heartbreakingly romantic moments between them, and the chapters of TVL with the two of them as mortals is one of my favorite parts of VC. It's so lovely and bittersweet, the perfect portrait of starry-eyed young love. They were both robbed of their innocence by inside and outside forces, and that's heartbreaking to witness as a reader. They deserved better.

I think what was truly devastating for Lestat was not that it ended, but HOW it ended. We can see their relationship beginning to sour even before Magnus, but it's only after that Lestat (and the reader) really gets why. During the turning, Lestat sees the darkness that Nicki had always described to him and finally understands that the problem is not that Nicki doesn't see his own light, but that he doesn't have it. It's not part of his worldview, he doesn't even have a frame of reference for understanding Lestat. They are fundamentally, essentially, different creatures who, for whatever reason, don't have the common ground necessary to support a relationship.

Nicki is propelled through life by the chip on his shoulder. He wants to get back at his family either by being the best violinist to rub it in their face or to crash and burn to give his father the middle finger. It's his bitterness and anger that moves him forward and it's the lens through which he understands the world. At best, he looks for "good art and bad art" and wants to claw his way up out of spite, whereas Lestat measures his own creation not by quantifiable objectives but by how much happiness it brings, the good it does. That illustrates the larger rift between them pretty well, and I don't think they ever had the ability to truly empathize with or relate to each other. There was love there, but that's not enough.

It's not really Nicki's fault for being the way he is, and I don't think he's a bad person. A lot of his behavior and thought patterns just feel like untreated mental illness and that's simply part of what makes him tragic. Maybe in another time, his story would've ended differently and he could've had a life with Lestat. As it was though, love wasn't sufficent to hold them together through that disconnect, especially after the turning. I feel like becoming a vampire makes these characters more of what they are, the good and the bad. Any possible chance Lestat and Nicki had at making it work as humans was destroyed by Magnus.

As you said, so many of the problems Louis and Lestat face in their relationship stem, at least in part, from Nicki. Lestat's controlling behavior feels like a manifestation of his abandonment issues. His desire for Louis to be dependent on him reads like a response to Nicki's rejection of him once he was no longer needed. Even Lestat's aggressive insistence that Louis stop sulking, enjoy vampire life and stop being miserable seem like a desperate attempt to stop history from repeating itself, especially since we know Lestat was very aware of their similarities.

Where I think Louis and Nicki diverge, and what makes Lestat compatible with Louis in a way he wasn't with Nicki, is that worldview I mentioned. I'll refer to this post I made about Louis as an optimist for more of what I think about him specifically, but for now I'll just say that Louis, despite surface similarities, is actually much more similar to Lestat than Nicki when it comes to their outlook on life. In TVL, Lestat describes Louis as having a softness to him, a kind of love for the human experience and a reverence for the world that Nicki lacked. We can see that in Lestat too right from the beginning and it's a huge part of his character, but it runs deeper than just personality. It informs his actions, his beliefs, how he interacts with the world.

It's the same for Louis. All of his sadness and existential angst aside, it's still those same ideas that drive him, the hope for goodness and for happiness in whatever form it takes. Surface personality traits aside, he and Lestat can very much understand each other on that level once they give it a chance. Louis is different from Nicki in the way that really counts, and that softness, that optimism, that Lestat-like worldview, is why Nicki went into the fire within a year or two and Louis survived two centuries without even going underground. It's also why he can understand Lestat and Lestat can understand him in spite of their other differences.

I'm going to put a pin in discussing Nicki's death because I have a whole meta post planned. I'll say for now that I don't think it's suggested in any explicit way in the narrative that he wanted Nicki dead, but I still have some reasons why I think that's a possible reading, at least for Lestat subconsciously. I also totally agree that Lestat loved Nicki and genuinely grieved for him. That was still his first love and the one he thought he'd share his life with, the one who was there for the best and some of the worst times of his life. I think Lestat will always have love for Nicki.

(Not to plug my own shit, but I talk in-depth about literally all of this Nicki stuff as well as Louis and Lestat's personal outlooks on life and philosophy in chapters 8 & 9 respectively of my current fic, so if anyone is interested in that, there you go! 18k of this discussion in prose form.)

[maidenvault]

Favorite gothic horror novels? Just finished rereading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Finished reading Rebecca about a month ago after not being able to concentrate on books for awhile and it brought me back to the gothic genre

Hey! 😁 So I don’t have a more recent memory of many books in this category and I don’t trust my own taste from 8+ years ago lol, but these are some novels you didn’t already mention (+ some short stories and other stuff) that I’ve loved enough to read more than once and know pretty well.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” This one is so effective in how it very gradually turns into horror, opening with lush descriptions of the beauty of a garden in the first scene and then, as Dorian moves toward becoming so evil over the course of the story, taking you to darker and darker places, to depravity and decay. Basically a scathing criticism of English aristocracy and a defense of problematic art in which Wilde was also deprecating himself a bit, which seems to suggest that total innocence is the greatest sin because Dorian's inability to think for himself makes him so easily corrupted by challenging ideas.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

“Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within.” I'm a bit of a hater of the Netflix Hill House, mostly because even taking it on its own terms it's just not that good, but also because it erases the real horror at the center of the novel, which is the harm the traditional family can do and the reality that one can never completely escape where they came from. The ending feels horrifyingly inevitable because of how incredibly well the protagonist and her weaknesses are fleshed out throughout the book. Few pieces of horror media have truly gotten to me and spoken to some of my own personal fears like this.

Interview With the Vampire / The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

“Do you know what it means to be loved by Death? Do you know what it means to have Death know your name?” These aren't all-time favorite books of mine or anything, and I wouldn't quite call myself a TVC fan, but so much about these first two books in the series are exactly what I want when I feel like reading something moody and gothic in a historical setting. When I finally got around to reading these after a life of being exposed to stuff like True Blood and TVD, it felt like running my hands through bolts of authentic silk and velvet after only encountering synthetic imitations of those before. Somehow they still hold up as something special in the vampire genre and aren’t just laughable after angsty vampires and other things in them have become cliché. Knowing Anne Rice was, in a way, dealing with the death of her daughter by writing the first one certainly helps to still give it some real power.

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore (Saga of the Swamp Thing #20-61)

“There grows yet in Hell a flower that’s named for her.” In this run, Moore famously retconned aspects of Swampy's origin story and put him in a very Frankenstein-like state of questioning the nature and meaning of his existence as a monster. It's beautifully atmospheric and you can practically hear the insects in the Louisiana bayou in the more still and quiet nighttime moments. You get a mad scientist villain, a beauty-and-the-beast love story, truly terrifying vampires, truly terrifying occult magic stuff, and an unforgettable portrayal of Hell that Neil Gaiman would later build on in The Sandman.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving

“Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere.” If you're not the kind of reader who can enjoy, in and of itself, being immersed in a setting through lengthy descriptions, this may not be your thing, but I just love the picture it paints of historical New England. It’s the ultimate spooky autumn vibes story, in a sort of wholesome and cozy way. I think of certain passages every year when the leaves start to turn and I start seeing pumpkins everywhere.

"The Masque of the Red Death" / "The Tell-Tale Heart" / "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe

I mean, it's Poe. WYD if you haven't started with some of these.

"Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti

If you were exposed to this as a kid like I was, it’s worth revisiting! A favorite poem of mine which tells a very moving and dark fairy tale.

“The Rats In the Walls” / “The Call of Cthulhu” / “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by H.P. Lovecraft

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” The problems with Lovecraft are well known and you can absolutely live without reading his work if you don't want to take the gross stuff with the stuff that works, but the stuff that works no one else can really do quite like he did. It's not that his prose was even that great, but....his imagination. 🤯 He was consciously taking a lot from Poe, and I think his work seems to partly fit right in with gothic works of the classic canon because it was dealing with the anxieties of an increasingly secular world, perhaps during the last gasp of a time when that could still feel like a relevant theme in horror, but obviously in a very new way that was uniquely his own and came to define cosmic horror.

[manie-sans-delire-x]

Who’s YOUR favorite vc vamp and why?

Sorry this took a week, I was on vacation and wanted to actually give a decent answer since you gave such a good one.

Armand as well!! Or my favorite name of his- Amadeo. I haven't actually read TVA yet, so once I do I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say, but basically I find him to be the most tragically beautiful and endearing, and I relate to him the most.

I love that Armand essentially “lost his god” three, four times. (Nice tragedy bro.) First being raised devoutly Christian as a child- “all he knew was [I forgot the full quote] and God”- then having that ripped away from him by the abduction, being sold to the brothel and sexually abused, being severely beaten and left for dead when he refused. Then Marius appearing to him like a god, saving him and whisking him away and teaching him all this fine art and education and giving him everything- (the cruelty and Marius’s narcissism in naming him Amadeo- “Loved by God”?)- then losing Marius, again in a traumatic kidnapping fashion. Then the Children introducing him to Satanism and brainwashing him- he gained a new God, getting that whole belief system, understanding of reality, and way of life (for 300 yrs!!) shattered to bits in one day by Lestat. He then basically wants Lestat to be his new god and show him a new way of life/give him a new identity. And for the first time in his long life, he’s left without one when Lestat calls him out on this and denies him (one of my favorite parts and, I think, possibly one of Lestat’s kindest and most selfless moments, even if Armand resented him for it.)

His Amadeo in Venice days and relationship with Marius also remind me of one of my OC’s- Kina Sintav from the Elder Scrolls universe. I made her before I ever read VC, but they have quite a few similarities. Namely, being in a dark, murderous cult and their almost childlike reliance and dependence on (due to childhood trauma), extreme loyalty and attachment to, sexual seduction of, submissiveness to, and genuine love, respect, and admiration of an older, occasionally abusive master, who is also their savior from a terrible situation and gave them much more than they ever knew before in their lives, who ends up being traumatically ripped away from them. Also the whole weird, kinda creepy sexual religious vibe and power dynamic going on. (She is an adult in her late twenties/early thirties though, and I want the relationship to be much more of a partnership and dark tragic romance than an abusive or predatory one. She’s also a lot less innocent than 17 yr old human Armand was.)

I don't want to write a whole essay so I'm just gunna list out the things I relate to him about:

1- Physical appearance- auburn hair, pale skin, big brown eyes

2- (seemingly) Eternally youthful appearance-we both look younger than our age (I also relate to Claudia because of this because I sometimes resent it lol)

3- Sexual trauma, although luckily to much different extents

4- Acting seductive to older men, general seductive behavior

5- Enjoying bdsm lmao and relationship control dynamics (in different ways too- Marius, Daniel)

6- Flat affect

7- Using people (Daniel) and items around him, general impulsive careless nature- devouring then throwing aside- his cult members, Lestat’s books

8- Having to be given an identity, lack of own identity

9- Becoming obsessed with certain people/things 

10- Need for control and previously having a lack of it

11- Childlike curiosity, strange innocence

12- Violence, sadism (at least emotionally)

13- Night Island!! If I were incredibly rich that's absolutely something I would create, I've thought about it before.

14- Style- I would definitely lure suicidal people if I were a vamp, just for the poetic beauty of it all. I actually thought about this before when I thought about if vamps had psychic power. Would kill them in a lot of other ways too though, try it all. I would also find a victim like Daniel, I adore that dynamic.

[aion-rsa]

Midnight Mass: It’s Time to Talk About That Monstrous Twist

https://ift.tt/39I2zkp

This article contains huge spoilers for Midnight Mass. So help me God if you read this without watching the series first…

The version of Midnight Mass that Netflix advertised still would have made for a compelling horror series. 

An isolated, insular island community? Great. A young, charismatic preacher suddenly coming to town to shake things up? Perfect. That preacher proving capable of performing minor miracles? Love it, no notes! 

Of course, as viewers who have watched at least four episodes of the seven-episode series now know, Midnight Mass has one extra supernatural twist in mind that elevates an already interesting story to true mind-blowing status. Critics were understandably asked to keep this aspect of the show a secret before it premiered. So please indulge me as I finally slay these embargo demons and get it off my chest.

Vampires. Vampires! V-A-M-P-I-R-E-S. VAMPIRES! VAMPIRES VAMPIRES VAMPIRES! Literally like Dracula. And Nosferatu. Anne Rice’s Lestat. Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. Vampires. VAMPIRES, BRO, VAMPIRES.

For creator Mike Flanagan, a filmmaker influenced by all manner of classic horror, bringing the fanged bloodsuckers to life was a long time coming.

“My favorite vampire movie is (Werner) Herzog’s Nosferatu,” Flanagan told Den of Geek and other outlets prior to the premiere of Midnight Mass. “That film is the vampire story as high art. I also adore From Dusk Till Dawn. I read Dracula young enough for it to really burrow in for me. And I read ‘Salem’s Lot early enough to color an enormous amount of work that I’ll do for the rest of my life.”

Midnight Mass’s depiction of the mythological undead beast and how it can neatly fit into Christian dogma is one of the most satisfying horror twists in years. Now that the truth is out, let’s discuss Midnight Mass and how it conflates vampires and biblical angels. 

Mistaking a Vampire for an Angel

The interesting thing about Midnight Mass is that it clearly takes place in a universe where the average person has no knowledge of what a vampire is. Even Sarah Gunning (Annabeth Gish), arguably the most well-read person on Crockett Island, has to do some research into “porphyria cutanea tarda” (a.k.a. the real life “vampire disease”). This is similar to The Walking Dead’s approach to zombies, in which the “z” word and George A. Romero’s name are never spoken. This strategy in Midnight Mass allows for a truly fascinating case of mistaken identity.

While viewers immediately know that the creature Monsignor John Pruitt (Hamish Linklater) encounters is a vampire, he believes it to be an angel. Given how studied Pruitt is in the Bible and Cathloic theology, it’s entirely understandable why he would think a tall, muscular, bald-headed beast with fangs and leathery wings is an angel. As it turns out, the angels of the Old Testament can be truly terrifying. 

Not all angels are soft-featured human-like creatures with fluffy white bird wings. Some, like Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones are designed to intimidate God’s enemies. In the New Testament’s Book of Luke, an angel visits Zechariah and immediately asks him to “be not afraid” because the angel can see the poor guy absolutely shaking in his boots upon his arrival. Angels being terrifying is even something of an Internet meme, with users contrasting the phrase “be not afraid” with images of truly monstrous beasts. 

Not only does Pruitt’s vampire have the vague appearance of an angel, it also apparently holds the secrets to eternal life as promised in the Bible. By merely drinking some of the “angel’s” blood, a good Christian can live forever just like God says. Does that blood-drinking sacrament sound familiar? It did to Mike Flanagan.

“In Bible school I used to say ‘if the wine turns into Jesus’s blood literally and we’re drinking it so that we can live forever … that seems like a short leap to vampiric myth.’”

Of course, drinking the angel’s fluids in the case of Midnight Mass also leads to some unwanted side effects like a thirst for blood and extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Thankfully, good ol’ Bev Keane always has a Bible quote ready to go for that. When read through the proper perspective, the Holy Bible may as well be the original vampire story. 

The Rules of Vampirism

“The thing that I love about the vampire as a cinematic tool is how malleable it is,” Flanagan says. “We all agree that there is no canon. There are no rules. In fact, part of the joy is seeing what rules people cherry pick as they approach a vampire story.”

All depictions of vampires are indeed quite different. Vampires can range from the classic Stoker-ian monster to Twilight’s nigh-invulnerable sparkle bois. Midnight Mass’s version of the vampire leans towards the classic, albeit with some tweaks. In terms of appearance, The Angel (as we will be calling Midnight Mass’s O.G. vampire for simplicity’s sake) has a more bestial look like Nosferatu rather than an aristocratic one like Count Dracula or Anne Rice’s creations. 

“We winked at (Nosferatu the Vampyr actor) Klaus Kinski a few times when we designed our guy,” Flanagan says.

Though the Angel resembles Nosferatu in appearance, its vulnerabilities owe more to Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. Religious iconography does not appear to hurt the Angel nor its thralls. Traditional human weapons like bullets or blades also do no harm (at least not mortally). These vampires are, however, tremendously susceptible to both fire and sunlight. Exposure to the latter for even a few seconds is enough to kill the Angel and his many acolytes. 

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Like in Rice’s works as well, the path to creating a new vampire is quite simple. Step 1: Drink its blood. Step 2: Die. In Dracula and ‘Salem’s Lot, the method of vampire creation is merely being bit by one, zombie-style. Rice and Flanagan’s approach is quite a bit more intentional and interesting. It also opens the door for perhaps Midnight Mass’s most ingenious storytelling quirk: communion. John Pruitt is able to get nearly the entirety of Crockett Island to become a vampire by spiking the communion wine with his buddy’s blood. Then, all that remains is for them to poison themselves to death, Jonestown-style. 

The mass “resurrection” scene in which the congregation awakes as their new vampire selves also provides some insight to just how hard it is to contain the vampire’s overwhelming hunger. Riley Flynn was able to resist it when he turned because John Pruitt babysat him like a psychedelic mushroom guide. The plan for the rest of the congregation was to have their babysitters as well but that didn’t quite work out. Still, Riley’s dad Ed makes it clear to his wife Annie, that even if it’s hard to resist the call for blood, it’s not impossible. 

“When I saw them at the church, I thought it was something they really couldn’t help. Like something impossible not to do. But it isn’t, Annie,” he says.

Maybe if more vampires were like Ed Flynn, a whole island full of vampires wouldn’t be too bad of a thing in the first place. 

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How to Defeat a Vampire

While every vampire story presents its own unique take on the creature, the answer on how to defeat a vampire is usually the same: by doing it together.

“We poor humans only have so much that we can give,” Flanagan says. “We’re ill-equipped as individuals to make any kind of meaningful stand. The only way evil in the world can be brought down is through collective effort. That’s something Stoker understands inherently. It’s clearly something King understands.”

Alongside the aforementioned Bram Stoker and Stephen King, Flanagan presents a small team of humans at story’s end who will do what it takes to defeat evil, even if it means dying in the process. Erin Greene (Kate Siegel), Dr. Sarah Gunning, Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), Annie Flynn (Kristin Lehman), Warren Flynn (Igby Rigney), and Leeza Scarborough (Annarah Cymone) are the six residents of Crockett Island brave enough to try to take down the Angel. All but two (Warren and Leeza) die. They do succeed in eliminating the immediate threat on Crockett Island but it’s possible the Angel made it away to suck blood another day, damaged wings and all.

What’s interesting about Midnight Mass’s “final crew” is that six appears to be the magic number when it comes to taking down a vampire. Stoker’s Dracula has six heroes: Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker nèe Murray, Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming), John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Abraham Van Helsing (of which, only poor American cowboy Quincey Morris dies). King’s ‘Salem’s Lot also has six: Ben Mears, Matt Burke, Susan Norton, Mark Petrie, Jimmy Cody, and Father Callahan (of which, decidedly more than one of them die). This strange bit of arithmancy is something we asked Flanagan about.

“The number was certainly not intentional,” he says. “Once it was clear that Riley was not going to be carrying the torch to the end it really was about asking ‘who are the characters who seem in the very beginning to be at a disadvantage and how do we empower them in the end?’ This was gonna be played out by Sarah Gunning, Sheriff Hassan, and everyone else who would get to just give a little piece.”

Considering that Erin and company were outnumbered about 117 to six, it was a pretty good showing for Crockett Island’s last humans standing.

All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Midnight Mass: It’s Time to Talk About That Monstrous Twist appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3CPaitL

[pastelbatfandoms]

Get to know My Character

Taking this for My AHS Apocalypse Character. 

01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded? Her name is Helena and yeah I suppose I picked it for the symbolism. Her name does have the word HEL in it after all.  02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness? Her Boyfriend/Future Husband Michael Langdon would definitely be a weakness other’s could use against her.  Also Michael unintentionally does use her love for him to his advantage. Also fear of dying and becoming a Spirit again,to Haunt and nothing more.  03. What would be their favorite physical trait about themselves? Her Red hair,her figure that she definitely uses to her advantage.   04. What are their favorite traits about their lover? (one psychological and one physical) Just ONE?! ok...

Mentally Helena loves not only Michael’s Deviousness but his Innocence as well that few people,save for herself and Ms Mead,get to see or even understand.

Physically? I mean he is The Anti Christ he’s meant to be Beautiful. While he was younger he had an almost Angelic Beauty to him as he got older he exuded Charm and Sexuality. 

05. Are they sexually confident or more of the shy type? Helena has never been particularly Shy,though she used to let Michael take the lead,once he was comfortable,often until she came back from Hell.  06. Do they have any hobbies that their lover finds unusual, odd, or otherwise annoying? lol No hobbies but,I suppose being Bratty or Obstinate when he’s trying to be Authoritative to others in The Santaury,or in general,peeves him a bit. And does not go unnoticed,usually resulting in a Punishment once they are alone.  07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)? Not that she knows.  08. What is, perhaps, their biggest flaw? Are they aware of this or oblivious to it? Is falling for The Anti Christ a flaw? I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. Falling for Serial Killers on the other hand... 09. Do they have a favorite season? What about a favorite holiday? Christmas? lol probably Samhain tbh. But they don’t Celebrate in Traditional ways. Being a Spirit for so long Helena doesn’t really notice the changing of the seasons until she becomes Human again and even then she doesn’t care to notice it much,though she does like The Sun,something She misses after The Apocalypse. 

10. Is your character more feminine or masculine? Feminine all the way but she can still kick your ass or kill you. 11. What is something that would make your character fly into a rage? Losing Michael,Michael being hurt,also she is the Jealous type,as is Michael,so him flirting with someone else,whether it’s to Manipulate them or not,does rub her the wrong way. Usually resulting in Angry late night Sex. Which isn’t always a bad thing...

12. Is there some particular talent, skill, or attribute that they simply could not give up? I mean being able to talk to the living and have them see her while a Ghost was a perk. (and vice versa) As well as Generally being a Witch and The Demonic Powers she received while in Hell. 

13. What are your character’s sleeping habits? Heavy or light sleeper? Blanket stealer? One that always rolls onto the floor? Pushes their lover onto the floor? Sleep talker or walker? They are both Light sleepers. Helena is not used to sleeping much since she didn’t have to while dead. Also who can sleep with all those Do Gooders and White Witches trying to kill you. 14. Do they live alone or with family? How do they feel about their family/roommates? Helena lived in The “Murder House” as it was coined years ago,so she’s always been around a lot of people,though I suppose LIVING isn’t the right word. When Michael brought her back Helena moved in with him and Ms Mead.  15. Is there a certain person in this world that they cannot stand? The very mention of this person’s name makes them tremble with anger or fear. Her Ex,Dandy Mott. But when that someone is responsible for your Murder you tend to hold a grudge. Helena used to be scared off him especially when she descended into Hell,the first time,and had to relive her Murder over and over again. Until Michael came to get her and Disintegrated Dandy for good. 

16. Is your character the athletic type or more of a couch potato? What are some sports/games that they like? lol Neither. She keeps fit on The Hearts of her Enemies ;) 17. Does your character have dreams of getting married and/or having children? Yes and Maybe. Though I think Michael is more keen on Adopting. We’ll name her Sabrina... 18. What kind of home would they want to live in? Where would they place this abode? Somewhere Regal like a Mansion,A Castle or a Sanctuary.  19. Would your character be the kind to get into fights? (physical or verbal) Would they be a good fighter or cave in rather easily? Only if she were standing up for Michael,Lucifer ect.. or if someone said something she didn’t like and she was in a mood. Helena is an excellent Fighter now. 

20. Does your character like animals? What are some of their favorite animals? Would they want pets? What about mythological creatures? Not be stereotypical but she really likes Snakes and Crows,as well as Raven’s. Her favorite Mythological Creature is The Cerberus. 

21. What is one of your character’s biggest fears? How would they react when dealing with this fear? Helena has pretty much faced her fears. They’ve both Loved and Lost and Loved and Lost again. 

22. What kind of tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, freckles, and other such unique physical features do they have? Helena’s features are quite normal,though she does have an Otherwordly Aura around her that only Magnifies once she Descends into Hell the last time. Also The powers that Lucifer Bestows on her can make her eyes glow and turn more Demonic.  Helena is also more seductive and alluring once her and Michael reach adult hood,or Michael does anyway.

23. What is your character like when it comes to school? What subjects are they good/bad at? Do they get in trouble a lot or are well behaved? lol School they are well past that. She was very good in school and well behaved until she met Dandy,though she was still Book Smart. Dandy wouldn’t have it any other way.  24. In their own words, how would your character describe what their lover is like? What isn’t he like?... I will be making a A-Z Head-canons for what Michael is like Sexually,so stay tuned for that! 25. Is there something traumatic from your character’s past that greatly affects them even to this day? Her Death (Both when Dandy killed her and when The Coven did) The things that happened to her in Hell.  26. What is their lover like sexually? How do they feel about their lover’s quirks, needs, etc? ^^ See above. 27. If your character was going to get arrested, what would be the most likely reason for it? Killing Someone.... 28. If your character became a celebrity, what would they be famous for? A Model or a Famous Psychic/Tarot Reader.  29. What is one of the most courageous things your character has ever done for a loved one? Died for them.  30. When it comes to the arts (music, film, theater, etc), what does your character like? Anything Retro or Vintage (like from The 1920′s to 80′s) Classical Music or anything with a Dark Ambiance. After discovering TV again Helena recently fell in love with The Craft,Interview With a Vampire, (because Lestat reminds her of Michael),Dusk Till Dawn and AMC’s Freakshow (it reminds her of simpler times) She also has a weakness for Slasher Films.  31. Would your character be the kind capable of killing? Would they enjoy killing or only use it when necessary or, perhaps, refuse to kill no matter what? Yes and Both.  32. If your character’s lover offered to take them out on a dream date, what would they want to do? Just alone in there room,the two of them,or taking a stroll talking about anything & everything,including The end of the world. Michael is very curious. Followed by Ritualistic Sex that evening.  33. If your character wanted to be alone, where would they go? Helena rarely likes being alone as she was alone for far too long as a Ghost. But when she does need her down time she prefers practicing her Spells in The Woods alone at night or in her Darkened room with a glass of Wine while reading an Erotic or Historical Romance Series.  34. Does your character have favorite foods? (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, etc) Not really. She prefers a good Home cooked Meal like Ms Mead or Constance used to make but she isn’t picky.  35. Is your character afraid of death? If they got to choose how to die, how would they want to go? pffft been there,done that. Twice.  36. Does your character have any medical conditions? Are they serious or minor? Do they affect their day to day life? No

37. What are some of your character’s pet peeves? What are some things that annoy them or disgust them? Being Disrespected,being made Jealous. 

38. What kind of weather does your character like? Cloudy skies, rainy days, sunshine, etc? Again no Preference. 

39. When people look at your character, is there some assumption they might make about them just by appearance? Is that assumption correct? Anything anyone assumes about her now is absolutely Correct. Except she is not being coerced into anything she says or does. 

40. Does your OC have any guilty pleasures they enjoy? Hobbies, past times, music, etc that they wouldn’t want known by others? Already kind of answered this one. read Question 30. 41. Does your character’s family affect your character in any way? Her real Family are all dead. Her Surrogate Family mean the world to her though. Dead and Living.  42. Is there anything in your character’s past that they regret, haunts them, or they wish they could change? being taken advantage of by Dandy. Killing without a purpose or end game.  43. Does your character have a switch that changes aspects of their personality whether they are around friends, family, etc. Is there someone who gets to see their true self? Michael,Constance and even Lucifer always get to see her True Self. Though she can be a bit more on around Lucifer.  44. Is there a particular event that would emotionally devastate your character? Having Michael die in her arms would be traumatic,the way she died in his.  45. Is your character the kind to hide their true emotions or do they wear their heart on their sleeve? Depends on who it is.

46. What is some random affectionate thing that your character always does to their lover? They are not one’s for PDA but if Helena can tell Michael is getting worked up she’ll go over and gently squeeze his hand or put a hand on his shoulder,calming him with Magic.  47. Is your character outgoing? Would they be the leader of the friend group, or the quiet one that gets dragged along? Outgoing now for sure. Helena’s done being told what to do. Which doesn’t go over very well with Cordelia or Lucifer. She’s very much a leader,but will share the spotlight.  48. Is there anything in particular that would ignite your character’s jealousy? Or does your character not get envious? Um Obviously Michael being Flirty with someone else,especially a Follower.  49. What is something that your character has nightmares about? Are these frequent? Do they heavily affect your character’s mood? ^See Dandy.  50. If your character confessed love to their crush, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc, what would they say? She has or rather Michael just sensed it and told her he loved her too. Followed by a Passionate Kiss. It didn’t take long,they are destined after all. And have always been together in one form or another.

[licncourt]

I'm sending all the love and blessings for your wonderful head canons, I have a ball each time I see one ❤️

Do you think you could do some head canons for Daniel and Armand that are like super duper cute and adorable? Also do you think they go on double dates with Lestat and Louis, and what's that like?

Any Armand and Daniel headcanons?

Your stuff just keeps getting better and better !

You guys are way too nice to me oh my God 🥺

So one of the biggest points of contention for Daniel and Armand is interior design. Armand likes full baroque revival. Daniel just wants to his lava lamp in the living room. As a result, they kind of end up living in a weird mish-mash of their tastes, one constantly trying to overtake the other. Star Wars posters in rococo frames, an elegant Louis XIV armchair with a denim IKEA ottoman, it's a mess. They're both jealous of Loustat's very chic, cohesive art nouveau townhouse but neither of them are willing to back down

Once they're settled into a relationship, Daniel talks Armand into a dog. He goes kicking and screaming but by day four Armand is walking around the house holding a golden retriever as big as he is like a baby. Her name is Sophia Tolstoy and Armand would kill anyone who even looked at her weird. The unconditional love is good for him

They were pretty involved in the 70s and 80s nightlife scene when they were uh...dating, so sometimes for old times sake they find a club or rave and feed on some molly and coke riddled mortals. Sometimes Marius has to come collect them if things are getting too out of hand though. Daniel was about five minutes away from accidentally revealing his vampire superpowers the last time he was on LSD and Armand was totally egging him on

After bonding so much over films when they first met, movie nights are still a very regular date activity. Sometimes they go to theaters, but usually it's pajamas and a night in. Daniel in particular is especially fond of this tradition because their movie dates are where he really fell in love, watching Armand experience the world in brand new ways and knowing he was helping to create that for him

One of Daniel's favorite activities when he's stressed or anxious is painting. Armand taught him when he noticed how Daniel was struggling with his sudden sobriety and now they paint together quite a bit, everything from the cityscape to potted plants to each other. Sometimes they talk and sometimes they don't, but it's a very special time for them both

Double dates are totally a thing and they have varying levels of success. Sometimes it goes super well and everyone wonders why they don't do it more often. Other times Daniel and Lestat accidentally feed on a couple hammered frat boys and make a very public scene over Louis helping Armand with his jacket ("What the fuck, babe, why is he doing that?? Lestat, Louis and Armand are touching each other!!" "What?? Louis, are you still into him??" "Lestat, I'm not-" "It's him or me!!!")

At some point Louis and Daniel have to join forces to deny sex if Lestat and Armand keeping fighting in public and it's the most effective deterrent they've found. It's not perfect though and sometimes they join forces to cause problems. Unfortunately Lestat and Armand have no concept of shame and have absolutely no problem being Karens or threatening annoying pedestrians. Louis and Daniel would let someone pour soup in their lap and apologize to them, so it's a point of conflict. Half the double dates end with Louis and Daniel chatting on a bench while Lestat and Armand yell at either each other or someone else

One of the best double dates they've had was to the Met, each of them taking turns showing the others art and artifacts from their human lifetime. Eastern Orthodox icons and Italian Renaissance inventions for Armand, Southern colonial portraits and Federalist documents for Louis, Warhol and Cold War memorabilia for Daniel, and French rococo paintings and robes à la française for Lestat. So many pieces bring back specific memories to share