#no i'm not comparing it to iwtv

[crazykuroneko]

Mayfair Witches Ep 3

After the improvement of Ep 2, sad to say we're back to Ep 1's level of quality. Or even worse. That was the most awkward and jarring almost-50-minutes ep I've ever watched. Some actors really tried. I could see the actors of Deidre, Carlotta, and Cip are actually good, but those lines omg. The lines are really the weakest link in this show. They remind me of X-Men: The Dark Phoenix (2019) where all lines Jessica Chastain got in that movie really sound like one of those pitch presentation on Why You Should Turn Evil. They're that bad. No matter how great an actor is, they could only do so much with bad lines. I literally facepalmed on "are you kidding me?" (I like Alex, but she's really not convincing as someone who got into shock and lost).

Second weakest link is the editing. The transition between scenes are even more awkward in this ep than in Ep 1.

Third, chemistry doesn't exist in this show. I'm so sorry. Cip and Rowan are kinda cute at the end, but it's awkward because the cinematography screams at you "This is a profound scene!" but I didn't feel it. Again, everything the showrunner said sound good, but I feel bad because I can't see it in the episode itself 😭

[winepresswrath]

Sam Reid no one has ever deserved it like you deserve it congratulations on winning your hard fought battle to give your wife a voice in divorce court.

[rendnotmyheart]

Soulmate aus are so interesting in an iwtv context. Like for humans it's easy, right? They get their soulmate mark, they find their soulmate, or maybe they don't, and they live their life. For vampires though? Do vampiric soulmates even exist? How could they when the soulmate marks are relics of their human life? When the other person who has the mark will be dead before their life as a vampire has even begun? Or were they always fated to become a vampire? Did the universe take that into account? Will they have to wait some hundreds of years for their soulmate to be born? Their soulmate could be anywhere, any time. Hell, their soulmate could be the person they just drained. Who knows. Even if they were somehow able to find them, what are the chances they'd stay together for eternity? It is eternity after all. Not even the universe or fate can guarantee that.

[faithandfairies]

Positions of Power

So, Interview with the Vampire famously examines the questions

What happens if one decides not to love or choose someone in a position of power who wants to be loved and chosen?

When the person in the position of power can then wield said power to decide the fate of the person that doesn't love or choose them as well as the fate of those that person does love? To hurt, destroy, help or save said person?

And it does this through all of its relationships although it's most obvious through the relationships between Louis and Lestat and Louis and Armand.

And it starts immediately with Louis the pimp. You see, Louis starts out in positions of power in all of his relationships. Or so it seems.

Lestat actually names them all starting with:

1.The stern landlord=the pimp/building and business owner

He is in a position of power as the pimp that governs his girls. We see this starting with ms. Bricktop Williams when she insults the alderman and Louis doesn't actually punish her for it. He also doesn't punish the girl who yells at his brother. He does punish his brother for making him look "weak" on Liberty street, therefore threatening his position of power. One wrong move in how he governs his girls or his brother could lead to him losing this position.

2.The deferential businessman

Louis has made it as a black man. As a successful black businessman he has made himself a place among the white businessmen but his position is precarious. It requires him to defer to them in order to keep that position. And once he stops doing that, once he stops "knowing his place" by having a white same sex life partner in plain view, who is richer than all of the other businessmen combined and then makes power grabs for businesses he shouldn't want ownership of, he eventually loses this precarious position of power he once held.

3. The loyal son

Louis is also in a position of power at home. He's the successful businessman keeping his family's heads above water and bringing them honor by taking care of them as a loyal son should. He controls the money for the family. He takes care of the family financially. He owns their ancestral home because his father left it to him. He even mentions to Daniel I believe that he's not just the eldest son, but the favored son. The caveat to him maintaining this position isn't what his business entails as in having a respectable business, but his loyalty to the family, to his mother. It initially seems like he's allowing for it to look like his mother is in control by having her take credit for financial purchases of his. But later it turns out to be the other way around, his mother was always in control. Because the moment he fails to fulfill his father's dying wish "to properly take care of Paul" and then also follows it up by moving in with Lestat and barely coming home, he loses the position of the loyal son and it is his mother that takes this position from him directly and gives it to Levi. And it no longer matters that the house belongs to him or that he was the one financially providing for his family.

Enter Lestat.

Who is fascinated by this man who has managed to crawl his way up to the top of the food chain in his world in spite of his race and initial financial state making it seemingly impossible.

Lestat is also at the top of the food chain in his world. In his world, he is in THE position of power and there's very little above him. Especially since he's apparently the only vampire in New Orleans at that time.

In relation to Lestat, Louis wields almost no power. Louis' is a black human. And Lestat is a white sadistic, manipulative vampire, a predator, with an endless supply of funds and to Louis largely unknown ancient powers he's been honing for over a century and no qualms about using his toxic traits against Louis. Louis' power lies in the fact that Lestat is in love with him but even that has its limits. The caveat is that Louis has to love him, choose him in turn. And Louis does, initially. When the power imbalance between them isn't known to Louis he chooses Lestat. He loves Lestat. As his friend. As his confidante. As his lover. For a brief moment Louis chooses to live in the fantasy where he and Lestat can choose each other without there being far-reaching repercussions for him within the society he lives in. Where he can be a black, gay human without it having major unwanted consequences for his businesses, his family and his life as a whole. And then he literally wakes up to the realization that he can't go back on that choice. And that he maybe never really had one. Once Lestat lays eyes on him, once Lestat loves him and chooses him it's game over. Lestat's inherently predatory nature means Louis' time is running out because Lestat's self-control is reaching its breaking point. Louis' only choice then becomes whether he wants nine unlimited lives or just one cut very short by Lestat.

When Louis rejects Lestat at his brother's funeral and then condemns him in the church, Lestat shows up believing himself an angered god ready and justified to dole out judgment on humanity. Reacting to Louis' actions by revealing the sinister side to his powers and clearly revealing the power imbalance. He reveals the breadth of his power in all of its terrifying glory and likens it in words to godly power through which fates of life and death can be decided depending on who is deserving of mercy or not. Showing Louis exactly what can become of him and those he loves if he chooses to (further) anger Lestat.

This, the power imbalance, continues on throughout their relationship. Louis' power comes from the fact that Lestat loves him which he uses to manipulate him and get what he wants out of the relationship. Lestat continues to manipulate Louis as well and continues to hold the power imbalance over his head by displaying said power in big and small ways to try to keep Louis in line within the relationship. Early on I think Lestat also realizes he can use sex to manipulate Louis. Offering it to Louis to distract from the power imbalance, presenting himself as more vulnerable to Louis, making him and Lestat closer to equals which is honestly what they both crave but can never truly achieve. Lestat also tries offering sex to others once Louis no longer has the energy and later the willingness to have it with Lestat, hoping to get Louis to bend to his will (and indulge) when it comes to his appetites. Hoping to restore their sex life and intimacy through it. Which is the one manipulation that doesn't really work. Which means eventually their relationship doesn't work since it hinges on them having similar appetites, human, the blood, each other.

In the meantime Louis tries to hold on to his positions of power in the human world even more so since he holds almost no power in his and Lestat's vampire world. Then he loses those positions of power.

Enter Claudia.

An eternal child, initially as innocent as they come, and physically the weakest vampire among the three of them.

And suddenly Louis is no longer the one with the least power in his and Lestat's vampire world. In becoming Claudia's parents, suddenly he and Lestat are equals. But also, as far as race, culture, history and humanity goes, Lestat is outnumbered. Suddenly Louis is in a position of power not only as the parent who has the most knowledge about Claudia's background having been human and a black human from New Orleans at that fairly recently himself, but to Claudia he's also the favored parent. Lestat allows it and everything is right with the world. Except that it's not. And over time that becomes abundantly clear again.

As a parent, Lestat initially softens more but eventually becomes even more the predator. He tries to regain some of the power he's lost by cultivating the vampire, the predator, within Claudia and Claudia is the eager and prodigious student. Except she isn't just a predator or a vampire, she is now a teenager with teenage human tendencies, wants and needs. Except she's not human. Incapable of and eventually not allowed to indulge in those human tendencies for fear of the human world she desperately wants to be a part of discovering and destroying Louis' and Lestat's little vampire world.

This is when Claudia becomes aware of power. That she has it, much more than the average human, but can't control it and as an eternal child realizing that it pales in comparison to that of her fathers and she will never be able to wield it in the same way that they do. The power she possesses is practically useless to her. Where Lestat was able to wield his love and vampiric power to get what he wanted from Louis initially and Louis was able to wield his power of both his own love for Lestat and Lestat's love for him to get what he wanted, she cannot do the same. Her vampire powers continue to fail her, her love for her parents and their love for her isn't enough for them to give her what she wants and needs to feel fulfilled and she has no love of her own and seemingly very likely never will.

She exists to fulfill Lestat's and Louis' wants and needs, as their daughter, to even out the power imbalance between them in order to improve their relationship with each other. She is not allowed to have wants or needs of her own. This is eventually enforced by Lestat any time she chooses to forget it. Although initially when he thinks she's done her part he allows her to leave, until the 7 year drought makes him realize that in order for Louis' and his relationship to somewhat continue to work and Louis to not peace out permanently from vampiric life and life with Lestat Claudia needs to keep inhabiting the role she has been. Also her leaving again and traveling to Europe of all places could also expose them all to Lestat's actual coven leader, Armand. Lestat's power does not extend to Europe and he knows very well what Armand does to those who disobey the great laws. Her chasing after what she wants could mean death for all of them and Lestat knows this.

And for Claudia to get what she wants from life she needs either

a love of her own

a different role that gives her useful power of her own and/or

for one of her parents to love her enough for it to make a difference.

Claudia, ambitious as she is, goes for all of the above.

Commence the power struggle.

Claudia decides that she already has a love of her own in Louis, the parent that even in her 7-year absence, chose the memory of her over a very there and present Lestat. So Claudia returns. Commence the power struggle. It becomes a game to Claudia, one she thinks she's already won even before it starts. She just needs to tweak the companionship a bit. Instead of simply being his daughter, she'll be Louis' Grace, his Lestat. She won't sleep with him of course, but she'll be all that he needs by loving him better than Lestat or Grace ever did, by being more devoted to him than either of them ever were. And luckily for her, with Grace recently out of the picture that position has just opened up. And Claudia is certain of having what Lestat doesn't know he has and certainly hasn't felt he has in a long time. Louis' love. Given that, all Claudia needs to do is convince Louis to leave Lestat.

Only it was never a game. And if it was, Lestat was never just a player, but the gamemaker. Something that Claudia never realized until she did and Louis had forgotten until Lestat made him remember. In doing so though, by exhibiting his power in all its terrifying glory again in order to keep everyone in line he crosses lines he drew up himself in order to keep Louis with him and preserve the authenticity of as well as reduce the power imbalance in the relationship as much as possible.

Lines such as:

No eating black people or if yes, no letting Louis know about this

Physically hurting Louis and his family members is off limits

No limiting Louis in his human hobbies

No forcing Louis to have sex even if sex is desired

Because the one thing Louis can still do is choose to walk away regardless if Lestat then decides to kill him for it. Either way it will mean Louis is lost to him which is the one thing Lestat doesn't want.

Commence the reset.

In Lestat acting out and treating Louis like a rag doll for trying to protect and potentially choose Claudia, the power imbalance between him and Lestat once again becomes glaringly obvious and in such a way that there's no going back to the way things were. There's no sense in pretending. The illusion of Louis having a choice has shattered. The inherent "Choose me and love me or die." that was barely concealed subtext when Louis became a vampire is now undisputed text. And has turned into "Hesitate to choose me and die." seeing as Lestat didn't even wait for Louis to choose this time.

Lestat almost kills Louis and there's really no coming back from it. Lestat then tries to regain the power and Louis initially by trying to create the illusion of completely giving away the power to Louis. But it doesn't work. Acting powerless doesn't actually make him so as evidenced by past events. The only thing that might constitute a reset is Lestat dying at their hands.

For Claudia it's a continuance of her original plan but instead of just leaving Lestat behind she now decides to completely take him off the board.

Once again it's a power struggle. But I think what changes here is that Lestat no longer really wants the power. He makes half-hearted swipes for the power but his heart just isn't in it. He just wants Louis and whatever will make Louis want him again in return. And Lestat's starting to realize all the power in the world is not going to get him Louis back. Technically Louis has all the power but Louis doesn't really want it either. Louis hands the power over to Claudia. And Lestat grudgingly allows it even though it also irritates and low-key terrifies him. He trusts Louis. He does not trust the mini version of his own sadistic self he raised in his image that is Claudia to wield any kind of power over him.

But the one thing he does trust is that he can outsmart Claudia. Until she wins a game. And then Lestat doesn't know what to think. For the first time Claudia holds the power but only because both her parents are allowing it. And not because it has anything to do with her. No. But because they're trying to find their way back to each other and all their power play has done for them so far is destroy them and alienate them from each other.

With the power in Claudia's hands, without their power struggle between them, Louis becomes numb and retreats into himself and Lestat becomes increasingly antsy and paranoid. Claudia realizes that her parents are like a bottle the top is about to pop off and if that happens there will be another power grab from one of her parents, most likely Lestat. So she tells Louis to pretty much go back to the start. To rekindle the love. With Louis' focus on restoring the love he and Lestat initially had between each other at the very beginning and Louis' heart blown open to Lestat and showing and sharing that love in all the ways between them I think for the first time since their initial courtship Louis and Lestat settle into peace.

And Claudia becomes the odd one out. And even with all the power it is at that point in time useless to her. Both her parents are lost to her, too focused on each other, belonging to each other once again, with her once again stuck in the role of the daughter simply bearing witness to their love for each other, with no love or lover of her own. Even though having fulfilled her role in their lives by removing the power play completely between them by advising Louis to simply allow himself to love Lestat without reservations and pushing him to take her advice. And Lestat following Louis' lead. With Lestat having what he actually wants, which is all of Louis, he becomes less of a threat, which is the goal. And with Louis having all of Lestat, Louis I think realizes this is what he always wanted. For Lestat to not be a threat to them sure, but not because he was dead or incapacitated but because he was completely in love with Louis with no room for anything else.

And so when it's time to eliminate the power source, Louis takes back the power from Claudia forcefully and chooses a reset instead. A reboot.

[bozhenkamoya]

there's nothing like the desire to piss off your ex husband to save you from a breakup with your current boyfriend

[pristina-nomine]

Me, watching Queen of the Damned, waiting for at least a mention of Claudia and Louis

[knifeeater]

Hannibal   Ko No Mono

Interview with the Vampire  ... After the Phantoms of Your Former Self

[iztarshi]

I'm only on episode 4 so no one tell me, but currently my biggest question about IWTV is "is Armand pretending to be Louis' PA?"

[fayevalcntine]

I feel like Queen of the Damned (2002) exists in this weird realm where stylistically, the movie does fit into this weird niche of being a decent adaptation of the main plot of the book. It does try to update the music genre background by making it underground Gothic, and Akasha's casting/costuming/overall arc is more or less preserved. But then you also have Stuart Townsend not even attempting to do a French accent (afaik he keeps his own accent throughout the film which I found so funny). Lestat's backstory is completely changed, I presume for the sake of simply not having to bother with explaining like 400 pages' worth of The Vampire Lestat before getting to the main plot from QotD? Also, I can't not find it a bit insulting that the movie completely erased Louis and Nicolas for the sake of having Jessie be his final love interest. If I were to remove the movie from the books' backstory, I could see that subplot barely work (even though it's still not really grounded in any proper development beyond fascination on Lestat's part). But as an adaptation, it just feels like a complete misfire.

[swashbucklery]

OK I have watched the pilot of Interview With The Vampire and:

1) I’m going to go semi-feral over the costumes and sets alone the aesthetics are: magnifique.

2) It’s perfect.

3) Look I know that it’s got boys I know it’s problematic they are not uwu at all they in fact murder each other in the pilot but it’s also like. Extremely queer in a way that I feel but can’t fully articulate, a beautiful salve to the everyone is beautiful but no one is horny phenomenon of a lot of ~canon media~ and feels really like. Every unhinged Tumblr post about the complex aesthetics of vampirism and romance and desire and and the complexities of queering religious symbolism, yet also they’ve made the choice to have these lads just. Absolutely covered in body fluids at all times A++ gaying.

4) This is a serious question is there a resource out there with timestamps for some of the gore? I am planning to keep watching but I am Sensitive (tm) and I’d love to be prepped for some of the more intense moments. Obviously I’m fine with a generous amount of prop blood but anything where like. Limbs are coming off, organs are being punched through etc, I would love to be forewarned.

[crazykuroneko]

listening to this podcast done by TV show enthusiasts, whose knowledge of IWTV comes from the movie and the book they watched/read probably a century ago, so they already know OG Louis is a plantation owner and Claudia will die, then the hosts said something like, "Watching the last three episodes of IWTV was hard, but the last scene gave me hope. I could handle another season of this, I could handle Lestat coming back, because I have seen Louis is in a better place now, he's happy with someone who is (healthily, heavily implied) loves him, and understands him"

And i'm just sitting here just thinking, "well, it's obvious they forget why Claudia died then"

[violatordyke]

honestly a little sad seeing og vampire chronicles fans being wholly uninterested in the show bc of how much is changed blah blah but also girl cmon the show is a blast and hysterical you can at least try to enjoy both? idk

[vampswritings]

while i don’t feel that criticism of claudia’s death being fridging is accurate - because of anne’s intentions with her inevitable death and the themes of mourning a child you couldn’t save (it’s actually an aspect of the story i find very compelling)

i do think that objectively the act of losing the only main character that is female is disappointing.

while i love armand and daniel and louis and lestat i can’t help but look around and notice the lack of women, of the very prime for fan fiction male relationships all over iwtv - especially in a very famous property written by a woman

i’m not saying that the show runners should have changed anything (in regards to her death), just that experiencing the story this time made me think “hm i don’t love that.”

[vaperarmand]

my friend rashid: a fic rec list

welcome back to iwtv fanfic friday! this week's theme was born out of my love for rashidmand, but of course i couldn't stop there, so i've included some featuring real rashid as well. on that note, if you're looking for a sign to write a fic featuring real rashid or rashidmand, THIS IS IT.

drawing in a subject by nestorius (e, 1.7k words)

Armand interrupts. (immediately post season one reveal, teensy bit character study, daniel's "inexplicable" desire for rashid. made for me in a lab)

a memo from human resources by nestorius (not rated, 2.5k words)

The pitfalls of having a vampire boss. (the real rashid prelude to above. his relationship with louis in this drives me wild. i still believe this is rashid's lore and you can't stop me.)

Live your role by Thunder__Puss (e, 1.5k words)

Louis and Armand bed down in the penthouse. Rashid overhears a bit more than he'd care to. (ARMAND PLAYING RASHID IN BED WITH LOUIS ... THIS IS WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF)

honey and pineapple by duri (e, 3.5k words)

Rashid pays Daniel a visit. (hey girls did you know that uhmmmmm... armand wants daniel so bad. like OH MY GOD)

I like your getup, if you know what I mean by cannibalenthusiast (aka yours truly) (e, 1.7k words)

His brain conjures the image of Rashid standing primly with a plush towel draped over his slim wrist. “For your jizz, Mister Molloy,” he says. Daniel snorts and spits onto his hand. (sorry to be reccing my own work but it was my first one for the pairing and i'm proud of it ok? daniel jerks off thinking of rashidmand and rashidmand sort of unknowingly provides a helping hand. it's important to me)

Taking All That A Person Can Give by anonymous (e, 6k words)

Daniel fantasizes about "Rashid". Set during and after 1x05. (mind the tags on this one! daniel and armand both get tortured. sexually. awesome crazy work.)

honeysuckle sips from your rolling hips by ultraviolet_glow aka @lesbians4armand (m, 1.4k words)

It was the viscosity that got to him, Daniel thought. Something deeply obscene, sensual about the viscosity of honey compared to the viscosity of blood. Both were natural, bodily fluids, if you thought too hard about it. Thick and dripping and sweet. (YAAAAY more wet dreams for daniel!!! this is just one of many awesome rashidmand fics violet has written <3)

honey and pineapple by softestbutch aka @softest-butch (e, 1.8k words)

He’s thinking of you, Rashid. Louis felt Armand’s body flush at the use of the name. He ran the flat of his tongue over the wound in his neck, continuing to drink. Our boy. He wants you. (awesomeeee take on the 1.5 scene with a little bit of loumand as well. i can never get enough)

[jullythevamp]

a lesbian said that her favorite iwtv character is armand and I said oh I'm suuuuuuuure. like lesbians have a relationship with armand that is so deep and meaningful that it can only be compared to dionysius and his bacchantes.

[ariaste]

My god, IWTV fandom has some of the worst comments-to-hits ratios on fics I've ever seen. I've got two chapters of this fic I posted, 1600 hits, and 52 comments. In other words, only 3% of readers left a comment, and that's with me being a DAMN good writer. I just looked up the most kudos'd fic in the whole fandom, and this poor fucking writer has ~27,000 hits, ~2700 kudos (10% kudos-to-hits is a normal and expected standard for a Good Fic) but 80 comments. 0.3% of readers left a comment. The second most-kudos'd fic is an outlier with 50 chapters, so we're setting that one aside, but number three has 15k hits and 112 comments, which is 0.7%. wtf wtf wtf. My 3% is considered doing really well? WTF WTF WTF.

(For a control group so that we all have a sense of perspective, let's compare this to my most recent fic in the Nine Worlds fandom, which has ~2800 hits and 237 comments (8.5%), or one of my most popular fics in the Untamed fandom, which has ~63,000 hits and 1082 comments (just shy of 7%).)

Now here's the thing. I'm confident enough in my abilities as a writer to brush this off and go about my day, but not everyone is. A LOT of people out there are writing fics because they want to connect with other fans and share something they love, so posting a fic and getting near-total radio silence can feel really disheartening. If you liked the fic enough to leave kudos, take two extra seconds to comment. It doesn't have to be complicated or long! Even just "Loved this, so fun!" or "Kudos!" or "Thanks for sharing!" is GREAT.

Commenting on fics is part of a healthy fandom ecosystem. Fic authors who get a lot of positive comments are very often encouraged and energized to write more of that thing you like. You are directly contributing to your own happiness by commenting.

And listen, I hear people worrying that it's going to be annoying or bad if they leave impersonal "bland" comments, so let me preempt that: No, it is not annoying. I once had someone leave the same boilerplate comment ("Thanks for writing, I really liked this" or something along those lines) on every chapter of a fic that she binged in one sitting so I saw them all in a row. My reaction was, "Oh yay, I'm so glad she liked it <3 And how kind of her to comment on every chapter!!!"

We have a GREAT show -- IWTV fans Never Stop Winning, right? ...Except when it comes to fic comments. So just consider being the change you wish to see in the world, ok? Two extra seconds of your day to feed and water your local fic authors and to carry that "we never stop winning" and "oh we are SO back" energy through the hiatus until s3. <3