#saying it’s -gothic- when you’re talking about them all being monsters but if lestat is criticized it’s bad

[thelioncourts]

it's getting more and more difficult to engage in fandom as a large-scope community because the only thing that actually gains any kind of popularity is meme content created by people who 1) don't want to interact with the story as it's being presented 2) want to engage with dark content only when it fits the narrative they wish the entire story to have 3) truly have such a high level of media illiteracy that they view everything as a full-blown attack versus education/discussion. and it's frustrating because you'll see the most insanely inaccurate takes get regurgitated by the same 25 loud people who, in turn, influence the meme content that gets created (or the meme content is just being created by those same 25 loud people) and so the meme content is a direct reflection of the level of thought/analysis being put into said fandom and it makes the memes not even funny, just caricatures of what they could be. and everyone is so bent out of shape at the thought of being told they're incorrect, that they're wrong, that conversation is impossible because they're so determined to do anything to showcase their assumed superiority as opposed to learning and listening in any kind of capacity.

I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said by people much more eloquent than me, but it sucks so much watching stories that are truly complex and that have so much work put into them be reduced to twitter popularity controlled by people who don't know what they're talking about.

[heliza24]

It’s probably not great for me to be engaging deeply in this discourse, so I won’t reblog a ton of posts about this. But I have been talking about the importance of Daniel as a disabled character (and how he is a foil for Louis) since before season 2, and my big analysis of episode 2.5 was focused on looking at the episode (and Daniel) through a historical and disability lens. He has always been my favorite character, because the inclusion of an older chronically ill character, and a well written one at that, in a fucked up gothic romance is kind of revolutionary. (Sure, there are tons of horror stories with disabled characters who are the monster/villain. The fact that Daniel is actually the most human out of all of them is important)!

I became interested in Devil’s Minion because the idea of a disabled character in such a complicated, passionate, and sexual relationship is actually a really big deal, when disabled characters (and people!) are constantly infantilized and desexualized. I became interested in Armand because I knew he was going to be important in at least some way to Daniel in show canon. (I now love him as his own fascinating character, but that’s not where it started for me).

When I see people saying that Daniel should be “more” than devils minion, it honestly reads as kind of ableist to me. Why is the one disabled character the one who has to be “above” sex and romance? Lestat and Armand and Louis get to be examined and obsessed over as part of their ships. Why can’t Daniel? Is it because you’re uncomfortable thinking of an elderly disabled character as an object of desire?

If you’re not into DM, that’s fine, you don’t have to engage with it. It’s not even canon in the show yet! But there are people out here who love Daniel, and we can love him as a complex character in a way that includes him as a sexual being.

Is Daniel really so much more in the show? Because the fandom doesn't seem to reflect it. Look how people consume their media is 100% on them. It is their leisure, their little bit of space, their own world in themselves. But...there are not many conversation about Daniel outside of devil's minion. Like there are conversations...but so much of it is about Devil's minion, with no variations. Nothing about drug abuse. Nothing about his journalism. Nothing about what it means to be a white journalist interviewing a black vampire, nothing about what it means to age, to have chronic illnesses. Nothing about Daniel's disregard of Rashid(s). Nothing about how Louis sees Daniel and how they parallel each other. Nothing about how Daniel goes about asking about Claudia. What parallels he has with Claudia or how comparing them is false equivalence. Nothing about Daniel the husband. Or Daniel the father, and how it enriches the narrative when compared to other such relationships etc etc.

Is this not then becoming what a reviewer said? Prestige television with CW fanbase?

But… all you‘ve listed is in the show?!

The fandom not going into depth here (not YET (we‘ll have a long hiatus coming and a lot of the best meta was posted during rewatches!(*)) does not mean that Daniel isn’t more already.

On the contrary, maybe.

(*) The metas will come. Right now we‘re in the midst of it, reeling, no time to properly analyze or research, because guess what? The next episode is coming up.

And despite that I have seen some very cool observations already and I BET there will be so much more to come.

But letting things settle to digest them and rhen analyze often takes a bit of time. And some of the parallels built might only be apparent after all episodes aired. Or even seasons.

And… if I may: if you’re missing out on the metas and analysis posts? You might need ro rearrange your dash and and I don’t mean to be dismissive here. But there’s good stuff and great blogs out there. :) Find them^^