#interview analysis

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Everything Ryan says is so considered and interesting I’m obsessed with him!

His language is so loaded - and gives so many clues about is arc! Machismo and not talking about feelings - ties back to hero complex and his relationship with his father - but also his mother - especially his mother - because she was actually a big part of creating that culture in the diaz house - because Ramon was ‘never there’

Him saying Eddie has spent the last few seasons trying to re-navigate and take new directions but whilst still being the old version of himself - so loud and informative. The play on the Shannon of it all - and the repeating mistakes in new ways. The not allowing himself to actually move on and let go of his ghosts.

That’s also loaded in the other direction as well - this idea that it’s not just him still stuck as this old version of himself - it’s not just him that’s not allowing himself to move on - that the people who represent his past are still holding onto the old him as well - his parents - it’s a statement about how they view him - and ties into the theme of Eddie begins - the idea his parents think they know best and want to dictate how he lives his life - the insistence he should come home or that they should take Chris. Something that’s been brought back into focus with Chris leaving to stay with them. It’s the idea that Eddie us work to do about getting them to recognise and accept the person he is and wants to be - and not to keep treating him as they always have done.

reworking his idealisations of the past brought up with his learnings of the present - and the earlier reference to the 118 and the firefam teaching him stuff. This especially implies what he’s learnt about love - and that what he sees of that with the firefam is vastly different to his experiences of it back in Texas - and with Shannon as well. The Shannon part of it Particularly - it all speaks to Eddie having been wearing rose tinted glasses and putting his relationship with Shannon up onto a sort of pedastal.

Implement is an interesting word choice as well in connection with this. It indicates slow change rather than drastic change - the idea of growth and of not rushing to be fixed and healed.

Idealisation is a direct play on the catholic faith - it’s a play on idolism and

Learnings of the present is also a choice - present can be taken to read all of Eddie’s time in LA - but it infers especially the more recent past - so season 7. Why would Eddie be prepared to implement learnings of the present now at this point. It’s not just the loss of Chris from LA and his home. It’s a big part of it yes, but Season 7 is when so many things converge. It’s the glasses being removed when it comes to Shannon - the break through that’s been brewing. It’s also being confronted with religion and its long lasting impact on who he is. I’ve always found it to be particularly interesting that they chose to have Eddie start dating a diy-er who was a former almost nun. The idea of faith being something under construction (yes the construction on sunset metaphor never goes away) and something you build for yourself rather than how Catholicism is a prefabricated and built by others faith. The juxtaposition of the church - something with the weight of history attached to it and an inability to move with the times and change - and the concept of diy faith being something you construct and build to suit you - the updating of something so that it fits with where you are at now. Marisol is a lesson in choosing to not stick with the status quo if it doesn’t fit, and instead building what you want your life to look like from the foundations that pre-existing faith has given you. It gives rise to the idea that eddies present learning is in part that he can construct a life that fits him and he doesn’t have to mould himself to what someone else prescribed. That he can take the bits of his faith that he does like and build those into something that suits him.

But it’s also Buck - Buck making his own break through and figuring out this big part of himself and choosing to embrace it in season 7 is a part of giving Eddie the confidence to do that for himself. It’s not just about the buddie of it all. The very deliberate decision by the writers to have Eddie be the one Buck is the most concerned about coming out to - the one he intentionally tells in a 1-1 situation and have that be much of the focus of bucks arc in the immediate aftermath of his bi awakening is as much about Buck as it is about Eddie. Buck coming out to Eddie allows the spiral he’s in about his catholic guilt to take on a different direction and ultimately spiral out much further into something that blows up his life. It’s Eddie’s subconscious - his repressed inner self beginning to break free.

This quote also backs this up - the implication being that his relationships have all failed because they were built on a version of religion and spirituality that doesn’t fit with who Eddie is at his core. Referencing that Latino culture is built on Catholicism and that isn’t the actual bedrock of Latino culture is interesting. He also references the Mayans when talking about this and pre colonialisation mesoamerica. (This shows that Ryan is well read and thinks deeply on his heritage). That in combination is interesting as a concept for Eddie. The idea that who he is at his core is actually different to the person he has ended up becoming - implying that the true Eddie is hidden beneath a history that has been imposed on him - in the same way that the culture and faith of the mayans was buried and repressed when the Spanish invaded and conquered Mexico and much of South America.

Using the word ‘wrongly’ infers that Eddie is going to choose to reveal and embrace that repressed version of himself - the version of himself that is his truest form. I already made a post about the Mayan aspect of Ryan’s interview, but I will point it out here as well. The Mayan culture embraced homosexuality, it was an accepted way of life and largely viewed in favourable light and it was in fact a major part of many religious ceremonies and in the healing of people by shamans. So along with everything else I’ve said above, that’s hinting pretty heavily at Eddie’s arc leading to him embracing his queer identity.

[wolfliet]

something something memory is a monster and how somehow the two ppl who are the most on claudia’s side are the guy who killed her and the guy who never met her

bc while her fathers are so stricken by grief and guilt and their own emotions that they are constantly sidelining her neglecting her projecting onto her making her play a role, on the other hand!!!!!! armand knew exactly what he was doing making her be baby lulu!!!! but lestat did the SAME EXACT THING to her treating her like a doll except HE was totally sincere and couldn’t even comprehend why she was unhappy

and daniel being the one to stand up for her and say no claudia would not have hesitated to burn lestat!!! even while louis’s guilt will do anything to block out his memories of how he failed her daniel won’t let him, even tho daniel himself is a deadbeat dad who was constantly failing HIS daughters

like. in some ways armand and daniel are able to see her with the most clarity bc they have the least grief. and for louis and lestat their grief over losing their daughter actually is the epitome of memory is a monster like OK BUT THAT ISNT UR DAUGHTER. THATS A MIRAGE. THATS A FANTASY. THATS BABY LULU.

also obv armand being the only one who can understand her on the level of “child vampire” and how a lot of his hatred and disdain for her doesn’t come from a place of actual hatred but more like. the detached contempt of putting down a sick dog that doesn’t know it’s sick. it’s not about her either. it’s about the laws about how he believes she’s a mistake just like he was a mistake and she will suffer just like he’s suffered and he’s putting her out of her misery. he’s able to write off taking her life bc “oh well it’s a mercy killing, she’s inherently broken (like i am)” instead of seeing her as a fully actualized person who HAS AGENCY AND CONTROLS HER OWN NARRATIVE AND DOESNT HAVE TO FOLLOW THE CYCLE!!!!!!

like. insanity. her parents should have protected her but they didn’t. the person who probably could have understood claudia the most in the world (armand) and therefore SHOULD have protected her from what he went through decided to repeat the cycle and that taking away her agency was for her own good and her death didn’t really mean anything bc she was doomed anyway. the guy who’s reading her diaries and scavenging between the lines for hints about who she was is too late to ever hear her voice

[loumandism]

“Armand is very, very skilled at preserving his existence. So that doesn’t mean that he’s always happy…but I think he will do anything to survive…He pretends to give this facade of not being the child, but he is. He is the child.” - Assad Zaman, Mysza Interview

“And I think that’s more powerful than saying one vampires is bad and one vampire is good, or Armand was controlling the whole thing. If Armand is the big arc villain of the show, it takes away the agency. Louis’s gotta have agency. Lestat’s gotta have agency. And Armand. And they’ve gotta have control and be responsible for their own actions.” - Sam Reid, Autumn Brown Interview Outtakes

“A number of my writers have a [very rich] point of view about Armand that may not be totally satisfying by the end of this season, but actually allows for so much more stuff to come up after this…Just wait. Everyone will get their turn. You will be able to understand from their point of view why they do what they do. We don’t have a lot of room for mustachey-twirly villains on our show.” - Rolin Jones, Rotten Tomatoes

“We landed on the idea that [Armand] had two cowardly moments in his life. And that any lies after that were all to cover up those two, but that there were actually really, really sincere efforts to try and make up for it, to be better than that, and that he had.” - Rolin Jones, The Wrap

“He directed it, but it wasn’t his choice to do it. The fucking nugget of complexity is that he’s not a mustache-twirling evil guy all along. He has just thrown himself, well, been thrown into a situation and has done despicable things to survive, granted despicable things and a despicable lie to hold for so many years.” Assad Zaman, TV Insider

“We go back to something we’ve hit over and over again: is the sum of your character your worst moments? And, yeah, sure, someone could go ahead and say ‘fuck you, Armand, for the rest of your life because of that’…[But] we have seven, eight years hopefully, on this show, if we’re lucky, for contrition and forgiveness everywhere.” - Rolin Jones, The Wrap

[socvincjpeg]

Okay so. Hirsch did an interview 4 months ago and a lot of stuff he said there REALLY puts into context things that happen in the book of bill—especially this one clip in particular. (Here’s the link if anyone who hasnt yet wants to watch the whole thing on their own)

TRANSCRIPT:

ALEX HIRSCH: —and also, he’s so, y’know, bill’s a trillion years old, so its like Ford disappearing for 30 years is like somebody saying they’re ghosting you and then texting you the next weekend.

INTERVIEWER: (laughing) got it.

AlEX HIRSCH: [slight Bill impression] "Ford’s gonna be back. Oh, oh, oh, we had such a big fight, Ford’s so mad at me, Oh,—" [normal voice] y’know, [continuing impression] "Our will-they-won’t-they-take-over-the-universe relationship— he’s gonna march off and huff, but he’ll be back." Because where is Ford gonna find anyone else in the multiverse who strokes his ego as well as Bill does? Is there anyone else who’s going to make Ford feel as important as Bill? No, of course not. Ford needs validation. And so Bill knows Ford is going to be back eventually.

[END TRANSCRIPT]

This is just like?? Insane?? Like holy shit, he directly quoted the relationship line that would end up being in the book but completely recontextualizes it from a perspective that isn’t Bills. It basically confirms almost every 2018 shipper’s headcanon, which is also really funny. This could also serve as potential setup for any future projects? Like, extremely extremely doubtful it will ever be a season 3, but the way Hirsch speaks about their dynamic is so interesting.

[willtransform]

2x02/2x07

(inspo)

[telemachea]

the implications of the show possibly making armand muslim are devastating. marius renames arun 'amadeo' meaning 'lover or beloved of god' which was ALREADY gross in the books since it places him as this godlike figure armand had to worship. and then later on, with the cult in rome and santino, he was forced into worshipping satan which caused a whole crisis for him even when book armand was christian. but if show armand is muslim everything gets a whole lot worse. in islam the biggest most unforgivable sin (if you don't repent) is shirk, or idol worship. by fashioning himself as armand's god, marius not only removed armand's cultural identity from him, he has tainted his faith which is arguably one of the only things armand could've held onto. marius essentially damns armand in one of the most irreversible ways possible by grooming him the way he did with religion as a weapon. and it gets even worse with the cult since armand is not only forced to commit shirk but to reject allah, one of the last ties he has to his cultural identity, completely. armand therefore becomes a metaphor and an example of what colonialism inflicts upon the colonised

[batsyheere]

The dynamics between Dan, Danny and Ellie are so funny to consider. Danny is far too used to handling Sam and Tucker at their worst and now he has an additional gremlin duo who picked up whatever madness was in Vlad's system when he decided cloning was a great idea. (Danny is highly aware that it is not a good thing to have more him in the world and has resolved to better avoid clone plots). Meanwhile Dan and Ellie will fight over the most random, inane things, but the minute it's about family they band together into a proper terror and the only beings able to stop them are Jazz in her disappointment if the situation calls for it, and sleep deprived Danny who does not realize his exhausted presence is like a terrifying parental figure catching their kid doing something stupid.

It gets even funnier when Jazz finally breaks out of the mindset that she needs to be in charge and instead enjoys herself, and so the only leash for the three most feral Fentons (honorary and named) is a perpetually tired teen/young adult.

Now drop that in Gotham.

[sleepdeprivedsurgeon]

i promise you that Armand was thinking about things besides Daniel during the interview. like i guarantee that some of those lines and microexpressions were about something besides the old man. he has 500 years of interiority and he's selling the art in his house and his marriage is falling apart before his eyes and he's got temple run on that ipad. i promiseeeeeeeee it was not all about Daniel it was like maybe 20% about Daniel.

[serpentarius]

I wonder how many of Armand's victims have actively fought back during his "easeful death" speech the way Daniel did.

Daniel's interruptions may be small — not loud or flailing or aggressive — but they're impactful. And while Armand remains composed throughout and continues his practiced monologue without wavering, I'd say for the first three quarters of it he's talking at Daniel. He talks over him, but not really to him. Not until the very end.

Daniel rebuts with:

"I don't want to rest."

"I like my life."

"I have a thing happening in the city."

"I'm a bright young reporter with a point of view."

He's trying so hard to cling onto life. He doesn't want death, even if it is an easeful one. Armand cuts that last interjection off with a "ssh-ssh-ssh," which makes me think this might be a point where Armand's patience is tested. Because things aren't going the way they perhaps normally go when he gives this speech! Daniel isn't begging for death! He's resisting!

And so then, Armand says "rest" a lot near the end of the speech, which we know by this point is an indicator of him controlling bodies. He says, "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. It'll feel like a bath. Rest. Like honey on your tongue," etc, and maybe this is Armand struggling and fighting harder to get Daniel into the state of obeisance that he wants in his victims. The speech hasn't been working as intended, so he has to rely more on his methods of control and hypnosis.

And finally, after all this, you can see the moment when Daniel finally falls into the trance. It's after a lot of effort on Armand's part, and after he's resorted to his cheaper tricks.

So, if we do get a past Devil's Minion arc, I can see Armand fixating on the fact that Daniel was able to resist the pull and performance of Gentleman Death for an impressive amount of time. That despite all the words Armand said to him, he still longed for life.

Maybe this is what makes him fascinating.

[a-realproblem]

iwtv + race, briefly dissected by intellectuals

[soliloqueeer]

“I was being hunted.”

With each rewatch, I’m always struck by the look Lestat gives Louis in 1x01. As Louis tells Daniel, "I was being hunted," the camera pans to Lestat, who is staring at Louis with an expression that can only be described as love and longing.

The first time I watched, I took Louis’ story at face value, believing him as I did with most of his claims. Thus, I perceived this glance far differently than I do now. Now that we know Louis is an unreliable narrator, I see this framing as attempt for Louis way to avoid the guilt and shame he feels over being seduced by Lestat. By casting Lestat as a predator, Louis distances himself from the guilt of choosing him again and again.

While there are countless reasons why Louis might have portrayed Lestat this way, it’s worth revisiting the narrative with the knowledge we have now: that Lestat fell desperately in love with Louis and courted him for months. The look we see here is not that of a manipulator with a grand, conniving plan, but of someone patiently and desperately waiting for Louis to meet him where he is, and to love him deeply as he loves him - a dynamic that will the continue throughout the entire narrative.

[gayalienwilde]

That's me!

This scene is essentially the core of the movie. I think it perfectly depicts the excitement as a teen of beginning to understand who you are, seeing the part of you that always made you feel different being celebrated by a rockstar on tv (especially since in the uk homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967, so probably sometime during Arthur's early teens) is something very important.

This interview confirms that the scene is in fact imagined by Arthur, and also adds the other important part of this scene, yes there is the excitement of finding representation but also the shame that comes with being yourself when you're different. Arthur's parents are not amused by Brian's boldness, of course Arthur wishes to be open with them, share the joy of being himself, but he knows he can't.

One of the first things you learn when you're different is to hide, it's a survival strategy sure, but one with a great cost, hiding yourself requires energy, lying, and makes you lonely, you can't let others know the real you because of shame and the fear of the consequences, you have to be a stranger to your own family and yourself, which is why there is no greater joy as a lonely teen than being able to find people you can freely be yourself around.

We see this with Arthur yearning to connect with the other glam kids, but he can't quite bring himself to, it takes a lot of courage and strength to be yourself, and it can be scary. The one thing that saves Arthur a bit from this loneliness is music, in his room between the posters on the walls and records on the floor he's made a space for himself to be free, and thanks to the glam movement he can enjoy some aspects of queerness even behind that locked door. Still, it cannot replace community, ultimately that is what Arthur's in need of, a connection with other queer people, other fans, or at least people interested in him as a person, something he doesn't get from his family since his brother makes fun of his interests and shames him, as does his father, his mother seems to be the only person that somewhat cares for him but still not enough, and ultimately Arthur leaving for London is what helps him find friends and community. Until we see adult Arthur in the 80s, once again lonely and in hiding, but ironically enough it's still Brian on a screen that makes it so he can find his way back to Curt.

Otherness makes you lonely, being able to recognize yourself through other people is the solution. Velvet Goldmine is a movie about connecting with people, be it through shared human experiences, queerness, love, being fans of the same musicians or 27 years old movie, whatever it may be, it's important to remember that there are people out there like you, that know how you feel and you must seek them out to be happy, there is no shame in being yourself.

[pesky--dust]

Guys, please, I beg you, stop backlashing Hugh Dancy after the recent con. I want him to keep attending conventions, not withdraw from them because he will be afraid to say anything. He had to already explain his "platonic love".

I'm not going to take credit for knowing what the author of the statement meant, but don't forget that Hugh Dancy is one big troll. He makes jokes about Hannibal very often. "Big splash" said about the season 3 finale before it aired, etc.???

I will only write how I understood Hugh Dancy's statement, not that he necessarily means this. Hugh himself compared the series to a romantic comedy. He doesn't say what fans want to hear (like Mads); he tries to rationalize Will's relationship with Hannibal.

An actor plays a given character, he doesn't have to see this character in the same way as fans. In my opinion, Mads Mikkelsen is the embodiment of both Hannibal's and fans' desires - yes, Hannibal and Will are married, they live together, they are murder husbands, have dogs. And what Hugh Dancy says doesn't entirely exclude the vision of Mads and the fans?

The fourth season was supposed to be about Will learning to truly accept himself, which at the same time must mean that he also learns to fully accept Hannibal and his love? Until the end of the third season, Will was not convinced that Hannibal was capable of love. Why shouldn't Will need time to accept his own feelings? Will knows he can't live with Hannibal, but he also knows he can't live without him. After finding out that Hannibal loves him, that's still a lot in my opinion?

This may be a pill hard to swallow, but Hannibal and Will hurt each other a lot in the past, so I guess that in Hugh's opinion it is more natural for the relationship to develop slowly rather than them to fuck nasty in the first second of the season 4.

[fanfictionroxs]

This scene is SO widely misinterpreted in the fandom istg! Grace is NOT being homophobic, LOUIS PUT HER KIDS IN DANGER, LEFT HER SON ON THE FLOOR CRYING, BROKE DOWN THE HOUSE DOORS AND TERRIFIED HER DAUGHTERS! OBVIOUSLY SHE'S HORRIFIED THAT HE AND LESTAT HAVE ADOPTED!

Grace always accepted Louis's vampire/queer nature. People forget she was really nice to Lestat & Jonah to the point that Jonah visits her after years and they have food together. She wanted to meet Lestat, teased Louis about his 'french white'. Grace tells Louis he's a 'better you' after she sees his vampire eyes. Calls them beautiful like church windows. Gives him chances upon chances. But she also lost a brother, her happy day ruined and then her older brother leaves her too. Decades of being rebuffed, her children being ignored. Having her financial situation thrown in her face at her mother's funeral by her older brother who THREATENS her. Like I love Louis, but when it comes to Grace, he ruined their relationship all by himself with a little help from Lestat. Dismissed his own sibling as 'human entanglements'. At the end, Grace only has resigned acceptance and still she leaves him with a kiss on the cheek. If I was his little sister, that damn tomb would NOT have been empty!

PS If you identify as Louis De Pointe Du Lac's little sister, you might be entitled to compensation for being abandoned lmao Grace and Claudia need to start a club. But also, do you all think Claudia better understood Grace's anger during Florence's funeral after realising that she would never be Louis's choice?

[midnight-in-town]

Long dead contractor or fake one ?

Thinking again about this guy ^ who probably isn't the Polaris Star Lord (because Polaris from ch169 doesn't have the similar neck tattoo thingy).

Crack theory from my insomnia : the thing is, we know UT checked Seb's cinematic records during the Campania arc and thus knows what contract Seb made with Ciel (i.e the 3 rules from ch138)...

...the remaining question though is whether he saw more than what we readers saw of Seb's CR.

When it comes to humans, their cinematic records start at birth and end at death. However, we don't know enough about demonology in Kuro to be sure

whether Seb's own CR only begins at his current summoning,

or if he has centuries old CR depicting his entire existence as a demon and thus all his previous contracts.

Depending on the answer, this means UT could have seen just Seb's existence since being summoned by our!Ciel, or also past contractors. Noteworthy, when Grelle briefly checked Seb's CR during the JTR arc, she too only saw moments of Seb's "life" as Ciel's butler.

So, if UT had access to Seb's memories of previous contractors, then he could have somehow found this guy and brought him back to life (somehow finding his corpse where Seb ate his soul, idek).

However, if UT didn't have access to Seb's CR before the current summoning and contract with our!Ciel, then the question remains : who is this guy from the cliffhanger and how did he end up involved ?

Considering UT's goal of separating Ciel from Seb...

...if UT had no way of finding a previous recent contractor and bringing him back to bizarre doll state, what if he faked one ? After all, he doesn't have to play fair when it comes to fighting against a demon.

Seb's contract with Ciel is based on the 3 main rules they discussed during ch138. Namely in that chapter, Seb and Ciel discussed the matter of possible betrayal and...

...while Seb said that multiple contracts were against his aesthetics, UT could have taken a corpse and altered his CR (by adding fake memories, like he did with the Campania BDs) to trick Ciel into thinking Seb broke their agreement of no multiple contracts, thus rendering the contract null.

This would explain the whole "would you like me to give you a hand ?"

And "then why did they welcome us ?"

Now, for anyone who might come at me saying "but Ciel would never believe such a thing" : I understand the feeling since Seb is indeed too stupid to betray his own aesthetics, but I beg to differ considering the Green Witch arc, the "90% serious" incident and mostly the fact that...

...Ciel doesn't trust that Seb has his best intentions in mind, far from it.

It will take convincing arguments for sure, but UT is not some ordinary villain and, again, the Nectar Springs Hotel staff was expecting them. Lastly, considering the theory that UT could be Cedric K. Ros, Frances once said in ch14...

...and I think it could apply to UT as well.

I mean, so far, the Campania, Weston and Blue Sect arcs saw UT winning every time. As for the current investigations, Mey and Bard were successful but Finny & Snake weren't, meaning that if Ciel & Seb lose, it's going to be a tie (which would keep real!Ciel longer in the story).

Maybe this arc will highlight that Seb was right in ch14 and our!Ciel can't win against UT and his brother if he doesn't add more Phantomhive brains to his side (aka Frances becoming some sort of mentor like Seb mentioned) :

TL;DR I don't know if Seb's past as a demon before the contract with Ciel could be relevant to the plot, so I wouldn't put it past UT to create a fake contractor to try and make the contract with our!Ciel null.

UT doesn't know how to mourn but he does know how to hatch conniving plans.

[katabay]

PAGLUIB

way back in like. march?? I took a stab at writing some kind of kabitserye type of story but it was a mess: it kept veering off into murder mystery drama territory because I was reading a lot of murder mystery novels around then and it Wasn't Good because I hadn't tried writing mysteries, let alone murder mysteries, before lmao

I did write a handful of short mystery stories since then, so next year I might take a stab at this idea again now that I'm no longer jumping head first into a genre pool I don't know how to swim in :)