chicalepidopterareblogs

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Could we stop conflating meta with canon wrt the alleged "whitewashing" in Palma Vecchio's painting for a minute, please?😅As far as we know, Armand never agreed to "have himself whitewashed" because Adoration of the Shepherds is supposed to be read as an accurate depiction Assadmand's features (the closest piece production team could find among the Louvre collection) and this will be my interpretation till proven otherwise.

I think your comment on how Armand's previous life experiences (and once again, this includes his time at the brothel) made him more susceptible and vulnerable to later become victim of a cult, is very on point. Also, your note on the language used by Armand in his molologue at the Louvre. However, I don't think it's a matter of language. Marius foresees an outcome just like that in The Vampire Armand:

This quote alone is enough material for the show to work with imo.

Now, on the topic of what is or what isn't abuse. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I do believe that "intentions" count when it comes to frame a situation as abusive and that's what I meant when I say that Marius methods are "traumatic" but not abusive, meaning, from our perspective, they are not sensitive enough towards Armand's emotional state in that moment but at the same time they don't come from a place of cruelty or sadism. Eventhough it shouldn't be used as foolproof justification for every crime that Marius commits, it would be nice if we remembered from time to time that when Marius meets Armand, he's been a supernatural being for over 1500 years. That said, I agree with the thesis in ep 2x07 about the Loumand abuse but I don't see how this applies to Armand Marius. What is exactly abusive about Marius wanting to devote his time and energy to his pupils' education and especially to his most beloved one, Amadeo? Sometimes it's just a matter of being humble enough to admit that we are biased and that we are willing to make a more or less benevolent read of a character or a situation depending on our taste and affinity with them. Reading the adoption of Armand by Marius as an act of generosity and selflessness makes as much sense as reading it as an act of power with a touch of racial tensions and I hope the adaptation keeps a fair balance between both (I admit it won't be easy and the discourse will be excruciating.)

On the meta post that you linked.

Interpreting B&G and that paragraph in particular through historical essay lenses is definitely thought-provoking. However, the part that struck me the most about that fragment was Marius comments about Armand's biological father. There is a real gold mine of father-son jealousy right there and given all the "daddy" hints in the show, I bet RJ will have so much fun exploring that.

To finish where we began, it really struck me as odd that you established a parallel btwn Marius submiting his bodily autonomy to the druids (though I remember Marius being quite rebellious) and Marius trying to regain that allegedly lost power by donating Armand, when in fact there is a much more evident parallel right there btwn both of their traumas. Both were victims of kidnapping and that's exactly what draws Marius to Armand:

In any case it doesn't make much sense to discuss that right now unfortunately, since we don't know Marius's origins in the showverse yet but I hope that changes very soon 😁

Marius being compelled to trade his own body to Mael in an attempt to escape the druids...Marius trading Amadeo for art in an attempt to finally be the powerful one in that exchange...it's all coming together. oh dear fuck it's all coming together.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

The Days' Doings, London, August 3, 1872

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

I think B&G is a masterful and hyperbolic depiction of Marius' deeply coward, hypocrate and manipulative personality and that Anne Rice was very aware of that when she wrote it.

The key is in the POV shift by the end of the book, the way Marius becomes this ominous and controlling presence in the background as he watches Thorne kill Santino after almost 700 pages sweet-talking him into doing it because he wouldn't dare to do it himself *chef kiss*

honestly b&g is such a good book and its one real flaw is that Anne Rice can't seem to decide she's writing the story about a guy who feels and loves and suffers, but also isolates himself by acts of physical and sexual violence against the people he loves...OR if she's writing a story about a Tragic Genius who gets isolated by Cruel Twists of Fate. like I genuinely think she was going for the first one for at least some of it, but then she undercuts herself with shit like Pandora's letter at the end and pretending it was Arjun And Akasha All Along. if you're going to blame it all the characters of color you should probably not have made the white fave's most interesting trait the fact that he's a relentless abuser. her inability to carry all that through prevents a good book from being a great one.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

someone please write (show) vampire old Daniel fucking with Marius i can't stop thinking abt it...

I want more people to get into maridani :'')

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

I mean, we've been knew. Armand Marius has been literally ink on paper for over 2 years now

stole these from twitter but ohhh official posters from the show where armand uses marius as his last name im sick get me out of here!!!

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

First of all, thank you for replying and for discussing Armand Marius in a sensible way. Sometimes it feels like the only thing that we are allowed to say about Marius unless we want to be branded as abuse apologist is "kill him with hammers" *sigh*

So. The way I see it, this fandom-favourite interpretation of Marius being the one and only reason for Armand's sexual trauma will always be misleading because it necessarily leaves out 2/3 of Armand's life.

Armand was a victim of human trafficking and sexual violence way before meeting Marius. He was already being pimped out in the brothel Marius rescued him from. And yes, Marius purchased Armand. If this had been a superhero story, maybe Marius would have killed all the evil pimps and save all the trafficked children or whatever but alas he is not Steve Rogers. Marius then adopted Armand, gave him affection, home, an education and a safe enviroment to heal from his sexual trauma. Paraphrasing Assad Zaman, with Marius, Armand found love, meaning and understanding and he's never felt safe after that.

Then the Children of Satan happend.

As you can see, all of this is already canon in the show. The "donation" scene informs us of the way Armand recalls his life with Marius after spending centuries being brainwashed in a repressive satanic cult that made him believe "he didn't have a dick for over 200 years". That's such a loooong time believing that physical pleasure is shameful. A mindset like that would definitely clash with the hedonistic life style Marius had taught him. I'm not saying by any means that Armand is lying, but if you stop at the surface of what that scene actually means, (probably under the fear of being accused of victim blaming) you would be ignoring important context that the show has already provided that really suggests that the story won't deviate as much from the books as we believe. Marius liberating his pupil from his sexual trauma by encouraging him to seek human pleasures in a safe enviroment is already canon in the books and Armand, after centuries of religious brainwashing, rationalizing it by saying he was being donated is a very smart way to introduce one of the main themes in Armand's story, which is the horrors of cults and indoctrination.

I might agree Marius should be hated from time to time (affectionate) but only if it is for the right reasons: he is an hypocrate and a manipulative coward who has wronged his loved ones so many times because of his monstruous pride, but he would never pimp out Armand. Despite Marius' method being traumatic on itself, all he really did was help Armand heal from the sexual trauma caused by pimps, pimps not so different from Louis mind you, only for the CoS to end up ruining it all. The show can go the route of the "sexual exploitation and ethnic tensions" that you mentioned (and that the majority of the fandom seems to very fond of) and depict Marius as an exploitative creep in a convincing way but till that happens maybe we shouldn't ignore all the hints that suggest the story will be actually much deeper than that.

Marius being compelled to trade his own body to Mael in an attempt to escape the druids...Marius trading Amadeo for art in an attempt to finally be the powerful one in that exchange...it's all coming together. oh dear fuck it's all coming together.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

LUDWIG (1973) dir. Luchino Visconti

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

We r unable to distinguish who's still alive or who has gone.

A design commission,DON'T DOWNLOAD❗

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

I have lived three lives, in four languages, I regret nothing.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Happy birthday Justin Kirk. May the future bring you many more queer roles to play!

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Nicolas de Lenfent

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Wake up girl, the perfect name for Armand and Marius ship just dropped!

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

In light of my ß appreciation post making its round again, can we also talk about how much the cursive ß fucks

Like look at that. This is the gay sex of writing.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

I can't believe there are people who think Louis is going to clock Marius as the bastard he is before the investigative journalist of 50 years, with two Pulitzer Prize awards, who saw right through Louis's crap immediately. Louis was with Armand for 77 years, sure, but Armand thought the sun shone out of Marius's ass. And Lestat saw Marius as a mentor, he doesn't have anything bad to say. Plus Marius can be charming.

I know some people are still holding onto the idea of book Daniel, but when Rolin made the choice to let Daniel continue to live and grow old, that made a big difference for that character. Daniel is older and wiser. He was married, had kids, had a full career, got clean, got sick, etc. He's not the same as book Daniel anymore.

And he's gonna have that sucker spotted in a second, if he hadn't already come to that conclusion with past DM in the 70s/80s.

Daniel's not going to end up under Marius's spell like he was in the book. And if they decide to do that anyway, I'll be deeply disappointed.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Claudia didn't want to be welcomed back home, she pretty much just wanted to leave again. After 1x05 she just came across a legitimate reason to resent Lestat even harder. Lestat did what he did to protect his family and he failed MISERABLY and that's his own burden. That's all I can say.

S1 Claudia saying "rules are for fools" and then joining a coven with strict rules in S2 is NOT bad writing.

Teenagers don't want rules but they also desperately need to belong in a group at the same time. Claudia is a grown woman forever trapped in the contradictions of adolescence. That's why Claudia is a teen vs Claudia is an adult discourses are always misguided. She is BOTH.

Imo Delainey's portrayal of this "uncertainty" is just brilliant.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

S1 Claudia saying "rules are for fools" and then joining a coven with strict rules in S2 is NOT bad writing.

Teenagers don't want rules but they also desperately need to belong in a group at the same time. Claudia is a grown woman forever trapped in the contradictions of adolescence. That's why Claudia is a teen vs Claudia is an adult discourses are always misguided. She is BOTH.

Imo Delainey's portrayal of this "uncertainty" is just brilliant.

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Someone on iwtvtwt said Marius de Romanus face card and let me tell you I would take brunet Marius any time as long as he's played by Luca Marinelli