#and while louis and claudia do not deserve the abuse they suffer at lestat’s hands do not expect moral purity from them

[fallingbyjuleecruise]

genuinely feel that the drama happening in the amc iwtv fandom is what happens when fans promote a show bc it’s gay first and do not mention the plot/genre at all

[ca-suffit]

I know I'm probably part of the problem, but I don't understand why it's so bad to recognize that Louis was also abusive? I'm not trying to defend Lestat, he deserves everything that happened to him, but can we still point out that Lestat stayed with Louis for years without putting pressure on him and putting up with Louis' invectives for 7years without complaining? psychologically it would take a hit on anyone, nothing can justifies domestic violence, Lestat let the demon of several years invade him,I have the impression of sounding like a Lestat apologist, but that's not the case, he abused his family for years, but I also think that Louis, although a victim, psychologically abused Lestat but how to say it without sounding like you're defending Lestat? Or maybe I should check on my biases.

(other ppl plz respond too on this if u want to, group feedback helps a lot on stuff like this)

(also I'm p sure lestat was complaining v loudly lol but that's not the main point, so anyway.....)

it's not that u *can't* talk about it, it's that so often the only reason it's talked about is to excuse abuse he suffered as if he *deserved* it for w/e reason. ppl analyze louis rly well all the time but it's usually done outside the tags bcuz ppl can't be normal about this.

nightcolorz is a good example rn of someone who is unaware (I'm being rly generous by saying that but it's prbly true) of how antiblack he's being in his meta about loumand. if u want a good example of how to check biases, look at how he's writing and then look at ur own thoughts and see if anything aligns. there's no evidence for anything he's ever saying about louis, he's just leaning hard into antiblack stereotypes about black men.

louis admits himself at times how he interacts with ppl and we can see patterns from his family's treatment of him to how he treats others sometimes too. it's there to be noticed. but it's not "mutual abuse" and he's never the more powerful one in any relationship, except in regards to claudia (and grace). that's even harder to talk about bcuz then it's like ur handing the fandom ammo to call him an abuser even more while lestat and whoever else gets to exist with a thousand excuses of why everything about *them* was a lie anyway.

it's basically just near fucking impossible to talk about this in environments where racism and antiblackness run largely unchecked, bcuz a lot of ppl are not doing it with any good intentions to examine the character. which then makes everyone else sensitive to these conversations even more. then basically everyone leaves and breaks off into private groups to talk about it instead, leaving the racist fandom to keep spinning whatever lies and not getting a lot of public pushback anymore.

[bluedalahorse]

Two options for the character breakdown game: Sara (because you haven't done her yet, and we can't leave her out) and Claudia

You know what? I’m going to do both.

Claudia

How I feel about this character: TV CLAUDIA IS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST. I’ll be honest, book!Claudia kind of weirded me out conceptually, especially the part where she and Louis are kind of in love but she still looked like a little kid? I also read Interview with the Vampire at the age when I was just… not great at loving female characters, and when I sort of wanted to ship mlm ships exclusively. But show Claudia is incredible. I mean, there’s the part where she’s extremely badass, and one of her first acts as a vampire is to just. Straight up eat a cop. But I love that we start from that badass, highly emotional teenage space but then go deeper with her, and I love how unapologetically herself she is. I love that she dreams about the idea of finding vampire community. I love that she stands up for herself. I love that she and Lestat are so alike and they fight about it. I love that she refuses to let her truth be erased by the way she records everything in her diary. Claudia deserves the world and I cannot say that enough.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: CLAUDELEINE OBVIOUSLY. They deserved more happiness together than they got.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: If there were a universe where Claudia and Daniel could have existed at the same time and become friends, they would have been unstoppable, and they would have adored one another, and everyone else would have suffered for it. Hilariously.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Occasionally I see book only fans argue that the tragedy of Claudia is ruined when she’s turned as a teenager rather than a little kid. This is something I very much disagree with. Teens are just as tragic as little kids, first of all, but people do have a weird bias against teenagers and actually feeling for teenagers, and I wish they wouldn’t. Also, since Claudia looks like someone in between childhood and adulthood, the age that people in-universe read her as is like… entirely determined by what they want to read her as to control her. Sometimes people infantilize her and make her play Baby Lu. Sometimes they subject her to very adult forms of abuse. Claudia is still tragic no matter what, okay?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish she and Madeleine could have lived in that cute cottage forever. (Gosh if only Armand hadn’t been stuck behind the baby gate…)

Sara

How I feel about this character: MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER WHO HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG IN HER LIFE. But, while we’re talking about teenage girls, she’s one of the best teenage girls ever written on TV, ever. Sara reached out through the screen and grabbed me by the heart. Her care for others, her willingness to look past the obvious of a situation, her curiosity about who she is and what she values… when she said “no one likes me when I’m me” my sixteen year old self felt seen. I am consistently floored that all my favorite YouTubers who talk about autism and ADHD rep in television have weirdly never talked about her. I almost avoided joining YR tumblr fandom because the abundance of “Sara is on thin ice” posts I saw while lurking made me hesitant and disappointed. Most of my fandom hiatuses were caused in part by people being shitty about her. Sara has one of the best damn arcs in Young Royals, hands down.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Well, obviously August, controversial as that opinion is. I think their relationship ended up in the right place by the finale, but I can’t resist their chemistry along the way. And as I was saying to @heliza24 earlier, there’s just something about characters who perceive themselves as unlovable finding love with one another. Now, I want to have other Sara ships, but… I don’t know if I do, really? I might read Sara as a little arospec, like gray aro or something, and it actually means a lot to me that she chooses friends and family over romance in the end. But if you get back to me a few months from now maybe I’ll feel differently, who knows.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: potentially weird turn but like, Wilhelm? Specifically in Heart and Homeland where they end up in a kind of disability solidarity queerplatonic partnership. I don’t know if I feel that as much in canon. As far as canon goes, Felice first and Simon second.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I’m going to make this an extension of my August Unpopular Opinion on my August post, because I’m vibrating on a higher sargust frequency than usual this week due to anxiety about travel and I kinda just want to talk about sargust because it’s a comfort pairing. And that is… Sara’s feelings for August are something we can enjoy fannishly, too. They are something we can write fic about and come up with AUs for and make gifsets and fanmixes of. The AU stuff especially—I feel like sargust still could have happened in an alternate universe, or in a universe where Simon didn’t end up at Hillerska, or whatever else. Sara and August have a relationship in their own right and while they are a superb foil to wilmon they are not only a foil to wilmon. There is a level of Weird Teen Girl Horniness represented onscreen in the portrayal of Sara’s crush on August that just feels like, refreshing and authentic. The yearning with the picture of him in 1.5, like girl his hair is terrible in that picture and yet you are there for it! The grinding in 2.2! The dumb little arm punch in 2.3 before they just give up and make out! Seeing a lot of people who’d previously said only negative things about Sara suddenly decide they like her after season 3 when she dumped August was… not as comforting as I’d hoped it would be. Like again, to be clear, I do think their relationship ended in the right place and I want Sara away from him, obligatory “August did terrible things that I do not condone” disclaimer that I’m very bored of typing by now etc etc, I get why this is not everyone’s cup of tea, and so on and so forth. But I just… like them together, okay. And I wonder about all the other people who liked them together who ended up leaving the fandom because there wasn’t as much of a place to express that.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Sara’s arc is pretty perfect. I have one thing I maybe wanted to say about S3 but I’ll hold back for now. EDIT: I wanted her and Wilhelm to have more interaction in season 3. What was the lack of that about?

One thing’s for sure, after typing all that I really want Sara and Claudia to be friends, and to be able to play with horses together.

[vole-mon-amour]

IWTV, 1x04, part 1.

My questions are, why the hell does Armand pretends to be a servant with another name? Does he control Louis and tells him what to do and when? Is this why they are rewriting the story now, since originally it was a very different story?

"This is the love of my life', well, this love of your life can potentially go fuck himself 'cause I don't trust him for one single second.

Claudia's accent... my goodness, what did they do to you. And Auntie? This must be a joke?

Ah yes, the best white angel <3 King behavior.

Not blurry quality of this when?

I'm still sad they didn't go full abuse Lestat, but at the same time I'm loving this redemption arc for him. In the book it's him who convinces to drink Claudia and then turns her into a vampire when Louis is ready to completely drain her? And here he is the one who's skeptical and 'i don't wanna do it'. Go off, king. They should have just broken up and go on their way.

Lestat deserves better than this whining dude. Also, the question still stands: why couldn't Louis create her? Hmm? Drink her, give her your blood, done, she's a vampire.

Yes, I am fully indulging into the sign of it, and what about it? Not blurry version when? [2]

...

So they just didn't make his nails at some point. I knew it.

Rude, fake Claudia. Rude. And the hands. <3 He's such a confused puppy, I love him.

This is going to your complete destruction, and you shouldn't allow them to try and kill you.

He's such a playful kitten.

"Uncle Les and Daddy Lou" again, he created you but he's an uncle? While in the book Claudia treats Lestat like a dad and in the moment of attempted murder says, "I'll put you in your coffin, Father. I'll put you in your coffin forever."

Claudia was in love with Louis and treating Lestat like an annoying father, but sure, he's suddenly an uncle and Louis is her dad? Sure, Jan. Can you stick to canon, please?

First Louis is a failure of a partner, now Claudia. Lestat, why do you hate yourself so much?

You love suffering, don't you, Lestat? Honestly, what if Louis created her and had to deal with her but Lestat didn't? They should've divorced by now.

"Sedation is what she needs." Yes, you just didn't have to indulge into Louis' whining and let her die, that's it. In this version, it's Louis who 'baby'traps Lestat, not the way around. It sad that he feels so lonely that he decides to stick with Louis.

Same, Lestat, same. I hate kids too.

I'm still bitter about this. She slept in Louis' arms in the movie & I believe she slept on Louis' chest in the book, too. But hey, that'd be way too weird here, huh? Too weird for her to even sleep face to face with him 'cause guess what that'd mean? :) Ugh.

He's so—

I kinda like that Lestat corrects him, and I'd like to think that it's because Louis doesn't know enough about him. I doubt Lestat is sensitive about his age.

This REALLY doesn't sit right with me.