#clarice and the failing career

[immortalsins]

red dragon & the silence of the lambs were so good that now i've started hannibal (book) i'm procrastinating because i don't want it to be shit (and i know it probably will be)

[kooki914]

At long last, she makes her debut, My interpretation of the mayor - Clarice Holiday!

I very heavily leaned into the stricter/meaner interpretation of her, because that's essentially all we have confirmed about her in the game rn. Hence, her design is also very deltarune-esque, I tried not too lean too heavily into my own style it in order to keep the vibes consistent with the game. Hopefully I succeeded!

Headcanon(?) dump under the cut! (it's really long)

She's very direct and to the point. If you talk for more than 10 seconds at a time, she'll tell you to either get to the point or shut up.

She has a decently pleasant sense of humour, but you wouldn't assume it based on how she usually talks. Rudy usually makes jokes for the both of them, often as a way to distract Clarice from whatever she was slowly getting pissed off at. Seeing her genuinely smile can be weirdly relaxing, though, like a weight's been lifted.

As mentioned in the accompanying image, she runs on a very strict schedule, for basically everything. If you tell her "I don't know when" for something she will personally make you a timetable for that entire day and be EXTREMELY mad if you don't follow it to the letter per her insistence.

She's kind of superficial - never lets her grey hairs show and never leaves the house without a full face of makeup.

It's mostly a side effect of two of her worst traits: not being able to accept change, and always feeling the need to be in control. These are like habits she can't shake, and pointing them out only makes her agitated and less willing to listen.

Both of these flaws only got worse after Dess disappeared.

Even before then, she always had very high standards for both herself and her family. She was always doing her best to not only project the image of a perfect family, but to fully embrace and embody it.

It's why she's so trigger happy with taking away things from Noelle and Dess she isn't personally invested in. Video games that scare Noelle or "encourage bad behavior" in Dess, any non-family friendly movies, any overly creative and artsy pursuits that she doesn't think would make a good career path in the long run.

Basically the only thing the whole family can agree on is Christmas, hence why their whole image as a family unit is centered around it - it's another projection of the seemingly perfect household.

Clarice very intentionally manipulates and intimidates the people around her to get what she wants, but she genuinely doesn't see it as a particularly bad thing because she's convinced she knows better than everyone else, and is the only one who can "properly" do "the right thing".

She's extremely competitive, even more so than Toriel. They used to bond over that in college, though the only reason Clarice never held a grudge is because Toriel can actually let go of useless competition and let Clarice win basically every time.

Clarice can’t let go of useless competition.

Unironically the only person who saw the flaws in Toriel and Asgore's relationship from a mile away and always thought Toriel should’ve dumped Asgore years ago. She likes talking about how she "knew it all along" and how Toriel should've "listened" to her, etc etc. If Clarice wasn't so petty about this maybe her and Toriel would've stayed close.

“It’s a dog eat dog world” is essentially her unspoken motto. She doesn't say it, though, because she doesn't like when people pick up on her more Machiavellian personality traits.

Clarice always looked down on Asgore for his lack of ambition, which only got worse when he failed to find Dess when she went missing.

The only reason she’s giving him so many chances to pay his rent is because Rudy’s insisting on it, though Clarice hasn’t told him that Asgore’s living in the same building he’s working in. If asked, she'd say it's to "not hurt his feelings", but in reality she just doesn't see their friendship as important enough to help maintain, even indirectly.

That whole debacle made it REALLY easy for Clarice to essentially blackmail Rudy with whatever she wants by using evicting Asgore as a threat, a potential retribution for not getting what she wants. She doesn't do it very often, but the fact that she pulled that stunt even once isn't a good thing.

Their relationship wasn’t always so toxic, though there were red flags from the start.

She really enjoys flattery and things that play into her grandiose idea of herself - she really does like when Rudy complements her and plays along with her games (even when he says things that border on objectifying), but PART of that game is that she always berates him for it or calls it childish or unnecessary, in order to keep up her "untouchable" persona that he's so attracted to.

She loves him in the way a child loves their favourite toy. He goes everywhere with her, they do everything together, and he essentially acts as both her voice of reason and her comic relief sidekick.

When he's not around, Clarice is even more miserable and demanding than usual. When she's not around, Rudy doesn't know what to do with himself and stresses over things that aren't even there. They depend on each other, but it's not healthy, and out of the two of them, it takes the biggest strain on Rudy.

In the bigger-picture sense, it's taken an even bigger strain on Noelle. Clarice is arguably the biggest reason why the poor kid doesn't know how to say "no". Her mom does everything and hardly lets Noelle get a word in. She has to be both fully self-sufficient to live up to her mother's demands, while ALSO fully relying on her like the obedient daughter Clarice wants. Rudy mediates the situation however he can, but admitting that Clarice is HURTING Noelle is nearly impossible for him, because it'd mean admitting that Clarice has been hurting him, too.

Clarice takes great pride in both being a hard worker and a “great” mother and wife all at the same time. She IS the ideal, as far as she's concerned. Any questioning of this will get you metaphorically killed on the spot.

Most people don’t see her problematic behavior for what it is because, by most metrics, she’s “made it”. She’s wealthy, she has a loving family, she has an important and high ranking position. What more could you really want out of life?

She still hasn't accepted that Dess is gone.

[livenko]

Has anyone noticed that author Thomas Harris doesn't actually describe Clarice Starling's appearance? What the reader imagines she is like comes from other characters' comments. Almost all of them rated her from beautiful to more beautiful :^) sounds like God's masterpiece which makes sense since Clarice Starling is called the angel of death in the book

Hannibal Lecter

Although Hannibal Lecter criticized Clarice for being a country girl, he also said that her beauty started very early and that's why guys came to her so quickly. That's true because later we also see how crazy Hannibal is about Clarice's beauty :)). Hannibal is probably the one who compliments Clarice's beauty the most and is so fascinated by her that he gets into Clarice's car just to inhale her scent and wants to taste it.

Jack Crawford and John Brigham

With Jack, I don't remember if he ever complimented Clarice on being beautiful, but their relationship was like that of teacher and student and like father and daughter. John clearly had feelings for Clarice but the confession failed. I don't remember if he complimented Clarice on her beauty or not, but she always considered John a trustworthy partner. Clarice sees both as her mentors and they treat each other with respect and loyalty

Barney and Margot

Barney is probably the one who agrees with Hannibal the most about Clarice's beauty and he also compliments her on how beautiful she is. Margot said that Clarice always looks serious and aloof because she is always flirted with by men. Even though it was just their first meeting, Margot also considered Clarice to be quite beautiful

Chilton and Paul Krendler

Both of these guys looked at Clarice as a target to be conquered, her beauty was what made the two guys act like animals, seeing her as an easy prey to attack. No one can like Chilton, the first time he met Clarice he did not hesitate to flirt with her. Paul is a more perverted guy who always tries to sleep with Clarice but when she doesn't agree, he sabotages Clarice's career for many years :). If I encountered these two guys in real life, I'd be surprised if I didn't immediately shoot them dead

If I missed anyone, please comment to me ^^

[amoonytalks]

0.2 - trying to start a conversation about love and failing miserably

It's 3 o'clock (afternoon) as I write this. I have been procrastinating for days now to start putting this post together, even though I have some bits of it well established in my head and the only thing left to do is to actually sit down and write it. Its a mix of procrastination and not at the same time, but I think the context in general is useless here. What matters is that I'm writing now, if it really matters, if someone is really going to take the time to read a random girl complain about love.

Love. Its probably one of or my favorite subject in the world. I cant explain it, but I have always been fascinated by all the issues surrounding love. We tend to be dazzled by what is unknown. Not that love is actually unknown to me. In my depressed daydreams, I sometimes thought that I didnt deserve love, but nowadays I recognize that I have been and continue to be surrounded by it. Love is in the little things. We have a habit of trying to define simple things in ways that are mostly unnecessary, and love is one of those things that, despite being everyday and natural, trying to put a definitive concept on what love is seems offensive, because love can be many things. If I were to ask a group of different people what love is, we could analyze how each person tends to have a unique vision for various reasons. That is what fascinates me. Love is something Im so curious about that I can hardly help the excitement I feel when I'm asked to talk about it, and I even end up stumbling over words trying to put something together that makes sense to others.

On this blog, we'll still be talking a lot about love, in all its forms and colors. You can be sure of that. But the kind of love I want to talk about today is romantic love. I'd also like to make it clear that if you came to this post expecting an in-depth, scientific analysis of love, sorry, but you can leave. This blog is more about the daydreams I have when the night turns into dawn and baseless philosophical theories. It's more about me than anything else. But I still talk because I believe that somewhere in the universe you would read this and identify with it, or at least welcome it. I have a lot to say and little to add, perhaps.

Im 16. Im still a teenager, going through moments that are probably less stressful than the hormonal upheaval that a 13-year-old goes through, but which are still a bit complex. Nowadays I have a group of friends who make my school career less hopeless than it could be, and honestly, even though I'm not the friendliest person in the universe, I feel comfortable with them. Not as comfortable as they probably feel with each other, given the variety and ease with which they deal with certain subjects, but there is still a sense of comfort, I guess. Anyway, whether you are 16 or not, it's not hard to imagine that there's an incessant search by people in this age group for love. My psychologist says that all our feelings are much more intense at this stage, and love is not so different. Passion, fever, everything is much more intense now than for people who have lived longer.

But its just that in this part of life there we have a false feeling that we had experienced every possible emotional level, but love can be seen very new, because you will rarely truly experience it at a young age. As we grow up, our feelings become more complex, but in contrast, we become more & more mature in dealing with them. But, this is in theory. In practice, we are still the same star mass we were when we born, just with more experiences. But experiences dont always form maturity in certain people. Look, its easy just analyze the amount of ignorant and immature beings we find out there, on the streets, on television and even in positions of supposed power (yes, elon musk. I'm talking about you. you're like a cry baby. or as clarice lispector would say: you're like a hair in the soup). This ignorance is projected into various scenarios, affecting the world in a certain way.

Well, we are still talking about love. We all know that immature people end up hurting people, and you probably know (or you are the person) who has already had a major disappointment in love. They say that breaking a heart in love is one of the most painful feelings in the world, just like losing a piece of yourself. That sounds crazy to me. Dont get me wrong, if you are that person with a broken heart, I would never take away the value of your feeling. Its not crazy that you feel bad about having your heart broken, what I find crazy is the fact that someone, in their merely human and mortal existence like you, can hurt something as precious as a heart. If I were to elaborate further, I would add that my perception of romantic love in certain scenarios is closer to pain than to a positive feeling. Im not going to go into depth, at least not in this post. But if you are wondering why my view is supposedly pessimistic (it's not), know that I say this without ever (fortunately) having experienced disappointment. But if you're the person who had your heart broken and found my speech unfortunate, if it makes you feel a little better, know that I've never experienced romantic love. In any way.

It was because of this that I had the idea to start writing this post while doing the dishes. Its not something unknown or that I suddenly discovered, but it still left me in a state of shock for a few seconds. I'm pretty sure that I'm still very young and that love will still come, but it was a strange shock to realize that among all my friends and acquaintances at my age, Ive been lucky (or unlucky) enough never to have been graced by romantic love. On the other hand, whenever people ask me if I ever liked someone, I say yes. But the reality is that I havent really feeling the feeling of what love is suposed to look like. I have come very close to it, so close that remembering the feeling causes me distress. Because it was painful, like I have already say (but I have that pessimistic view of love even before that). It was like having my pharyngeal pathway blocked by thorns. This whole thing about love not hurting is a lie. Love hurts, just like all other feelings. Even joy can be painful, because while you're feeling it you know that it's going to end and one day your happy moments will just become memories. That could be considered pessimism, but I see it as a way of facing reality.

I believe that never having felt love is also a bit of a misnomer. Everything I know about romantic love comes from stories. And trust me, I have heard a lot of them. As I said at the beginning of the text, Im completely obsessed with this subject, and I think part of this interest started when I saw people talking about it so much. Im curious by nature, but for as long as I can remember I've had people around me treating me like some kind of therapist, what creates a feeling that they can be free to tell me their most secret confessions. Also, It must be because Ive always been an extremely considerate girl towards others, in the sense that Ive always been very fond of being silent and consequently thinking too much, what creates in me a feeling of empathy. The more you think, the more you acquire the ability to be a good analyst. Analytical people give good advice, apparently. I leave that as a tip to make life easier. The more you analyze, the more you know, the more you know, the easier it is to deal with the world. But knowledge, like love, can be very relative.

“The more I knew, the more I wanted to know. He had mad appetites that grew more eager as he fed them” - the portrait of dorian gray (book good as hell)

It's already 6pm. I had more to say, but this text has tired me out. Ivee realized that I go round in circles for too long and in the end I dont even know what Im getting at. I think its because this is still my first post, so unfortunately I still feel a bit stuck… But let's get back to it, so you will have to follow me to know what my big conclusion would be.

Actually, you don't have to. There's no big conclusion. Thats exactly what love is. You start trying to fit words together to try to explain it and in the end you get nowhere. Or it would, if I wasnt so tired. Tomorrow I have a chemistry work at school to present, so I could use that as an excuse, saying that Im only going to close my computer to study. But I definitely wont. I hate chemistry and Im going to study what I need to 5 minutes before my presentation. Normally Im very involved in schoolwork, but this time Im not in the mood for several reasons. One of them is that I have lost patience with my more intimate relationships at school. The same subjects tire me out. Talking for a whole morning about love and sex has become quite exhausting… What the hell?

Love… I genuinely couldnt care less. I lie. I genuinely couldnt care more. Because talking and listening about love every day is definitely taking its toll on me. These days I've started to crave love more than anything else, because it seems so good, the new always seems either good or scary. And when it becomes scary, I feel angry, because instead of making fake scenarios like the ones I usually like to make alone in my room, love comes up like a damned curiosity and Im left trying to dismember a feeling that seems impossible to understand, and not knowing something causes me either stress or fear. I know I shouldn't be afraid of love, but just knowing doesnt make me stop feeling it.

Knowledge is relative. Love is relative. And what could be more interesting than relative things? I wish I had more time to study about love, but school drives me crazy with its unfortunate content load. Anyway! As soon as I have more time, I'm going to study love from a scientific point of view and form my own philosophy. And I will write about it. But until then I will write about other things, obviously, but in my view no other post would be cooler than one about love. Or maybe. I have several ideas.

[bonecrusherjenk]

I never heard of Virtuosity before tonight and BY GOLLY is this a goofy movie

No one told me there was a cyberpunk Denzel Washington movie with serial killer babygirl Russel Crowe and tbh the universe failed me on not letting me know about this one. This movie has

Denzel Washington in a latex jumpsuit

a VERY dtf Russel Crowe with a stretchy frog tongue

an UNCOMFORTABLE amount of references to actual real life murderers of the past 50 years

A very poor prediction of how sexy we were all going to find those giant 90's video cameras.

Some terrifying smizing

Some of the absolute worst supervillainy "Hello Clarice-ing" I've ever heard.

Like, wow. Russel Crowe actually had a serious acting career after this.

He delivers every line like he's recording it for a talking action figure

He's basically shitty early-draft Heath Ledger Joker. To the degree that I know full well in another time and social media environment he would have been a tumblrsexyman.jpg

Russel Crow gets a fancy new suit and starts around to "Stayin Alive" in it.

The actual "Lets get ready to rumble" guy saying "Lets get ready to rumble"

[orasim35]

Trying to actually play a Loose Legacy challenge for a change. 1st matriarch - Clarice Best. 1st day: Empty Lot; newbie in scientific career; 200 simoleons. She is now halfway through her Young Adult phase. Clarice got promoted very often and is two steps from the top of her career.

She met two guys at work: Her baby's father didn't want children or commitment but failed to say to her before they had their first time when she got pregnant. He got another job and calls, from time to time, to visit their now toddler, Clara Best. The second guy approached her when she came back from maternity leave. They went on a few dates, but she inquired a little only to find out he had a spouse. She decided to focus on her career, her tiny, tiny house with a small garden, and her baby's education. Since Newcrest is still very bare, she is saving money to buy a bigger house when Clara is older and goes to school.

[firespirited]

It’s wierd watching Clarice and knowing that 20 years ago this would have been fantastic television but now rates a B- because I personally and we as an audience demand more both visually or from the story telling and if this doesn’t get a second season, and it probably won’t, it’ll feel very unsatisfying. The sheer amount of talent they’ve got delivering ye olde procedural lines blows my mind, they’ve got these serious character actors stifled by cheap sets and two dimensional writing (just enough to not be a write off but still not quite enough) because they have to fit archetypes to fit the formula of the usual murder show and they’re not breaking any rules. The problem is that it’s now based in a universe where we have Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal TV and Mindhunter TV to compare and contrast. All of which had incredible cinematography and top notch set design. All of which broke norms and transcended the format (of the time of course, I’m not saying Manhunter or Silence of the lambs are more than slashers with very well written heros and interesting camera work however heretic that may be to SotL fans). Clarice was bound to fail by not being outlandish, out of format and not sticking to one major theme: misogyny, the art in death, police incompetence, humanity as a gift in detective work but counterintuitive to any career in law enforcement. Instead they’ve stuck it all in a blender, applied it to a classic framework and come out with something predictable and muddy delivered by actors who are giving it as much as they can but deserve so much more. It’s good TV but I wished they’d narrowed the focus, removed the tidy episode format and done a massive deep dive on Clarice and the women in her life.

[brave-clarice]

“Clarice” Liveblog: Episode 2

Again, some extremely unfashionably late hot takes.

(Special thanks to @kathrynethegreat and @special-agent-pendragon​ for encouraging another liveblog!)

Clarice is working out! And eating junk food! I love it.

and cleaning her gun!

hey, Ardelia is drinking what I’m going to assume is her grandmother’s “smart people tea”.

Krendler disciplining Clarice already is infuriating but appropriate.

“I lost control.” Oh no, I don’t like that. Don’t make Clarice unstable. Her mental and emotional state never had anything to do with her failing career.

getting weird mixed signals from Ardelia. Last week, she obviously didn’t want Clarice to lie/stick to the script Krendler gave her, but now she’s telling Clarice she messed up by not doing so...?

“I better know you if you’re calling this early.” Amen, Ardelia.

I’m in love: this cinematography is straight out of the film (when she’s flying to WV with Crawford)!

“When’s the last time you went back to Appalachia?” “It’s been years.” What??? It has NOT been years--Clarice was JUST in West Virginia last week as well as in Silence, and she arguably attended college there as well. (UVA is at least nestled in the mountains, and you don’t have to drive far outside the Albemarle Valley to hit Appalachia proper.) After all the details about her character they’ve been nailing, they miss this glaring error? 

I like the tiny details she’s noticing (like the guy biting his nails). Not only because she’s an investigator, but because it’s reminiscent of Hannibal’s influence (imo).

Clarice Is Short: The Saga continues

still not getting any creepy vibes off Krendler. He’s going to be much less effective as an antagonist if he isn’t lewd as well as a dick.

I really don’t care for the way the opening “credits” fade out from the death’s-head moth to Clarice’s face. There are MANY animals that represent her, or parts of her, in the books--lions, lambs, horses, and of course birds--so this choice feels empty and lazy to me.

also lazy: having a fellow agent straight-up tell her in episode 2 “you shouldn’t be in the Bureau.” Maybe in two or three years, after some further “Death Angel”-type incidents, I could see this blatant rudeness, but not yet.

“Reesey”? Thanks, I hate it.

this flashback must be of Clarice’s little brother. That answers one question I had last week. That said...Clarice’s brother doesn’t play the same role in her story that Mischa does in Hannibal’s--but this sure feels like a Mischa-esque flashback.

good: they’re finally getting to the source of Clarice’s actual trauma!

bad: this is NOT how Clarice found out about her father. In fact, that whole incident is laid out in detail in the novels, and there’s nothing overly literary/un-cinematic about it, so this feels unnecessary. “The police are here! Something happened to Daddy!” No, bad! Show, don’t tell!

she would’ve known better than to introduce herself to that kid as “Clarice Starling, FBI,” come on now.

were they regularly able to wire tap hair clips in 1993? 

actually, nothing in this show looks very 90s to me so far. I’m sad about it.

so in eighteen months, Ruth Martin has gone from a junior Senator to the Attorney freakin’ General, and now she might run for governor?? At least let her get settled in one position of power first, why don’t you!

yet more Buffalo Bill flashbacks...alas.

are they trying to make this guy another surrogate Hannibal character? He’s commenting on Clarice’s accent and the dryness of her skin, asking about who she “left behind”...it all feels very Hannibal. (I know he’s a Charismatic Cult Leader trope, too--but when played off of Clarice...)

“Ew.” “I hate this guy.” I laughed.

I understand that Clarice probably feels conflicted re: her siblings in the book, but I’m really not digging the flashbacks of this Tim Burton character her brother.

@ the writers: Clarice already has the lamb backstory/symbolism, too. We don’t need this Little Brother stuff.

*shrieking* Mrs. Starling! At the sink washing the blood out of his hat!!! 

...aaand they had to ruin it with the brother’s painfully bad dialogue. Will still be good for gif-making, though.

are we supposed to interpret all these flashbacks as Clarice being incapable of controlling her emotions/state of mind? She keeps losing herself in memories and emerging all doe-eyed and panicky. I don’t like it.

not to be a broken record but...Clarice should be TOUGH. Again, Ardelia only saw her cry once in seven years. But she’s more worked up in this scene than Jodie was in Memphis!

when Mr. Cult Leader shouts “Agent Starling! Agent Starling!” he sounds exactly like Hannibal calling her back to his cell in the asylum. That has to be intentional. 

damn, wish that I could look as good five minutes after I’ve been crying as Clarice does.

I LOVE that Ardelia gets to be the crucial behind-the-scenes book-smart partner to Clarice’s action heroine.

AG Martin’s just playing politics by turning a blind eye to the crooked sheriff. But when her own daughter was just kidnapped and almost killed, she looks like a real hypocrite.

gosh, Rebecca Breeds is great. I already hope she gets nominated for an Emmy.

so Krendler is...doing the right thing???

Clarice’s father was definitely not a sheriff. I hope she’s just exaggerating for dramatic effect. (Maybe this will be clarified later.)

she couldn’t just sit with a manipulative guy without getting emotional, but she’s cool as a cucumber while telling an extended story about her father? HmmMM.

sometimes her mannerisms and facial expressions are so much like Jodie’s that it’s uncanny, like here when she leans forward to confront the Cult Leader.

“She did it.” Damn straight!

another great callback to Silence. this show’s camera crew knows its stuff!

“He’s concerned I have some residual trauma from Bill.” I. Hate. This. Subplot--and all its OOC implications.

“Catherine was close to her father, too.” Ooh, a nice allusion to the novel! Clarice makes note of their “common wound,” the loss of a father, when she’s in Catherine’s apartment in Silence.

she is just SO pretty.

little Clarice looks a LOT like Rebecca Breeds. I hope we see some more of her. 

The Good:

the continuing visual nods to the Silence film via cinematography

Mama Starling!!!

Clarice’s “The World Will Not Be This Way Within the Reach of my Arm” attitude, refusing to leave without helping the victims.

Ardelia Mapp coming in clutch! 

Clarice being, generally, a badass

and using psychological tricks/mind games to pin the antagonist...that’s the woman who disarmed a monster with just a few words.

Rebecca Breed’s acting has been phenomenal so far.

I like Clarice’s haircut a lot better when worn down (though it’s not very practical for fieldwork, so we probably won’t see it much).

The Bad:

the continuing Buffalo Bill-related Trauma Subplot. Ugh.

all the flashbacks to Clarice’s brother (and the not-so-subtle suggestion that her brother is, symbolically, another lamb).

will the real Paul Krendler please come forward? this guy is so TAME.

the other agents’ hostility towards Clarice needs to be toned down slightly so that it can escalate. Otherwise, where’s the tension?

is this actually 1993? I’m not feeling it. Shouldn’t it have a little of that Season 1/2 X-Files aesthetic? Please give me more than once-an-episode references to pagers and fax machines!

that glaring Appalachia continuity error...it’s still bugging me.

I missed the overt Hannibal references, even though they’re not necessary to any part of this episode. A lady can dream!

Overall, I really liked this one despite my various issues with it. It started shakily but built to a great finish. The emphasis across both episodes on Clarice being in the FBI not just to “get out, get anywhere,” but out of a genuine desire to help victims has been wonderful. I just hope they don’t swerve too far into the “too traumatized and emotionally compromised to function” lane. It would be a disservice to Clarice’s character and to her journey (and would smack too much of “Hannibal really did prey on her weak mind/brainwash her”.

Things I’d still like to see: More of her personality. Her hobbies and interests. That she’s cleaning her gun is great! Now let’s see “Poison Oakley” practicing her sharpshooting skills. Or car shopping. Or clothes shopping to show off her “developing taste.” (Ardelia can come!) I’ll take literally anything. Give us more of Clarice’s sense of humor as well. She had some subtle funny moments in the pilot, and it’s nice to see Rebecca smile for a change.

And Krendler? Smear that man in grease! I appreciated a happy ending even though Clarice’s career is, as we know, already in a downward spiral--the last thing we want is for every episode to be a slog, especially when a good chunk of the audience hasn’t read the book and doesn’t know Clarice is doomed to fail in the Bureau.

However... Krendler’s not a “redemption arc” kind of character. Or even a “run-of-the-mill sexist asshole” character. This is a man who spent seven years systematically sabotaging a young woman’s career because a) he was jealous that she solved the Gumb case before him, and b) she wouldn’t fuck him. He was a Justice Department official working fist-in-glove with a serial child molester who was planning some of the heinous vigilante justice imaginable. THAT’S why his very gruesome end at Hannibal’s hands felt deserved--even Clarice thought so! In short, he needs to get nasty.

Anyway, thanks for coming to another long-overdue TedTalk. Fingers crossed that the next one will be more timely (aiming for Sunday night)! 

[40sbarnes]

Medici: Spymasters of Florence

Chapter 10: Home Sweet Home

gosh this chapter was difficult but i hope you enjoy!! i’m considering taking a break this week to catch up with things and to give you the best fic i can, but i’ll let you know before wednesday anyways! thanks for reading <3

pairings: lorenzo x reader (no really!), platonic¿ francesco x reader

tag list; @brynthebulldozer @mythicalamphitrite @nana035 @valravnsraven @hannahhistorian92 (lmk if you want to be added!)

The cool air was seeping into your skin as the minutes ticked by. You felt everything so strongly at once that you almost felt numb. You had thought you were being clever with Lorenzo but perhaps you were being the exact opposite. He probably didn't even care that you'd murdered a man last night. It was probably the norm for him. Maybe he cared that it could be traced back to him, but only that. All this time you'd justified going against the Pazzi's, Francesco, because of how cruel Jacopo was, you almost believed that Lorenzo was the right side. But now you were uncertain there even was such a thing.

You stood watching Lucrezia's door for far too long before you headed home. Sniffling slightly from the rain, you shrugged off Lorenzo's cloak once you were inside, curling up into your own bed. It wasn't of the luxury you'd become accustomed to, but it was without stress and worry and you were more than happy to rest your head in your own home. Although your body had finally stopped moving, your mind was not slowing down any time soon. You were desperately searching for a solution to your list of problems. You kept landing on one option. Leave. If you did it right, you could run, leaving all this behind and starting anew somewhere else. It wasn't ideal, but what else could you do? And would the richest bankers in the country really care enough about little old you to antagonise you further? But could you afford that option, that was the better question.

You pulled yourself out of bed, moving over to the corner of the room to force up one of the floorboards. You retrieved your secret stash of money. It wasn't often you added to it, what with the expenses of staying alive, but it had definitely grown due to recent advancements in your career. Still, it wasn't nearly enough. You pondered just how much cutlery you'd have to borrow from Lorenzo to make your break for it. Too much. On that topic, Lorenzo still owed you for the other night. That was probably your best bet, do a few more odd jobs and save all the coin you can. With Pazzi's and then Lorenzo's subsequent pay it wouldn't take too long. But time was of the essence. You felt like you were arguing with yourself over and over. It was exhausting. A gentle knock on your door put the fight on hold.

You quickly (and silently) hid your gold again before sliding the board back into place. The palm of your hand falls onto the handle of your blade as you near the door. You creaked it open slowly, stopping less than halfway and peering out before going any further.

Lorenzo stood there, the rain flattening his hair against his head. His eyes were focused elsewhere before you answered the door. You instantly open the door fully, and pull him in by the arm, peeking out afterwards to make sure no one saw.

"What do you think you're doing?" You hissed, why was he risking visiting you, after neglecting to talk to you all day. When you turned from closing the door you noticed just how little room you'd left between you when you hurried him in.

"I had to see you," he sighed as if it was a valid excuse. He ran a hand through his hair as if it would do any good.

"Whatever for?" You crossed your arms, having enough of his antics for one day already.

"Don't play coy, y/n, you said yourself we had to talk," he rolled his eyes at your words, although his smile gave away his lack of annoyance.

"I did. Hours ago," you reminded him, clearly still holding onto resentment.

"Why did you leave? Where were you?" He ignored your statement. "I asked you to stay," he sounded wounded, his voice wasn't as solid as it usually seemed, it didn't float throughout the room, it just trickled into your ears and your ears only.

"You're not as important to me as you think you are, Lorenzo," you teased, but almost regretted your words as you watched his features fall.

He quickly composed himself. "We still needed to talk."

"I'm not denying that fact, but I can't just wait around for you all day. Hard to imagine but I do have a life outside of Lorenzo de Medici," you were growing impatient once again.

"I apologise. I truly didn't think I would be longer than a moment with Clarice but..." he trailed off, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I waited for some time. What happened with Clarice that took so long?" You were not going to admit your stalking to Lorenzo.

"It wasn't really Clarice, she didn't take much time to refuse my proposal a second time," he smirked, his eyes appearing mismatched to his mouth.

"I'm sorry," you reached out, giving his shoulder a slight squeeze before retracting your hand to your side.

"It's fine, really," Lorenzo's eyes focused on his own arm as if watching the ghost of your gesture, "she brought up Lucrezia."

"Oh," you didn't know what else to say.

"And I was reminded that I had plans to meet her last night."

"You didn't?" Finally an ounce of sincerity entered your tone.

Lorenzo looked at you with a smile as his eyebrow quirked in confusion. "I was with you?"

"I guess I thought you'd left sometime after I'd-" he didn't let you finish your thought.

"No, y/n, I wouldn't-" he shook his head, moving on from your unfinished sentences, "honestly I forgot. And Lucrezia Donati is not a woman to forget about. She made that much clear." His eyes glanced to the side as his mind was elsewhere. You didn't bother answering, instead waited for him to continue.

"She wasn't happy. I can't imagine I'll see much more of her. In all honesty it's probably for the best. I don't have time for dalliances such as that right now, not with the vote in two weeks," you stayed silent for a moment as you realised how wrong your assumptions had been.

"I'm sorry to hear," you decided on, not sure how true the statement was.

"Don't be. You take up so much of my time annoying me these days I'll hardly have time to dwell on it." You shared a slight chuckle at his words, but you didn't have a reply.

"Enough about me," he spoke when you failed to, "how are feeling?" His tone softened again, and you knew what he was asking about.

"I'm fine," you nodded, your lips turned upwards, although it could not be described as a smile. Your eyes shone as you held back the tears.

Lorenzo's hand fell onto your elbow, not needing you to speak anything else. "I'm very grateful for you, y/n. I hope you know that." His thumb brushed against the fabric of your dress.

You weren't so grateful for him, usually, but in that moment he was greatly appreciated. You bit your lip, deciding whether or not to let the words passed. "He was like me, Lorenzo, he was just doing a simple job."

"He attempted to murder you, you didn't have much of a say in the matter," he reminded you, his hand moving to brush your hair behind your ear, "besides, he is nothing like you. He never could be. No one could." Your eyes met at his words, your close proximity to one another had suddenly become painfully intimate. You felt vulnerable under his state, you despised it.

You spoke to break the tension. "I regret leaving earlier." You didn't.

"No. I deeply regret leaving you. I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm just glad you're well." He almost seemed truthful. "Still, it's probably best you rest up."

You nod in reply, exhaustion had seeped into your heart at this point. His lingering hand pulls away, you almost lean after it, missing the warmth. Almost.

"Can we speak more tomorrow?" Lorenzo questions.

"Of course," you hum. He turns to leave, but you move with him, "Lorenzo?" your fingers close around his wrist to stop him from going any further.

"Yes?"

"Thank you." You throw your arms around his neck, closing the space between you. His arms move around your waist almost immediately, your chin resting on his shoulder as he holds onto you. The embrace lasts a few moments too many, before he leaves you, staring at a door once again. 

[themissinggenius]

Hi there, I really admire your writing style! Do you think you can write an angsty argument one-shot between hannibal and clarice? Its hard for me to picture those two ever having a serious argument lol thanks!

Part 1 of 2 

Hours had passed, and Clarice had not yet come home.

Her husband cooked dinner, read, watched the news... He tried to distract himself from the gnawing of her absence but was failing miserably. It all seemed so incredibly domestic, and yet it wasn’t. Dr. Lecter was just worried about his precious Starling as any fawning spouse would, but he knew her reason for not returning was far more complex than working late hours at a job or getting caught in traffic. She had been liberated since their days at the German’s house, yet her internal monologue debating good and evil would not be silenced. No matter how much he blew in her chrysalis, Clarice Starling was Clarice Starling. 

And now Jack Crawford is dead, just as dead as her daddy. And she left because of it.

Hannibal pressed his lips together softly while sitting in the kitchen and tried his best to have an objective thought. I’ve really gotten too attached to her. He laughed. That’s quite the understatement. Quickly, though, his laugh lines faded and were replaced with a worrying frown. It had been six hours since she’d left, and there was no crossbow that could bring her back if she had indeed left for good. Her unpredictability—though usually fun—was now deeply troubling. The doctor speculated about what Clarice would or could have done since she grabbed her purse and her wallet (IDs and passports always at the ready) and walked out the front door. He was really getting scared now, pushing back thoughts of a life not worth living. He didn’t know how long he was seated here, but nothing interrupted him until the squeak of the door.

Starling entered, leaving her shoes in the entrance closet and moving to walk upstairs without a word to Hannibal. Still sitting in the adjoining room, he listened and walked through his plan for this scenario. He was going to walk up to her quietly and ask her how she was feeling. He was going to touch her only if she welcomed it. He was going to make sure his wife was truly home.

But, as he rose from the chair and rushed into the foyer, the plan was abandoned. Seeing Clarice soaking wet from the rain with slightly puffy eyes over Jack Crawford—of all people!, he thought—made him lose it. The objectivity was gone, replaced by worry, anger, and hurt.

“Do you have any idea how long you’ve been gone?”

“I’m not a child, Hannibal.”

“You’re drenched! Christ, Clarice, you could catch your death on a day like today... Out for seven hours in the sleet! And about Jack Crawford? A mentor stands by their student to help them grow. Jack Crawford marked you as deplorable long before Paul Krendler came for your career, Agent Starling...” He drew out the syllables, and he started again, this time his voice much louder. “What are you mourning him for? What more could you want here, from me? What do you want from him?”

Clarice’s eyes bore into his frantic pinwheels.  She saw desperation and anger. She did not see sympathy. 

“Honestly, what the fuck, Doctor? I may be here with you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten myself. You know that better than any friggin’ person on this earth. I’m not expecting ya to have empathy for me, but could ya at least take a step back and try to fucking understand? Let me get the fuck upstairs and leave me alone.” She started to walk, but Hannibal reached out and gently stopped her arm.

“Please, Clarice...” his muscles tensed. “Enlighten me with why you must grant Jackie any of your own understanding.” He looked at her, teasing. Mean. “I hardly see how he deserves it. A manipulator with a worse record of it than my own, one who abandoned you—not only ten years ago—but within the past few years, as well.” He paused, trying to think logically but failing. Her face was plain with confusion and frustration. She really had been thinking of leaving. He didn’t understand why but didn’t stop to contemplate it. Now Hannibal was screaming.

“Where are the search committees? Where are the news articles enlisting help in finding the precious kidnapped FBI agent? He knew where you were, Officer Starling. He didn’t know what I would do with you, but he knew you were with me. And he didn’t care at all.”

“Enough of this shit! Don’t you think I know that already? Leave me the fuck alone.” Dr. Lecter moved closer, clearly intending to continue probing, but Starling blocked it. She grabbed the arm with which he was holding her wrist, and—with hands planted on his chest—slammed him against the closet door. Hannibal flinched as he hit the door hard, knocking it out of the sliding track with his weight. The door was off and pinned between the man and the closet wall. The act lasted but three seconds.

When he stood, Hannibal looked at Clarice and blinked. She stared back at him, eyes alight with rage. She looked like she was going to hit him again until she surveyed the damages to the closet and then looked back at him. He no longer looked surprised—just sad and disappointed. His eyes welled.

She almost left me.

And she’s ready to do it again.

“I didn’t think you were going to come back.”

A tear dropped. Clarice did not acknowledge it. Without a word, she turned and went up the staircase, leaving a trail of water that had dripped from her still-sopping clothes.

[lamb-and-knife]

imagine reading Silence and Hannibal, watching Clarice develop a bond with Hannibal, seeing all the sexism and loss Clarice endures, witnessing the systematic destruction of her dream career, then getting to the end and thinking, "but she would NEVER just run off with some rando serial killer (even though she risked her life to save his) and abandon (the smoking ruins of) her life!" /snark

We’ve had so many private discussions about this, but I still want to publish a long response of my thoughts on my blog.

Clarice Starling choosing to spend the rest of her life on the run with Hannibal is one of the biggest examples I’ve ever read in literature of a woman taking back her agency and using it to further herself. It’s unusual, it’s unexpected and so of course it’s frequently misunderstood and despised.

From what we learn of her background in Silence and Hannibal, Clarice has spent many, many years of her life trying to prove to herself and to others that she’s valuable — that she’s smart, brave, more than meets the eye. The last thing Clarice Starling is going to be is average, which Hannibal picks up on (even if he teases her for it in the beginning). There’s a fair amount of criticism leveraged against her as being rude at times or selfish. I politely disagree; if she’s rough, it’s because she’s on a mission, and it’s usually for someone else’s betterment instead of her own.

e.g. Her pursuit to save Catherine Martin begins with Clarice wanting to prove her stuff to Crawford, but it quickly shifts into an extreme need to save the girl, no matter if she loses out on a career at the FBI or not; aka, the goal she’s been busting her ass off to get since college. She’s willing to risk everything to save someone else.

We see this behavior again in Hannibal, when she learns of Verger’s plan and decides that she’s going to singlehandedly take the operation down to save someone that many people would let the pigs eat. Of course, I believe there were the buds of romantic feelings towards him already within her when that happened, which I’ll touch on in a moment, but the fact stands that she risked her own life to save someone else’s because what was going to happen to them was ethically wrong.

However, none of this drive matters when it comes to the glass ceiling she faces at the FBI. Clarice is a woman, and she’ll never be in the boy’s club. Oh she’ll get a promotion here or there, but if someone needs to get tossed under the bus, she’s going first. Imagine working your ass off to do so much good in the world just to hit a Paul Krendler and see that go down the tubes. Are you running back to the FBI again?

But even so, why would she like Lecter in the first place? As you mentioned, a lot of people think he brainwashes her into tossing her life away.

Over and over again, Hannibal Lecter (you know, the convicted serial killer and cannibal) is the ONLY PERSON in the series that treats her with the respect she’s owed (besides Brigham, who dies). Chilton tosses her literally into the lion’s den without any preparation because he’s angry a woman spurned his romantic advances. Krendler sabotages the remains of her career because she won’t sleep with him. Nobody at the FBI is willing to believe her testimony over those of the men conspiring against her.

Lecter doesn’t lie to Clarice. Sure, he plays his games in Silence, but does he lie? No. And in Hannibal, he leaves her gun for her. She has the keys to her Mustang. He makes it clear she’s free to go at any time, and, based on all of his behavior with her up to that point, I honestly believe he WOULD let her go without following. He respects her too much. He’s been like this the entire series to her, and that’s why I believe she had a romantic interest in him even before we get to the end of the third novel.

As for the brainwashing bit, two things:

First, Harris’ line about the crossbow is: “Or somewhere Starling may hear a crossbow string and come to some unwilled awakening, if indeed she even sleeps.”

I would agree that Harris is being rather ambiguous here. However, I point out “unwilled,” which suggests that Clarice wouldn’t want to go back to the old way of thinking even if that was the case. But that matters little to me because of the final bit. Is she even asleep? That leads me to my second point.

Do people REALLY think that Clarice Bad Ass Starling, the only one who can make Hannibal Lecter scared, the woman with enough balls to singlehandedly take down Mason Verger’s operation, the woman who sees in Lecter’s psyche something that Chilton tried to see for YEARS and failed to do, would be brainwashed into handing her life away? For money and dick? I think not.

At the end of Hannibal, what does she have to return to? A failed career at the FBI, a place that will never respect her? Sure, she could get another job and live a life being labeled as Frankenstein’s bride, given a run in the tabloids whenever there’s a slow news week. Even if she brought them Hannibal Lecter alive, that wouldn’t be enough. We saw that with her takedown of Jame Gumb and with how she did the best she could at the fish market. Her good deeds are used against her as leverage over and over. There was nothing she could return to. Instead, she chose to be with someone who respected her and understood her on a level no one else could — and vice versa.

So in summation, who doesn’t want to get dick 24/7 on some terrace in Buenos Aires, I mean really?

[codename-mango]

🖊

Okay but

Thank you.

Penelope Rivera

Penelope is my Hogwarts Mystery MC. My first OC. From her, I made an extended family of OCs that I've spent way too much time and emotional investment developing. In her original Hogwarts setting, and in Clarice's modern universe, she owns a pub. She's a confident lesbian who is very protective of her family. She grew up dedicated to providing for her younger sister, Minnie. She's now enjoying the payoff for building herself and her sister up. She has a thriving business and a thriving, tight-knit family. She and her wife, Megan, have a daughter and a son.

Milos Rivera

Milos is the older brother of Penelope. While he now has a loving wife and family, he still feels the effects of his early party days. His oldest daughter is Ursula, and she's the result of his recklessness. She still resents him for his early absence from her life. Clarice didn't meet her grandfather and his extended family until she was 15. Milos married a writer named Ophelia, and they had Ursula's half-sister, Jace.

Ursula Figg

Ursula grew up without her father. And after she finally met him, she wanted nothing to do with him or his family. She grew up looking after her own self-interests, lying to and manipulating people around her. Although she's aromantic asexual, her habits of self-harm led to her having Clarice. After that, she dedicated herself giving Clarice a good life. She used blackmail and manipulation to build her career as an actress, which later made her infamous. During Clarice's time on Love Island, she live tweeted during episodes. She made her poor opinion of Noah known during the finale.

Clarice Figg

Clarice is my LITG MC, and she's actually a 3rd generation OC. That is, she's the granddaughter of Milos. Clarice is a model and influencer, who was famous before she even started her career, thanks to her mother. She was used to negative attention by the time she found herself on Love Island, and she didn't leave her first season unscathed. She fell for Noah, but she ultimately refused to sleep with him the night before the finale. Her canon ending for Season 2 is a failed Noah route, with her in Second Place and left by Lucas. However, she returns for Season 3, and once again falls for a man she can't have. She does end up with Seb at the end of the Boat Party. She stays friends with girls from Season 2, and only stays in touch with all four of the Season 3 potential bffs.

[peremadeleine]

The novel I'm currently reading is set in Renaissance Florence, and it's gotten me thinking about the Hannibal film. I know I've done (more than) my fair share of whining about the NBC show. Hannibal (2001), though, is its own kind of awful.

Hannibal is by far my favorite of the original three novels. (It’s also the one with the lowest aggregate ratings...go figure.) However, with hindsight, it's easy to see that the film adaptation was not destined to become the stuff of legend like its predecessor The Silence of the Lambs. It was missing three of the key (Oscar-winning) ingredients: director Jonathan Demme, the wonderfully faithful pen of screenwriter Ted Tally, and the earnest determination of Jodie Foster as our heroine. 

But! It still had plenty of things going for it. It had master actors--Gary Oldman and of course Anthony Hopkins revising his most (in)famous role--and solid actors, too, like Julianne Moore, who’s serviceable in the lead if not as passionate and iconic as Foster. It had an accomplished director, one at least capable of greatness, in Ridley Scott, and it had living legend Hans Zimmer as its composer. It should have been entertaining, at least, and well-made.

Yet with all these high-quality ingredients, it not only falls far short of Silence--not only fails to adequately tell the novel's story... It fails on a more fundamental level by not even being a good film.

And here's where Florence comes back into it: part of the reason why it fails is, I think the frankly awful cinematography.

Setting Hannibal's half of the story in Florence was a stroke of brilliance on the part of author Thomas Harris. Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, capital of Tuscany, birthplace of Dante (from whose Divine Comedy this series took such inspiration) and of Machiavelli, home of more art, music, architecture, and history--and of course wine--than you can shake a stick at--full, too, of mystery, corruption, and violence. Is this not the perfect place to meet anew Hannibal Lecter, Renaissance man, amateur artist, lover of opera and architecture--and of course of wine? Is it not also the equally perfect place to meet Hannibal Lecter, monster, a mysterious man of violent, even deadly, whims? 

tl;dr Hannibal is, in a way, a kind of human embodiment of Florence. It’s why he’s such a fascinating character: he’s cultured and three-dimensional and interesting not because he’s a serial killer, but in spite of it. The serial killer part is almost an aside.

And the contrast here, between Hannibal in Florence and Clarice Starling in the U.S., is entirely intentional: our heroine Clarice, the ambitious young woman who ended the previous novel as a savior and rising star, is now trapped in a "little lowceiling life" and a failing career. Hannibal, meanwhile, occupies a literal palace with high ceilings ("the height of the room disappears into darkness"). Florence is not the ultimate paradise of the story, the setting of Hannibal and Clarice's happily ever after, but it is still a far cry from the dark basement office currently occupied by Clarice, or indeed from the dark basement cell in the now-abandoned Baltimore hospital which she visits early in the novel.

A lot of things in the Hannibal novel did not make it from the page to the screen. Some would've been harder to translate visually than others. However, this striking contrast between a "little lowcieling" existence and a high-ceiling'd, palatial one should have been even more effective on film. It is, after all, more a visual contrast than anything. Clarice's story is set in dark, soulless offices and a barely-lived-in apartment; Hannibal's, in one of the most vibrant and storied cities in Europe.

But...

...the filmmakers somehow get it backwards! As depicted in Hannibal, Florence is desaturated, seen through a strange bluish, low-contrast filter that makes it a strangely monochromatic--quite an odd way to present a famously warm-toned city in the heart of Tuscany.

(I liked Blade Runner, too, Ridley Scott, but chill.)

Shot this way, Washington D.C., even the Hoover building (which is anything but an architectural masterpiece), looks more appealing, or at least brighter and less foreboding, than the Florentine cityscapes. While this D.C. may not be as aesthetically pleasing as a centuries-old Italian city, with its trees and actual colors, nor is it as cold, hard, or unfeeling.

In other words, a good deal of the movie is just kind of ugly.

These cinematographic choices are more puzzling still since, over the course of the story, Clarice is (in theory!) coming to the conclusion that nothing is left for her in the Bureau, nor, ultimately, in the United States at all. Her life has become a kind of prison, and by making the choice to accompany Hannibal--and to take him as her lover--she frees herself. More importantly, she begins to live for herself in a way she hasn’t done before.

Yet in the film, Hannibal’s life, his world, appear just as dark and unwelcoming as Clarice’s. 

Just for the hell of it, here’s a comparison of two unedited-by-me shots of Florence, one from Hannibal (top) and the other a photo from a similar angle.

I tried to choose a photo of the same image with as-similar-as-possible lighting and that wasn’t oversaturated (there are many photos of the Florentine skyline with a great deal more color)...and it’s still twice as bright & colorful as what’s shown in Hannibal.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t much matter to the story that Hannibal’s Florence is a grim, monochromatic place, because the film alters the novel’s ending so as to make it unrecognizable. If Clarice Starling does not escape her psychological and emotional chains and chase freedom with him, our titular character represents...what, exactly? And what is the purpose of the larger story? Where is the Paradiso at the end of this Divine Comedy? Neither main character grows or changes (Hannibal’s all-important backstory is, in fact, erased entirely); neither seems to learn anything, nor to get anything they desire (save, perhaps, the deaths of Verger and Krendler). So presenting Florence as dark and dull doesn’t make much of a difference. The story simply isn’t there.

But if the sanitized script--a screenplay which stripped from Harris’ story every important element*--was the cancerous growth that sucked any and all narrative significance from the reels of Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, maybe the cinematography was an ugly, early symptom. 

That, and those baggy-ass suits they stuck on poor Sir Tony. No wonder he spent most of the movie chewing gum and looking bored.

*John Brigham’s death, Jack Crawford and his defense of Clarice, Mischa and her death, Ardelia Mapp, Clarice’s psychotropic therapy and her subsequent choice to be with a man she sees as her equal and her partner in all senses of the word...

[thevividgreenmoss]

a creative writing bro tried telling me Clarice Lispector’s work is elitist and I was just speechless what would you say to that because I’m just-

I mean personally I probably wouldn’t say anything to that other than to ask him if he’s heard the good news of the coming of our lord and savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth if I hadn’t already done so beforehand but other than that I probably wouldn’t try to engage because if there’s one thing I know it’s that when someone makes a blanket statement writing off an artist’s complex multifaceted body of work as elitist/pretentious/forced/derivative/whatever else without bringing loosely convincing elaboration or any elaboration at all to the table then that’s surefire indication that they know what they’re talking about and you should leave their assertions unchallenged unless you want to be intellectually bested and made to look the gaping fool :-(

Also I guess even if Lispector or her work can accurately, let alone usefully, be labelled as elitist - and I don’t think either can - that isn’t necessarily an indictment of her writing in and of itself. Like Virginia Woolf was incontrovertibly an elitist, and while she was conscious of her own elitism and critically engaged with it in her writing to often intriguing effect, she never really successfully challenged or fundamentally broke from it and wasn’t really interested in doing so - but as a writer she still operated on a level of near incomprehensible genius and I still love her and she’s my best friend. Same basic thing I think Proust whose fiction can in certain regards be read as being elitist while also being obsessively hilariously critical of the elite circles mirrored in his work, also Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels being littered with an alarming number of May-December romances also Mishima committing seppuku after a failed attempt to spark a quasi-fascist/imperialist coup which is often seen as the political extension of the territory he’d spent a lifetime covering in his v acclaimed literary career (full disclosure I haven’t read Mishima at all but Iike the story of his Perfect Death is insane also the Paul Schrader movie about him is amazing) 

So idk like going back to Clarice Lispector after talking in rambling mishapen circles while not saying much of anything, I think that there definitely are aspects of some of her work that contain complicated and to a certain extent discomfiting class/race undertones, such as the way G.H. perceives of / attaches shifting symbolic values to the figure of her maid + the way those symbolic values relate to other symbols/motifs/themes present in the novel, but again, I don’t think that it can accurately be described as elitist (overall, there may very well be moments here and there where tendrils of elitism or some such insidiously creep in but that’s not the same thing). And just in the specific example of The Passion According to G.H. overall I think the more potentially precarious parts of the novel are handled with a clarity of purpose / sensitivity that imo clears the writing itself of potential charges of racism/classism like Lispector is well aware of her narrator’s flaws/insecurities/less than savory attitudes etc and uses All That to direct the narrative current, such as it is, and add weight and dimension to her inimitable metaphysical/spiritual probings in a really brilliant way. Imo. But I don’t really know anything for sure other than it’s probably a very good thing I never took any creative writing/literature classes in college like every type of academic field appeals to people prone towards various methods of self-aggrandizement & inculcates common and specific types of insufferability but like having to have all that associated with one of the few things I can sometimes enjoy in life would’ve been disastrous tbh

[mindthemuse]

@thefacelcss

Starling will always consider herself a Southerner. There’re condensations with that label that carries baggage, but it's the truth. West Virginia. Born and raised to develop enough tastes to get confused when living in Montana or anywhere North of Dixie.

Miami is something else; sure, it's past the Dixie Line, way past Dixie, but it's a mishmash of Yankee and Southerner and she feels less confused in the recent days than anywhere else. It's just the taste for pastel that makes her just sigh.

There's an issue down here, whispers of a Cartel that the locals have desperately attempted to keep out of Washington and failed. When Clarice talked to Ardelia about it, her friend's dark eyes lit up with a brief smile. She knew someone who knew someone down in Miami who'd make it easier. Sure, lawyers were seen with some suspicion by locals, but the FBI needed allies.

Rose Solano was a well-known lawyer in Miami, but better known as a socialite in the recent years, and an ally that she could use in easing herself into the Sin Rostro situation. And while Starling had her particulars in dealing with traditional crime, drifting ever further from her original passion, a success might bring her back to where she wanted. So, at the agreed upon time Clarice Starling looked out of place in her FBI darks at the All-Day cafe while preparing herself for the brief meeting.

Not that Clarice ever cared. Even as the other woman approached and she stood up, slight, bright eyed, and golden. "Ms. Solano, I assume? Or do you still prefer a business name in these matters?" Clarice has a warm smile despite the warmth slowly dying to flames of anger in her career. Not Rose's problem now, was it?

[straye]

❛ You’ve lived up to your reputation. ❜

INCEPTION (2010) SENTENCE STARTERS — Accepting!

    “Enlighten me on what my reputation is, Ms. Starling.”

    He’s long since thrown any regard for something like a reputation out of the window ever since he turned in his badge to take up teaching teenagers in a small high school. Any other day, he might have shrugged it off since he’s heard it all: he was a detective that lost his mind after he failed to save his partner (classic novel plot, that one); an agent that follows his own directions (they could’ve written a book with that one) and the asshole teacher that gives lengthy writing assignments (much more boring than the others, but he’s not touched by teenagers’ scathing remarks).

    When Clarice says it, he wonders what all these years may have done to it, this reputation of his. After working on a couple of cases with her and the Bureau, he’s certain to have lived up to a couple of those words; he did the minimum of what the suits set them out to do, yet did more than they hoped they would (as is the case when you stop caring for much of what they like; he and Clarice have that in common, though it amazed him that she’s done so this soon in her career).

    “Because yours,” he says, sticking a cigarette between his lips and lighting it. He takes a drag, then lets it linger between his fingers. “, precedes you. But I’m not one to make impressions based on that; I like you a lot more than they thought I would; you hardly live up to yours.”

@silcns