#not in the iwtv fandom but still wanted to talk about it

[lesboship]

what version of sick do you have to be to make a blocklist consisting of (majority black) ppl who are speaking up about the anti-blackness in ur fandom bc you "dont wanna involve urself in fandom drama".

racism is not and never will be "fandom drama". it's a genuine issue that is extremely prevalent in basically all fandom spaces and the idea that some people are denying that this is the case whilst simultaneously blocking people who talk about it is not only paradoxical but just straight up nuts.

[pretty-weird-ideas]

IWTV Twitter and the so-called "Fake Black Fans" Invasion

Something that I've been seeing a lot after it gained traction on Max is white fans condescendingly talking down to Black fans, some of whom have been in this fandom longer than they have, and acting as if they don't know what they are talking about because of their critique including a concept or subtext they wish to ignore. I want to repeat that this doesn't happen in the same amounts to white fans who make analyses or memes, it seems to uniquely be Black fans speaking AAVE or with Black pfps (visibly black bc of this) being bombed in the comments for having valid opinions.

I reached about the fifth tweet of white women going onto posts of Black people (particularly older women on Black Twitter) talking about IWTV and saying "You don't know what you're talking about, read the source material/finish the show" or entirely saying that "You don't understand fandom culture". Prompting those Black people to respond curtly that they, in fact, have read the source material, finished the show long before they have, and have been a fandom elder since before they even rolled into town. I witnessed someone doing BABY talk to a 30-year-old Black woman who was talking about episode 5, with "Well you see, it's not my fault you can't read". And when the woman professed anger back, she was the one blocked.

I witnessed this backhanded shit FIVE TIMES over the course of this week. With different white women doing the job of whitesplaining fandom culture and Anne Rice to random Black fans who already know unprompted with a level of passive aggressiveness and annoyance that only comes with doing it repeatedly. I must assure you (white people who are doing this) nobody asked, you can put down your task and stop pretending like you are doing something Sisyphean. You are not legally required to explain and describe IWTV poorly while getting into screaming matches with far more educated Black fans on Twitter and Tumblr.

People are acting as if there's a rising population of Black fans who are "Fake Fans" and must be stopped, lest they start up the freaky discourse. OOHHH NOOOO! Whatever are we to do then???? And therefore it is completely normal and a civic duty to blast Black fans in the comments of everything that they say about the show or the books.

I've been seeing people unironically football tackle reaction posts of the show with paragraphs worth of text that is inflammatory and backhanded. This is even more apparent when the poster is visibly black or uses AAVE. The association is that Black people who use AAVE or memes obviously are uneducated, lack media literacy, and cannot consume content the way that "White" fans do.

It is an attempt to tone police Black fans away from creating new topics of discussion or creating/expanding the fandom space with the growing watcher-base. It always has to happen in their chosen language, on their time, in the places they can reach us and yell some more. They are very discomforted when Black fans have pockets in fandom where they can't be outnumbered and they do in fact control discourse in a way that isn't productive to respectability. (As much as I am a big fan of big words and rambling, that is somewhat what is expected in this fandom as a Black person to be considered "respectable" and I'm not willing to ignore or shy away from that).

This is also hand in hand with my previous thoughts about fans' dog-whistling about media becoming accessible/mainstream and how "Others" will ruin it and outnumber them. I noticed that in the IWTV fandom, it seems like white fans believe that the "Others" is just Black Twitter in general. Not just "Twitter" but specifically Black people who don't fit into their narrow respectability politics.

I hate to tell you all this, but Black fandom culture is still fandom culture, and Black people do in fact read and write. I should not be seeing a pattern of random white fans going into the comments of Black people who mention IWTV and automatically assuming that they have no clue what they're talking about.

Like clockwork, exactly as when the show came out, racist white book fans started up the discourse of "The Black people are going to ruin fandom with their racism discourse and spit on Anne Rice!" and then when that time passed, the show reaches Max, and here they go barking again.... We really need to get a muzzle.

[monstersinthecosmos]

kacy i wanna know how much of a perv you think daniel is LOL so much fic centers on armand dragging him through an experience *armand* wants. so like what's the ratio of daniel being a freak in his nature (and knowing this about himself) vs armand nurturing this trait into him?

My friend, I’m so glad you asked.

THE THING IS IVE GIVEN THIS A LOT OF THOUGHT and in some ways it’s like, what all of my Devil’s Minion fics are about LOL. And yet! I don’t have a simple answer to this question, the way real questions of nature vs nurture are complicated in the real world in real people!

But let me sketch out a framework of the way I’ve questioned this, and everyone might come to different conclusions and that’s the fun of fandom, because there can exist several thousand versions of Daniel based on the same text! AND I KNOW YOU KNOW THIS STUFF, I HOPE IT DOESN’T COME OFF AS MANSPLAINING LMAO but I’m excited to talk about this topic. 

Here’s what we know unequivocally from the text:

Daniel is 20 years old in IWTV.

That’s it, that’s the whole list.

And here’s some fanon that people often try to extrapolate from the text: 

💦 That he met Louis at a gay bar. UNCONFIRMED, but I think it’s likely? In the short story the bar is named the Pink Baby, I think that might be a gay bar or a dick reference idk lol. 

💦 Whether or not the Pink Baby was a gay bar, he and Louis essentially cruised each other and left the bar together! Daniel has the excuse that he’s hunting for interviews for his job, Louis has the excuse that he’s an apex predator who preys on people, but ? Take this wherever you need to. (Also blah blah Ricean biting=sex symbolisms.)

💦 Was Daniel bisexual outside of the assumption that most of the VC characters are bisexual/omnisexual? The only clue we get is that when he and Armand practice voyeurism, he hooks up with men and women. There’s a lot of interesting information packed into the voyeurism paragraph, like this line: Yet he lay empty afterwards, staring at Armand, resentful, cold. and I’ve seen the “resentful, cold” comment dissected many times in fandom. Is it the general resentment of their whole relationship? Is it because he wants to fuck Armand and not randos? Is it because he only wants the Blood? Does he not consent to being used like a zoo animal? Is he gay and doesn’t want to fuck women? Is he straight (minus the orientation-defying vampire attraction) and doesn’t want to fuck men? I’ve seen all kinds of takes on this LOL. But still, no real definitive answer about his orientation in the text.

💦 What did the “roaming the bars of the world” comment mean? Sometimes I read Anne Rice’s language as being kinda lofty and exaggerated but was he ACTUALLY traveling the WHOLE WORLD or is he hyping up that he trolled bars in the Bay Area? Is he FROM the Bay Area or was it a stop in his travels? He worked for a radio station (not in the book, but mentioned in the short story + The Vampire Companion and The Alphabettery) so did he live here, even if he traveled a lot? Was he wealthy before vampires if he was traveling this much, if you think he was a traveler?

AND AFTER ALL THAT, here’s some extra questions where Daniel is FREE REAL ESTATE that every fan has the freedom to make the fuck up:

💦 How much sexual experience did he have at 20? Do we assume that by default as an Anne Rice character he probably had ample teenage sexual experiences, and if he did, is there a quality over quantity aspect to consider? Is the sex we have as teenagers like, all that to write home about LMAO. Do we really understand kinks yet, or do we need to grow up and gain some perspective first? 

💦 As an Anne Rice character, by default, do we assume he & everything else is sexually charged LOL, are the interviews and cruising and taking people home a code for bringing partners home? What percentage of his interviews were also hookups?  

💦 When we talk about nature vs nurture for kinkiness, how micro and macro is this? As a fellow Off the Cuffs fan I know you understand the “radioactive spider bite into kink” concept, and some kinks are so specific to our experiences. But BEING KINKY in itself IS nature, isn’t it? I’ve read some sex & kink theory that kink is (psychologically) more like an innate orientation. IE: in the way you can be straight or gay, some people are also by default turned on by being smacked or by whatever paraphilia. Whatever that thing is, the way it takes shape, is the nurture half. But like, many people can have the same experience and 99% of them don’t develop a paraphilia right? So I think that capability exists in kinky folks at all times, especially when so many of the radioactive spider bites are things that people discover in childhood. ANYWAY I RANTED but I say that to say; DANIEL MOLLOY IS A MONSTERFUCKER, IWTV IS THE PROOF THAT HE IS A MONSTERFUCKER. IT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME. 

So I bring up all those questions to encourage everyone to make up their own story with this, but I’ll tell you where I personally landed and how I approach it in my fics!!!

The Daniel in MY OWN fics is 20, single child, estranged from his parents, dropped out of college because he didn’t have ADHD support and was struggling, bisexual and promiscuous! I wonder if he went through that like college freshman thing where he got out of his parents house for the first time and partied a little too hard because he COULD! I like to read “bars of the world” as an exaggeration, I like to think he was a normal guy NOT globe hopping, sticking to the Bay Area, maybe he was out there for college, and guess what! There’s a thriving gay liberation culture there, so he finds some safe spaces to experiment with that! 

However, I think the text leaves space to think he didn’t have a lot of close friends, or wasn’t close with his family, due to the way that he simply ✨fucks off ✨ after IWTV. NOW, that’s just me! Because there’s potential here for a TRAGEDY of people looking for him or grieving him! But idk I just like thinking that he was already on the outs and the interview pushed him over the edge.

So I ask like, does the 20 year old have a ton of kink experience? Is he good at sex? WHAT DOES RESENTFUL, COLD MEAN? Was he celibate during the chase years? Are the voyeurism sessions the first time he’s had sex since his old life? Even if he had random hookups during the chase years, was this qualitatively good sex? Can you truly get into good BDSM on a hookup or do you need a trusted partner? (This is subjective, idk, but!) 

Also, how much kink is theoretical and private (to masturbate to) vs stuff you actually try? Especially if we believe that kink is nature, someone isn’t less kinky if they’re celibate, the way someone isn’t less gay if they’re celibate, or even a virgin. As Daniel becomes more and more obsessed with vampires, and with Armand, does it take over how he jerks off? Does he think about getting bitten? HE LIKES SNUGGLING WITH DEAD THINGS.

So like, there IS an element of Daniel being the unwilling witness of Armand’s rapidly shifting hyperfixations, and it’s natural that fandom pervs would extend that to sex acts and kinks. I LOVE IT, yes! It makes sense. 

But when you say like, which one of them is in charge, I wonder if it’s relevant if we assume Daniel enjoys it. (Does he? Would he? Resentful, cold?)

Here’s some points that come to mind when I imagine it as purely Armand’s doing:

💦 People sometimes misunderstand BDSM dynamics when it comes to power and control, because BDSM is a consensual fantasy between two adults. The sub is just as in control, because they allow it. In that sense: Do we believe Armand respects Daniel’s consent? Would he force Daniel to participate if he wasn’t enjoying himself? 

🩸 (How much can we compare this to Venice and how Armand was prepared for vampirism? I’m putting this in parentheses bc I’m putting a pin in this one, I CANNOT ADD A SUB-ESSAY INTO THIS POST ABOUT COMPARING VENICE TO DEVILS MINION but thinking of this too. Returning to the under-negotiated kink in Venice and how much is diegetic to the text, how does experiencing a spectrum of sexuality benefit someone’s last years alive ((sub-parentheses: does Armand flip-flop on turning Daniel as much as Marius did with Armand, does Armand subliminally know he’ll turn Daniel one day, does he go through these experiences as a precursor to turning Daniel eventually?)) are these experiences more for Armand to process the way he was groomed for asexual immortality vs being purely selfless and for Daniel’s benefit?)

💦 Armand uses Daniel as his usher into the modern age, and is it fair to assume he could sense Daniel’s kinkiness and knew that this was the person for him? 

💦 How dubious is Daniel’s consent here? How addicted to Armand’s Blood is he by the time they start fucking around? Is he already within the throes of Ricean Omnisexuality where he’s down for whatever? Does the Blood influence this as well? Is there a secret subliminal violence creeping into your body when you’ve been drinking it again and again? What about less violent kinks, like your feederism fic? Does the Blood encourage all types of excess and consumption??? 

But if DANIEL is the driving force here, I still must consider:

💦 He meets Armand and his life essentially ends when he’s 20 years old. Was he really self-aware of his kinks? Did he know himself very well sexually yet? 

💦 While exploring kinks can be mutually beneficial by sating Armand’s need for WEIRD HUMAN STUFF, maybe it IS something Daniel wants. It’s something he’s missing out on, because he checked out of regular human life when he was 20. Like, everyone’s different, so, I’m not saying that people can’t be sexually articulate at 20, but I know I fucking wasn’t! And I personally never fucked anyone that age who was good at it LMAO. So like how old would Daniel have been before he experimented enough to really know what he liked, and how much of him getting to know his sexuality involved Armand during the next decade?

💦 And this ties into Armand being his sugar daddy! That’s canon! Armand is his sugar daddy! If Daniel, at 28 years old, starts lamenting “I wish I’d gotten the chance to try watersports when I still had a normal life :( “ wouldn’t Armand have arranged that for him? 

🩸 (Again let’s talk about Venice and what did Armand learn there about being the vampire lover, how much does he process and repeat on Daniel, and for whose benefit?)

💦 If Daniel is an innately kinky person, and realizes as he’s approaching 30 that he never really got to explore it properly, wouldn’t Armand usher him through that experience? Even if Armand didn’t plan to turn him, I wonder if he saw the window of Daniel’s mortal experience closing, maybe he worried that this is the type of thing people need to be wild about while they’re still so young. And outside of stigmatizing Daniel's age, it's also about how he was becoming less and less healthy, dying of alcoholism at 32, so there was a small window here for them to have sex adventures.

So basically, I’m saying that the nature half feels very much like Daniel being a monsterfucker, the nurture half is the actual experiences he got to have. And I don’t think he’d be in this situation in the first place if he wasn’t a bit of a monsterfucker, and wasn't a innately into danger and pain. Like, we don’t get a TON of examples but Gretchen and Babette didn’t try to fuck vampires! We know that vampires give humans the heebie jeebies! What kind of sick fuck is into that?!?!?!? 

I don’t really have one single answer here. When it comes to the large library of kinks I think either of them can be blamed, and I also think it 100% makes sense to use Armand as a vehicle to write fic about them as if they’re another collection of human oddities for him to explore. But even using Armand’s weird bullshit to process that doesn’t mean it’s not mutually beneficial, and I think it gets into a fuzzier area that’s up to the writer when it comes to their take on the relationship, how dubious the consent is, how much do they actually like each other and get along? Can it be mutually beneficial in the end even if one person is driving? (see: the conversation about the second whipping scene in TVA and how it works out in the end.) Is it something they have fun agreeing to and negotiating in advance? 

I can totally see how someone might write this as a fun thing that they talk about beforehand as easily as it could be Armand forcing mystery adventure on Daniel and suddenly he’s tied up in some shitty apartment in Hells Kitchen with some man pissing on him, and did he ever even reveal this kink to Armand or did Armand pull it out of his head? 

The ship dynamic is so fucked up and coercive and resentful and toxic, even though there is real love here, so there’s this whole spectrum to use when you build your fanworks and headcanons!!!!!!! AND LIKE

IF IT’S COERCIVE AND FUCKED UP, DOES IT DRIVE THEM FURTHER APART OR BRING THEM CLOSER TOGETHER? IS DANIEL RESENTFUL AND COLD AND DOES THIS CAUSE FIGHTS? IS THIS A WAY FOR THEM TO PROCESS SOME OF THEIR COLDNESS AND RESENTMENT BECAUSE THEY AREN’T GOOD COMMUNICATORS? DO THEY DO BETTER AFTER THESE SESSIONS AND FEEL CLOSER BECAUSE THEY BROKE THROUGH SOMETHING NEITHER OF THEM KNEW HOW TO SAY?

Gosh idk.

Anyway I apologized in the beginning for mansplaining but I also want to apologize for this non answer LMFAO. I hope it doesn’t feel like a cop-out to not have a real answer, it’s just that I think there is such a rich context with a MENAGERIE of possibility !!!!!!! 

[blueiight]

claudia still gets infantilized by media surrounding iwtv despite this being core to the tragedy of her condition

i think shes always been infantilized & ppl dont see the merit of her arc bc ppl rly only care about female characters in relation with romance or if they are children [or someone’s child of sorts?] in so far as they relate to the men rearing them. [cue 5001 lestat-claudia webweaves]. claudia is both selectively infantilized & excessively adultified whenever convenient to character/s [somehow both a ‘child interfering’ and both powerful enough to ‘turn louis against lestat’] nd to a certain extent by the fandom too. speaking of the show here too - show!louis now wanting claudia as his child is never disseminated for what it is in relation to louis (how he wanted children, and how hes forcibly exiled from the public sphere & makes do with the quasi-domestic) or claudia (in her want for a companion in immortality & wanting to understand the origins of their existence. in both the book and the show its claudia who initiates the question of ‘who made lestat/vampires as a whole’) but rather ppl render show claudia inert solely as a fictional moral bludgeon to character bash louis or make stuntin like my mommy/daddy posts with lestat. i was thinking too the other day how people often talk about iwtv in the sense of outcasts but never mention claudia… which is insane bc this line in the show alone says so much

But it was 1939, and the only N* allowed in first class was the porter, and the N* passenger rode the rear. The N* vampire made do with what was left, which was fine with her.

neither second-class passenger nor porter directly serving whites: claudia is the black vampire sitting in the stowaway with the dogs and people’s luggage, earlier hiding out in university corners pretending to be the cleaner’s child, engorging herself on blood and taking body parts from her victims to put in storage all if it means she could have something for herself. shes really the ult. outcast of sorts.

[problematicturtle]

Takeaways from the ep:

- Claudia realizing that she’s not meant to be a daughter but a proxy for Louis’ sister hit so hard. Louis, who has lost everyone and everything, who finally managed to feel comfortable as a vampire by throwing all of that love, that life that he has into that one girl - whether fairly or not, is another matter entirely, but her actually *seeing* Louis, the way Lestat, for all his proclamations of love, never truly acknowledges, breaks my heart.

- Louis losing Claudia was always going to send him over the edge: he was already there, she just held him in place for a while. Does Louis love Lestat? I’m sure he does. Does it matter? Beyond the catholic guilt, Lestat is inhospitable to Louis’ nature. Louis is passive and suicidal and depressed and Lestat is absolutely the worst man to support him through any of that.

- hints of Lestat’s past, and the vampires out there, but Lestat never talks about it, so again, does it matter? Your trauma is just all your sharp edges cutting everyone else in your proximity if you don’t acknowledge it and try to work through it. Same goes for Louis, to be honest. They can’t communicate, and so are stuck in this toxic stew of not being able to be what the other person needs them to be.

- Kudos to Sam Reid for making Lestat cheating on Louis an act you feel sorry for Lestat for. All that desperate, delicate yearning for connection, and finding it elsewhere when he can’t get it from Louis. Heartbreaking. (Also he keeps threatening to kill Antoinette whenever Louis finds out Lestat is still fucking her, but she’s still around. I love Antoinette.) also kudos to Jacob Anderson for the absolute betrayal and hurt on Louis’ face without a word when Claudia drops the A word.

- why did the house turn into a pigsty? Louis didn’t do the cleaning? What are you, Lestat, do you have a disability that prevents you from doing the housework?

- IWTV fandom, please stop framing Lestat cloud dropping Louis as a result of emotional abuse from Louis. Please, just don’t. You can frame it as two dudes in a toxic, fucked up relationship if you want, and it is, because they’re both not human, and a violent act between them can be just that. But stop framing it as “well he was physically violent because Louis was emotionally abusive”. I cannot abide. Let them be fucked up, you don’t have to justify it. You can love a character who would drop a man from a cloud because he never said he loved him. He’s complex. And so is Louis. You don’t have to woobify a character to love him. He’s not real. (That said, I want to say I’m surprised, but… I’m not.)

- I’m deathly curious about Lestat’s POV of all this. We have only seen Claudia and Louis’, in all its imperfections and self-justifications. Suspect Lestat will have a wildly different take, and the truth is somewhere in between.

- hate what happens to Claudia. First writing move I disagree with. I shall, like Louis, tear the pages out and pretend it didn’t happen. You can grow up and mature without going through that. It’s a cheap shortcut to emotional maturity for a teenaged character, and I hate it.

- Louis and Claudia are both Black, and this matters still. Being vampires doesn’t change the way they have to navigate the world because you can’t kill everyone who engages in fuckery, can you.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Ep6 - Rewind the Tape

"After Louis tells Claudia that Lestat wants him to know he's still cheating, Claudia compares Lestat to her rapist, with the show literally putting Bruce's image over his. Immediately after, Louis' narration tells us he'd become numb and dissociated, "a vessel of acceptance." What do you think Claudia, Louis, and the show itself are suggesting about consent in this new domestic arrangement?"

@iwtvfanevents

A lot of the fandom H A T E S that Claudia was raped (even more than the Loustat fight), and they especially hate what Rolin Jones said about it toughening her up. But despite its inclusion/execution/explanation, I DO see where RJ was going with it all; as I've also mentioned how Claudia & Louis were deliberately put on the same level, as were Lestat and Bruce.

We know Carol Cutshall designed Lestat's matador costume for the "villain sequence" in Ep5 to emphasize his patriarchal hegemony over "the housewife and the mistake." Matador in Spanish literally means "killer." Through the matador costume, AMC brilliantly tied the Wolfkiller Lestat with Bruce the Killer.

We also have a hard time w/ instances of physical/sexual violence by Les against Lou--I saw a spicy post just the other day about whether or not the Disassociating scene was Les raping Lou or not.

I think in Lou's mind, sex with Les while he was disassociating wasn't rape. Louis himself pointed out that Lestat's affair with Antoinette was all tangled up in Lou's lack of libido due to his diet; and his later depression, ignoring Les' "considerable considerables." He WANTS Lestat ("I wanted him dead, I wanted him all to myself"), and when he comes back online he IS into it, cuz he loves the stupid man. I think he DOES consent, and TRIES to stay present--but "there were THREE of you" in that bed, and in that relationship.

I think in Claudia's mind, Lestat really was raping Louis. I think SHE had put Lestat & Bruce on the same level, convinced that Les felt the same way about Lou that Bruce did about her--and that Lou felt the same way about Les that she did--not understanding Loustat at all.

Claudia trips people up a lot wrt arrested development & stunted growth--she's either a little girl or a SUPER old woman or both or neither. How much can she REALLY know, process & experience?

Cuz in some ways, AMC!Lestat (& book!Louis) kinda did rape Claudia. Aside from the more sexual meaning, one can take "rape" in the original Latin sense (rapio/rapere: "to snatch, grab, carry off, abduct, rape, steal"); or we can take it in the vampiric sense, turning Claudia without her consent, and force/violence done to one's fledglings. Les is a bad Maker to Louis, but GODAWFUL to Claudia.

Lestat even puts himself above & beyond Bruce, saying he can and WILL do far worse than "defiling her pocket;" he'll KILL her.

Lestat snatched away Claudia's consent, & snatched her from the train crying & sobbing. He violated her autonomy just like he'd violated her privacy by reading her diary when Louis told him not to.

And what's sad is that because Claudia's a sadist like her father, she was initially charmed by Bruce & how he killed; just like she was charmed by Lestat's "extravagant" killing style. "He had a way about him." AMC!Claudia's the one who gives Bruce his epithet, but in the books his his name's just Killer (IIRC he's never given a real name).

But we soon see the gradual jadedness in Claudia. Her killing loses the bubbly giggling glee from her early years, as she becomes cold & far more calculating/methodical. Plus, she realizes that the men in her life that she initially THOUGHT were great heroes & "knights" & "angels" that had saved her, were really just HELL DEMONS. Lestat's not a cheeky "Brat" anymore, he's the frikkin Devil. The "darkness in her that wasn't there before" Lestat talks about is just REALITY; the dawning realization that Lestat, Louis, Bruce, NONE of these men were good to her. All good things died with Charlie.

She's desperate to go to Europe, cuz she's holding onto hope like a lifeline, that not all vampires are as bad as Bruce & Lestat. Unfortunately, Lestat was right when he said they're actually vicious and "far worse" in Europe. 😬

[positively--speculative]

It's really unfortunate that a number of people (mostly white people) in the IWTV fandom here on Tumblr seem to have this watered down view of the gothic genre as "cool, sexy monster stuff." I mean, yeah. That's *part* of it, but that's like, a very high school Hot Topic view of it. I mean, nothing wrong with liking the stuff you did in high school or Hot Topic, but it shows a lack of a deeper understanding.

I know I've ragged on Anne Rice a lot here, but I honestly think that this is partly her responsibility. Did she craft interesting characters? Yes. Did she give them flaws? Yes. But does she do a good job of challenging them? Not really. In fact, the way she frames then makes it seem like they're not flaws at all. I can accept the fact that slavery was normalized in Louis time, but I cannot accept the idea if no one in the story challenging it. It is not unreasonable for Daniel to be attracted to Louis during the interview, but at the very least, he should be uncomfortable with his attraction to him. Sometimes bad people are still attractive. That's an uncomfortable truth. But AR doesn't handle it this way. She never addresses it.

So, it's really not hard to understand why her fandom carries such limited views on uncomfortable matter, because her writing didn't challenge them to feel uncomfortable with their attraction to Louis. To Lestat. To even fucking Marius (who I won't get into here. Other people have already written about him here and have done so better than I can). AR made the sexy vampire books, and her fans just go along with all the awful things they do because, hey, they're monsters and it's cool because they live outside human expectations of morality (even though Louis was awful before becoming a monster). AR presents shock value, but doesn't address what's shocking. Her fandom, in fact, seems to take pride in illustrating no shock over what is shocking. This, in my opinion, is an illustration of *failure* to create an effective gothic story.

The show does a much better job, in my opinion, at presenting something gothic. I, a Black biracial woman of the audience, should not be attracted to Lestat. But I *am.* I shouldn't be attracted to Louis, but I *am.* I shouldn't be looking at their family dynamic with Claudia in her earlier days as a vampire through heart-shaped lenses, but I *do.* And it's uncomfortable. It's supposed to be. And I think Daniel's character does a good job of bringing the audience back into the horrible reality of the situation and causes us to check ourselves.

And I think white fandom really does a disservice to Jacob Anderson *AND* Sam Reid by trying to argue with Black fandom over the subject of race. Racism is a central theme in this version of the story. But they don't want us to talk about it, because they're uncomfortable with it. They'd rather pretend it doesn't exist and doesn't need to be discussed. But it's *supposed* to make them uncomfortable. They're just not used to seeing the benefits of being challenged, because AR never did. And unfortunately, they're missing out in a very fulfilling part of enjoying the story because they want to keep themselves in a little bubble where they can pat each other on their backs for not being shocked by shocking things and never growing as people.

[lou-iz-stat]

We are officially 7 weeks away from Interview with the Vampire season 2 !!!!! So that means that it is time for a rewatch each week that will eventually lead up to the premiere.

This post will be my rewatch of episode 1 and it will include observations that relate to the rest of the season so there will be spoilers for season 1 as well as book spoilers. I will also make some predictions for season 2 since I have seen that amazing extended trailer I haven’t been able to get out of my head since. So with that here is my rewatch of episode 1…

IWTV S1 E1: In Throes of Increasing Wonder

The first thing we see is of course Daniel’s little master class commercial that is there to quickly establish what his character is. I have seen a lot of reactions to this first episode from people and they are always confused of if they are watching the right show (lol).

Next we are in Daniel’s apartment in New York which at first glance might not seem like something that is very important but there are so many clues that can be scene there. The bite mark on his neck, THE PUZZLE, the little pink bike helmet. That damn puzzle has confused many of us in the fandom and it could be a clue for something in season 2 when we get to uncover some of Daniel’s missing memories. I have a feeling like it could be from a different painting that Marius or even Armand has done. Only time will tell.

Even when he starts to listen to the tape he is afraid when he realizes that he could be living some of his past trauma by listening to these tapes but he still finds the strength go all the way to Dubai for a second interview.

I also don’t mind that the pandemic is included in this as we are still feeling the affects of it right now.

I also really like that they made Daniel old and have Parkinson’s in the show since it really brings Daniel’s mortality to the forefront and for the reason why he can afford to be so sassy and can push back since he knows he is at the end of his life anyway.

And of course Rashid (Armand) is sitting in a chair in the background. Armand is here from the beginning probably telepathically talking to Louis. And he talks to Daniel for the first time in probably awhile and in hindsight it is pretty funny how butthurt Armand gets at Daniel not wanting him there for the interview but he’ll still be able to hear. 🙄

With inclusion of Storyville and the masterful change of Louis’s race it really elevated Louis’s character from the books. Because of this change it gives the character of Louis some more bite, because of his race he is forced to show an illusion of strength. It just gives him so much more depth so that a modern audience can really connect with him. No matter what anybody says they HAD to change Louis from being a slave owner! Nobody wants a protagonist that owned people like that. And this act of strength that Louis does against his brother is what initially got Lestat to be interested in him in the first place. Everything just flows together so well in this first episode.

Right out the gate they establish Louis trying to distract himself from his closeted self by him seeing Ms. Lily. And with that we meet the gentleman vampire, Lestat. I must admit that when I first watched this I had some reservations about this version of Lestat because as I watched his accent kind of confused me but as the episode goes on, he definitely wins me over and I grew to love Sam’s voice. Sam’s Lestat is definitely what made fall in love with this character.

I never noticed how animalistic they made Lestat sound as he ripped into the lamplighter but his growls are insane.

The way Louis smiles at Lestat when he sucks at playing poker is so cute. ☺️

This is where we first see Lestat’s ability to spellbind a room. If this is the amount of power that Lestat has then I am sure that Armand’s power is going to be out of this world. And this is also the moment Lestat really wins Louis over by connecting to Louis hardship at being mistreated by the Alderman and Thomas Anderson. He also references his own past with the line “protection from the wolves.”

Love that Lestat references more his past from The Vampire Lestat at the Pointe du Lac dinner including his mom, Gabrielle who we will hopefully meet in s3. And knowing his past everything he says about his falling out with religion is sadly very true. 😢 Classic Lestat fuck up though… oh boy. 😭

The line “Dishonesty breeds dishonesty” is an interesting line. I know it proves true later on in the season but will it also prove true in s2?

🤣 The gay panic in Louis’s eyes when Lestat asks him up for a night cap is so good. Jacob Anderson you will always be famous.

Our first Nicki reference when Lestat talks about the music box which was Lestat’s first love.

The first scene in Lestat’s townhouse is iconic indeed but it is also where Lestat is slipping in the idea of Louis becoming his companion. 🥹 And when Louis pounces on Lestat I totally screamed with joy when I first watch this. It is so important to me. And the move that Lestat does to Louis when he goes behind him will definitely be a move that we see Louis replicate on Armand. No matter how much Louis will want to forget Lestat it will never work. lol

A reference to Daniel and Louis’s first meeting that will see later was good to set up now.

Seeing Louis actually getting to have a good time with his family for once before it all goes to shit really helps make what happens later especially tragic.

“Come to me” comes up a lot in The Vampire Lestat but it’s not Lestat saying it, it is usually what Armand says to Lestat. I wonder if this will come up later in s2.

Many have raved about Jacob Anderson’s performance but it truly is one the greatest performances of all time, especially his performance is the confession box and I’m sure he only be better in s2 if that’s even possible.

Along side that this whole scene in the church is so brilliant from beginning to end. The speech that Lestat gives to Louis. Killing of the priests. The kiss. The confession of love. The speech modern day Louis says. And the turning of Louis. All. So. Perfect.

And there you have it the end of my s1 e1 rewatch. If you are still reading this then thank you for sticking with my rambling ass. Hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of the episodes in the coming weeks.

7 more weeks. We can do this!

[leslutdepointedulac]

*crashes through your door like big bird*

🗿 give us the rundown on how you got here! which was the first vc book you ever read? what made you decide to seek out vc fandom on tumblr?

Okay, buckle up ya'll because this is a decently long story.

So I would argue it actually started waaaayy back when I was a wee child, say about 6-7ish maybe. I would see the IWTV film on TV all the time and me being obsessed with vampires, I really wanted to watch it. Idk how I knew but somehow I had the knowledge that it was a very famous vampire story with queer characters and that it was supposed to be really good, so naturally I was like "I wanna watch that!" But my parents wouldn't let me because it's an 18 and I was a child (not that this stopped me fr begging them though lmao). This happened several times throughout my childhood and each time my parents would be like "No you're too young, you can watch it when you're older."

Skip to when I was around 15 I think, and I had this friend in school whose house I went to quite often. I was round for a sleepover one time and they told me there was this film with a banging soundtrack they wanted to show me. That film was QOTD. We watched it and I thought it was pretty decent (fyi I can't stand that film now, but the soundtrack still slaps. And Akasha! Aaliyah absolutely killed it!). When I went home the next day I told my parents what I had done at my friend's house, and that we had watched QOTD and they were like "Oh, the sequal to IWTV". Now bear in mind, I'd forgotten all about IWTV by this point and then it all came back to me and I was like "Omg no way!"

However, I still didn't watch IWTV and I forgot about it all over again. Until 2 years ago. I for the life of me cannot remember how or why I suddenly remembered it at the time, but I was chilling in bed and it came to me. So I found IWTV and watched it for the first time in my life (I was 19 at this point) and lemme tell you. It was worth waiting 19 years of my life. I loved it and thought how it was insane I'd only just now seen it, but better late than never.

Then I forgot about it again lmao. Until the 3rd November 2022. I remembered (again, idk how or why) that I had heard about an IWTV TV show so I found it and watched it and I thought "huh, that was pretty good. I like this!" And so I became obsessed.

Then I decided I wanted to read the books so in December of 2022 I bought IWTV, TVL and QOTD (it's all three in one book) and I started reading the series from the very beginning. I got even more obsessed and kept buying the series until I had them all and read through the whole thing.

In February on 2023 I joined tumblr for the VC fandom, because I had seen VCblr posts on Pinterest and thought it looked fun, so naturally I joined in.

And that more or less takes us up to now really lol. I'm still here and even more obsessed than ever. My obsession is primarily on the books since I read them. I kinda moved from the show to the books but I still have a deep appreciation for the show because that's what brought me here to the fandom in the first place. (And I still love the film too.)

I also recently, in the past couple of months, made friends with a group of people here in the fandom and I'm so glad to know them and be friends with them (including you, of course @hekateinhell 💖). I've been in many fandoms before this one, but this is the first one I've been so active in and the first one I've made friends in. I love ya'll, and I love talking to you all 🥰💕💕

Anyway, it's a long story as to how I got here 😅 It's like these vampires have always been in my life in one way or another.

Sorry this was such a ramble but yeah. There's practically my whole VC life story 😂

[indelicateink]

Do you personally see show lestat and claudia as 'mother/daughter' as other ppl in fandom describe them? In your opinion, do you see that kind of dynamic between them or do you see it more with louis/claudia? Also, do you see show lestat and louis as the 'husband/wife' dynamic that the fandom has assigned them or do you view them as something else?

what a terrifying incendiary question in this fandom lol. ey it's a monday and my irl is on fire let's do it

to me, parents louis and lestat are beyond the binary and i am smitten with that. each with a bit of both, breaking definitions. the lines blur, i love it.

I see them both as "masculine" in a way we don't get to see much in media--blended with unapologetic "feminine."

louis portrays himself as the affectionate, protective, tender parent. louis brings claudia home, claudia is "born" on his side of the bed. I think he can still be a father and be gentle and vulnerable. I respect that in dealing with stereotypes we need a way to talk about that role and historically it may get labeled mother. but I still question the label for him. personally I often lean away from calling louis "mother" because it's maybe too easy and I'm contrary, and him getting to be all those things and still be father is much more fascinating to me. but I'm cool with both.

louis portrays lestat as insensitive, jealous, domineering, and reckless in his parenting. lestat "births" claudia on their bed, literal life-giving blood and all. in his retelling louis focuses on lestat as intensely jealous of louis's love of/attention to claudia, and centralizes his cruel bitchery. lestat is such a trope mix: I think jealousy of a daughter is often seen as something a mother would have, but louis also describes him as violent, controlling, and physically intimidating, things we could associate with a father. i love that he defies neat categorization, and I embrace the thoughtful meta i've read that firmly believe one or the other.

side note: something that makes me a little deranged is that we don't know lestat's side of the story yet lol. how he saw the family roles. beyond iwtv, book!lestat loved claudia, so if they go there...i mean, whole new layers in play.

so you can probably guess how i roll on the husband/wife labels.

there are so many interesting angles to explore, I don't want to be limited! i.e., yeah I want that tasty wife!louis/husband!lestat fic and then i want to click over to the delicious husband!louis/wife!lestat story. and I want stories of them beyond the binary. and i want their roles all mixed up and opening our eyes and questioning our assumptions. and i want all the meta.

[hekateinhell]

#vcficfriday 🦇

Food for Love (1944 words) by @auntyeater

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Armand/Denis (Vampire Chronicles) Characters: Armand (Vampire Chronicles), Denis (Vampire Chronicles), Santiago (Vampire Chronicles), Celeste (Vampire Chronicles), Estelle (Vampire Chronicles) Additional Tags: Food, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Feeding, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Blood Drinking, Canon Compliant, Underage Drinking, Threats of Violence, One Shot, Not Beta Read Summary: Armand feeds and is fed.

This is such a great peek into what Denis's every day life with Armand might've looked like and what informed the predator/pray, master/slave dynamic that Louis saw — just fucked me up in the best way!! Feels so true to the Armand we met in IWTV; cruel and deliberate yet still so gentle and enticing.

We as a fandom don't talk about Denis enough and I think it's a shame because THERE'S SO MUCH to be explored here even with the little tidbits of information we have and this fic did it beautifully. 🥹🙏🏼

We Are the Dead (6677 words) by @nothing-but-paisley

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Armand/Daniel Molloy, Armand/Marius de Romanus Characters: Armand (Vampire Chronicles), Daniel Molloy, Lestat de Lioncourt, Marius de Romanus, Bianca Solderini, Louis de Pointe du Lac, Pandora (Vampire Chronicles), Benji Mahmoud, Sybelle (Vampire Chronicles) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Palace Intrigue, Vampire Politics, mention of the war in Ukraine, Blood Drinking, Gore, Dismemberment, consensual throat tearing, Just Armand Things, mentions of previous Armand/Marius, Maker Angst Series: Part 1 of Knight of Swords Summary: Armand's newfound domesticity gets interrupted when he is summoned to Court for mysterious reasons.

This is simply one of the best post-canon fics I've ever read. I love when the horror aspect of vampires isn't shied away from and honestly, I adore Armand when he's being a monster. 🥹 The premise here is so fucking unique too, I don't want to spoil it but GUYS YOU HAVE TO READ THIS LMAO IT'S SO TOPICAL. And there's so much going on with Armand's relationships with Daniel, Marius, Lestat — and even Pandora and Bianca! I cry!!!!!!

I didn't get to read/reread a lot of fic this week (I usually like to do a quick reread if I haven't read it in a while) so it's only two for today but to be fair, there's two parts to the Knight of Swords series and you should read them BOTH so ykw I'm counting it as three! ♥️

*and if you're wondering what exactly #vcficfriday is, please feel free to check it out here! 🥹

[seiya-starsniper]

Intros, tags and writing masterpost

Hi there! I'm Seiya, aka starsniper! (she/her) This is my blog for assorted blorbo posting and writing, hope you enjoy your stay 😄 I'm updating this post for 2024, and it's a doozy so most of it will be under a cut! Most of the info is the same, so if you've been here a while, don't fret! If you're new, this post is a pretty good rundown of me and my blog.

Writing Stuff:

AO3 Account: starsniper. You can also read my fics on Google Docs!

I'm also on Discord! The Sadman is a multi-ship open server for the Sandman fandom and it's an amazing community! I've even got my own little author's corner there called Seiya's Sexy Scribbles. Come find me and say hello!

Taking Requests?: I am! Send me anything that crosses your mind, with fandom and ship please!

Transformative Works: Consider this blanket permission to create any type of transformative work based off what I've written! I only ask you let me know what you've created either using the "Inspired By" link on AO3 or tagging me on Tumblr, just because I love, love, love seeing that sort of thing.

Tag Library:

As my blog is multi-fandom, as well as multi-ship, I've made a tag library! The main purpose of this library is so that I can more easily find my tagged posts, but it is also for my followers, who may want to find those same posts, or want to blacklist certain tags and topics present on my blog. Feel free to copy my format if you so desire, it's pretty simple! The library is under the cut, and will be updated a lot in the coming weeks as I wrangle more of my blog into some sense of organization. While the library does not consist of every tag I've ever used (that would be too much!), it does contain what I consider the most important ones.

Lastly, some of the tags will have links, and some will not! Tumblr has a link limit of 100 links per post to control spam posts, so only the tags that are useful for me and others to use as a quick search function will be linked. Tags that are more useful for blacklist purposes will not be linked, however you can still search that tag by typing the below link into your browser: https://www.tumblr.com/seiya-starsniper/tagged/[tag name here]

General Tags:

#seiya talks (all my original posts and ramblings)

#seiya answers (answers out of my ask box! Also includes fic prompt requests)

#seiya gets tagged (for all the tag games!)

#icons by seiya (tumblr icons I've made)

#gifs by seiya (gifs I've made)

#ask game (posts with ask games I reblog. send me an ask on anything you'd like!)

#original art (non-fandom art)

General Fandom Tags:

Note: Some of these tags are more active than others, this list is mainly for my own indexing, and not indicative of how active I am in a certain fandom. A lot posts under these tags will consist of reblogs unless tagged with one of my personal tags.

#the sandman

#dungeon meshi

#dndhat (dungeons & dragons: honor among thieves)

#loki (general loki tag, use #loki tv for only the tv series)

#ofmd (our flag means death)

#bnha (sometimes #my hero academia)

#yugioh (sometimes #ygo)

#fullmetal alchemist (sometimes #fma)

#gossip girl

#blue eye samurai

#interview with the vampire (sometimes #iwtv)

#ao3 (posts about AO3, mostly memes, but may include discourse)

Current Projects/WIPs tags:

#set the night on fire wip

#omegaverse forced marriage wip

#morphienne hell invasion wip

#dreamling memory loss wip

#hobrinthian: hob gets the skull au

#dreamling omegaverse regency wip sequel

General Writing tags:

#writing prompt games (send me a writing prompt from these posts! no post is too old to pick from 😄)

#seiya writes (all of my writing, across all fandoms)

#seiya drabbles (short fics/ask requests, usually under 1.5k words)

#seiya's wip previews (for snippets and previews on what I'm working on)

#wip inspo (things that might turn into fics! feel free to bother me about any of the ones that interest you!)

Sandman Fandom specific writing tags:

#seiya writes dreamling (dream x hob)

#seiya writes corintheus (dream x corinthian)

#seiya writes hobrinthian (hob x corinthian)

#seiya writes corinthienne (corinthian x lucienne)

#seiya writes gaulcienne (gault x lucienne)

#seiya writes hellmuse (johanna x calliope)

#seiya writes dreamuse (dream x calliope)

#seiya writes morphienne (dream x lucienne)

#seiya writes constantdream (dream x johanna)

#seiya writes sandflower (dream x nuala)

Past Writing Events & Challenges I've written for:

Note: these are links to specific masterposts, as well as tagged posts

Seiya's Monsterfucktober Bingo Fills

Sandman Femslash Weekend

Dreamling Bingo Masterpost

Smut May (Smay) Drabble Masterpost (multi-ship)

Smut April (Smapril) Drabble Masterpost (multi-ship)

Smut March (Smurch) Drabble Masterpost (multi-ship)

Centennial Husbands Big Bang

Sandman Fandom Tags:

Note: Because of the sheer volume of dreamling content, I've broken content for the ship out into multiple tags. I've also kept dreamling content entirely out of the #sandman fanart tag as well due to having followers who do not ship dreamling. Other non-dreamling ships may be included in that tag as a result, though those posts will use the appropriate ship tag as well. The same goes for #sandman fic rec as a catch all for non-dreamling fanfic, as well as gen fic.

#sandman fanart

#sandman fic rec

#sandman comics spoilers (anything not covered in season 1 of the Netflix adaptation)

#sandman s2 spoilers (anything related to the filming of Season 2, and Season 2 content when it airs!)

Dreamling Tags:

#dreamling fic rec (dreamling stories I've read and loved!)

#dreamling headcanon (dreamling fanfic adjacent posts)

#dreamling fanart (fanart that I love!)

Other Sandman Ships Tags:

#hobrinthian (hob x corinthian)

#corintheus (dream x corinthian)

#hellmuse (johanna x calliope)

#gaulcienne (gault x lucienne)

#corinthienne (corinthian x lucienne)

#calliene (calliope x lucienne)

#morphienne (dream x lucienne)

#constantdream (dream x johanna)

Other Fandom Shipping Tags:

Note: Same deal as the general fandom tags, some of these are more active than others, and will mostly be reblogs moreso than original content. This section is entirely self-indulgent for me, but also gives others a good idea as to what I ship. I'm very ship and let ship these days, so please don't try to debate me on ships, I won't answer.

#00Q

#taimizu

#xedgin

#thorki

#lokius

#steelatom

#atomwave

Fandom Discourse Tags:

Note: I don't like to participate in discourse, please don't tag me in it. Any past discussions I've been involved in have been resolved between myself and the parties that matter to me. That said, I will occasionally reblog discussions others may prefer not to see, so the below tags are for your convenience. I have these tags linked for my own archiving purposes.

#sandman discourse

#sandman critique

#fandom racism

#fandom discourse

#fandom wank

#ao3 discourse

Content Warning, Squicks and Trigger Tags:

Note: Posts with these tags will include informational/educational posts as well, just to keep things neatly organized. Since this list will inevitably get longer, I will not link any of these tags, but please feel free to blacklist them. I will do my best to try to tag more sensitive topics and also go back and tag older posts but it may take a while! Please let me know if I missed anything.

#nsft (general explicit content tag, if you wanted to avoid all of it)

#bugs (happy to tag a more specific bug)

#spiders

#snakes/#snek

#omegaverse

#pregnancy/#pregnancy kink

#dubcon

#noncon

#infidelity

#age gap

#animal hybrid (all animal hybrids here: centaur, naga, merfolk, minotaur, etc)

#tentacle sex

#interspecies (i.e: human/alien, human/centaur, etc)

#monsterfucker/#monsterfucking (usually also covered by interspecies)

#teacher/student

#racism

#misogyny

#transphobia

Politics tags:

#us politics

#global politics

#palestine

#voting

As a reminder, this post is a live document and will be updated as I find time to do so or, if I think of new tags I want to track and add to this post. I am happy to add additional tags if you reach out to me via DM or via non-anonymous ask. While I do have anon asks on for other purposes, since tagging is a sensitive subject, I will NOT answer anon requests for tags on my blog. If you are concerned about sending an ask from your main blog vs side-blog, Tumblr does let you send DMs from a side-blog, and I'd be happy to talk to you from there. Thanks for understanding!

[squirrellypoo]

I will be your blood loss consultant

Hey IWTV fic writers - want to ensure your character's blood loss feels realistic? Got a situation where a petit coup has gone too far, or a character got gravely injured? I've got a unique perspective to offer to the fandom - I've lived for extended periods of time with extremely low blood counts* and I'm happy for you to send me WIP snippets or to ask for advice on blood loss storylines.

To break it down a bit further, from my experience, how being low on the different types of blood feels/affects you:

Red blood cells - Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body, so if you're low on these, you're effectively low on oxygen in the blood. This is the most obvious, but you feel really sluggish, tired, and will be breathing heavily at the slightest physical exertion. Physically, it kinda feels like you're moving underwater, and your limbs feel heavy, and even short walks feel hard. (I went from running 10km 3x a week to getting out of breath just walking up stairs, for example). Cognition is fine, but frequent naps are a requirement.

Platelets - Platelets are what allow your blood to clot and heal cuts, so a lack of these means you bleed and bleed for a long time. But also you bruise super easily, and bruises last a really long time (weeks/months). You can also have spontaneous burst blood vessels in the whites of your eyes. Parts of your body that wouldn't normally bleed also do - like waking up to blood on the pillow because your gums bled overnight. The most unexpected part for me was having a constant background rushing sound in my ears - kinda like holding a seashell up, but all the time (until a transfusion).

White blood cells / neutrophils - A lack of these doesn't make you feel that different, tbh, but a lack of WBC means you can't fight off viruses so you pick up every single cough and cold, and have it for twice as long as normal people. A lack of neutrophils means you can't fight off bacteria, so your body's normal bacterial cohabitors cause problems that can really mess you up. So you've got to be insanely conscientious about what you eat (no runny eggs, unpasteurised cheeses, raw vegetables!), and brush your teeth and mouthwash after you ingest anything. You'll really only need to worry about these symptoms though if you've got low blood levels for an extended period of time (several weeks+).

Overall though, I've described the extreme examples. If your character is young and healthy, they will probably only experience the red blood loss symptoms (and possibly minor platelet symptoms) for a few days, depending on how much blood was lost. If they're in a situation where a hospital would give transfusions, be aware that you'll only ever be given enough to get you out of the dangerously low territory, never so much that you'd be "back to normal" counts after the transfusion(s). But transfusions do make you feel better almost instantly (better, but not good).

But again, feel free to message me with any specific questions (I can also tell you how chemo, meningitis, spinal taps, surgery w/o anaesthetic feels if that's of use!), I'm happy to talk about all this and I want to give back to this fandom and IWTV fanfic writers in particular to say thanks for the hundreds of hours of enjoyment you all have given me!

* I'm absolutely fine now! Over my lifetime, though, I've survived off the blood of literally hundreds of people. A bone marrow transplant saved my life 14 years ago and I run marathons now and am probably healthier than most 40-somethings, except I'm still Clinically Extremely Vulnerable to Covid and can't go into crowded places or unmask indoors. But my bloods have been fine for over a decade and this is in no way traumatic for me to talk about!

Please consider joining your country's bone marrow donor registry and/or donating blood regularly if you're able to! Both saved my life.

[blueiight]

whew this conversation on misogynoir and claudia. if there's one character where there's no legitimate reason to hate her it's claudia. she's literally the embodiment of has never done anything wrong in her life. i hope someone (not me 😩) explores the childism angle wrt to claudia. because people be hating children and wanting to dominate them.

the fun of claudia's character is that she isnt a good person by any real life morals. by way of her youth, she could not develop enough understanding of complex moral codes [which is even more prominent w/ claudia being turned @ the age of 5 in books but even then.. ik at 14, i was hardly the pinnacle of morality and maturity, i was reckless & destructive, and did not understand consequence until it kicked my ass]. the moral dilemma of the actual brutality of vampirism is something shes certainly better at disassociating from than louis simply bc she was too young to understand right & wrong.. as iwtv novel said and the title of ep4 is, it is the reckless pursuit of blood w/ a child's demanding in ep4 that leads claudia to killing & disposing of bodies recklessly, a hurricane hitting lifting the bodies up, and her leaving. even tho shes a 20 something woman, lestat x louis tried to give her a second [or her first] childhood, and most importantly, her brain is permanently metasized w/ the thought patterns & responses of a poor 14 year old girl who came out of a fire on the verge of death. she leaves bc she cognitively is unprepared for & does not want to deal w/ the consequences that come with exposing this household of interracial gay dudes w/ a creole chid during the jim crow days to heightened police scrutiny. the question w/ claudia [& armand, and all these creatures] is that can u recognize their capacity for cruelty, the tragedy & loss of agency/life done upon them and still sympathize with them? for claudia, people already had a 50/50 view of her in vc fandom for 'getting in the way of the ship' esp w/ her oedipal [mutual] dynamic w louis, but in amc show, the relationship's certainly changed on louis's end. i cant say amc louis has the capacity to long after any woman much less claudia in that way, but there is a sense of [co]dependency on a black girlwoman thats much more interesting here. i got a post on that somewhere lol. im not sure what childism means but im guessing it refers to the denial of humanity children face by adults, and i definitely find that true. lestat and louis both want to keep claudia preserved in their memory as their little girl, lestat even moreso when claudia begins to question & challenge his authority as the patriarch.. louis picks & chooses when to regard claudia as a grown woman [saying shes almost 33 to lestat when she comes back, and when she cooks up the plan to kill lestat, evening himself out to be merely one of lestat's creations when he asks "can the children kill the father" to ease his guilt for his love and his hate for their maker, their abuser, his husband, alladat] and when to regard claudia as his child [even in the modern day when he talks about her, being protective of her diaries in the face of the white interviewer/audiences]. fans saying 'yea lestat, claudia should stay out of ur lovelife' is hilarious cuz lestat dragged claudia back into their lovelife in the permanent role as their child, when she wanted to leave in ep6, and made her to keep louis attached to him [cuz he thinks louis couldnt keep loving him otherwise]. shes a rhetorical device in the marriage: lestat loves her cruelty, louis loves her innocence, bc those aspects of claudia remind them of [how they see] themselves. misogynoir & childism, as u word it, may play into fans’s disinterest but also favoring an interpretation of claudia within the lines of their preferred party btwn lestat x louis, which is also why i giggle to myself when ppl tag claudia w/ either one of their surnames

[ca-suffit]

Virginia's black anon has to be anon because we all know the only accounts who associate with her already and it's only 3 at most 😂 I guess nobody can make fake accounts when it's supposed to be for a black fan they don't hate.

There have been some racists comments floating around, but I never saw that from your blog.

Get your reading glasses then girl.

Your opinions have been a reflection of Louis as a character and not about Jacob as a black man.

This is where this nonny comment reads white as hell because what the fuck does this even mean? These are not separate things, baby. Louis is still a black man too! That's your whole fucking problem.

You can defend Jacob all day and say you love black people all day and still say the most antiblack shit ever in the next breath. You've been being told this and instead of listening, you and others keep targeting black fans as some kind of ignorant, illiterate mob out to get you. Idek why you started doing this but THAT is the antiblack part. It's not all just about claiming you "accept" this or that. You also have to actually DO THAT PART. Now it's clear why you think black fans gently teasing Jacob's hair is the real racism while you call Louis, Claudia, and Armand liars and manipulators solely to protect the character of Lestat (the REAL victim to you) and don't see a problem with it. This is why the white fandom mindset is dumb and dangerous af because it leads to stripping race from everything and defaulting to whiteness. This is why your insistence on "the books!!!" is bullshit and nobody cares, because the books are about white people and you're acting like that's still what this is when it's not! And when anyone says otherwise you make a big dramatic show of how you're being unfairly attacked.

IWTV fandom needs a scapegoat and that will be me so here’s my controversial takes..

And here's Neil's stupid ass once again missing the point of anything and still going on about fictional shit instead of reflecting on her antiblackness as well (why does everyone talk like a cartoon villain too lol). You love being the victim and changing topics instead of directly addressing anything. You all are the ones always saying you're such big critical thinkers, yet someone comes and spells it out real slow for you over and over and you still miss the point. This is why nobody is afraid of you or even takes you seriously, you're so fucking constantly stupid.

-way WAYYYY before the show I had a theory for the book that Louis killed Paul but now I’m afraid to talk about it even though it would make so much sense to him refusing to be labeled as a “killer”

Why are you so afraid to talk about it? Afraid the big, mean black fans might call you racist? If you have things to say, why don't you say them? Stop being such a baby about it. It's always the loudest mouths who want to say "I'm so scared u guys" over things that anyone else could just talk about. You're afraid to be called a racist because you only think about yourself and have nothing to really say after all.

You're the only ones who constantly move goalposts when it comes to talking about Louis. You make up this intentionally manipulative shit to say it's others (really just black fans tbh) who strip away Louis as a full character by not wanting him labeled as a liar or "bad person" but then you go around slinging this horseshit. If you think he killed Paul then write your big essay why. Why are you holding back now because they're black, you giant ass coward? Say it if you're gonna say it. This half assed ready-to-go-victim shit is ugly. I thought you were a tough book reader who could handle big topics. Pick a side already, asshole.

[cbrownjc]

loumand shippers are mostly brown and black people who are first and foremost happy to see and interracial gay relationship without a white in it.

they will never turn on loumand or assad because for them it's less about the show and more about the representation.

they're also the smallest group in the fandom when you think of the three main ships. loustat, loumand, dm.

Hey Anon,

I mean, I kinda don't want to assume. I'm sure there are some white fans who ship Armand and Louis too. But I admit I do feel like many who do are as you say, people are drawn to a non-white interracial couple.

And I don't have a problem with that. I fully understand that. Hell, it's a rare thing to see in any medium. And if they are fine with accepting that Armand isn't going to morph into some noble good guy and will be doing some problematic things, just like other characters in this story, that's fine too. Again I and no one has ever asked them to stop shipping Armand and Louis because of the things Armand will do. Or turn on the ship.

The actors however no, I'm not confident about that. And not just because of what some of them are saying about Sam. But because of what I'm hearing is being said about Jacob too.

Apparently, some people have called Jacob a sell-out in regard to this stuff, particularly it seems because he's friends and close with Sam. Jacob, who went through some of the most racist backlashes in almost any fandom due to his casting, is being called this and having people question why he is so close with and hangs out with Sam so much instead of Assad.

So forgive me but no, at the moment I have little faith Assad is going to escape some of this when even Jacob hasn't, apparently.

And lord forbid either one of them say anything nice about Sam, or that their characters both actually love Lestat. Because, you know, as far as canon goes, Louis and Armand both do love Lestat too. Deeply.

This does not negate the love and understanding Armand and Louis have for each other, of course. But that is just a nuance here that I feel is going to go over a lot of these people's heads. It seems to whenever many of us in fandom have tried to explain it before now.

I don't usually mind shipper back and forths. I've engaged in my own in different fandoms, as anyone who goes through my Tumblr archives can see. I don't really do it for IWTV and VC fandom simply because I'm so drawn to the poly nature of Rice's vampires than I am for any sort of monogamous shipping aspect or idea. I am deeply looking forward to seeing the combinations of everything that's coming in S2.

But I am not looking forward to the actors being attacked or having disparaging things said about them just because Jacob or Assad aren't hanging out with each other more like some think they should, or because they both actually like Sam, or will at some point talk about how each of the characters they play love Sam's character and being called sell-outs for that, or anything else.

Because, again, nothing I'm seeing right now wrt all of this is giving me pause to not expect it to happen. Nothing at all.

And I speak from experience when I say . . . the actors do see or hear this personal stuff that's said about them. You might think they don't, especially if they have limited or no social media. But they still hear about it, even if just through a second hand. For sure.