whatsinanameagain

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I'd like to formally apologize to Netflix, since they clearly won't be the worst modern adaptation of my babies

THEY ARE MAKING MY BABY UNFAITHFUL WHEN THE ONLY CONSTANT IN HER LIFE WAS HER LOVE FOR HER ARCHDUKE

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Re watching Die Kaiserin for the 3rd time and still can't get over the fact that all these productions "we want a liberal couple that struggles with what people expects them to do, are imperfect but try their best that sadly is not enough" decide to push their narrative into Sisi & Franz when they have Max and Charlotte a.k.a damned couple + good intentions + wrong time + toxic love right there

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Thank you

i'm screaming.

they did it on purpose, right?

the lady-in-waiting looks more like Charlotte than the actress meant to portray her...

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Charlotte of México needed a fuckin Netflix series that doesn't even portrays her accurately to be a little bit known

Is she a "forgotten woman of history" or is this just the first time you've personally heard about her?

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"Devoted advisor to reveal true self" here lies my hope and dreams that they actually develop Charlotte true to character 🥲

Showrunner Katharina Eyssen shared some insights on her revising the first draft of The Empress' third season scripts and what is on her vision board for some of the characters.

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I'll never forgive Die Kaiserin for making Maximilian call Charlotte "Marie", knowing very well the fuckin "Maria Amelia of Braganza" situation

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If Rudolph had gotten to know Aunt Charlotte better he would have crushed om her so much

She is shrewd, very observant and sensitive, full of ambition, a granddaughter of Louis Philippe’s and a Coburg! I need say no more! I am very much in love with her, and she is the only person who would have the power of leading me really astray!

— Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria regarding his wife, Stephanie of Belgium. From a letter to General Latour, 2 December 1881 [tr. M.H. Jerome & Eileen O'Connor]

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Die Kaiserin turning them into Max and Charlotte has to be one of the worst crimes commited against both couples

We talk about portrayals of Sisi, but I think that Franz Joseph was, if anything, even more misrepresented by the recent period dramas. How would you rank the portrayals of him you have seen/read (in historical novels)? Is there any piece of historical fiction that actually captures his character accurately?

Hello! YES I always focus on Elisabeth but he is also completely butchered in all these new series. I think I've said it before, but basically it's very hard to reconcile who FJ actually was (both as an emperor and as a person) with him being a love interest we as an audience can root for. Specially in these new adaptations in which Elisabeth is outspoken, mature and actively politically involved in the events of the empire (and not just the Compromise). Why would our Girl Boss protagonist want to be with a man who was bureaucracy made flesh, very conservative, and just kinda boring in general? It doesn't work. Thus, his personality also gets rewritten.

I don't really have a decided ranking, but off the top of my head I'd say these are my least to most favorite portrayals:

Sisi & Ich (2023): Do you hate Sisi adaptations that turn FJ into a horrible, abusive husband in order to make his wife look good? Well, this portrayal does just that. He is only very briefly in the movie but I hated every minute of it, personally I was mostly fine with the movie despite all its inaccuracies but there was one scene from this part that was a deal breaker for me. This movie should've been just two hours of Irma and Elisabeth traveling and nothing else.

Die Kaiserin (2022-): The solution of the screenwriters to the problem of "how do we make FJ likeable?" Basically turning him into his brother Maximilian lol. You see, he has liberal ideas but his evil mother doesn't let him pursue them! Oh, and he had nothing to do with those executions, that was also his mother! In fact everything bad he ever did was all his mother's fault, because he is not even governing, his mother is. By season 2 it almost seems that FJ has absolutely no idea what's going on in his own empire and needs to be explained basic thing like Italian nationalism. This series sanitizes FJ in levels that just aren't seen in any other adaptation, not even the Sissi Trilogy. You are watching the show and can't help but think "who is this guy???". The only thing he has in common with the real FJ is that he loves his wife, but the way their relationship is portrayed is so unlike the real couple that not even that makes him similar to his historical counterpart.

Sisi (2021-2024). This FJ is in the opposite end of the same spectrum as Die Kaiserin's FJ. Season 1 had the original take of not making FJ likeable, but instead they turned him in a borderline cartoonishly evil, violent and smug man. He smiles as he orders executions, he beats his aids for not reason, he openly cheats on his wife and publicly insults her in a fit of jealousy. Honestly I was baffled by this take, because even after all these bizarre changes they still went for a "Sisi and Franz's great love story!" approach for the series. Which was. A choice. They obviously wanted to make him like that so that he could go through a redemption arc thanks to his relationship with Sisi, but it was just not a well written arc, and when his personality does change in later seasons it doesn't feel like earned character grow but simply that the writers decided to tone down their original approach.

Yet I will admit I'm lowkey fond of this portrayal, I liked most of his storyline in season 2 (he spends most of the season bonding with a feral child and also definitely has a thing going on with Andrássy you can't convince me otherwise), and in season 3 I found myself agreeing with him. So yeah, utterly butchered FJ but in an entertaining way at least.

Sissi Trilogy: I'm honestly overall indifferent to this FJ; he is basically the blueprint for every posterior depiction that portrays him as a Prince Charming love interest. Yet, for all the overomantization of Elisabeth's early life, the movies don't shy away from telling us how FJ was directly responsible of the counter revolution executions. We even see how he is still hated in Hungary and Italy (at least until Sissi comes into the scene). A certain show from a certain straming service could learn that it's not necessary to completely sanitize his image and pin all his faults onto his mother to make Franz Josef into a palatable love interest.

Sisi (2009). I feel about this FJ almost the same as I feel about the Sissi Trilogy's FJ, but in this portrayal we do see more of him than just "Sisi's love interest". Also it's not always all the color of roses, he and Elisabeth disagree and fight more than once. His relationship with his brother Max is also really interesting, pity they only interact in like three scenes. Overall a solid take, if a bit romanticized and not particularly remarkable.

Kronprinz Rudolf (2006). Not a bad take but for what I remember they portrayed Taaffe as having this great influence over FJ and putting him against Rudolf. And like no the evil minister was not responsible for FJ distrusting his son He Was Like That.

Elisabeth das Musical: the only depiction on this list that I truly like, and it really proves that the only way to have a good FJ is to not make him into a love interest. He is only a supporting character and yet the musical nails the most important bits of his personality and his relationship with Elisabeth outstandingly well (loved his wife but never understood her, cheated yet still longed for her, let her go but always hoped she would comeback next to him). There's even room to also show his relationship with Rudolfl! The only thing that I don't really like is that they do portray his mother as having a lot of influence over him, but that's mostly because the musical has an outdated take on Sophie (which works pretty well in a storytelling level nonetheless!). Boote in der Nacht is the saddest song in the entire musical, and the musical is not even about FJ and Elisabeth as a couple. Just a great, nuanced and engaging take!

I know I'm missing a lot FJs but these are the ones that came to my mind right now; I don't think I've ever seen Franz Josef in a piece of media that isn't about Elisabeth or Rudolf. Thank you for your question!

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I can't believe it took me too long, but when Napoleon gives Max the muñecas quitapenas saying he brought them from Mexico I was like "what in the actual hell is that? (confused in mexican)" and then it hit me that they actually are from GUATEMALA 😭, of course leave to the european production to don't give af about actual differences between latin american countries and traditions

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I'd be angry at the "you slap me, I slap you" scene if it didn't capture the essence of Maximilian and Charlotte's relationship so perfectly, damn it. They totally got it, surprisingly as it was

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My two cents: they have Maximilian and Charlotte right there

My hottest take: if we must continue to make shows with Empress Elisabeth, I want a long series in the style and spirit of The Crown about Franz Joseph.

I think freeing Sisi from being a girlboss critic-of-monarchy main character would actually be much better.

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"guys I do not condone any of this in real life" "this is fiction" "consent is key. this is only fiction" "murder is bad irl" — I wish fanfic authors didn't feel like they had to clarify this in author's notes or else they might be accused of being abusers or worse (I admit that such disclaimers are also something I personally use for my own stuff because I feel like I had to make it clear). like... people used to not care if an author wrote dead dove fics because people used to understand that ao3 fics are not a reflection of someone's in real life views or morality in any way. people used to understand that fanfics mean what they mean; fan fiction. none of it is real. maybe it's purity culture that normalizes witch hunt and censorship in the past couple years, and therefore authors feel like they have to clarify that just because they write about violence or noncon stuff doesn't mean they're murderers or sex offenders in real life. and I think it sucks that these things (purity and cancel culture?) have made authors feel like they have to apologize for the art they created instead of being proud of their hard work and all the dedication they put into creating these art. artists should not have to feel like they have to apologize for creating art that isn't all rainbow and sunshine. artists should not have to be made to feel ashamed of their own art if it's not all rainbow and sunshine.

I don’t agree with the “you can write noncon and dark fics as long as you make sure your readers get the message that these things are bad” or “you can write noncon and dark fics if it’s your way of coping with your trauma” take either. because writers do not owe you anything. the message writers want to send to their readers — whatever that message may be, if there’s any message or moral of the story for readers to take from the stories at all — is none of your business. why writers write what they write is none of your business. remember “don’t like don’t read”. no one forces you to read anything you don’t like. dark and noncon fics are a form of creative writing and creative writing is a form of art. you can’t pressure artists into creating art that “fit your moral compass” nor can you apply your own moral compass to artists to determine if they can create dark art or not, if their reasoning behind creating dark art passes your moral compass. like… what artists create and why artists create are none of your business. and you don’t get to shame artists for creating art that you hate / art that disgusts you. what you can do is ignore the art because it clearly was not made for you and that’s okay. what isn’t okay is you harassing artists because you don’t like the things they created.

writers, embrace and be proud of your works. as long as all the trigger warnings are tagged properly, you have nothing to apologize for.

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CHARLOTTE OF MEXICO

Everyone should get invested in at least one well-known but often maligned or misrepresented female historical figure. It will give you the formative experience of wanting to fistfight dead old men and bad pop history writers.

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Max and Carla being in love, liked by the public and having enourmous potential, which leads to them being sabotaged due to fears that they may eclipse the main couple in both real life and Netflix be like:

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My babies ❤️ their story still got it

Johannes Nussbaum (Archduke Maximilian) and Josephine Thiesen (Charlotte of Belgium) behind the scenes of the second season of The Empress (2022).

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Also, Marie, really? If anything, they could have gone with "Carla" which is what Max called her anyway.

I'll admit long before "The Empress" existed I got confused on two of Sisi's sisters being named Maria Sophie (or Marie Sophia?) and also Sophie. I know, I know, but honestly did confused me. If the show can pick new names, I think Maria Sophie's third name Amelia (pronounced in the more Italian version of Amalie/Amélie) would be my own choice.

Hi anon! Honestly I think that, if on top of every inaccuracy in that series, they had also renamed Marie as Amalie, I would've become the Joker jfkf.

Ok for real, up to a level I understand wanting to avoid repeating names, specially with such a small cast. Calling Franz Karl just "Karl" is not the end of the world, specially since they didn't write Karl Ludwig into the series. He was a very minor character in season 1 anyway.

But "Princess Marie" is simply inexcusable bad writing. You're creating a series about Elisabeth of Austria and decide to include her brother-in-law Maximilian as a prominent character. You know that Maximilian will get married in 1857 to a Belgium princess called Charlotte who is just as known as him if not more, they're a basically package deal. You expect, I assume, to get multiple seasons. I would also assume, then, that you are planning in covering several years in those seasons. So you know that, eventually, you will have to write said Charlotte into your series, you signed up for that when you included Maximilian in the first place. You also want to keep things simple in your series, so simple in fact that you refuse to repeat characters' names. Ok, fine, those are your rules. Now tell me, with all this in mind, why, just why would you give a fictional minor character the same name as a character that will be far more prominent in the next season of your show?

It just betrays such a lack of planning that it makes me mad. If they didn't want to repeat names for fear of confusing the audience, then "Charlotte" should've been off the limits since the beginning. At first we speculated they were calling Josephine Thiesen's character "Princess Marie" to keep it a secret and make a big reveal. In reality, they were calling her that because instead of just having two Charlottes, or start calling the ficctional Charlotte by her title to tell them apart, they decided to rename the real woman. It's just so, so dumb.

And Marie's character ended up suffering from this mess as well, because she also had to be renamed to accommodate to the "no repeating names" rule. Now going back to what you proposed, that was also not possible for these screenwriters, because the redhead lady-in-waiting that Leontine kills in season 1 was called Amalie. So yeah I guess Mimi was the best they could came up with lol.

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The worst part, imo is the fact that they actually had a good, historically accurate plot in their hands for this season (and they actually started good, surprising as it is): Franz being thorn bewteen his love for Max but also his jealously of him. Everybody saying what a perfect Empress Charlotte would have made. Max and Charlotte almost winning the italians over but can't due to the politics from Vienna blocking them. But since they are on the "our OTP is the main characters and they must be perfect" page, they just rush Max and Charlotte's arc, leave Sophie out of the match and... well, while I get this is not a Max and Charlotte series, it could have made the season more... interesting. But overall, at least they seem to get Charlotte's character mostly fine (but if they dare to make her the unfaithful one I will cry, because you may say whatever you want of my girl but she loved her archduke until her dying day).