xaveirsdolan - Tumblr blog

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Rumours tour

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the most legendary lyric of my generation tbh

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Bernard’s notes on Bizarre Love Triangle and 1963 (from the New Order Songbook 1981-1989)

[xaveirsdolan]

also not to get all Discoursey on vacation but i am probably going to reblog some CALL ME BY YOUR NAME stuff on this blog eventually and it is a book I love so i wanna address that real fast! First of all, I will always tag it. It is COMPLETELY reasonable to want to stay completely away from any romances involving a 17-year-old and a 24-year-old. (Also the idea of Armie Hammer playing a 24-year-old is LOL Laughing Out Loud but whatever.) It is wonderful to know what is and is not Good Art For You and there is absolutely no reason to engage with art that cannot do anything for, and may in fact harm, you emotionally. 

THAT SAID, (no spoilers),

Keep reading

[xaveirsdolan]

Hey man I was just wondering what your take was on the whole controversy around the age difference in Call Me By Your Name and people deeming it as pedophilia because it portrays an adult man pursuing a minor? I know you loved the film so am interested to hear your opinion on the topic.

I didn’t answer this question when I first received it at least two months ago because it’s a complicated issue and it demands that I go into things I wouldn’t normally go into. That said, since this movie means a lot to me and it’s going to be a big part of movie culture for the next year or so, I want to take a stab at answering this.

First of all, I think personal experience dictates a person’s perspective on anything, especially art. That means that if for any reason Call Me by Your Name is triggering or makes you uncomfortable based on your own experiences or feelings, you should do whatever you need to do to stay away from it. I do not believe that gives you the right to say that those that do support the film are supporting pedophilia or glamorizing rape. 

That said, I’m seeing a lot of moral absolutism when it comes to the discourse around this issue. It’s an innate human desire for every issue to have a clear “right” and “wrong” but that’s just not the way of the world. Personally, I’m not keen on people who aren’t able to admit to or identify when subjects are more complicated than a simple dichotomous answer. This is especially frustrating for me given the subject matter. Would it suddenly be OK if Elio’s character were 18, instead of 17? Because “that’s what the law says”? If we follow that train of thought, we fall very quickly down the rabbit hole that depends on laws dictating what is and is not “right” - I think we can all easily admit that the laws are a poor judge of this. 

Even more than that, I think that calling the relationship depicted in the story “predatory” shows an astounding lack of critical thinking and analytical skills. It’s that straight-forward. It’s like when you’re in high school and you have to write a paper about the book you were reading for class. Say the thesis of this paper is, “Oliver is predatory character” - ok, sure, show me the evidence! But guess what? It’s not there. I’ve read the book twice now and there’s not enough textual evidence to support that claim. 

To arrive at the conclusion that Call Me by Your Name depicts pedophilia means that you would first have to strip away all the necessary context within the film that defines the relationship itself. 

As someone who has experienced first hand what it’s like to be groomed by a pedophile and then be abused for more than a year, it’s offensive to me that people are lodging this claim against the movie. This is a movie that celebrates what it’s like to be in love. I’m not asking you to agree with me or share that experience with me. I’m not even asking you to change your opinion on the film because that’s your right just as much as it is mine. That’s simply how I feel about it. 

Context is everything. Moral absolutism is dangerous. 

[xaveirsdolan]

…All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance.” 

call me by your name (andré aciman, 2007)

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Lorde for Fashion Magazine

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every single night i dream about you

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Electric Blue by Arcade Fire

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People say that your dreams Are the only things that save you Come on baby, in our dreams We can live our misbehavior

[xaveirsdolan]

Black Mirror (2011– ): San Junipero (2016)

[xaveirsdolan]

Sense8 2.06 — “Isolated Above, Connected Below”

[xaveirsdolan]

Twenty Øne Piløts

[xaveirsdolan]

Hamilton on shuffle: “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 “

Me: Oooh, Ten Duel Commandments

Burr: “THERE ARE TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW!”

Me: 

[xaveirsdolan]

you guys realize that when a show gets professionally recorded (which btw, lin never promised. he was referring to the cast album in that one tumblr post everyone keeps talking about, but let’s pretend it’s about an actual video), it almost never gets publicly released right? it’s in an archive in the nypl (new york public library) which is only accessible to those who live in ny state, have a valid state ID + library card, and it’s not a dvd you can take out of the library and return in 2 weeks like you would with a book. you have to make an appointment to go in (and sometimes you would have to do this waaaay in advance) and watch it. walk-ins are available but there’s no guarantee. even then, you need a valid reason for a streaming of the show. you can’t go in there by saying “oh i just want to see hamilton i know the soundtrack forwards and backwards!” you’d have to be a theatre student who needs it for actual school work, with valid proof. the reason they have this archive is for research purposes, not for fans who can’t afford to see a show. (sources [x] [x])

the only time it could possibly be publicly released is when every run of hamilton is over. this means every tour (national/international), the broadway run, regional productions, etc. this would take YEARS, even if it gets recorded this year. for example, if i wanted to go see a pro-shot of wicked or book of mormon, i would not be able to because they are still running on broadway/west end/etc. this goes for the library as well. the recordings are not available until all productions are over.

if you’re willing to wait for it (pun intended) for god-knows-how-long for the possibility of an official recording being released or if it’s coming (or has a chance of coming) to a city near you, awesome! (wow!) i, personally, don’t have that kind of patience, but I am fortunate to have seen the show live because of the lottery (which i’ll talk about a bit later) i don’t care what your stance on bootlegs are, but for the love of god stop shitting on people who watch them and rely on them to have some actual access to theatre as opposed to the tiny 2 seconds clips we get during promotional shots. if you don’t want to watch it out of respect to lin, that’s perfectly valid! just don’t shame others because they don’t have the mindset! no one would ever choose a shitty bootleg over seeing it live (and trust me, the boot is nothing compared to the show. it misses a LOT. seriously, why is it so zoomed in during hurricane?! but i digress) but i would say a good 95% of hamilton fans don’t even have that option, whether it’s because of money or living too far away or whatever else. you are not doing your “lord and savior/biological father/jonathan groff’s future husband” (seriously, i see this in the hamilton tags on twitter/tumblr all the time. ya’ll know he see’s these right?) lin or any of the cast any favors by yelling about how much you respect them enough to not watch a bootleg.

you can argue that you can just save up money to buy a face value ticket, but (and trust me, i have witnessed this trying to buy my own tickets), scalpers camp outside of the theatre and wait in line to buy an entire row of tickets the second they become available (because there are some tickets you have to buy in person that aren’t available online, such as box seats) and just recently, when november 2016-january 2017 tickets came out, they were sold out within seconds. lin, of all people, understands this and he has said that it is awful and that he wants to do something about it, but there is nothing that he, or the legal team within their union, can do. once somebody pays for their tickets, the theatre/the union/whoever else are not allowed to ask “so what are you gonna do with this ticket?” because in the end, it’s all about money. yes, they know it’s shady as hell that the first 20 people on line at the box office are buying entire rows of tickets, but legally, they are not allowed to say/do anything. it’s a liability issue and it fucking sucks for both fans and workers. (i have a friend who works at jujamcyn who told me all of this) no one should ever have to pay more than $100 for the last row of rear mezzanine, but the resales go for $300+. that’s fucking ridiculous. if you wan’t to save up $300+ for the last row of mezzanine, go right ahead (beware of scalpers though, i’ve seen people get kicked out and it’s actually heartbreaking) i’ve heard stories (and i don’t know if this is entirely accurate) but even the cast can’t reserve seats for their families/friends because of how booked this show is. i’m pretty sure most hamilton fans (like a solid 90%) that I see on twitter, tumblr, instagram, etc are around the ages of 13-25, give or take. do you know what kind of people i see when i pass by the theatre when the show is letting people go in? rich old white people who don’t exactly know anything about the show, but are going just because “it’s a hot ticket!” and then they come out of the show confused “i didn’t understand/like the music why is it all rap??” of course there are exceptions; i have seen some of them come out and they fell in love, but that doesn’t happen that often as far as i’ve seen.  

if you have the patience, freedom, and money to do cancellation line, that has worked out for a lot of my friends and i plan on doing it when I have enough money, but even that is a very difficult option (if you want more info on how it works, feel free to message me!) also, i appreciate the lottery so so so much, especially considering how elitist broadway is (shout out to all of the shows with rush/student rush/lottery policies! yay for making theatre accessible! more on that later) they obviously don’t need to do this, but they understand how hard it is for fans who aren’t billionaires to see a show. i have my criticisms about the hamilton lottery being online, but the lotto is honestly an amazing thing and for $10, too. they could’ve easily made it around $30-50 like almost every other show (which isn’t bad compared to face value, obviously, but still) and having ham4hams and the program for disadvantaged students and everything is incredible. i respect lin/the producers/anyone involved so much for these. HOWEVER, for those who don’t have the chance to go to these lotteries and try their luck and can’t wait in line for an entire day just for the chance of getting a ticket because they’re too far and it costs too much to fly in (because honestly, if i were flying into new york for a limited time, i wouldn’t want to sit on a line all day, but thats just me), it fucking sucks and it’s just not fair. yeah, it’ll go all over to a national u.s. tour and it’ll go to west end, but will it go to south america? asia? australia? africa? i don’t know the theatre demographics of those places, so as far as i know, the show isn’t going there any time soon. and who knows how expensive those tickets will be when it does start moving around? i’m assuming there will be scalpers at every tour stop/production because of how popular this show is (and that brings us back to the whole liability issue!)

[ham voice] ONE MORE THING

bootlegs, as shitty as the market is for them (just the fact that it is a market and you have to buy/trade bootlegs is ridiculous but whatever thats a different point), have contributed a lot to the theatre community. theatre would not be as popular as it is now if it weren’t for bootlegs. how many of you have ever watched/downloaded a tv show or movie online that wasn’t on netflix/hulu/a streaming service that you pay for/watched live when it aired on tv/at the movies? how many of you have listened to songs on youtube on channels that are not vevo or “official [whatever artist]” channels and/or downloaded songs/albums without paying for them? because essentially, it’s the exact same thing as watching a bootleg. the only difference is lin has said that he doesn’t like them. andy mientus said the exact same thing when the deaf west spring awakening bootleg came out, but no one batted an eyelash at that. maybe because andy didn’t create SA (this happened with les mis as well), but still: it’s the exact same thing. i’m sure any artist, whether they’re singers, dancers, actors, etc, hates the idea of their work being “stolen.” do i like the idea of bootlegs/recording a show and going against the rules? absolutely not. but theatre is so inaccessible and it is not fair to anybody except those who are rich and that is exactly why bootlegs for theatre exist in the first place. there are shows that i would have never been able to see if it weren’t for bootlegs and i’m not just going to settle for some commercials and a tony performance. sure, i can listen to the cast albums from musicals, but what about plays? those are even more inaccessible than musicals. you cannot put the blame on fans who ask for/watch bootlegs or the brave souls people who record these bootlegs. put the blame on the theater union(s) and production companies. if they really wanted to, they could release these pro-shot recordings after a shows run is over and sell them. they would make money and quite honestly, more people would probably be interested in actually seeing it happen live. it’s like when a book gets made into a movie. i would KILL for a proshot with the obc of in the heights or next to normal or any of the hedwigs in their last broadway run or heathers or spring awakening (both obc and dw) or great comet or hand to god ok ill stop now you get the point. (I remember lin said he wanted to professionally record and release In the Heights but they ended up not doing it, i don’t exactly remember why) it’s time to stop making broadway exclusive to the rich. bootlegs are not about losing money (because trust me, hamilton isn’t losing a fucking cent over this bootleg). they’re are about keeping theatre exclusive to the elite and it’s awful.

i repeat: no one would ever choose a bootleg over seeing it live, but that is just not an option for most people.