#lestat de lioncourt
Lesat de Lioncourt in “Is My Very Nature That of the Devil”
diasdelasombra
however i think that lestat not being intentionally responsible for paul’s death is just a better story. like, i do believe he spoke terrible threats to paul that night over dinner, and i believe whatever he said perturbed paul and possibly hastened the deterioration of his mental state, but i don’t believe he was, at that point, actively orchestrating paul’s suicide. i believe lestat capable of it, i just don’t think he did it.
nonetheless i think lestat deserves to be blamed for this death even though he had no direct hand in it. it sets up a tragic callback to nicki’s death, and it would help establish a core character trait that i think hounds lestat through his entire existence: no matter how much he tries to contain his evil, no matter how good his intentions, he can’t help but be a harbinger of despair and destruction. when the vc is as its best, no deed of lestat goes unpunished, and i think that’s beautiful.
knifeeater
yes! like you said it's a question of responsibility & intent & paul's death is really interesting for this. ties in with the imagery of lestat as a bird catcher going through the season, the cage of rue royale, 'you are like a frail bird', doves with broken wings around claudia's & louis' coffins when they're broken down by lestat.
i think in the dinner scene lestat meant to clip the wings of the birds that speak in paul's mind. sowing discord in a religious mind, taking away the wings of a soul might precipitate a fall (suicides can't enter heaven). it ties in very neatly with the disillusionment/revelation he plans for louis aswell.
so i don't think lestat was directly calling paul over the edge but he sure was there to snap the latch closed fast enough.
Interview with the Vampire
1.03 | “Is My Very Nature That of a Devil”
wordforworldisforestdeactivated
toni collette comparisons are good and i enjoy them but like. its one thing to call one of two gay dads the mom repeatedly with very little context for it in the source material besides general demeanor. although that in itself is already not great. but then it’s ANOTHER thing. entirely. to call one of two gay dads the mom repeatedly when the source material Explicitly. refers to the other dad. as the mom. and also stages them as such repeatedly. and because you know gender is an axis of power and the family is a site of gendered oppression it’s actually important. to the plot. and the themes. and arcs of the characters. and when the dad repeatedly being called the mom is in fact an abuser with total control over the autonomy of his husband and daughter who says himself that he has inherited his fathers temper and is referred to by his husband as their Father. like maybe thats for a reason maybe theres an interesting commentary being made here . perhaps. one might even say it is central to the show.
like the “no one’s the woman they’re both men they’re gay” argument while generally true ISNT even true in this case . the show is GOING OUT OF ITS WAY to navigate this very complex relationship between queerness monstrosity and domesticity . in which queerness and monstrosity (being turned into a vampire) means freedom but it also becomes a cage in the exact manner of a bourgeois heterosexual marriage thanks to their power disparity. bc for all their talk of being different than humans both of them want to live in a nice house and be married and they fall into the exact roles of the institution you would think they had escaped by being men and vampires. (FREEDOM AND CHASTITY IN ONE PERSON) and they trap their child in it as all children born into the patriarchal nuclear family and seen as the property of their parents are trapped into it only she’s stuck in the child role forever bc she can’t grow up. which is such a deeply compelling horror plot line !! and it’s deliberate ! i’m enthralled ! appreciate it !!
luminarai
@spookylestat mentioned sam reid’s waist and period gowns in the same sentence and my hand slipped?? oops
(I like to imagine louis reading a newspaper or something showing a print of madame x and lestat walking by, casually throwing out a ‘I wore it better’. louis doesn’t have a single hinged thought for the rest of the week)
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
S01E02. “…After the Phantoms of your Former Self”
kaelio
Some things take time. But here's to the iconic pair, headed into 2023 😊
(Highly recommend zooming in on our dear Louis and Lestat if you're on phone, because the texture blurs at phone size. Also uploaded a little detail if that helps!)