dirchristophernolan
Richard Siken, Wishbone
VCSOURCE Fandom Event | Bloody Valentine
Week 3 â–º Crazy for you
#loustat
armandaniels
Something so deeply insidious in the way it’s Claudia coming to Louis and Lestat’s life what leads to escalating abuse and them developing unequal, gendered roles in their new family dynamic. Like some of that existed since the beginning (Lestat being the pursuer and proposer and expecting to be the provider too, them moving into his house, Lestat even bridal carrying Louis etc.) but overall in the first episodes you get an impression that although Lestat is inherently more powerful they’re at least trying to have a balanced relationship and perceive each other as equal, and neither of them sees himself or the other as the “man” or the “woman” of the relationship. Whereas later when Cladia disparagingly calls Louis a housewife neither of them even denies it. But Louis wasn’t acting like a housewife before adopting Claudia! In the early years he was very ambitious and had an active life and successful career outside of home and didn’t usually act the least bit submissive with Lestat (at least in their day-to-day interactions, god knows what their sex life was like lol). Lestat was always jealous and had a bad temper but wasn’t overtly “patriarchal” and let Louis do what he wanted. Like ep 2 Lestat would probably never tell ep 2 Louis to clean up like in the finale, and if he did Louis would’ve been like what the fuck clean up your own mess. That all changes when Claudia arrives. They become a traditional patriarchal nuclear family astonishingly quickly. Louis quite literally gives up his career to become a nurturing stay-at-home mom for Claudia and becomes increasingly isolated from the outside world and dependent on Lestat. Lestat, who already prided himself on being a good provider clearly starts to see himself as the family’s leader and protector, becomes increasingly entitled and controlling, and assumes the role of paternal disciplinarian that he later extends towards Louis too. Crucially, i don’t think neither Louis or Lestat is really happy with this arrangement but it’s like because of their own patriarchal upbringing they’re incapable of envisioning a family that doesn’t have a husband and wife, mother and father, with all the conventional roles that come with it. It’s actually horrifying how you think you can remove yourself from heterosexuality and humanity but it’s an illusion and there’s no escaping heteronormativity and patriarchy
wouriqueen
Omg you’re right. And it’s even worse when you think about what others have pointed out : Louis grew up in a wealthy family with clear “traditional” gendered roles. They had employees that Florence would ring with a bell. Not to mention his job as a pimp and the related schedule. There’s no way that man was ever responsible for any kind of chores or domestic overseeing before “marrying” Lestat. And yeah, in as much as Louis clearly desired a child and to reproduce the positive parts of the De Pointe Du Lac household, and was tired of having to act tough all the time, he’s also a man who -imo- enjoys power and standing -totally makes sense with his background- and there’s no way he was truly happy with this drastic change, at least when he didn’t even have the domestic bliss of raising young Claudia to distract him from it. After all, he only gives up on his life outside the home because of racist politics and the fire. We don’t know yet the details of his situation in Dubai but I do believe that IS is house and so Louis is back to having employees serving him.
And yeah I agree that Lestat seems aware of the distance this typical patriarchal leader provider protector role adds between himself and Claudia and what she’s got going with Louis. In a context where mind reading and race already somewhat made him the outsider, Louis moving into that traditionally feminine nurturing role and him taking on the tough dad role makes him even more an outcast in the very home he created so as not to be an outcast any more. Still he goes deeper and deeper into it until boom, now he’s his dad.
the-opportunity-arosedeactivated
#agree with most of this#only thing I’ll add is that I feel the imbalance was there even in episode 2 (definitely in episode 3)#apparently Lestat was calling Louis ‘fledgling’ often enough that Louis was annoyed with it and equated it to slave#which is not something I think Louis would do lightly lol#also Louis had to rely on Lestat in order to gain ownership over the Azalea in the first place#which in this instance is fully society’s fault and not Louis’ or Lestat’s#but that reliance is still there#same goes for Louis pretending to be Lestat’s valet at the opera#which again is more of a racist society problem and not really something a ‘wife’ would have to do in this instance#but another interpretation could be how wives couldn’t go many places without their husband’s with them#but that one’s a little more of a stretch but still it kinda brings that to mind for me tags via @firegiftlouis
i do agree with this! the power imbalance was always there - but before claudia it usually had to do with either race or the fact that lestat is an older vampire (but to a lesser extent as the writers are trying to make the vampires more relatable with more human issues which i think was an excellent direction to go in). as claudia enters the family and the house shifts into a more traditional nuclear family dynamic, the dynamic between louis and lestat also shifts to what op was talking about.
leztat-deactivated20230701deactivated
You poor thing
Sweet, mourning lamb
There's nothing you can do
It's already been done
bicreature
Something something the only modicum of power Louis has over Lestat is the capacity to withold himself, his emotions, body and words, from him so that's what he frequently does
slaygentford
its sosososoo funny and fucked up that nicki and lestat genuinely liked each other so much and loved each others company and were best friends in innocent wonderful love <3 and then the story is like um yeah.... ANYWAY so then he met this batshit insane SNATCHED waist tightest pussy in paris no prenup "bloodthirst is a beautiful name for a baby girl" babygirl pathological liar Louis "DP" de pointe du lac. like lestat tragically outlived the love of his life only to obtain the new, much worse, much crazier love of the rest of his eternity, who — crucially — doesn’t even like him. "oh no nicki went crazy." you havent MET crazy. you dont know the MEANING of the word. CORROSIVE? there is going to be no skin left on that dick. THAT'S marriage
