My Beautiful Wife Reginald Jeeves

Le Vourdalak | Adrien Beau | 2023

So before Gorcha himself appears we get two examples of his obsession with image and property/territory: Killing his daughter’s lover and running off to repel invading turks.

When his daughter, Sdenka, falls in love with a traveler lacking wealth and station Gorcha exercises his authority as father by shooting her lover when they attempt to elope.

When Gorcha leaves to fight the turks the pillaging by Turkish forces is essentially the same as Sdenka fleeing with her lover, as the Turks are foreigners taking/destroying his property.

HOWEVER, when faced with Marquis Jacques Saturnin du Antoine he has no problem with a stranger at his table, nor does he demand an explanation for his presence. He understands the Marquis is a man of wealth and importance, and that immediately excuses his foreign presence.

Gorcha even seems to encourage the Marquis’ interest in Sdenka, making mention of him becoming family and forcing the Marquis and Sdenka to dance together for his own satisfaction. He sees him as a means to advance his family and begins to desire Jacques as an enterprising wife would, and attempts to satisfy desire for Jacques through his daughter. Gorcha also states to understand what French women must feel for the Marquis, voicing his lust though these hypothetical women.

When Gorcha finally tricks the Marquis into a sexual encounter he does so by literally taking the form of his own daughter. The movie kinda takes the crude idea of top and bottom by having Gorcha literally take a role of the woman. At the same time Gorcha’s illusion also works to conceal that he has also bitten him. The bite being a form of penetration which curses Jacques to with becoming part of the Vourdalak family. Playing out kinda like they have consummated a marriage.

But death wasn’t an escape! Sdenka giving up and preferring to kill herself rather than attempt to go against Gorcha again allowed the curse to continue through her! It was the dog showing hostility towards the master, Piotr going against her father, and the Marquis fighting off and rejecting his rapist that allowed them to avoid undeath, whereas Sdenka just gave up.

So she falls victim to the vourdalak’s curse but is also the one who goes on to spread it.

Jegor was loyal, he allowed the curse to spread because of his reverence to his father and his own tight grasp on his wife and child. Sdenka was too beaten down to rebel after her lover was shot, and she gave up completely after Piotr’s failure. Despite appearing the most rebellious she only passed the duty of destroying Gorcha onto Piotr then the Marquis.

Jegor perpetuated the patriarchy by adhering to his role as father/lord and submitting to his own. Sdenka relied on her lover to save her and take her away from her oppressive family, then expected Piotr to be “the man” and stand up to Gorcha, and after that she leaves to commit suicide which passes the responsibility to Marquis Jacques.

Reliance on a man for freedom leaves her trapped, then expecting protection from another victim who is abused SPECIFICALLY for failing to be a man and a protector leaves her without options, so she decides to just kill herself and leaves the Marquis imprisoned in the house of his soon to be rapist.

“I want a toxic vampire yaoi film with canon gay characters and onscreen sex!” *a finger on the monkey’s paw curls*

I think it’s really telling and interesting that Piotr is the only family member killed in a non-intimate manner. Gorcha doesn’t even get -close- to Piotr, Piotr was also the only family member willing to fight back, who saw Gorcha for what he was. Queerness recognized in others as a reflection of the self.

Gorcha shooting Piotr in the head, (with a traditionally phallic, masculine weapon) from a distance, wasting all of that blood, that life force, avoiding the physical intimacy of Piotr’s destruction, feels like internalized disgust from Gorcha, especially in light of the last half of the film.

Piotr shooting the dog in men’s clothing, trying their best to be a good model of what a dutiful son and man is supposed to be, shooting the dog -because- Gorcha asked them to. The man whose respect everyone else in the family, even the dog, dies for.

But Piotr doesn’t die respecting Gorcha, Piotr is the only one that knows they will most likely die for trying, goes to that death facing it with clear eyes. They dressed in something that made them feel brave and Gorcha saw them, saw the disrespect for his authority, the disrespect of traditional gender, and killed that queerness before it could kill him.

Piotr is also an incredibly important symbol of queerness not equating to evil in this movie. Piotr is just a person trying to do the best they can, caught in a system that does not accept them, but their queerness is never framed as evil, honestly neutral for the most part, which really helps contrast Piotr against Gorcha. Piotr is also never bitten, and so they are excluded from the family’s second rising. They get to end as they are, human, instead of being transformed.

Gorcha simpers a lot in this film, he moans and flounces and makes fun of the man he likes and ultimately tricks him into sex, and that is what both kills the Marquis -and- kills Gorcha. The Marquis could be seen as a hero for killing Gorcha, (he isn’t, for personality-related reasons) but he’s already been corrupted due to the -interest- and the bite of Gorcha. The queerness thrust upon him. The same as Jonathan Harker, the same as Thomas Hutter, doomed by the visceral attentions of The Other.

You know what? Good job.

Other people said this post had thousands of notes in their mind, but only contributed two notes.

You? You said that it had 100k gators to you.

And then you did it.

Gullah & Early AAVE

Gumbo – From Bantu kingombo (okra), brought by enslaved Africans and became the name of the Creole stew thickened with okra.

Goober – From Kikongo nguba, the Bantu word for peanut that entered American English via enslaved Africans.

Yam – From West African languages (e.g., Wolof nyami, "to eat"), brought over during the slave trade and adopted into Southern cuisine.

Banjo – From a Bantu root (mbanza), the instrument was crafted by enslaved Africans based on West African string instruments.

Bogus – Likely from Hausa boko-boko (deceitful, fraudulent), entering American English through African American speech in the 19th century.

Juke (box/joint) – From Gullah juke (rowdy, disorderly), derived from Wolof dzug (to live wickedly), later attached to roadside bars.

Tote (to carry) – From West African languages (e.g., Kikongo tota, "to pick up"), recorded in Gullah before spreading to mainstream English.

Dig (to understand) – From Wolof degg (to understand), popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s after entering English through AAVE.

Jazz – Possibly from West African or Creole slang for energy/sex, first documented in AAVE in Chicago around 1912.

Okay (OK) – Though its origin is debated, strong evidence traces it to West African languages (e.g., Wolof waw kay) via enslaved Gullah speakers.

Hip/Hep – From Wolof hipi (to open one's eyes, to be aware), entering jazz slang in the early 1900s before going mainstream.

Hepcat – A compound of "hep" + "cat" (jazz slang for a person), literally meaning "one who has his eyes open" in West African-influenced jazz culture.

Jazz, Blues & 1940s–60s Era

Cool (as in fashionable/calm) – Originated in jazz circles, likely from saxophonist Lester Young, and entered mainstream via West African aesthetic concepts of composure.

Cat – A jazz-era term for a skilled musician or cool person, derived from West African-influenced jive talk.

Crib – Jazz slang for a house or apartment, popularized in the 1940s before becoming mainstream in the 1990s.

Hokum – AAVE slang for nonsense or BS, used in blues and jazz before being adopted more widely.

Diss – Short for "disrespect," coined in AAVE and popularized through hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bad (meaning good) – From AAVE, where inversion of meaning creates emphasis (something so "bad" it's actually good), used since early jazz era.

Jive – AAVE slang for deceptive talk or a style of jazz dancing, used by Cab Calloway in his 1930s Hepster Dictionary.

1970s–90s (Hip-Hop & Pre-Internet Era)

Homeboy/Homegirl – AAVE for a close friend from one's neighborhood, popularized in hip-hop and later shortened to "homes" in casual speech.

Dope (meaning great) – Shifted from "stupid" in standard English to "excellent" in AAVE during the 1980s hip-hop era.

Props – Short for "proper respects" in AAVE, used in hip-hop to acknowledge skill or achievement before entering mainstream slang.

Word (as in "I agree") – AAVE interjection ("Word!" or "Word is bond") meaning "I'm telling the truth," derived from Nation of Islam teachings.

Phat (meaning cool/great) – AAVE acronym believed to stand for "Pretty Hot And Tempting," though likely an invented backronym; popularized in 90s hip-hop.

The Bomb – AAVE phrase for something excellent or top-quality, widely used in hip-hop lyrics before mainstream adoption.

Def – AAVE slang for "excellent," popularized by Run-DMC's "King of Rock" and 80s hip-hop culture.

Fresh – AAVE for stylish or excellent, used in early hip-hop and 80s pop culture before spreading globally.

Wack – AAVE for "bad, inferior, uncool," popularized in hip-hop and later mainstream youth speech as the opposite of "cool."

Hella – AAVE intensifier meaning "very" or "a lot of," originating in Oakland/Bay Area AAVE in the 1970s-80s.

Cap / No Cap – AAVE meaning "lie" and "no lie," popularized by Bay Area rap in the 2010s, derived from "capping" (exaggerating).

1990s–2000s (Internet Adoption & Ballroom Culture)

Slay – From AAVE and Black ballroom culture (Paris is Burning, 1990), meaning to do something extremely well, now mainstream via social media.

Spill the Tea – From AAVE (originally "spill the T," with "T" meaning truth), popularized by drag culture and Black queer communities.

Shade (as in insult) – From Black ballroom culture (documented in Paris is Burning), meaning a subtle insult, now used broadly in pop culture.

Reading (as in insulting) – From ballroom culture ("reading" someone), meaning to publicly insult with wit, immortalized in Paris is Burning.

Kiki – AAVE from ballroom culture meaning a casual gathering for gossip or chatting, later mainstreamed through pop music (e.g., Kesha).

Fierce – AAVE and ballroom term meaning exceptionally good or intense, applied to fashion, performance, or attitude.

Woke – From AAVE meaning socially and politically aware, first used in 1940s Black activism before resurging with Black Lives Matter.

Shook – AAVE meaning startled or upset, used in 1990s New York hip-hop (e.g., Mobb Deep) before mainstream adoption in the 2010s.

On Fleek – AAVE phrase meaning perfectly executed, coined in a 2014 Vine by Peaches Monroee, one of the last pre-AI viral AAVE innovations.

Finna – From AAVE contraction of "fixing to" (preparing to), documented in Southern AAVE for decades before wider use and dictionary recognition.

Chile – A phonetic spelling of "child" in Southern AAVE, used as a term of endearment or exclamation since at least the 1970s (The Wiz, 1978).

2010s–Present (Social Media & Gen Z Slang Pipeline)

Lit – AAVE meaning exciting or excellent (originally "intoxicated" or "on fire"), popularized in hip-hop before becoming a Gen Z staple.

Bae – AAVE term of endearment meaning "before anyone else" or just a shortened form of "babe/baby," mainstreamed in the 2010s.

Ratchet – AAVE originally meaning a rowdy, aggressive woman (from "wretched"), later used to describe anything wild or out of control.

Turnt – AAVE meaning excited or intoxicated, from "turned up" in hip-hop lyrics, mainstreamed in early 2010s party slang.

Clap Back – AAVE for a sharp, witty comeback or retaliation, popularized in hip-hop (e.g., Ja Rule's 2003 song "Clap Back") before internet slang.

Bussin' – AAVE meaning delicious or excellent, applied to food or anything great, popularized on TikTok in the 2020s.

Sus – AAVE shortening of "suspicious" or "shady," used for decades before Among Us made it a global meme in 2020.

Snatched – AAVE originally describing flawless hair/makeup or a tight waist, now used to praise anything perfectly executed.

Periodt – AAVE emphatic form of "period" (meaning "end of discussion"), with a hard "t" for emphasis, popularized on Black Twitter before global use.