lestat lestat lestat lestat lestat

They started messaging. Cachét complimented his drawing of a human-bug threesome and asked for a print. Three years later, Cachét and David got married. The human-bug threesome drawing hangs on the wall of their home.

I had frame 227, decided on a magazine paper collage using as many different textures as I could

Check out the full project including all of the individual frames here!

Edit: since tumblr crunchified the video I’m also adding some closeups for detail!

watching iwtv it may seem that louis is a weaker person between them, but now i don't think so. i think louis is actually a stronger person because he constantly seeks the meaning in his life and holds onto what he finds. it's mostly the circumstances, the society and certain awful people that crush him and inhibit him. in comparison to claudia louis is indeed weak and aimless, but reality is, he still persists no matter what ("as long as you walk the earth, i'll never taste the fire"). his biggest weakness is reliance and self-definition through other people.

but looking at lestat and how he describes his own existence, it feels like he only lives because he's afraid to die. it's like in his mind there's no alternative but to live, even when there's no meaning. and sometimes the meaning finds him, but usually he just... exists. and he spends the mindless years of his existence searching for "fun", like a child kicking rocks on a street. and when the reality crushes him, and it happens very often because literally everything crushes him, he hides. sometimes for 100 years at the time.

the way he lashes out and reacts to his ego being hurt can't be described as anything other than "immature". i keep finding myself shocked at the way he talks about louis and calls him names in tvl, but then i remind myself about the chess scene from s1e6. "finish the game!!" and the litany of childish but hurtful insults towards someone who refused to play by his rules. the racist microaggressions to provoke louis in s1e1. the possessiveness. it's the same lestat. his experience before he met louis didn't make him grow up, so why am i surprised that all the experience after hasn't changed him as well?

the way he tells his story, everything happens to him. he's the center of the world, but he doesn't really make decisions, it's always someone older than him saying that he needs to do something and he does it. or sometimes doesn't do it when he feels rebellious. we joked about louis not taking accountability sometimes, but lestat "accountability" is just him saying "yeah i hurt you on purpose, what's you gonna do about it?". arguably admitting you did something bad is very easy in this mindset, where guilt evaporates (but really, hides in the farthest corner of the mind) after new fun activity takes its place. when there's always a new game to play, there's no place to think about your life. when the old toy is broken, discard it for a new one.

LET YOUR DAD DIE: IT'S FINE IT'S FINE IT'S WHAT HE DID TO HIS DAD.

it makes sense that louis tries his hand at being an artist, and that attempt a symbol of profound hope! but he also happened to pick the artform most prohibitive to him as a vampire (photography requires light and patience, whereas he’s always outrunning the sun.) and he takes photos of humans that he cannot get emotionally close to (the photo he takes of armand is notably the only one an art dealer gets a lil frisson off of.) he completely stacks the deck against himself, putting himself in a position to reaffirm his prior belief that vampirism is a curse and a limitation.

when he realizes his art isn’t great he quits. but if he had waited for cameras to improve, or taken photos of fellow vampires, (and fwiw i think there was a post floating around about how if louis just ate more, things might be easier lolol) or just been content to suck at it for a while, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have continued (lord knows other vampires are out there being bad and weird at whatever they’re making, in part bc they’re v much out of step with the culture they’re attempting to contribute to. and louis actually seems a great deal more clued in to the zeitgeist based on what he says to claudia about the parisian modern art scene, and even up to 2022 where he knows what essencefest is like my girl still knows whats what more or less.)

i think louis stops not only bc its painful and frustrating to not be able to practice this artform the way he wants to, but bc he cannot deal with the idea that he isn’t Creating Value or contributing, he would just be enjoying himself.