Le Petit Erik

180. Special Events

Based on true events. 😔

They add too much gray and brown to the mix of every "live action" Disney movie.

and adjusted the lighting post production, so their casts skin tones are washed out, and blend into the background of each shot.

This Isn't Stylistic or being realistic

because this is the lighting they had while filming. It's significantly better.

And this is the craptatic post production desaturated slop.

What goes in.

Vs what comes out. Muddy and dull, all high points of sunlight is gone.

Seriously. A film of brown and gray is over everything.

So why do I think it's cataracts?

Monet

Left side after his cataract surgery.

Right side is before his eyes were fixed.

These are paintings of the same pond and the same bridge.

The same trees in his garden.

Monet whole thing was he wanted to paint what he saw, he was realist. (He previously crap eyesight is why he was though of as an impressionist).

Before his surgery he said he couldn't see “colors with the same intensity,” struggled to interpret sunlight.

The color red became “muddy.” The color pink was “insipid,” and the “intermediate or lower tones,” were gone. Same with colours green and blue.

I know they won't care about that though, because for some reason the characters are all supposed to tiptoe about Armand's trauma, while everyone else's pain is fair game. Armand is the only one whose feelings count, even when he's the one INFLICTING trauma on everyone else, right?

Sorry, I actually do enjoy Armand as a character & don't have a problem with his writing on the show. But his stans are the absolute WORST, omg.

*snorts*

Because if I'm correct? Well, it will be interesting to see how those who are gnashing their teeth about the ragdoll comment right now will be regarding it.

Because don't think I haven't noticed that while some are up in arms about that ragdoll line, (which no, I for one never thought was mocking Armand's time as a sex slave, but was a reference to the Children of Darkness and Armand being a slave to them -- a book quote which I happened to pull a few days before EP304 aired btw), they are very much not commenting on the lyrics that allude to Armand's assault of Lestat. They are mainly mum about that, at least from what I've seen:

Big boss wants to gеt you in bed (Big Boss) Big boss is a total blah-blah His kisses put me in a coma-ha-ha-ha-ah

Anyway, remember the scene in EP304 of Lestat teaching Gabriella how to listen to heartbeats and count the number of them in the room?

Well... how did Lestat learn that himself to teach her that?

Yeah, they could just go with what the book seemingly did and just have Lestat figure this stuff out on his own, but...

I know people think the places Nicki named in EP303 were implying that Lestat and Armand were sneaking around and having an affair, but I don't think that was it at all. Not really.

I think, with Magnus dead (and Alessandra either seemingly dead or cut from the show), that basically left Armand as the oldest of the vampires around for Lestat to learn anything from.

And I think that is exactly what happened.

I think the places Nicki named were places Armand and Lestat did go to together, by themselves, for Lestat to learn and ask Armand things about what he now was and the powers that came with that.

Because Lestat's actual Maker killed himself after raping Lestat into vampirism. The Maker is supposed to be the one who teaches the fledgling the basics on how to survive and the powers they have as a vampire.

And Lestat had no one.

So I think the show is setting up for Armand to be the one Lestat turned to learn those things. And that is why they were spending so much time together, going to those places Nicki noted he knew they went to.

Now, I do think blood exchanges did happen between Lestat and Armand during that time as well, which is where Ganriella's snide comment about Armand thinking he was the only one Lestat shared blood with came from. I think everyone in that now-theater coven was probably sharing blood with each other.

No, I think the problem came with Armand wanting more than that... in wanting Lestat to be his companion.

The dynamic Armand is always drawn to is a student-teacher dynamic when it comes to his companion relationships. And if I'm correct about what was going on between Lestat and Armand during that time... then that very much would have been the dynamic that was going on between them.

From The Devil's Minion chapter of QotD:

And these two quotes from the show:

"... and we are once again teachers of one another..." -- Armand to Louis in EP 2x08

"You are going to teach me how to be fascinating." -- Armand to Daniel, EP 2x05

So yes, I think Armand was the one who was teaching Lestat about being a vampire and what that meant. And we see the results of some of that teaching Armand gave Lestat, with Lestat teaching Gabriella about listening for heartbeats in EP304.

And Lestat, in turn, IMO, was likely teaching Armand about the modern world of that time period. Because remember, Armand had been living underground for 300 years before he and Lestat encountered each other. So Armand would have known next to nothing about the modern world above.

So with that dynamic going on between them -- which, btw, matches the dynamic Armand would have had with Marius, the last companion Armand would have had before then -- is it any wonder Armand fell in love with Lestat... and wanted more than Lestat might have wanted out of it?

His kisses put me in a coma-ha-ha-ha-ah

Yes. I am saying that, with everything that might have been happening between them up to that point, blood exchanges, and no, I won't even rule out possibly sex either at the moment... but there is always a vast difference between giving consent to such things and not giving consent.

No matter if you've given consent to such things to that person in the past.

Yeah. We have a term for assaults like that these days; a term which didn't exist even back during the 1930s and 1940s, never mind the 1700s.

And when it comes to this show? And that, in the book, Armand did use his mind gift powers to enspell Lestat's mind right before he force-drank his blood, which was already an allusion to rape, as laid out in the Vampire Compainion book?

Well, let's just say I am not going to be surprised if the show goes in this angle with it.

With the mind-enspellment of Lestat's mind being the equivalent of slipping him a date-rape drug.

(And for the record, my theory, at the moment, is that the assault happened after Nicki died, btw.)

And the aftermath of all of that pretty much can remain the same as the book: Lestat still considering Armand, on some level, to be a friend. Because Armand did do a kind thing for him regarding Nicki. And maybe even due to Lestat being grateful for the things Armand likely taught him about being a vampire during that time as well.

But the possibility of it ever being more than that between them? Of them being companions one day, as Armand clearly wished for? That possibility still got destroyed, as it did in the books, because Armand went too far -- despite what might have come before between them -- and proceeded to assault Lestat's mind and then body. (And we now just have to see if the show leaves that assault at blood-rape only, or... implies there was more. 😣)

Anyway, I'm already bracing myself for it, if this is how it might have all gone down in the show.

And like with, well, everything that comes to this point in time wrt Armand's actions, I am never going to try and excuse it or defend it.

Because there is no excuse or defence of any of it, IMO.

There is only empathy. Because I do understand, 100%, why Armand did the things he did. But I never try to excuse any of it.

Or worse, play abuse Olympic games regarding things other characters have gone through, just because Armand's past sufferings can be viewed as worse than anyone else, just to try to dismiss it all, either. *sigh*

And so it is always thus.

For the former, if we're trying to be charitable, maybe Victor was so sunk into his vengeful madness that he couldn't even think of the fact that he still had one not-dead brother.

But, assuming Victor was correct in his insistence that Elizabeth, William, Henry, and his dead dad were haunting him , cheering him on and encouraging his retribution, I love the idea of one of them going, "Hey, man, you can chase this thing all you like but also: there's still a live one back at home."

But also: "Wait, which one was Ernest?"

For the latter: we know he wants to be a soldier at one point, so imagine him "la la la!" skipping home from summer break at the military academy but the only one left in the house is the Creature, who doesn't kill himself in the Arctic and instead comes back to the Frankenstein home and is sitting awkwardly in a chair that's way too small for him in the front parlor when Ernest walks in like, "?????????!!!!!!"

@the-plural-of-cris-is-crises THIS IS SO FUNNY, HELP

Unwilling lab partners and what if it works? What if it actually works, but they both realize, "Oh, shit, this is actually way harder than he made it seem." They have to keep sourcing different parts because, "Damn it, another finger fell off." Or, "Damn, I didn't leave a seam allowance for the back skin we had to replace."

It technically works but Victor comes back looking definitely dead and he's furious but also:

They're going about their business in the manor and a servant sees resurrected past-his-expiration-date Victor and immediately throws up and faints.

The rot consumes