#this was.. certainly a work in progress...

How the gentle wind,

Beckons through the trees,

[POSTING OLD DRAFTED ASK]

(context) This became so long but yeah...

I've included Said quotes from Orientalism below, but to sum a few of my own thoughts here, when people say these sorts of things it incidentally puts Armand into a performance costume and therefore saying it is his full and entire unchanged "true" character, or otherwise to say it's the only character they'd ever like or recognize. Claiming him then to have an essential nature, decided not by anything but projection, or else exposing themself to have a particular kind of perversion. If the 'real' Armand can't be anything but, or not enjoyed/accepted unless there are, these sorts of characteristics - that he be essentially violent, uncivilized, amoral, particularly eccentric, or sexualized in otherizing ways, and otherized in itself - it just becomes telling, whether people are conscious of it or not, of a bias concerned with orientalizing him. Because exactly these kinds of patterns are present in the oriental colonialist imaginary. Creating a mythic [read: limited] stage on which Armand can 'perform' acceptably and believably as himself. Any moment of 'test' to this is considered 'false' or an 'act'. He is not allowed a rich and complex placement of context for behavior, and instead a taxonomy of classification. It's racism.

Now, it should be noted, in various contexts, historically influenced, and presently incurring, Armand is prone to violence, amorality, and taboo sexuality. There's basis for all this, but there is no costume to it. The fact he is, was, or can fall into these sorts of things, that he be abusive, doesn't make it then classifiably more 'real' and so his more 'essential' self, that then gets hidden beneath what's being assumed to be his actual costume. To say the calm, romantic, and intelligent Armand is fake, only due to being influenced by western ideas, or superficial. What the truth is, is that he, like anyone else, is a person (I use person regardless of human or vampire), and lives a life guided by his environment, society, needs, desires, and so on - which, yeah, happens to include assuming a level of performativity, but this negates only to the point. He's involved in these kinds of things because he's been forced into living a life that's for a very significant part has given or dictating him his choices, and necessities, to do such things, or think in these ways, not because it's 'just who he is'. But because he'd been formed into an object by the west and Orientalized.

And lies, especially of his own choosing, are influencing the way he is acting, and therefore presenting. But I don't think what he is presenting even then is this performance costume, it's a shield. He shields select parts of himself, past or present, off from being seen or known about, with parts of himself that are more acceptable from his own current perception of his environments requirements. Which is a kind of performance, but it's not the same as saying that when it drops away the 'real' person will come out. It's just different layers of authenticity of the same person, and their situational behavior. It's progressing through time and situation and place. "Orientalism" is a denial of such things. Him putting this on derives out of a perceived need for it, being guided by what he can see, think, and feel, and so experience, as it's what led to his perceived need for it in the first place (a cycle of bad causes and effects he's acting and reacting to), not from his essential unchanged nature, conforming to some perceived 'classification', that he's deliberately choosing to hide.

There is no costume, and this sort of, uncivilized, violent, essentialism is not real, nor a great basis for coming to and liking this character (or ones similar). And there are other ways too be orientalist, I didn't go into much here, but are nonetheless something to consider. But anyway, quotes:

I'm really proud of how this turned out!! I hope you all enjoy it. :)

Plus GIF version under the cut!! :D

Kamala 2024!

If you weren't going to vote Democratic in this election before Biden dropped out you're a dorkass loser who does not care about any of the issues you're yammering about here and also a fundamentally bad person, and I hope you get run over by a bus.