CAPSLOCK FRIDAY: THERE ARE NEW PEOPLE LET'S PARTY EDITION

[burnadette_dpdl]

LONGER RESPONSE TO CAPSLOCK FRIDAY: THERE ARE NEW PEOPLE LET'S PARTY EDITION
http://vc-media.dreamwidth.org/229089.html#comments

IN THE SUMMER BEFORE 5TH GRADE, 1994, A CREEPY GIRL MY AGE (WHO REPEATEDLY DEMANDED INSPECTION OF HER BACK FOR THE GARGOYLE WINGS GROWING THERE) HANDED ME IWTV AND TOLD ME I COULDN'T HANDLE IT. WE'VE SINCE LOST TOUCH, BUT WITH MOCHA SKIN, WILD LIGHT EYES, AND A PREFERENCE FOR BEING BAREFOOT, SHE WOULD HAVE GROWN INTO A PERFECT MERRICK. I DIGRESS...


I HAD BEEN A BIG STEPHEN KING FAN. I DEFINITELY COULD HANDLE IWTV AND FELL COMPLETELY IN LOVE WITH LOUIS. HIS SUFFERING AND POETIC WORDING WAS AMBROSIA, NOT THAT I WAS GLAD HE WAS FREQUENTLY MISERABLE (HE DID HAVE SOME VERY HAPPY MEMORIES, TOO!), IT WAS JUST THAT HIS WAS A BEAUTIFUL MISERY, LIKE LISTENING TO THE SMASHING PUMPKINS. I THINK laviniaspeaks PUT IT VERY WELL:"I LOVED HIS ANGST, HIS BEAUTY, HIS BROKENNESS...HE WAS EVERYTHING A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL COULD WANT."

toriwrites:"I WOULD FLIP THROUGH FOR MENTIONS OF HIM BEFORE I EVEN READ (TOTBT IS MY FAVORITE BECAUSE OF THE LOUIS/LESTAT INTERACTIONS)...AND I WAS AS DISAPPOINTED BY THE LACK OF LOUIS IN THAT BOOK AS I WAS ANYTHING."
YES ME TOO! ALL OF THAT. AND THAT SCENE - YOU KNOW WHICH ONE - IN TOTBT WAS HEARTWRENCHING AND I DON'T KNOW THAT I COULD EVER FULLY FORGIVE LOUIS FOR REFUSING LESTAT, AND WILL CONTINUE TO HARASS LOUIS RP'ERS ABOUT IT FOREVER. THEY DO PROVIDE INSIGHTFUL ANSWERS. 

I WAS VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO THE IWTV MOVIE IN NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR. I HADN'T EVEN CARED MUCH FOR BRAD PITT OR TOM CRUISE BEFORE FINDING OUT THEY WERE IN IWTV. IN THE MEANTIME, I KEPT READING THE SERIES, UP TO WHERE IT ENDED (AT THE TIME) WITH TALE OF THE BODY THIEF.

SPONGING UP LESTAT'S P.O.V. AND THEN SEEING THE MOVIE (AT 12, I WATCHED IT ON VHS AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE, AND EVENTUALLY GOT MY OWN COPY, WHICH I LABELED "FORREST GUMP"), I REALIZED THAT MY LOVE FOR LOUIS HAD ALWAYS BEEN FROM AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE; WHILE I COULD EMPATHIZE WITH HIM, AS A PERSON, I QUICKLY REALIZED THAT I WAS MORE LIKE LESTAT. HE HAS TONS OF CHARISMA, IMPECCABLE FASHION TASTE (OK, OCCASIONALLY FLAMBOYANTLY TACKY), AND STRENGTH IN SO MANY WAYS. IT'S A PRACTICED RESILIENCE, A REBELLIOUSNESS, A REFUSAL TO SURRENDER, THE ABILITY TO PEP-TALK HIMSELF BACK INTO LIFE FROM THE BRINK OF DEATH. ALL OF THAT WAS VERY EMPOWERING TO A PETITE GIRL IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. AND THEN HE ALSO HAS A VULNERABLE SIDE, AND A GENTLENESS! HE'S FLAWED AND THE ENTIRE PACKAGE IS VERY ATTRACTIVE, MORE THAN JUST SUPERFICIALLY.
 

laviniaspeaks:"FALLING FOR HIM WAS LIKE FALLING FACE-FIRST DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS.(A METAPHOR I'M SURE HE'D ENJOY)."
MON DIEU I THINK HE WOULD LOVE THAT METAPHOR! SO MANY THINGS FELT LIKE MY OWN PERSONALITY. MORE THAN JUST HAVE HIM ARRIVE IN MY ROOM ONE NIGHT, I WANTED TO BE HIM.

SO AS toriwrites CONCLUDED THAT DANIEL IS HER SPIRIT ANIMAL WITH SOUND REASONING, IT'S LIKE DANIEL CHOSE HER... I THINK OUR SPIRIT ANIMALS CHOOSE US RATHER THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND. MORE THAN JUST HAVE LESTAT MIRACULOUSLY APPEAR TO ME ONE NIGHT, I WANTED TO BE HIM.

I GET A THRILL INTERACTING WITH ALL THE LESTAT RP'ERS, TOO! THERE'S PLENTY OF HIM TO GO AROUND. WATCHING THEM PAY OUT SCENARIOS IS SO MUCH FUN. HOPEFULLY I'LL JOIN THEM SOMEDAY, IF I EVER HAVE THE TIME TO DO SO...

Comments

[cloudsinvenice]

That's one of the best "how I got into the VC" stories I've heard. :D

[burnadette_dpdl]

Awwww thanks! *u*

This topic always intrigues me. I've given the book to people, hoping to contaminate them with this. I even gave it to a 12 yr old girl, Joanna, at a summer camp I worked at. She enjoyed it but it didn't really resonate for her, she liked horror, but was more of a Terry Pratchet fan.

However, it's noteworthy that when she returned my battered paperback (and it was truly falling to pieces from tons of travel, and several years of abuse) she had mended the binding and laminated the front and back cover. I was so touched by this gesture. We both knew I could go out and buy another copy for a few dollars, but we also both knew the nostalgic value of keeping the same copy, the pages all softened and ragged at the edges, that particular smell of having been handled so much... siiigh.

[floatingleaf]

Wow. It is always startling to be reminded that some VC fans - you included - were actually TOO YOUNG when IVTW came out to be able to see it on the big screen. I was in my twenties when the movie was released in Poland, and I went to see it with my girlfriend-at-the-time, who flew into ecstasies over the obvious homoerotic overtones (we both did, actually; the vampire stuff was of very secondary interest to me at the time, and I found the blood & gore rather off-putting). You have to understand that movies with any sort of homoerotic content were extremely rare in Poland at the time; I think the only one we had seen before was Philadelphia. So we were all wide-eyed and dizzy at TWO MEN LIVING TOGETHER (with a daughter, no less!). Never mind that they were supposed to be evil creatures of the night...;)

That was, of course, several years before I actually read the books. It was the books that really "got me into" the fandom... and through them, I gained a whole new appreciation for the movie. I found plenty of myself in Louis, obviously... and in Lestat, I found the personality type that I am irresistibly drawn to, for better or worse. In fact, my most fatal "real life" crush reminded me A LOT of Lestat - I even told her so, and made her read TVL to illustrate my point. And for a while after that, she used to playfully sign her emails to me as "your Lestat"... Anyway - long story, if a little bittersweet (yes, we did have a fling, and you can probably guess very easily who got dumped... LOL). I can go into more detail privately, if you like.:P

Btw, it's amazing how many recollections and reflections fandom can bring into our lives. ALL THE FEELS, as you say.:D

[burnadette_dpdl]

♥♥♥ OMG so much here I had to reply to, it took me a solid hour, omg, and here I just complained that I couldn't rejoin the discussion out in the forum APPARENTLY I HAVE PLENTY OF WORDS.

AND I have a sleep deficit (TUMBLR), and STILL haven't done my TVL reading! I am so excited to do this reread, and yet it STILL COUNTS AS HOMEWORK, just getting started, lol... I'm sure I'll succumb to Lestat's charms as always, giving in like slipping into a burning hot bath w/ rose petals (tee hee QotD ref) as soon as I let him start telling his story again...

I went to see it with my girlfriend-at-the-time, who flew into ecstasies over the obvious homoerotic overtones (we both did, actually
"Flew into ecstasies"!!!1! I love that image. I saw it at my best friend's house. Repeatedly. So much so that I/we could recite the lines. We had our own pseudo-ecstasies at that.

the vampire stuff was of very secondary interest to me at the time,
We've discussed this already, but it seems, even now, to me, that the vampire stuff is still secondary. I think that's supported by the fact that no other vampire literature, films, etc., has really hit the particular nerve for me that the VC has. VC fanart and fanfic works for me though!!


http://i-want-my-iwtv.tumblr.com/post/73274685356/not-wine-by-muirin007-a-k-a-i-have-had-it-up

I found the blood & gore rather off-putting
I'd watched my parent's medical videos from an early age, so blood and gore were basically artistic to me. But I still shrank and screamed and cried whenever I had to get a needle! I finally had to brainwash myself regarding needles, that any normal "bloodtests" I had to endure were actually donations to Louis so that he wouldn't have to kill someone later that night. It may sound crazy but it got me to behave, so how can that be bad? *facepalm anyway*

Wow. It is always startling to be reminded that some VC fans - you included - were actually TOO YOUNG when IVTW came out to be able to see it on the big screen.
Yes, and it's always startling for ME to be reminded that some VC fans were of age and could see it in the THEATRE! Oh, to see it on the big screen, since I still haven't enjoyed that particular luxury.... that would be amazing. I recently saw Jurassic Park on the big screen, and the whole audience had seen it so many times, that we were laughing at parts that were probably not meant to be funny... it's a part of our childhood. To see IWTV with VC fans in a theatre, that's a fantasy of mine that you are WELL AWARE OF.

You have to understand that movies with any sort of homoerotic content were extremely rare in Poland at the time; I think the only one we had seen before was Philadelphia. So we were all wide-eyed and dizzy at TWO MEN LIVING TOGETHER (with a daughter, no less!). Never mind that they were supposed to be evil creatures of the night...;)
^THIS. All this. wow. I loved Philadelphia, not just bc I grew up there, there is a kind of singular pleasure watching a movie with familiar architecture, flora, and fauna all basking in the most perfect movie-lighting... but the relationship between the Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas characters was so touching, they loved eachother every bit as deeply as a het couple.

Our community was more open-minded, but still, yes, TWO MEN AND A BABY AND ALSO THEY'RE ALL SERIAL KILLERS? raised many WTFs. It's too bad that the movie didn't have enough time to illustrate Lestat's preference for killing evildoers... at least there's the one line, but it gets lost, "Evildoers are easier, and they taste better." It's so poignant when he goes to kill that innocent boy (that Claudia has brought as a "peace offering") since he's only doing it to please her... siiiiigh, he's very clear about his preference for evildoers in the books.

That was, of course, several years before I actually read the books. It was the books that really "got me into" the fandom... and through them, I gained a whole new appreciation for the movie.
Hmmmm. I see.

I found plenty of myself in Louis, obviously...
u are very Louis!

and in Lestat, I found the personality type that I am irresistibly drawn to, for better or worse.
He is very magnetic in all his myriad ways... especially to someone who identifies strongly with Louis.

In fact, my most fatal "real life" crush reminded me A LOT of Lestat - I even told her so, and made her read TVL to illustrate my point. And for a while after that, she used to playfully sign her emails to me as "your Lestat"... Anyway - long story, if a little bittersweet (yes, we did have a fling, and you can probably guess very easily who got dumped... LOL). I can go into more detail privately, if you like.:P
WOW. That's unfortunate how it ended, but that was very cute of her to sign off as Lestat, I would love it if someone did that sort of thing with moi...

Maybe I will ask for more detail privately, from a purely fanfic-inspiration perspective, of course. I wouldn't want to ask you to relive something painful in public. I have secrets, too, one involving that gargoyle girl, and I am not proud of it, but these bad experiences do make us stronger.

Btw, it's amazing how many recollections and reflections fandom can bring into our lives. ALL THE FEELS, as you say.:D
Absolutely ALL THE FEELS.

btw, ALL THE FEELS... comes slightly from Hyperbole and a half, didn't someone make a few VC drawings in this (Allie Brosh's) style? Remind me!


From here: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

[floatingleaf]

APPARENTLY I HAVE PLENTY OF WORDS

You do, and it's one of my favorite things about you.:)

I'm sure I'll succumb to Lestat's charms as always, giving in like slipping into a burning hot bath w/ rose petals

Mmmmm... that's SUCH a nice image. *wide grin*

I finally had to brainwash myself regarding needles, that any normal "bloodtests" I had to endure were actually donations to Louis so that he wouldn't have to kill someone later that night.

Wow. That's a creative way of getting yourself through an awful ordeal. I wish I had read the books earlier, then - might have helped me too... (I hate needles with a passion, which probably doesn't surprise you at all...;)

It's so poignant when he goes to kill that innocent boy (that Claudia has brought as a "peace offering") since he's only doing it to please her...

That feeding scene is actually pretty creepy and disturbing for me. There's the moment when Lestat licks the boy's nipple before biting into his neck... and I'm like, Really, Anne? Did you HAVE to eroticise killing a child on top of everything else??? *shudder*

u are very Louis!

Well, to be fair, I am useless at finances, and have no head for alcohol - but other than that, I suppose you're right...;)

I wouldn't want to ask you to relive something painful in public.

It's been a while, and I am mostly healed from it, I think. And the whole story is documented in my LJ.:) The first bunch of entries from 2003... Not that anyone was reading my journal at the time - but it's all there, and I never locked those posts, so I guess I do have a penchant for exhibitionistic "wallowing in misery"... (how very Louis, btw!...;)

I have secrets, too, one involving that gargoyle girl, and I am not proud of it

Again, if you ever want to share, I'm available.:) But no pressure - it's cool either way...

Yes, there were some VC drawings in Allie Brosh's style, but I can't remember who did them. I do think it was someone who's on VCM, though... *scratches head*

Oh, and that other drawing above is SOOO GOOD... Louis is all, What in HELL's name have I gotten myself into???... :D

Unfortunately, dear Louis, Lestat is a disease you can never recover from.:P You can't kill him, and you can't stop loving him either, even as you hate his guts. Better get used to it - there's an ETERNITY ahead... (oh, and you can't kill yourself either - he won't let you die, no matter what) *mad evil cackle* ;]