inspired by chats with @killejoie

What happened to Louis in San Francisco?Compare pic 1 and pic 2: half of his hair is missing, his outfit changed and his face is disfigured

family + captivity

You will see death in all its beauty, life as it is only known at the very point of the death. You alone, of all creatures, can see death with that impunity. You alone under the rising moon can strike like the hand of God.

its interesting that louis write ups abt him “not being the perfect victim” (which is true) are essentially personal rants that exclusively invoke the author’s own psychology & not that of the character on screen. they never think to his behavior toward claudia as part of a complex pattern in her own life & when discussing race in iwtv they never regard claudia as also a character impacted by her specific background. despite the show explicitly having her mention her life of adoption to madeleine & the play on stage mocking some of her worst experiences (the character’s broken leg, mocking her attempt to escape her physical condition by making her play a foolish baby, being passed from neglectful parent to abusive caretaker) and the progression of claudia from enduring to hating it entirely like despite louis& claudia both being black from the same city of the same ethnicity they have very different backgrounds tht inform how they respond to & exist being vampires…. there is still the ‘and claudia’ affect: where shes only discussed bc they almost forgot she too is now black+ is a relevant character😵‍💫

This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.

[Interview with the Vampire episode 10 x Revolutionary Girl Utena episodes 17 and 14]

LOUIS DE CUNT DU LAC INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE S2 EP4

While I'm On Claudia...

THIS storyline she's in right now? ...is yet another example of the show gleaning more depth than the original incarnations of the characters because of race.

Her role as Lulu is popular for the most part because of its minstrelsy elements, which were big in that day. Her large eyes, her dance routine, the exaggerated smile, her laying an egg like a cartoon bird and not a human, her schadenfreude and "death" as comedy... She is playing a live-staged minstrel cartoon character, many of whom in that era were modeled on exploitative caricatures of Blackness.... Including the original Mickey Mouse. Which makes her plight that much more tragic, beyond being frozen in girlhood. It's not even a true girlhood, but one mocked and marked by her color. It's brilliant, but I think it went over the heads of a lot of viewers.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 2x02 | Do You Know What It Means to Be Loved by Death Never thought about choosing to pretend. Life hasn't been kind enough to allow me that.

What happened to Louis in San Francisco?Compare pic 1 and pic 2: half of his hair is missing, his outfit changed and his face is disfigured

The only two options in fandom interpretation cant just be “ Louis going on a martyrdom campaign for the same Claudia he’s mostly dismissive of in this ep “ or “ Louis is puppetering poor Armand and making a sex slave out of him “ . Surely Iwtv’s current 11 episodes show a more complex main character than this!

'Yes maître' vs. 'I'm serving a god'. The show makes it very clear how these moments of subservience reveal themselves on second sight as a power play whose thrill for its players lies exactly in the oxymoronic reversal. The way it hinges on its figuration as equivocal. The way Armand's control opens a space for Louis to take power for himself.

First let me get out of the way what i think is a too simplistic understanding of power dynamics present in a lot of conversations around this topic e.g. the dominant partner simply telling the submissive partner what to do. The catch in power play is exactly that it occurs in a highly specified frame set by the submissive. No dom likes a sub that says 'just do whatever'. BDSM is fantasy fulfillment and the fantasy that's being fulfilled, the world that's being created, is for and revolving around the submissive element in the equation. In this space the rules are an enclosure in which the dominant partner is the one fulfilling the wishes of the submissive and in dominating them also serves them. There is a metatextual level to this that is further multiplied when we enter a narrative whose characters already act out these archetypal power fantasies and at the same time engage in modern gay subcultural forms of sex (even if amc doesn't show them on screen).

In this sense Louis is not 'domming' Armand as much as he's not controlling 'Rashid' in s1. Louis playing the strings, acting as coven leader, Armand as the disciple. Louis as the mistress of the house, Armand as his servant. It's just that. Play. It's a play they both need to sublimate powerlessness they feel in different but similar ways. They connect explicitly over the traumatic roles their makers played in their lives - Louis is afraid to commit and cede control, Armand is afraid to lose control. Louis is afraid of stepping back into the classic overt power dynamic that Lestat represents for him, but he still longs for danger and control in his lover. Armand is afraid of being used and exploited but still wants to put his powers to use for something higher that will provide him with a set of rules to follow. Louis' and Armand's respective histories with sexual abuse cannot be excluded from their interpersonal and sexual relationship, just as much of our own sexuality and relations are not. Armand replicating patterns of what Marius did to him as well as Louis replicating patterns of Lestat's commanding presence is a dark theme that draws itself through IWTV on multiple levels and shows the impact abuse has on us and how we consciously and subconsciously repeat it. At the same time sublimation of abuse through BDSM is a common and pretty broadly theorized occurrence and practice. There are elements of a masochistic love in Armand in the way he worships Louis and of a sadistic love in the way Louis withholds, i won't deny that. The actual power dynamic, diegetic as well as metatextual, is still clearly delineated and, in my opinion, never forgotten by either of them. Muddling this relationality plays directly into dangerous territory that we've seen in the whole 'Louis acts like Armand's pimp' bullshit.

What is essential though, is that all of this is occurring inside boundaries where Armand LETS Louis take power. If we exit one ring of textuality further we're still at the level of a clear dynamic of control. Regarding all the layers that exist in power play we have to ask where the 'power to punish' lies and where the element of desire as outlet for this power is located. In the rain conversation Louis is setting the scene for the kind of involvement he and Armand will have going forward - he's telling him how he wants to be treated, the circumscriptions of this relationship. What makes their power dynamic complex is Armand specifically serving by fulfilling Louis' romantic and sexual wishes and Louis stepping into power in offering a space for vulnerability and emotion.

Dismissing Lestat is choosing Armand, dismissing the last of his fears of commitment. With Lestat, Louis holds the umbrella for himself, because it is just a memory of their relationship, an echo of Lestat's protection. Opening himself up to the elements, Louis gives the umbrella over to Armand. This is a seal of their bond. 'It makes you look weak' - true strength, for Louis, lies in vulnerability. Understanding the reasons Armand needs to be in control, Armand's power seems different to Louis (and it is way more subtle and less direct than Lestat's, albeit nowhere less present), opens up hope for something more equal. 'And we would be each other's teachers'. Louis enters into the bond by teaching Armand how he wants to be loved. And it is, in the end, putting himself into Armand's hand, the hand that almost burned him. Saying, i take this danger, i understand the way you want and need to control. Put that control into taking care of me the way i need to be cared for. And I will take care of you, by opening a space for you so you can choose for yourself in which way you want to exert your control, a power apart from the rules of others – 'what do you want, Arun?'

Most importantly Armand is not ceding his power when he fulfills Louis' wishes, but is consciously entering into a pact with him, where he puts his powers in service to Louis. Louis is not commanding Armand, but giving himself over into his care. Offering Armand a way out, a choice to bind their relationship, a choice Armand never had before as much as Louis did not. Louis gives both of them a choice to enter into this relationship now, fully, consciously. Where he felt second citizen to the coven before, Louis needs to be Armand's center and understands the break he needs to provide for Armand to enter into that willingly, for both of them to enter into it on 'eye level'. 'Yes maître' is not a skewing of power as much as a balancing of power. They'll both be 'maître' because their relationship has a semblance of equality now. At least on the outside. Because there's still the fire in Armand's hand as he lights Louis' cigarette. The difference is, his power works in providing for Louis now. And this is the very beginning of the aspects of caretaking and control we see in the penthouse, because while it is of course shaped by resentment and distrust after what happens in Paris, from the moment Louis throws away the key, sorry lighter, they enter into a bond. Two unchangeable immortal beings calcifying alongside each other, while their internal rules become infinitely more intricate. And if you think love plays no part in that idk what to tell you and what kind of show you're watching.

iwtv dir. rolin jones / oresteia by robert icke

the sneaked pictures are such a goofy move but also sooo. like it immediately humiliates louis who prefers to be seen as aware of his shortcomings especially since daniel has already accused him of editorialising. but it also was a way for armand to make louis feel better about his photography but you have to wonder if armand wasn't also hurting him in return. it's been humiliating for armand to have to listen to all this lestat talk. what was it armand said? i find the vulnerability in the object. the argument in the bedroom being the first fight we see in dubai and also a crack in loumand's careful we're so in love play. like you know they're acting but they're also convincing or the emotions look genuine so you know in a way they are feeling these things they're pretending to feel. but louis has been humiliating armand while simultaneously soothing him with touch that we can all see armand is desperate for. in the argument armand is like why is your first thought that i did it. and you can tell louis distrusting armand is their carousel comes back around conversation. and so you also wonder if armand sneaking in the pictures isn't also a test to see if louis is really falling back in love with him or even if the amped affection is genuine. armand telling louis maybe you did it. lol you know he's been wanting to call her a crazy girl and finally found his opening. and he takes it back immediately but gaslight sirens. so the sneaked in pictures whether it was intentional or not on armand's part breaks their act. now they can stop pretending they're in love and we can get into the actual meat of their relationship. the claudia sized elephant in the room.