Latest Posts by kitschy-gillyflowers - Page 6

I never really have a character I completely dislike because I'll defend anyone at the drop of a hat lmao. If they're being mischaracterized in an argument, suddenly I am now their lawyer. free my man your honor he didn't do any of that

"spam like = blocked" if you spam like me i am going to cast 1000 protection spells on you so nothing bad happens to you ever

Me sending paragraphs to @edgyparrot about that sad guy.

I love how Hadley gives Raoul the personality of a chihuahua.

cringing anytime i engage with phantom of the opera analysis because there is an obsession with casually throwing around the term 'gaslighting' when it comes to raoul's relationship with christine. gaslighting "is a form of psychological abuse or manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim's mind." at no point does raoul gaslight christine. he'd have to know the phantom is real first, and for the most of the story, he doesn't.

raoul does not believe an angel sent by christine's dead father is teaching her how to sing and he tells her as much. this is not gaslighting. at no point in either the book or the musical does he seek to sow self-doubt or confusion in christine's mind. in fact, her confusion is the thing that is deeply disturbing to him. he wants her sane, and healthy, and whole, and he fears grief has driven her insane to the point she has imagined herself a new father in the form of an angel of music sent to her from gustave daaé in heaven.

the fact raoul does not understand almost until it is too late the danger he and christine are facing is one of the most tragic aspects of the story. this tension is not there if you believe raoul knows the phantom exists all along and is trying to trick christine into thinking he doesn't.

nobody has to like raoul. in truth, i enjoy his niche appeal very much. it's like a cute little club. don't like him because you find him boring, a poor foil for the phantom, or a poor match for christine. that's perfectly fine and even fun! but don't make up abuse that isn't present in either the book or the theatrical production to justify your dislike. it's not necessary!

Paper dolls

reblog and put in the tags the similarity between you and your icon

Romeo es julia as tiktoks

pia douwes & thomas borchert, 1993

A fun little Les Mis - Count of Monte Cristo crossover that lives in my head - Valjean and Edmond Dantès meet some time after Dantès escapes from prison

Valjean ends up caught up in his plans, trying to do damage control

Partially inspired by this fic :>

just Ian Jon Bourg things

Elisabeth, but burning schobrunn like mrs.danvers burning manderley??

Tomorrow? like the thing that killed Macbeth?

Me when I watch any Count of Monte Cristo adaptation: aw Franz never gets his weed sesh with the count

People who haven't read the book: his what

Sorry your boyfriend died and came back and died and came back and died and came back and died and came back again. He was trying to find you.

Elisabeth + ao3tagoftheday

The original 1988 production of Carrie the musical on broadway’s costume designer be like:

TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO BOOP

📷: @medium-observation

this is a little out of order but i saw an internet quote from the physical dracula daily book and had to draw it - that Lucy was playing out an Otome dating sim while Jonathan is having the worst time of his life XD

i hope you enjoy this silly drawing, and have an AWESOME day!!

MAN CALM DOWN

Last song: Finale from Cabaret

Favorite color: Light Pink

Last book: The Trespasser by Tana French

Last movie: The Sound of Music (1965)

Last tv show: Arcane

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Spicy

Last thing I searched online: Suspicion (1941). I’m watching it later lol.

Current obsession: Nothing??? I’m working on finding a new one (hopefully…).

Looking forward to: Starting my re-read of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Tagging: @littlelattewanders @derschleierfallt @fulesthefirst

10 People I'd Like to Know Better

Thanks for the tags @gaiaseyes451 and @beerok23!💜!💜

last song: Gloria by the Lumineers

favourite colour: Red, like a deep luscious red that you know would taste good if you licked it. Don't act innocent, you know exactly what I mean by that. Red is a color that you just know tastes good.

last book: I am currently trying to read the Witcher series (per @lickthecowhappy's suggestion) so I am at the start of the Last Wish

last movie: Moana 2 (I have young kidsssss)

last TV show: My oldest is almost 10 which means she stays up late. Which also means I have so little time to watch adult things. So we've been watching the Office with her. I think I want to watch the Good Place with her next tho (I've never watched it!)

sweet/spicy/savoury: Sweet followed very, very closely by spicy. Habanero maple syrup is one of my favorite things on the planet.

last thing i searched online: How to explain a 10 year career hiatus in a cover letter (looking to return to work since having kids. It's been an interesting experience so far).

current obsession: Have not moved on from Good Omens, but recently realized that my obsession may be more in my own little connected universe of fics that I wrote rather than the actual canon at this point😳. I'm sure once we get that first glimpse of red and white hair that will change very quickly.

looking forward to: Going back to work and having a more established adult life again, honestly. I've been so lucky to be home with my kids while they are young, but I am ready. And figuring out how my newfound passion for writing is going to fit into that new life of mine. Another big year of change over here for me, and I am eagerly looking forward to how the growing pains are going to make way for something beautiful beyond.

ten people i’d like to know better:

@addledmongoose, @di-42, @afrenchwriter, @haemey, @eybefioro, @alwaystuesday, @katspause, @alphacentaurinebula, @shadesofecclescakes, @ochre-sunflower and whoever wants to do it (but also feel free to ignore!)

get squished

the very beginning of Count Of Monte Cristo is so funny

it's literally like: 80 pages out of 1100 and this drastic thing has already happened?? what on earth do the other 1020 pages contain????

and then it proceeds to be one of the best books written by man

“Before You Embark On A Journey Of Revenge, Dig Two Graves”. what a stupid fucking quote. I’m killing way more than two people idiot

I’ve been thinking nonstop about the time someone on ao3 mentioned that Maxim took on some of Rebecca’s worst traits as a way to cope with (or that some of his own worst traits were exacerbated by) the abuse he endured by Rebecca’s hand. And that honestly makes so much sense.

None of this an excuse for how he behaves, but I think it could be an explanation.

I mean, think about it. We know he has quite the horrible temper. In the musical Beatrice states that he was “the same way as a child” meaning that his anger issues have always existed in some way. Of course that is most likely true, but take that and add in years of emotional abuse and it’s certainly a recipe for disaster. What used to be an ordinary bad temper became something border lining on volatile over the years. We see that in those moments Maxim snaps at his second wife. In the musical, during the first boathouse scene, Maxim rushes after his wife who had run offstage in terror, as if he was about to hit her before ultimately realizing what he was about to do and stopping himself in his tracks.

We know that Maxim can be quite cold and distant when he wants to be. At times he is also super patronizing and mocking. In the musical it’s a bit less so (but even that has the “you react like a child” line) but in the book he’s constantly talking down to his wife. Perhaps he does so because Rebecca did the same to him? Of course, Rebecca definitely didn’t compare him to a child as Maxim did to his second wife, but she could have mocked him with his insecurities (his obsession with holding up his family’s reputation, his intense desire to be seen as a strong figure and the toxic level of pressure he puts on himself as a result).

And of course, we can’t talk about Maxim or Rebecca’s worst traits without mentioning manipulation and the abuse of power dynamics. And what’s more is that both of them are fully aware that they are manipulating the situation. Rebecca sought to control Maxim by holding her affairs, Manderley’s standing, etc. over his head knowing full well he either wouldn’t or couldn’t (or a combination of the two) divorce her. See the lyric in “Kein Lächeln war je so Kalt”: “Divorce was taboo for the de Winter family. The family honor was worth more to me than my pride, and she relished in her triumph”.

Likewise, Maxim knows full well that his second wife came from basically nothing. He knows she’s financially dependent on him and that should their marriage fail in some way, she would have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. He even outright admits to her that he “did a selfish thing” marrying his second wife and that he “should have waited and let [his wife] marry a boy of [her] own age”. He knows that he has (and arguably still is) manipulating the dynamics in his own favor until the very moment he confesses to Rebecca’s murder and the power shifts from Maxim to his young wife.

Both Maxim and Rebecca know that they are absolute monsters. But it’s important to also note where they differ. While Rebecca revels in her absolute assholery and abusiveness, Maxim’s situation is the opposite. He hates himself for his own assholery and has basically condemned himself to a suffering of his own making.

Ironically, Mrs. Danvers said it best: “He’s made his own hell, and he has no one but himself to thank for it”. Was Mrs. Danvers just trying to get under the new Mrs. de Winter’s skin and hit her where it would hurt most? Yes. Was it said out of bitterness over Rebecca being replaced? Yes. But was she correct in her assumption? Also yes.

And of course, the key difference between Rebecca and Maxim is that all important shift in power. Rebecca held the power for almost the entirety of their relationship, and Maxim sought to take that power back through any means necessary resulting in Rebecca’s murder. When Maxim eventually confesses to said murder, it serves as an act of giving up that power he had claimed by killing Rebecca. He can no longer hold the weight of it because he knows he is damned and thus power transferred itself to his second wife. Where he was previously codependent on Rebecca, his second wife became codependent on him upon their marriage, and ultimately he became codependent on his wife upon his confession.

This is where the adaptation of Rebecca’s traits begins to fade. Maxim becomes basically a shell of himself, barely keeping it together through the rest of the story if not for the influence of his wife. He becomes as reliant on her as she had previously been reliant on him. This toxic cycle is only truly broken with the burning of Manderley. Only then are they equals. Only then do they begin to truly grow.

Rebecca, on the other hand, never got that chance. It was taken from her by the very man she had ill used. She knew that her “pregnancy” was a lie. She knew that her cancer diagnoses would damn her to a slow and painful death. Did that stop her from perpetuating the cycle of abuse? No. Instead she continued with it until her last breath, passing the torch to Maxim in the process.

Maxim certainly was no innocent. He perpetuated this toxic cycle as well. The only difference was that the person he passed it onto ended up not only breaking the cycle, but also gave him the opportunity to heal from it. He knows he isn’t worthy of it. We as the reader/viewer somewhat know that too. And yet the second Mrs. de Winter unknowingly grants him this post Manderley fire. Maxim has the opportunity to redeem himself where Rebecca did not.

Whether he takes the opportunity or ultimately succumbs to his inner demons (figuratively or literally) is completely up to the one consuming the story.

Personally my opinion is ever changing. While the optimistic part of me believes that he does work to better himself and ultimately succeeds in doing so, the realistic part of me wonders whether that’s the case. Of course, when I am of the realistic opinion I don’t think he reverts back to the traits he took on from Rebecca and those that were made worse during his relationship with Rebecca, but rather he wallows in a state of being that is just numb to it all. He is stagnant in his recovery because he believes, he knows, that he is beyond help. Things don’t get worse, but they certainly don’t get better either.

Ultimately Maxim de Winter is a character that foretells the tragedy of abuse and how the cycle of abuse can continue in ways that those trapped within it don’t comprehend until it’s too late. He is and isn’t a victim. He is and isn’t a perpetrator. We root for his relationship with his second wife on our most hopeful days and yet we don’t on our most cynical. He is an asshole. He is a dick. He isn’t exactly the best of men. And yet he is also broken. He is lonely. He is lost.

He finds what he is looking for in the end to an extent. A love that, while not exactly the healthiest, sets him on a path to becoming a better person. The relationship between Maxim and his second wife is in a way just like the drive leading to Manderley itself. Constant twisting and turning, plenty of bumps in the road, obstacles that temporarily prevent them from moving forward. And the beauty of it is that they do, in their own twisted way. They move on from the cycle of abuse they started in, however irreparably damaged and emotionally numb Maxim may be by the end.

“Love that liberates”. I’ve seen plenty of debate over whether that signature line from the musical is applicable to the story of Rebecca and the journey the de Winters take. My two cents is that it is, although the love itself isn’t what liberates the de Winters, Maxim in particular. Maxim may delude himself into believe that the love his second wife shows him despite his crimes is what liberates him, but while it certainly sets the foundation for their liberation from the cycle, in the end it is he who must crawl out of the hell he created for himself. No one can pull him out of it but himself.

Every time people try to girlboss-ify Rebecca de Winter it takes 3 years off my life.

Glinda during "No One Mourns the Wicked"

A Chicago-inspired "Rebecca Alternate Ending" video by Kara Lane and Lauren Jones!

"We've been sent so much fanfic from all over the world, and we've loved every single alternate ending! We thought we'd create our own. Chicago the play was first performed on Broadway in 1926, the same year Rebecca is set... Maybe that's where the similarities end... or maybe not!"

The narrator's anxious fantasies about being awkward in social interactions which never eventuate are the true psychological horror of Rebecca