New Chapter Of Gothic Tales Is Up

Phantom of the Opera (1925), what did you do to poor Erik?

The 5 stages of watching POTO 1925:

1. Beautiful set design. Mouth of Hell, giant skull for sitting on and decapitated head automaton -- peak Gothic atmosphere.

2. He's here! The Persian at last.

3. I want to live in this Erik's basement, that gondola-inspired bed is gorgeous.

4. Oh la vache, who let Erik drive?

5. THEY YEETED HIM INTO THE RIVER?

(Meme is originally Interview with the Vampurr Lestat's corpse yeet.)

I am not happy that they made this a 'monster film.' The greatest part of POTO is how it never denied Erik's crimes, but also never portrayed him as a mindless monster. But other than the ending, I did enjoy the film.

HOWEVER, now I'm in a mood and want to write a whole essay in complaint of the other silver screen adaption I've seen thus far, Phantom of the Opera (2004). That one I sometimes wish to roast with the heat of a burning opera house. See that and rambles about other adaptations here

Thank you, Tumblr, for showing me ads I absolutely don't want to see. I mean it in the most unironic way possible.

Maybe I'm a paranoid mediaeval minion, but I get absolutely horrified whenever an Internet platforms shows me ads featuring something I searched for just once, seconds ago, on another platform. It makes me feel stalked.

(Unimpressed cat is Daniel Meowlloy from my Interview with the Vampurr "Disregard!" comic)

Susan Kay's Phantom, WHY?

Lord save me from Erik and Christine's child. I'll never recover from all the times the existence of that child hurt me - not in a good way.

The last 80 pages really turned the grasshopper for me. Kay built a beautiful opera house, then sent a flaming, gunpowder-loaded chandelier through the roof. I enjoyed the first three-quarters of the book. It took incredible storytelling and research to build up that sprawling history only hinted at in the closing of original novel, and I love how the story made a spectacular Frankenstein Phantom from many adaptations.

But then came Christine.

Kay's afterword makes it worse for me. She states she doubts that A) Raoul would doubt Christine's love for him, and B) whether pity is a strong enough motivation for Christine to go back to Erik in spite of her fear. Ergo: Raoul was right when he suspected Christine loves Erik.

Well, I can clear up both of those points - A) Raoul is an insecure, jealous boy; B) aside from pitying Erik, Christine thought she could pacify him by going back, making pity AND fear her motivations, which she explains in Apollo's Lyre.

But Phantom's loyalty to the original is beside the point. What disturbed me about this explanation is that Kay meant it to be a love story. But there is no love.

I have already harped on to two friends about Phantom of the Opera and sexuality (thanks to @blackforrestpunk and @blackghostm2o for putting up with me). I think I can write an essay on the subject. After all, vampire fiction is my area of expertise.

⚠️Warning: Heavier subjects discussed below. I don't usually post content like this, so I thought i should give a heads up.⚠️

Leroux's Erik was never sexually attracted to Christine. All his fantasies he concerning her were purely romantic, even domestic ('a wife to keep amused on weekdays and take out on Sundays') whereas in Webber's adaptation, seduction is a recurrent theme in the Phantom's songs. There is nothing wrong with adding this extra layer to Chrsitine and Erik's relationship, as long as it doesn't overshadow their artistic bind through music.

But in Kay's Phantom, towards the ending, Erik's music becomes purely a sexual euphemism. It's a hypnotic drug that he uses to control Christine, and of course, there is that scene where he describes himself assaulting her by playing Don Juan Triumphant.

That is deeply misguided. Erik's music was his one connection to the purest, truest part of humanity. He was treated like a monster and often lives like one, yet he could express and evoke feelings that no most people could never, through his song.

And there is the child.

Erik thinks that Christine looks exactly like his mother. He speaks of her as his daughter. He is, self admittedly, old enough to be her father. And they still have a son together. There is no context, no possible way, that this is romantic. Horrible things can happen in a book. But it needs to be clear that it is horrible. Not so with this abominable ending. It was written as a romance, the bittersweet parting of starcrossed lovers. If Kay set out to write a love story for Erik and Christine, she did not do it: there is no evidence whatsoever in the text I read that Christine and Erik love one another. Erik lusts after her; Christine is drawn to his dark broody mystery. That is not love; it's Twilight.

I will reread this book for the sake of the brilliant child Erik, who I see myself in, and for Nadir and my feline lady Ayesha, but I will never be reading past Erik's delightful meetings with his old friend. As far as I'm concerned, he lived in his damp cellar in peace, with a large salary, to the end of his days.

More rants, I mean, very dignified and reasonable reviews of POTO adaptations here.

How it feels to be writing right now.

Please, please, please stop talking so much, guys, we're too far over the word count already. Well. Serves me right for handing out POVs to everyone like cheap chocolates.

Is any of you good at deleting things? Or is it the universal plight of writers? Me, I'm not getting out of this without help or divine interference.

Prepare to be menaced by writing memes, I'm back at my nonsense writing these days.

Little fluffy Nosferatu, Ankle-Biter Krysa Veinessa Thumb Whateley-Dickenson, is hankering down to watch the new Nosferatu film. Sadly, this photoshoot was before I knew of the existence of the sarcophagus popcorn bucket, so our traditional one will have to do!

I'm not sure if she can eat the popcorn, but she does like holding them.

(Thank you to @greenfinchwriter @takeiteasyonmeimstilllearning @thatbluevampire and @vladimirsangel for giving her her lovely names!)

I was making my characters miserable in my writing, and now I'm miserable (because of unrelated life things), so now I'm going to go back and wallow in said character's misery some more.

I'm sorry, Pierce, dear, I promise it will get better for us both.

This is not an imposter.

I'm well aware of how ridiculous this sounds, hopefully your recognise me from my way with words.

I'll be commenting and messaging on this account and possibly moving my stuff over here because my old account @purrlockholmesbooks is being given the silent treatment for reasons unknown (I can't comment).

I'll reblogging my old posts to @purrlockholmesbooksblog in case of further disasters to my old account.

I drew this with a pen on its last gasp:

Obsessed with the clean 6-inch gaps between them. @vladimirsangel I love your Pierce, he looks like a Christmas elf beside the others, bless him.

And of course they are talking about chicken.

Dumb sketches because I got obsessed with their height differences. Sorry it's so rough but my brain is like tangled wool tonight

Feel better soon @purrlockswatson!

Have a better day @blackforrestpunk!

(I don't know what they're talking about. Something fun)

Too tired to draw, so I'm whipping out this old thing. It's me and the geniuses I share joint custody of a braincell with - @blackforrestpunk and @vladimirsangel . If you feel particularly un-brained today, it's probably my fault, I was forced to pummel the braincell because of a series of circumstances that led me to interview a vet and snail around on public transport for hours. But I had pizza, so that was all right.

(See here for context)

Aahh, thank you for thinking of him, @greenfinchwriter 😭

When you're a smol vampire but still want to do home reno, do it lizard-fashion on the wall

The Dance of the Rats (circa 1690)

Attributed to Ferdinand van Kessel