Latest Posts by sanguine-prince - Page 5
Being into gothic horror is wild, because you’ll look up the reviews/public opinion on a book and all the posts will be like “ugh, this was insufferable. The main character was the most melodramatic whiny narcissist cunt who’s perspective I’ve ever had the displeasure of following. When the main character wasn’t whining, it was just pages and pages of the most useless boring shit describing stupid landscapes over and over again. Boring and insufferable to read.”
And then you’ll get the book and read it and it’ll be like “Hi, I’m gothic protagonist. My entire family got brutally murdered by an unknown person and I also got horrifically abused as a child and struggle with severe mental illness, and now there’s unholy paranormal forces at work all against me, but at least I have the love of my life and my closest friends who I’d kill and die for and they’d do the same for me. Even though I’m cripplingly psychologically unwell and severely burdened with the mass of terrible things in my past, I’m going to figure out and track down the thing that killed my family and seek to destroy it, whilst poetically mirroring my suffering with the most beautiful and profound descriptions of the nature around me that you’ve ever read, contrasting the horror of nature with the beauty and goodness of it and giving you an existential crisis. This book is going to make you so ridiculously attached to these characters and change your whole perception of the life you lead.”
I really enjoy neurodivergent readings of classic literature because the whole "i have an obsession with being pure/great/always seen as morally good" "sometimes I get obsessed with an idea and believe I'm on the right path and don't act rationally" "i feel uneasy and incapable of enjoying things since [traumatic event(s)]" "I feel alienated from society and don't understand it at all" bunch of thoughts that are very present in most classics are almost always big symptoms of some kind of mental illness (which, in fact, does add a lot to the story) and I love to see people talk about them from that perspective instead of just "lol this guy is whiny and dumb"
if you read and enjoyed dr jekyll & mr hyde (or the glass scientists), frankenstein, dorian gray, etc—odds are you’ll enjoy a much lesser-known but just as good gothic novel called the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner.
you can look up a much better summary than i can provide, but it’s an amazing early exploration of religious extremism and the indoctrination of young people, the nature of free will, mental psychoses, and human identity. not to mention the author’s commentary on scotland’s national identity.
it utilizes the gothic doppelgänger trope and explores dual identities in a way that is completely different from jekyll & hyde or dorian gray. our irredeemable main character is a wet dying baby bird found in a mouldy cardboard box at the side of the road with delusions of grandeur and religious trauma. he makes victor frankenstein look downright self-aware in comparison. oh yeah and the devil is there too btw
i’m literally just begging someone to read it it actually changed my brain chemistry
(me gil-martining people into reading this book)
i read the conclave book in less than a day and watched the conclave movie twice and i feel like i can say edward berger definitely read the book and thought "you know what the problem here is. not enough benitez as a jesus allegory content"
just a few changes to showcase this:
1. In the book Benitez is constantly portrayed being welcomed by Filipinos, Africans and other nations due to his reputation. Multiple times the book has shown Benitez being dragged into groups and numerous nationals listening intently to what he has to say, which is why he rose so slowly but prominently.
In the movie, Benitez is almost always alone--the scene where Lawrence finds him looking at the late popes turtles alone was originally Benitez talking to a group but deciding to leave to speak to Lomelli instead. The movie frames Benitez in the same quiet but thoughtful work as it does the nuns and all the important female figures in the Church--watching, listening, saying nothing until the spirit moves him to speak the truth. The book shows Benitez still being involved in the politics of the Conclave, dragged around his social groups, whether he wants to be or not; the movie expressly separates Benitez entirely from the politics, placing him in a kind of objective, angelic watcher position.
2. Jacopo Lomelli's name is changed to Thomas Lawrence. The book is likely referring to Jacopo as Jacob, the man who wrestled God, but in the movie he is clearly focused on being Doubting Thomas, the man who interrogates and sees proof of Jesus's resurrection from an abdomen wound. Guess who Lawrence was interrogating about the treatment of an abdomen wound in the movie
3. Speaking of the treatment, the movie changed Benitez's condition from having a fused labia to having ovaries, and also changed the way he found out from a car bomb explosion injury to an appendectomy. Again. This is probably an allusion to Doubting Thomas checking out Jesus's wound. But the fact that even this major detail was changed to fit the "Benitez as a Jesus allegory" narrative is hilarious to me
4. This is my biggest, funniest observation of the Conclave Book vs Movie Benitez. Book Benitez is determined to make Lomelli win. He gets up and speaks after the discovery of the terrorist attack to expressly say that the conclave has already had a majority vote (Lomelli) and that all the 24 people who voted for Benitez should vote for Lomelli instead to strengthen the church. He doesn't outwardly express any disdain for the conclave, just that he wishes they could work together to strengthen the Church. Movie Benitez is VASTLY different because he just straight up says sth along the lines of "all of you are petty and weird and know nothing about the conflict youre getting into and i cannot wait to go back to kabul and do some actual good for this world instead of being stuck here with all of you. " its just such a holy takedown of the church that clearly separates Benitez not as a member of any faction but as a voice of God
I love both the movie and the film for completely different reasons and I think everybody who reads or watches one should check out the other just to get a complete picture of both visions
Psst, the script for the deleted Conclave scenes just leaked 🙌
Got a conclave request on my Patreon.
I’m just saying if she ever plays Penelope of Ithaca I am in the crowd vying for her hand
Thomas Lawrence character of all time. he's a moral and intelligent and steadfast man with years of experience in wrangling total idiots. he's a teen girl with a crush swooning every time Vincent looks at him and writing 'Dear Diary today Vincent TOUCHED my HAND' except the diary entries are his prayers and they're going directly to God who is frankly sick of this shit. he's the saddest little meow meow to ever be born who won't kill himself because it's a sin and won't confront his feelings because he's English so he's resigned to every day just being an eternal torment. he wants to get passed around by his co-workers, even the ones he hates. he nearly dies in an explosion and his first thought is yay!! God's real after all!! he can't even work a printer. truly what a man what a man what a mighty good man
I love Vincent x Thomas with my heart and soul because with all that forbidden love legit all they want is vanilla marital sex. They are not angsty, no hate, just romantic love.
They are the older couple in the house next door. You look out the window to the beautiful garden they have grown having been in the neighborhood for decades. You ask them how they met, and they gush talking how they found each other at a time they both felt lost and it felt like a second chance. They are both retired. They are active participants in the community. They go to church every Sunday. Their sons and daughters visit every other week, the yard filled with noise of their grandchildren playing. They are that soft quiet love that make people wish they grow old together for.
But he is the Pope and he is the Dean.
Finished reading the book and I felt compelled to summarise my thoughts on Lomeli/Lawrence
Somebody give this man a hug or something😭
Ah yes, the duality of man or the most diabolical vape hit in history
I dedicate the Bellesco part of this to @eeriedragone <3
imo kai (who i think was probably bi and was definitely dating jennifer) wanted to be with mickey because she had just witnessed her partner die gruesomely and was struggling with the concept of mortality for herself & her loved ones, which she’d never really faced before.
she wanted mickey because he would always be reprinted and she wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of losing him forever. she would be ‘safe’ from facing that grief and pain again because mickey can’t die permanently, as she sees it.
also, he’s a sweet guy.
One of the things that confused me about Mickey 17 was Kai's character cause what
I thought the barebones of her character was interesting, a harsh and steadfast individual, who is compassionate but not actually easy to get close to, and how is unwaveringly loyal to the system but does not care for the leader of it (honestly she's exactly the type of character I like)
And then she tried to jump on Mickey, which was especially confusing cause isn't she a lesbian
Like I genuinely thought that the dinner scene were they continually called her and Jennifer friends was meant to show how little the Marshall's cared or understood the people they ruled because it really seemed like they were trying to say that she and Jennifer were more than friends and Kenneth who hadn't even got Jennifer's name right or Yifa who only cares about image and not at all about people, just didn't care enough to know or even consider that they were more than friends
And sure, she clearly cared about how Mickey was being mistreated but I thought that was because she was a good person
So to go from the dinner scene to her trying to jump Mickey was whiplash
And then the last scene we see her in was one where a different female character was draping themselves all over her
So I'm just confused
And you can argue that Kai is bi, entirely possible, but then why Mickey, because if she is bi and was dating Jennifer than why did she try and jump Mickey after the dinner party where she is clearly still upset about her girlfriend's death, and once again why Mickey, what about Mickey is attractive to her
But then if she's not bi and she and Jennifer are just friends, what's with the lesbian subtext, why include it, at all
I'm just confused
What was the point of it all
mickey 17 was so good robert pattinson loves to play a wet little freak and do a silly voice and god bless him for it
