I am always tinkering with something on the Parlor, whether it be some new content, a new page, a revision, an update, or just about anything else. Now that the Mayfair Witches have finally made it to the screen, it does add another angle of exploration.
Up until January 2023, there was only the books, the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and the three that combined the Mayfair Witches with The Vampire Chronicles. Until late 2022, adaptations of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire and Queen of the Damned, as well as a couple of her other books (Exit to Eden and The Feast of All Saints), made no mention of anything Mayfair.
Eric Bogosian's utterly hilarious portrayal of Daniel Molloy (sans face slap, of course) has a quote that can be somewhat paraphrased:
'This little #%@!% changed everything."
THIS little #%@!%:
The Immortal Universe is expanding.
— Anne Rice's Immortal Universe (@Immortal_AMC) November 14, 2022
Watch all of #InterviewWithTheVampire now on @AMCPlus, and don't miss the premiere of #MayfairWitches, January 8 on AMC and AMC+. pic.twitter.com/8yToT4Wl56
As you might imagine, my ears and eyes perked right up when I saw this. It also got a giggle. "Brooms...!"
Now, I'm thinking, "Hmmm....down the street..."
Lestat's Townhouse
While I ponder that, there are some new things on the Exploring New Orleans Architecture page. One of them is at the bottom, a little architectural deaducation. I put together a GIF of the images of Lestat's townhouse on Immortal Universe...because of the filming location. The house used for Lestat's townhouse in the series is the Gallier house in New Orleans.
I've been meaning to look more into this house because the double parlor did NOT escape my notice. So, I hope to provide more information about both the Gallier house and James Gallier in the very near future.
Night Island
Recently, AMC and Immortal Universe announced a short series called Night Island. This is a separate project from the series that is to be more about the Talamasca.
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| A graphic shared in a Facebook post on Immortal Universe |
There has been a flurry of comments and opinions on AMC's Mayfair Witches series from fans following this announcement. Unfortunately, not all of it is good. In fact, there is a great deal of negative opinion of the Mayfair Witches series.
Page to Screen in the Parlor
So far, on the website, I have, I think, remained fairly neutral on the issue of the AMC series, Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches. I have a section of pages that discuss the series on AMC and a page on Immortal Universe. Because the show is so new, and because another season (2) is officially a go at AMC and therefore current, I try to restrict what I focus on when it comes to the series.
However, like any page to screen adaptation, there are going to be differences. That's a given due to the two very different mediums, as we all know. The problems fans of the books have with the series is that the series deviated from the books in a number of ways, so much so that the show is, to them, way too far removed from the books themselves. There are a lot of reasons for this.
For my part, I decided that one thing I was willing to do was to make comparisons between the books and the show. That list has begun on Mayfair Witches From Page to Screen. It was when I began this list that I thought of another way to compare page to screen.
Graphics
Each page that discusses the series has something different from the rest of the website. They have their own page dividers. One has the Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches title logo in it. Another has the Mayfair Emerald Key graphic. And on the page devoted to Immortal Universe, the divider has the IU symbol in it. While Google has indexed them so they can be found in a Google Image search, the only other place to see them on my website is on the pages that are about the series and Immortal Universe.
Another type of graphics on the site are GIF images of brief clips from the show. GIFs do not have sound, and are very brief. More brief than short video clips. It was while I was redesigning the site that I thought some of the GIFs would be a way of showing the Mayfair house in its decaying grandeur on the Patterns in Chaos page.
So I decided that if I use a GIF image that depicts a brief scene in the series, I wanted to use GIFs that could just as easily illustrate the scenes and action in the books. Here's an example. On Page to Screen, one GIF is Rowan Fielding standing at the gate of the Mayfair house at night. This brought to mind the scene in The Witching Hour where Rowan Mayfair does the exact same thing.
I added a caption quoting the words Carlotta Mayfair greeted Rowan Mayfair with in the book: "Are you coming in or not, Rowan Mayfair?"
In the show, this is the scene where the ghost of Dierdre Mayfair greets her daughter Rowan at the gate.
There are a few exceptions, such as Ciprien Grieve at the fence surrounding the Mayfair house. Ciprien took his gloves off (as Michael Curry did) and when he put them on the fence, he saw a vision of the death of Antha Mayfair. Antha's death is slightly different in the series than the book, yes. But what is similar is that her death involved the side porch of the Mayfair house.
The Parlor on the Page to Screen Controversy
While I have not made it clear what my opinion of the show is, at least, not often or in any real detail, fans of the books have had plenty to say. Despite that, there are still many who watched the show who love it. So, what to do?
Something that will, no doubt, send me to the nearest store for Alka Seltzer in the very near future.
But fair is fair, so I think it is important to recognize both sides. I think, also, that I need to have a binge watching par-tay so I can make some notes. Most likely, they will be comparisons of page and screen, which will expand the list even more.
In the meantime, I can say that one thing I am definitely a fan of is the graphics made by Immortal Universe and others to promote the show. Most of the content on the website pages about the series heavily focus on the graphics. This, of course, gives me an excuse to talk about them (big happy grin on my face)!
Now, in recent years, I have developed this severe allergy to participating in what can be described as "storms of controversy" online. To anaphylactic proportions that now follow the triggering of migraines (I get chronic migraines), you see. However, what I can do is acknowledge both sides, especially since there are things I agree and disagree with on both sides.
This means that whether or not you are a fan of the series, fans of the Mayfair Witches books and of Anne Rice's work in general are welcome in the Parlor. As long as we can all get along...