The Legacy of History (II)

[estellacat]

Last time, in the "Legacy of History" we explored the profound attractiveness of Maximilien Robespierre. ^__^ Again, I'm really not kidding. I couldn't say why, but it amuses me for some reason. Anyway, in the second part, we learn how this image became so disfigured as to no longer be recognizable.

Revolutionary Monsters

In a footnote

Comments

[maelicia]

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY MAY HAVE HAD VAMPIRE!KITTYTIGER!ROBESPIERRE, BUT THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WILL HAVE DOMINATRIX!ROBESPIERRE. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. >D

...this is so going on an icon and/or banner and/or anything once I find the image that fits it. >___>

Maxime, I'm so sorry. ;.;

Also:

his veins a shade of greenI didn't know green blood existed. Red, I've seen. Blue, I've heard. But green?... OH, WAIT! MARTIANS!!1!~ Of course

[estellacat]

Why does that sound like a bad movie advertisement? This is leading me to picture that as a movie, which can't be good. (XD)

I think Maxime might be permanently scarred.

And the sad thing is, all the 19th century historians seem to have adopted the greenness... It would be pretty bizarre to have green blood though. The point of course, is that it's monstrous and they wanted to turn him into a monster.

I think Taine had read too many Gothic romances. Really, one would think you'd know that if you can write something like that it's time to put the novels down. >__>

I know the quote you're talking about, but I can't remember off the top of my head who said it. I'll have to go look through the different places it could be cited...

[maelicia]

OMG IT COULD BE TEH MOVIE ADVERTISEMENT FROM TEH XXX MOVIE THAT COULD BE MADE FROM TEH EBIL PLAY ZIGGY AND I WROTE!!! :O (XD)

Yes. But I think he already is. Or has been. For long. >___>

Well, Martians can have green blood. It's such a proof of humanity's nonsense and absurdity, you know. :D

As in: it's time to stop trying to write history and to write novels instead? XD

Ooooooooooh!!! You're putting an end to a very long mental trauma trying to find where the hell I had read that. :D :D :D :D :D

[estellacat]

OMSB, it actually could. O__O

Indeed. Poor thing. D:

Oh, yes. If they're from outer space, I suppose they can have green blood. O Reason, save us!

Or stop reading novels, since they're clearly messing with his ability to write history.

I'm sure I've read it in more than one place, so it ought to show up eventually...

[zigsternenstaub]

Notice that most of these "accounts" were by aristocrats, or would-be aristos? Though it is interesting that he was reported once at over 6 foot. I never really thought of him as being particularly tall.

[estellacat]

I did notice that... I think it may be the point, in fact. After all, by the time these "accounts" were written, even the Thermidorians themselves--or at least quite a few of them--were having regrets. Who would be so intransigeantly ridiculous if not aristos and would-be aristos?

Apparently the feet the "German visitor" was using were closer to 11 inches than 12, so that would make the claim more reasonable...

[trf_chan]

It would almost be funny how desperately they've been trying to establish Maxime's OMG!EBIL! by exaggerating the ugliness of his appearance to epic proportions.

...Except that apparently it works. ;.; Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?

[estellacat]

I think people can now see how ridiculous this is for the most part - which is why the revisionists and their ilk don't use the same techniques anymore - but at the time it was really believed that a person's physiognomy was determined by his character (or vice versa). And such a belief was popular for so long because it was in keeping with what people want to believe on a subconscious level. And the sad thing is, even if we've moved beyond judging people's characters by their appearance on an intellectual level as a society, we certainly haven't on that subconscious level, which is why these myths can perpetuate in less obvious forms.

[josiana]

...That's so silly that I'm amazed anyone ever believed it. D: I could understand saying he was pale and had pockmarks, but that kind of makes a parody of itself. Also, for Maxime to have blue skin, his family would have to be very inbred, and I don't think that happened.

I'm amused by the mental images of rabid!Maxime, though.

Also, aren't most people's veins a bluish green color? D: Why is that bad?

[estellacat]

It's mind-boggling, isn't it? I suppose if you have a fixed picture of something and a description reinforces it... No, I really have no idea. It does really become a self-parody at a certain point. No, if anyone involved in the Revolution was inbred, we know who they were. :P

Poor Maxime. Foaming at the mouth can't be all it's cracked up to be.

I guess they meant that they were just more green then usual? I don't really know. D:

[josiana]

It makes me sad. :(
Poor Marie Antoinette. ;___; I think she's the only one. Or the only one with noticeable deformities because of it.

[estellacat]

Me too. I think there are still some people who think that there's a kernel of truth to this stuff even now too. >__>
Well, Capet was probably pretty inbred too... Not to mention all the aristos.

XD! Poor Maxime. Clearly he's been bitten. By what though? O.o; The tricolor exclamation points are a nice touch.

I'm sure it's perfectly normal to have greenish veins. Provided they don't glow in the dark. In which case you might have been exposed to radiation or something like that.