#ESPECIALLY if you're moving away from the literal patron/servant roles of the time period in which it was written

[supercantaloupe]

i kinda think that any portrayal of don giovanni and leporello’s relationship is incomplete if it doesn’t acknowledge that there is both genuine friendship/affection between them AS WELL AS abuse and hatred. they contain fucked up multitudes

#especially if you're taking it out of the fundamental/essential context of like. #16-18th century servitude and class dynamics #like esp if you're 'modernizing' it (which i do think is fine if you Do Something with that concept) #there's like. gotta be a reason they do all this shit together #ESPECIALLY if you're moving away from the literal patron/servant roles of the time period in which it was written #if leporello isn't like. legally and financially Required to do everything the don says then i think it's kind of lazy if you don't #acknowledge another facet of the relationship that makes it plausible #that could be gay love. if that's you bag. whatever #but personally i think there's both an element of leporello looking up to the don as an impossibly charismatic figure #and actual genuine friendship. like if they spend that much time together they have to enjoy each other's presence A Little right. #why wouldn't the don just fire him and get a new servant then if not right #(i also think leporello gay but i don't think that plays as much of a role as some fics out there seem to) #and i think the don has some real affection for leporello. that's his little buddy that's his partner in crime that's his roomie #but they are not equals. there is not mutual respect there #and yeah i'm always a fan of making relationships more fucked up and complicated and even codependent/abusive for fun #(see again whatever the hell is going on between curly and jud in dan fish oklahoma. my beloved) #but in the case of don giovanni i think it's not just making shit up for fanfic fun but like. there's textual basis here #and i think productions and fics and analyses and whatever else tend to swing in one direction or the other #but i think both elements are present in their relationship and both are important #sasha speaks