Vampire Diaries Opinions Post (i.e., the one ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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Sep. 7th, 2011 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intrikate88I watched The Vampire Diaries in ten days. Both seasons. Never have I had a more intense compact television experience. I REGRET NOTHING. Except maybe not already making plans to drive over to Covington to photobomb the filming of season three or something. I love all these characters so much, and I thought this show would be nothing but crack but instead it's wonderful and beautiful and I love them all. So I thought I'd ramble about all of them. Well, most all of them.
I fucking love this girl. One of the first things she does is march her brother into the boys' bathroom to give him a talking to, which is a move designed to automatically win my heart: Veronica Mars did it, Alex Russo did it, some other awesome girl I can't remember at the moment has done it, probably Buffy. Even when she's bewildered she's determined to make her own decisions, and when (esp. in the second season) she's staring into the face of dying, she clings to her autonomy because she needs to do this to protect the people she loves. Stefan and Damon may offer to take her choice from her to protect her, but she knows she doesn't want to be saved if it means she can't be a protector in turn. Even when she loses everything, she keeps fighting-- and learns to fight harder. She also reminds me a lot of Rose Tyler, especially in the first season-- there is no one she can't empathize with. Case in point? When she gets kidnapped by Anna, she immediately starts to sympathize over their mutual lack of a mom. Awww. Elena, you try.
I like that he's not really the good brother, just the better one. The tortured vampire with a soul has been done to death at this point and the fact that he actually does things other than sit around brooding even though he does have a dark past and is even kind of questionable sometimes in the present. However, even though he might be unapologetic about dealing with threats to the people he loves, he is always so conscientious of other people's agency, especially Elena's. There are sooo many romance and vampire stories with points where the guy will be all self-sacrificing and assert he's only concerned about the heroine's protection and that's why he has to _____, when really that's not what she wants at all, and it's just a way for him to be controlling. Stefan veers away from that so consciously, whether it's making sure she has vervaine so that she knows whatever choice she makes is made of her own free will, or respecting her approach to Klaus's threats.
Malignant pinball and possibly actually a pit bull on crack, I like him. He makes me laugh because I think his perpetual dickbaggery is hilarious, especially when he becomes conscious of it and either attempts to do it ironically (hipsterrrrrr!vampire) or just goes around with his oh-man-I-fucked-the-pooch-this-time face (basically 70% of the end of s2). That said, do I think approximately any of his behavior is condonable? Oh hale naw. He’s like a cautionary tale of Intent Is Not Fucking Magical. The show could do way more-slash-anything to address his pushy the-only-consent-is-my-consent behavior, but they don't, and I'm mostly scared to venture into TVD fandom because I'm sure it'll be full of skeevy rapey Damon/Elena. I do think that he and Elena have a genuine friendship, though, and I enjoy seeing how they can have a different sort of relationship than she has with Stefan. There's trust and affection there, even though they both know Damon doesn't deserve it, but that's not the point.
Katherine Pierce/Katarina Petrova
She's a terrible person. She's selfish and manipulative and a danger to everyone who does so much as give her the time of day. And yet. She's been around long enough to have everyone try to take advantage of her in every way possible and she's generally turned the tables on them before running like hell. I think it's amazing how she can be so sympathetic, because you can absolutely see why she is the way she is. She's Katherine Pierce, Katarina fucking Petrova, and she will throw you under the bus if it helps her out, she will drink all your bourbon and dance around if she gets imprisoned in your house, and she does not mind stealing your boyfriend. Because she can.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ♥ ♥ ♥ x infinity. I think my main source of bitter feelings on this show is how no one has any sympathy with her becoming a vampire. Excuse you, everyone, Caroline is your best friend/daughter and she got fucking murdered after Tyler nearly got her killed and maybe you could try asking how she is, like, at all. I find it amazing and wonderful how Caroline should just be the stereotypical blonde cheerleader bitch, and every single time she avoids being two-dimensional. She cares about people but she's so doubtful of her own value that she gets hung up on her own concerns and says the wrong thing, and she tries harder and she's not quite good enough, and she knows all of this. And then she becomes a vampire, and she's even more herself, and that's this kind and loving and brave young woman who takes no shit and will do anything for her friends.
"Lesbian friend necklace? Because we're freaky like that?"
I liked Bonnie a LOT in season one, but I feel like everything went weird in season two; she spent a lot of time resentful and therefore not on screen, and then making out with Jeremy when she got on more. I don't know, I just want the Elena-Bonnie-Caroline BFF sleepover club to keep happening because that was awesome. (There's also probably an essay to be made on how in a Southern town there aren't any black people with skin tones darker than Snooki and how they all have magical powers, but I'm not writing that essay right now, so. But I'm keeping my eye on you, show.)
Jeremy Gilbert
He’s not the most exciting, but he is a little adorable and I love that he and Elena have a really genuine relationship and love for each other. I also laugh my ass off every time he gets killed and I kind of wish it had happened more often. I don’t find that these two sentiments are in opposition at all.
Jenna
Omg, Jenna, I love you, why'd you have to go and die. I just saw Sara Canning in a panel and she was the most adorable. I can't imagine being a grad student and trying to raise two teenagers that just got dumped on you, but she manages to do it and somehow stay busy enough not to notice her niece and nephew are both dating vampires.
Alaric Salzman
If I had an actual crush on any guy on this show, it would be Ric, probably. I was a little devastated when I found out he was gone and Klaus was there instead, but then seeing him be evil was also excellent and I had conflict-y feelings; then he didn’t die after all, just had a lot of bourbon go missing, so all was well except for the liquor cabinet. Alaric's been through a fuck of a lot and I've really enjoyed watching his journey, first as grieving his wife and wanting revenge on Damon, and then learning the truth about his wife and slowly making friends with Damon. (I do like their friendship: they still dislike each other immensely but they can each depend on the other to probably be there for them and have their back in a fight, and then share a drink at the end of it. Heee.)
Matt
He’s not the most interesting of people, but I liked him a lot at first. He’s a good kid, and I like that he and Elena were best friends too, before they ever started going out—I can just imagine that he and Elena and Bonnie and Caroline all hung out most of their lives, maybe not all together, and they are all just fun and I wouldn’t mind seeing flashbacks to that. I think he and Caroline were good together. But then, Matt, you started letting me down. I reeeeeally dislike when guys (real or fictional) feel good about the lady they’re with and want to keep feeling good about her, so they say they love her, but then when she starts showing that she has feelings about parts of her life that don’t involve him? that she may have other stuff to deal with? that she may just not make the choices that he expected? that she is, in short, a living breathing three-dimensional human being (even if she’s a vampire!) and all of a sudden she is Too Much To Handle. And look, I don’t think his reasons aren’t legit—the poor boy has an astonishing load of shit to deal with, and running for your life from supernatural threats doesn’t pay the electric bill. But at the same time, you don’t get to say that you love someone, and then act in unloving ways when it turns out they are actually someone. (Damon, Katherine, take notes.) In the end, I guess I still sort of like him, I just wish he’d sort out a balance in his life so he can get over himself a little and stop disappointing me. ...I don't even know why I wrote this goddamn much about Matt, of all people.
Tyler Lockwood
It's nice of Caroline to be friends with him but I don't ship them and I don't like him much. I think it may be because I've run into way too many guys that are his type, and I don't care for them. I don't feel much about werewolves either. I'm just a big pile of meh over Tyler.
Isobel
I think I had feelings about her at the time... I don't think she's a horrible person, but she chose herself above everyone she could have loved again and again. Maybe there was some redemption for her at the end. She just seems like such a strange person to be related to the rest of them, tbh.
John Gilbert
Now, anyone who knows of my Alias fangirling days knows how I feel about David Anders, or more specifically, Sark and characters that might be variations thereupon. If you don’t, consider yourself lucky, because you’ll be spared a few rants about how he ditchedme at Dragon*con. That said, I didn’t really have much in the way of feelings one way or another for John Gilbert, because he didn’t really do all that much. He basically just showed up to deliver MacGuffin-type gadgets, arcane clues, and a whole lot of irritating remarks. A David Anders character with twin superpowers of irritation and invulnerability? Must have felt like Christmas for him, lol.
I hear that she is hated by fandom? WHATEVER, FANDOM WHATFUCKINGEVER. She's a bamf. She does what she has to, she has a BFF that she keeps with her for hundreds of years, and she's just so brave and guarded and has such a capacity for... humanity, I guess. Her death and how Damon helped her was such a beautiful thing, and I am glad she got peace, at long last.
LexiIf this show does not resurrect Lexi at some point, we are going to have words. She is just too fabulous. I love that she is BFFs with Stefan and it’s no big and apart from an initial and understandable misunderstanding, the show doesn’t go the cheap jealousy route when Elena meets her. Stefan has room in his life for lots of different types of relationship with lots of ladies and it’s okay! But I’m not here to talk about Stefan. Lexi has what a lot of vampires seem to lack, which is the ability to have any sort of moderation in her life. She’s warm and caring and will damn well have a good time and probably drag everyone else into it along with her.
Andie
Did she have a point? Other than keeping Damon from chafing his palms to the bone from masturbating to the thought of his brother’s girlfriend all day, and showing he has issues with other people and consent? I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, but she didn’t do anything. Maybe she was there to get Damon to talk about his manpain. I actually feel like she could have been something and they could have looked at some issues of consent and kink and that might have been interesting, but it didn’t go that way and I guess she’s gone. Sorry you're going to wake up and wonder what the fuck just happened to the past month of your life, Andie.
FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. You were a shitty youth pastor and now the fact that you are on Vampire Diaries makes me pretty sure there is no God, even if you are getting paid just above minimum wage for being one step away from an extra. I actually howled in fury when I saw your stupid face on IMDB. I am sure you're reading this because you're just the sort of person to google yourself. You want to know something? I was the one who shoved that brochure on 10 Tips For Safe Gay Sex under your office door. I hope you found it edifying.
And then in that ep where Stefan and Elena go hiking and she talks about how she doesn't want to be a vampire? That was Amicalola Falls, where I've hiked a billion times, except for the times when I was actually an infant and my dad carried by up the mountain in a back carrier. See? That's me, on that bridge they crossed over!
Elena Gilbert
I fucking love this girl. One of the first things she does is march her brother into the boys' bathroom to give him a talking to, which is a move designed to automatically win my heart: Veronica Mars did it, Alex Russo did it, some other awesome girl I can't remember at the moment has done it, probably Buffy. Even when she's bewildered she's determined to make her own decisions, and when (esp. in the second season) she's staring into the face of dying, she clings to her autonomy because she needs to do this to protect the people she loves. Stefan and Damon may offer to take her choice from her to protect her, but she knows she doesn't want to be saved if it means she can't be a protector in turn. Even when she loses everything, she keeps fighting-- and learns to fight harder. She also reminds me a lot of Rose Tyler, especially in the first season-- there is no one she can't empathize with. Case in point? When she gets kidnapped by Anna, she immediately starts to sympathize over their mutual lack of a mom. Awww. Elena, you try.
Stefan Salvatore
I like that he's not really the good brother, just the better one. The tortured vampire with a soul has been done to death at this point and the fact that he actually does things other than sit around brooding even though he does have a dark past and is even kind of questionable sometimes in the present. However, even though he might be unapologetic about dealing with threats to the people he loves, he is always so conscientious of other people's agency, especially Elena's. There are sooo many romance and vampire stories with points where the guy will be all self-sacrificing and assert he's only concerned about the heroine's protection and that's why he has to _____, when really that's not what she wants at all, and it's just a way for him to be controlling. Stefan veers away from that so consciously, whether it's making sure she has vervaine so that she knows whatever choice she makes is made of her own free will, or respecting her approach to Klaus's threats.
Damon Salvatore
Malignant pinball and possibly actually a pit bull on crack, I like him. He makes me laugh because I think his perpetual dickbaggery is hilarious, especially when he becomes conscious of it and either attempts to do it ironically (hipsterrrrrr!vampire) or just goes around with his oh-man-I-fucked-the-pooch-this-time face (basically 70% of the end of s2). That said, do I think approximately any of his behavior is condonable? Oh hale naw. He’s like a cautionary tale of Intent Is Not Fucking Magical. The show could do way more-slash-anything to address his pushy the-only-consent-is-my-consent behavior, but they don't, and I'm mostly scared to venture into TVD fandom because I'm sure it'll be full of skeevy rapey Damon/Elena. I do think that he and Elena have a genuine friendship, though, and I enjoy seeing how they can have a different sort of relationship than she has with Stefan. There's trust and affection there, even though they both know Damon doesn't deserve it, but that's not the point.
Katherine Pierce/Katarina Petrova
She's a terrible person. She's selfish and manipulative and a danger to everyone who does so much as give her the time of day. And yet. She's been around long enough to have everyone try to take advantage of her in every way possible and she's generally turned the tables on them before running like hell. I think it's amazing how she can be so sympathetic, because you can absolutely see why she is the way she is. She's Katherine Pierce, Katarina fucking Petrova, and she will throw you under the bus if it helps her out, she will drink all your bourbon and dance around if she gets imprisoned in your house, and she does not mind stealing your boyfriend. Because she can.
Caroline Forbes
QUEEN OF MY HEART ♥ ♥ ♥ x infinity. I think my main source of bitter feelings on this show is how no one has any sympathy with her becoming a vampire. Excuse you, everyone, Caroline is your best friend/daughter and she got fucking murdered after Tyler nearly got her killed and maybe you could try asking how she is, like, at all. I find it amazing and wonderful how Caroline should just be the stereotypical blonde cheerleader bitch, and every single time she avoids being two-dimensional. She cares about people but she's so doubtful of her own value that she gets hung up on her own concerns and says the wrong thing, and she tries harder and she's not quite good enough, and she knows all of this. And then she becomes a vampire, and she's even more herself, and that's this kind and loving and brave young woman who takes no shit and will do anything for her friends.
"Lesbian friend necklace? Because we're freaky like that?"
Bonnie
I liked Bonnie a LOT in season one, but I feel like everything went weird in season two; she spent a lot of time resentful and therefore not on screen, and then making out with Jeremy when she got on more. I don't know, I just want the Elena-Bonnie-Caroline BFF sleepover club to keep happening because that was awesome. (There's also probably an essay to be made on how in a Southern town there aren't any black people with skin tones darker than Snooki and how they all have magical powers, but I'm not writing that essay right now, so. But I'm keeping my eye on you, show.)
Jeremy Gilbert
He’s not the most exciting, but he is a little adorable and I love that he and Elena have a really genuine relationship and love for each other. I also laugh my ass off every time he gets killed and I kind of wish it had happened more often. I don’t find that these two sentiments are in opposition at all.
Jenna
Omg, Jenna, I love you, why'd you have to go and die. I just saw Sara Canning in a panel and she was the most adorable. I can't imagine being a grad student and trying to raise two teenagers that just got dumped on you, but she manages to do it and somehow stay busy enough not to notice her niece and nephew are both dating vampires.
Alaric Salzman
Matt
He’s not the most interesting of people, but I liked him a lot at first. He’s a good kid, and I like that he and Elena were best friends too, before they ever started going out—I can just imagine that he and Elena and Bonnie and Caroline all hung out most of their lives, maybe not all together, and they are all just fun and I wouldn’t mind seeing flashbacks to that. I think he and Caroline were good together. But then, Matt, you started letting me down. I reeeeeally dislike when guys (real or fictional) feel good about the lady they’re with and want to keep feeling good about her, so they say they love her, but then when she starts showing that she has feelings about parts of her life that don’t involve him? that she may have other stuff to deal with? that she may just not make the choices that he expected? that she is, in short, a living breathing three-dimensional human being (even if she’s a vampire!) and all of a sudden she is Too Much To Handle. And look, I don’t think his reasons aren’t legit—the poor boy has an astonishing load of shit to deal with, and running for your life from supernatural threats doesn’t pay the electric bill. But at the same time, you don’t get to say that you love someone, and then act in unloving ways when it turns out they are actually someone. (Damon, Katherine, take notes.) In the end, I guess I still sort of like him, I just wish he’d sort out a balance in his life so he can get over himself a little and stop disappointing me. ...I don't even know why I wrote this goddamn much about Matt, of all people.
Tyler Lockwood
It's nice of Caroline to be friends with him but I don't ship them and I don't like him much. I think it may be because I've run into way too many guys that are his type, and I don't care for them. I don't feel much about werewolves either. I'm just a big pile of meh over Tyler.
Isobel
I think I had feelings about her at the time... I don't think she's a horrible person, but she chose herself above everyone she could have loved again and again. Maybe there was some redemption for her at the end. She just seems like such a strange person to be related to the rest of them, tbh.
John Gilbert
Now, anyone who knows of my Alias fangirling days knows how I feel about David Anders, or more specifically, Sark and characters that might be variations thereupon. If you don’t, consider yourself lucky, because you’ll be spared a few rants about how he ditched
Rose
I hear that she is hated by fandom? WHATEVER, FANDOM WHATFUCKINGEVER. She's a bamf. She does what she has to, she has a BFF that she keeps with her for hundreds of years, and she's just so brave and guarded and has such a capacity for... humanity, I guess. Her death and how Damon helped her was such a beautiful thing, and I am glad she got peace, at long last.
Lexi
Andie
Did she have a point? Other than keeping Damon from chafing his palms to the bone from masturbating to the thought of his brother’s girlfriend all day, and showing he has issues with other people and consent? I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, but she didn’t do anything. Maybe she was there to get Damon to talk about his manpain. I actually feel like she could have been something and they could have looked at some issues of consent and kink and that might have been interesting, but it didn’t go that way and I guess she’s gone. Sorry you're going to wake up and wonder what the fuck just happened to the past month of your life, Andie.
EMT Guy in Founder's Day (played by Dave Pileggi)
FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. You were a shitty youth pastor and now the fact that you are on Vampire Diaries makes me pretty sure there is no God, even if you are getting paid just above minimum wage for being one step away from an extra. I actually howled in fury when I saw your stupid face on IMDB. I am sure you're reading this because you're just the sort of person to google yourself. You want to know something? I was the one who shoved that brochure on 10 Tips For Safe Gay Sex under your office door. I hope you found it edifying.
And then in that ep where Stefan and Elena go hiking and she talks about how she doesn't want to be a vampire? That was Amicalola Falls, where I've hiked a billion times, except for the times when I was actually an infant and my dad carried by up the mountain in a back carrier. See? That's me, on that bridge they crossed over!
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-08 04:21 pm (UTC)I agree with most of what you said, and I feel differently about a few things (notably I love what they've done with Tyler and I ship him with Caroline.) (Also can't stand Matt at this point. His relationship with Caroline fills me with rage and you make very good points about it.)
I've been looking around for TVD fic recently and so far, I'm not impressed at the quality. There's some good Alaric/Damon, but I'm really craving fic featuring Elijah and what I've found sucks. I have avoided most Damon/Elena and Elena/Stefan because I suspect most of it is either poorly written, icky, or too My-Pairing-Is-Better-Than-Yours. So, yeah, I'd really like more rarepair stuff, but noone is obliging me.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-08 05:09 pm (UTC)In my mind, nobody is good enough for Caroline, so it's a difficult place to start shipping from. But if Tyler keeps evolving my feelings about him might change. (Ugh, Matt, why did you have to go from reasonably decent to so damn intolerant and sucky.)
I feel like if I delved into fic I would just find a bunch of Damon-raped-Elena-and-it-was-totes-hawt type fic.... so no thanks.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 01:09 am (UTC)Even when she's bewildered she's determined to make her own decisions, and when (esp. in the second season) she's staring into the face of dying, she clings to her autonomy because she needs to do this to protect the people she loves.
THIS. Fandom goes on a lot about how Elena is so compassionate and forgiving etc. and while that's all true, I love her most because she insists on making her own choices and because she won't just let Stefan and Damon control her. Huzzah for autonomy!
Everything you said about Stefan :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. THAT IS WHY HE IS MY FAVOURITE. A lot of people I think make the mistake of lopping him in with the Edward and Angels of this world, but I think his characterization is way more nuanced than "guilty vampire with a soul." Because he isn't always good and he definitely does not sit around emoing all the time.
KATHERINE IS MY TV GIRLFRIEND.
lol @ Matt. IA with you. I know that at some point during S1 I was fond of him, but by the end of S2 I was so bored and irritated by him. Also Caroline is perfect and obviously Matt does not see that which is not acceptable.
The whole storyline with Andie is the actual worst. WHY DO YOU DO THESE THINGS WRITERS. I've heard that they're bringing her back in S3, though? So either they can make things better... or keep making it the worst.
Omg the waterfall. So jealous of you rn. YOU MUST GO MEET THE CAST ON MY BEHALF, I DEMAND IT. Paul Wesley looks like a good hugger.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-13 04:59 pm (UTC)Elena is everything I want her to be. Loving and caring and titanium core. AND THE SHOW LETS HER DO IT. *_*
That scene in s1 where Stefan tortures the stalker vampire friend of Anna's to death made me cheer. Not because I wanted someone tortured to death, but because we didn't have twenty minutes of Stefan giving a shit about it. It wasn't nice but it was necessary, the end. And suddenly there was a different vampire trope on my tv and it was amazing.
Have you read Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon trilogy? If not, I recommend it, I think you'd like them. But wihtout too many spoilers, there's a situation in books 2-3 where our heroine Mae chooses to be the book's version of compelled by the supernatural guy she's friends with, because she's the only one without powers and she knows that she is thus open to being compelled by anyone else. But because of that, even though Mae likes this guy, she won't let herself have a relationship with him because she can't trust her emotions due to the situation. And once and only once he actually uses the power he has over her to make her do something, and Mae is immediately all NEVER TALK TO ME AGAIN AND ALSO WE'RE GETTING THIS THING REMOVED ASAP and it takes them some time to work it out properly so he why knows what he did was so wrong.
So my point is that it was an interesting exploration of consent and power dynamics, and the variety of which I would like to see with Andie, because I do think she has actual affection for Damon, and I think that he does, in some way, care for her. But there has been NO attempts at balance and understanding where she can make her own choices and where the lines are and what Damon can learn from that. I just want some consciousness of what this is and how much autonomy Andie can have in a situation where she is fully cognizant of the power Damon has over her and how much agency she can exercise within that. I don't know if it can be done. But I'm curious.
Wondering how I can find out about shooting locations. I thought they might be shooting a block from my house the other night but it turned out to be a movie instead (What to Expect When You're Expecting). I may be able to pull some strings with running a magazine and all, if I tell them I'm doing press stuff, I dunno.