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bookgazing) wrote2010-12-08 01:53 pm
bookgazing) wrote2010-12-08 01:53 pm
The Vampire Diaries - Season One yammerings
I think it was Amy’s continuing enthusiasm for The Vampire Diaries that finally made me pick up the first series box set. I was a huge lover of LJ Smith’s Nightworld and the Game series when I was a teenager, but for some reason I was not even aware of the existence of The Vampire Diaries until the tv program turned up. I’m not planning to pick up the books just yet as a few people say they’re not great (and I’d like to keep my memories of LJ’s creepy best intact), but what could one more dvd box set hurt (I am very good about these box sets people, I only own ten at most – one addiction I have under control).
Some of the things I love about the series:
Damon: I know I’m not supposed to like him. He is evil. This is why I like him. I actually think suspending my morality about hot murderers in books or television shows is what keeps me from searching out destructive men to date. I love how he kills everyone. There have absolutely been some moments where I’ve really hated him (engineering the death of Stefan’s uber cool, oldest friend was not his finest hour) but like Elena I can’t quite seem to quit thinking redemption might be in the works for him. And the final episode of the first series where he thinks he is kissing Elena – ooooo OOOOO.
Damon and Stefan’s brotherly relationship: I love this relationship like puppies. There are moments where the snarky comments, or the forced team working show you just how much they used to love each other and just how much they want to be friends again. Yes I believe Damon wants to be friends again too despite what he says, the whole luring Stefan to drink human blood is not about destroying him, it’s about wanting to have his best friend back so they can go hunting and partying together forever #totallyvalidtheories.
Caroline: Undoubtedly the best female character in this series. Sexy, but not dead, or turned into a vampire by the end of series one. Yes! Snarky, but really so desperate to be honest with someone who will be honest with her. Dating a real person, not a vampire by the end of the series (aww Matt, I actually do not find you drippy despite your dull, dull hair – you are a nice guy, sometimes nice guys with a bit of sass finish well). I am worried about what I’ve heard about series two and Caroline, but hopefully she will keep being awesome and keep being in the program.
Many of the ladies and their friendships: Yay Bonnie and Elena and Caroline. They are real friends, with their issues, but also with these bonds that bring them back together whatever. And Jenna, I have a soft spot for Elena’s aunt, despite her being the unwitting foil for almost every hot male vamp in town. I like that it seems that whoever messes her about suffers (first history teacher, you deserved what you got for that patronising speech about parenting being hard).
Male secondary characters: Tyler and Jeremy and Matt! I want them all to be best, but complicated, friends and to save Tyler from whatever is wrong with him (It’s a werewolf gene, right? Am I right?). They should also fight crime together. I think the biggest strength of this series is the character relationships, which manage to feel so real and important even when the plot starts spinning into wacky land.
Multi-episode guest appearances from very cool female actresses: Anna and Isabel. Explain series, why have you taken them away from me? I would have watched a whole spin off series about Anna using her archiving skills to stop evil (how well would she have fitted into the Buffy gang?).
Elena and Stefan sexy times: It doesn’t even take a whole series for them to have sex and she doesn’t die afterwards. It’s a teenage vampire series miracle. I actually think this program's approach to teenage sex is a nice half way house (umm when this refers to sex that sounds seedy right?) for people who like vampires but find Twilight too chaste and True Blood too naked. The second point does not even come close to describing me I am afraid.
Things I do not like so much:
Kill all the Girls: Female characters who become vampires do not seem to last long. Staking vampires is a long established metaphor for curtailing wild, unacceptable female sexuality, so when a whole bunch of sexy, or sexually active females get turned into vampires then die it’s hard not to infer that the program has issues. A healthy sexuality does seem to be promoted in this program (lots of sex between consenting young adults, happy, sexual relationships) but sometimes I felt like sex was really only condoned in relationships like Elena and Stefan’s, involving the ‘good’ girl with the respectably toned down dress sense, while other sexual relationships with more overtly sexualised, or dominant female partners (Vicky, Anna, Lexie) were punished with death. I’m holding out on condemning judgement though, as Caroline is happily sexual and not dead yet.
Bonnie: Bonnie needs more to do. I think it’s unfair that out of the three friends she gets the most awesome power, but doesn’t get to do much with it after she opens a tomb for a vampire she hates. If she could have her own love interest who does not turn out to be a vampire who will kill them all that would also be super.
Compelling the female: Apart from Jeremy have any men been compelled during this series? Oh, wait Alaric is compelled by Isabel...
It does overwhelmingly seem to be the women getting compelled to do things against their will (Caroline rescuing Damon, trying to get back the necklace etc), while the few men who are compelled just have to forget things for their own good. This is unbalanced and I don’t like the exclusive use of women as spell bound tools. Plot devices stop being ‘just about the story’ when it’s a gender specific plot device.
I do like that the program has avoided making the women be compelled to have sex...I would have to check on that, but it feels more like they want to sleep with the guy of their own free will, then they have to be compelled to forget the biting and the ‘clearly he is a vampiric killing machine’ bit. I’m thinking of Caroline here again. And this is good, because the alternative would be awful.
GLBT missing persons: Severe lack of gay or lesbian characters in this series. Isabel has a female lover (but this action of Isabel’s is clearly not to be admired because she is compelling the girl and Isabel is evil). Also, although I liked that Elena’s uncle Jonathan says it’s wrong for Isabel to compel a gay cowboy to be straight so she can sleep with him I’m uncomfortable with this being the only gay male character in the pprgram. All the way through the first series I wondered if Tyler would turn out to be bisexual (yes it was the ‘stop with your bromance’ comment that made me start thinking that way), but I have come to the conclusion that Vampire Diaries is yet another vampire show where gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters are absent and gay, lesbian, bisexual vampires are a big old no. Will Caroline’s gay dad be appearing on screen with his partner at any point? Again I’ll hold off on judgement until the next series.
I will admit that you need to get beyond the first few episodes to find the good. There is no good to be found in the terrible mist effect (although there is lovely, odd brotherly story building in these episodes) so I advise you accompany the first episodes with a drink and a funny write up post like Sarah Rees Brennan’s. After that prepare to get on the love train, last stop yet another town named by vampires who wanted a suitably mysterious address.
Some of the things I love about the series:
Damon: I know I’m not supposed to like him. He is evil. This is why I like him. I actually think suspending my morality about hot murderers in books or television shows is what keeps me from searching out destructive men to date. I love how he kills everyone. There have absolutely been some moments where I’ve really hated him (engineering the death of Stefan’s uber cool, oldest friend was not his finest hour) but like Elena I can’t quite seem to quit thinking redemption might be in the works for him. And the final episode of the first series where he thinks he is kissing Elena – ooooo OOOOO.
Damon and Stefan’s brotherly relationship: I love this relationship like puppies. There are moments where the snarky comments, or the forced team working show you just how much they used to love each other and just how much they want to be friends again. Yes I believe Damon wants to be friends again too despite what he says, the whole luring Stefan to drink human blood is not about destroying him, it’s about wanting to have his best friend back so they can go hunting and partying together forever #totallyvalidtheories.
Caroline: Undoubtedly the best female character in this series. Sexy, but not dead, or turned into a vampire by the end of series one. Yes! Snarky, but really so desperate to be honest with someone who will be honest with her. Dating a real person, not a vampire by the end of the series (aww Matt, I actually do not find you drippy despite your dull, dull hair – you are a nice guy, sometimes nice guys with a bit of sass finish well). I am worried about what I’ve heard about series two and Caroline, but hopefully she will keep being awesome and keep being in the program.
Many of the ladies and their friendships: Yay Bonnie and Elena and Caroline. They are real friends, with their issues, but also with these bonds that bring them back together whatever. And Jenna, I have a soft spot for Elena’s aunt, despite her being the unwitting foil for almost every hot male vamp in town. I like that it seems that whoever messes her about suffers (first history teacher, you deserved what you got for that patronising speech about parenting being hard).
Male secondary characters: Tyler and Jeremy and Matt! I want them all to be best, but complicated, friends and to save Tyler from whatever is wrong with him (It’s a werewolf gene, right? Am I right?). They should also fight crime together. I think the biggest strength of this series is the character relationships, which manage to feel so real and important even when the plot starts spinning into wacky land.
Multi-episode guest appearances from very cool female actresses: Anna and Isabel. Explain series, why have you taken them away from me? I would have watched a whole spin off series about Anna using her archiving skills to stop evil (how well would she have fitted into the Buffy gang?).
Elena and Stefan sexy times: It doesn’t even take a whole series for them to have sex and she doesn’t die afterwards. It’s a teenage vampire series miracle. I actually think this program's approach to teenage sex is a nice half way house (umm when this refers to sex that sounds seedy right?) for people who like vampires but find Twilight too chaste and True Blood too naked. The second point does not even come close to describing me I am afraid.
Things I do not like so much:
Kill all the Girls: Female characters who become vampires do not seem to last long. Staking vampires is a long established metaphor for curtailing wild, unacceptable female sexuality, so when a whole bunch of sexy, or sexually active females get turned into vampires then die it’s hard not to infer that the program has issues. A healthy sexuality does seem to be promoted in this program (lots of sex between consenting young adults, happy, sexual relationships) but sometimes I felt like sex was really only condoned in relationships like Elena and Stefan’s, involving the ‘good’ girl with the respectably toned down dress sense, while other sexual relationships with more overtly sexualised, or dominant female partners (Vicky, Anna, Lexie) were punished with death. I’m holding out on condemning judgement though, as Caroline is happily sexual and not dead yet.
Bonnie: Bonnie needs more to do. I think it’s unfair that out of the three friends she gets the most awesome power, but doesn’t get to do much with it after she opens a tomb for a vampire she hates. If she could have her own love interest who does not turn out to be a vampire who will kill them all that would also be super.
Compelling the female: Apart from Jeremy have any men been compelled during this series? Oh, wait Alaric is compelled by Isabel...
It does overwhelmingly seem to be the women getting compelled to do things against their will (Caroline rescuing Damon, trying to get back the necklace etc), while the few men who are compelled just have to forget things for their own good. This is unbalanced and I don’t like the exclusive use of women as spell bound tools. Plot devices stop being ‘just about the story’ when it’s a gender specific plot device.
I do like that the program has avoided making the women be compelled to have sex...I would have to check on that, but it feels more like they want to sleep with the guy of their own free will, then they have to be compelled to forget the biting and the ‘clearly he is a vampiric killing machine’ bit. I’m thinking of Caroline here again. And this is good, because the alternative would be awful.
GLBT missing persons: Severe lack of gay or lesbian characters in this series. Isabel has a female lover (but this action of Isabel’s is clearly not to be admired because she is compelling the girl and Isabel is evil). Also, although I liked that Elena’s uncle Jonathan says it’s wrong for Isabel to compel a gay cowboy to be straight so she can sleep with him I’m uncomfortable with this being the only gay male character in the pprgram. All the way through the first series I wondered if Tyler would turn out to be bisexual (yes it was the ‘stop with your bromance’ comment that made me start thinking that way), but I have come to the conclusion that Vampire Diaries is yet another vampire show where gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters are absent and gay, lesbian, bisexual vampires are a big old no. Will Caroline’s gay dad be appearing on screen with his partner at any point? Again I’ll hold off on judgement until the next series.
I will admit that you need to get beyond the first few episodes to find the good. There is no good to be found in the terrible mist effect (although there is lovely, odd brotherly story building in these episodes) so I advise you accompany the first episodes with a drink and a funny write up post like Sarah Rees Brennan’s. After that prepare to get on the love train, last stop yet another town named by vampires who wanted a suitably mysterious address.