and now the Qetsiyah tag is filled with posts calling her crazy or a bitch, because it’s not like we have 4 years worth of material to prove why a Bennett being around dopplegänger over an extended period of time is bad for their mental and physical health.
Wadda expect, bae? Her melanin content is a tad too high, ya know?
For the record, I don’t think JP is overtly racist. I think the show promotes distinct roles for different races, and these roles happen to echo those of the antebellum South (re: vampires (thus far all white, with the exception of Abby, but let’s not even go there) view witches (thus far all black, with the exception of Ester) as disposable sources of labor). I think they try to justify these roles as ‘historical’, when really, they verge on racist. What makes it all worse is the fact that exceedingly loud portions of the fandom get incensed when the most focalized PoC, Bonnie Bennett, steps out of her generally subservient ‘help-the-vampires-through-the-thin-veil-of-doing-it-for-Elena’ role and goes against the plantation owners vampires.
Yes, this is all subtext. Yes, these are observations that aren’t necessarily obvious to those who don’t care to look for them. But the fact of the matter is, they’re there. And the more the writers continue to treat Bonnie, the only consistent black character they’ve chosen to have on the show (which, bear in mind, doesn’t automatically absolve them of promoting passive racism – I’d rather them cast a white actress than give the lone black one such a comparatively ignored character), like the only girl in a trio of leads that doesn’t deserve birthday parties, love interests, a house we recognize, well-developed-over-seasons-of-interactions parents, scenes dedicated to reactions to tragic events (Grams dying, her mom’s transition), and a life outside of Elena Gilbert, the more they send the message that this character is somehow less of a person than her white counterparts.
Bonnie is actually supposed to be more important than Caroline – God knows she does a hell of a lot more for the plot, so these writers are actually going out of their way to make her irrelevant. How in the world can a bubbly blonde baby vamp with no advantage whatsoever over the hundreds of stronger supernatural creatures around her be more vital to a show and have more screen time than the lone, incredibly powerful witch on the main guys’ side? Explain that to me. There’s nothing. Seriously. Caroline is written about so much because the writers choose to write more about her. Everything that happens to her is forced in, but we’re okay with it because she’s fun and likable and who doesn’t love Caroline? My rambling point: giving Bonnie that amount of screentime would take FAR less work and FAR less creativity and FAR less bending of logic (re: Klaroline) because her character role is already necessary. It’s already important. Mystic Falls will continue to function seamlessly without Caroline – without Bonnie, everyone dies and the town is fucked. So what, then, is this insistence on origami-ing Caroline into plots, romances, and scenes that Bonnie already fits? It’s racism. It may be passive, it may be unintentional, but it’s racism. Of that, I am thoroughly convinced. Either the writers do it on autopilot without recognizing it, or it’s they’re way of appealing to their majority white fanbase that doesn’t realize they’re demanding it.
Anyway, this turned out waaay longer than I meant it to, and I really don’t feel like arguing today, so if you don’t agree with me, ignore or be ignored. And for the record, before anons blow up my askbox with racial implications like they’re wont to do, I’m white. I have no agenda. I’m just calling it like I see it because racism is gross.
The best part of this post:
Bonnie is actually supposed to be more important than Caroline – God knows she does a hell of a lot more for the plot, so these writers are actually going out of their way to make her irrelevant. How in the world can a bubbly blonde baby vamp with no advantage whatsoever over the hundreds of stronger supernatural creatures around her be more vital to a show and have more screen time than the lone, incredibly powerful witch on the main guys’ side?
In a different world, perhaps – in a world where white writers make it a point to dismantle and investigate damaging stereotypes rather than perpetuate them, in a world where they actively engage in conversations with POC in order to…
I do not want Bonnie being 2nd or 3rd choice yet again, either. That’s another reason why Bonkai is more appealing now, among many other reasons story-wise and character development-wise. I love how Bonnie’s character is developing more because of Kai and vice versa. And I think that would continue with Kai. She’d explore different parts of herself, and that seems to have already started this season. Whenever she’s around Kai we see glimpses of a different side to her that we haven’t seen before.
This. I’ve been a Bamon fan from the beginning, it was one of the reasons I loved the books so much. But with everything they have done with Damon’s character, I just don’t think I could get behind it anymore, not if she is a consolation prize because Elena is gone.
Kai likes her for who she is, not as a second choice, and Bonnie really needs that. This could be such a great redemption story for him, and her as well, if the writers don’t mess it up. It could show Bonnie learning her own self worth, not letting everyone walk all over her anymore, and to finally have someone in her corner. No offense to the Jeremy fans, but it never felt like he really was there for her. He wanted her back from the dead for him, so he could touch her, and he didn’t even help with the planning just went along with whatever Damon said to do.
At this point, I’m honestly happy with Bamon friendship, because it feels like the most honest outcome for the television pairing. But I NEED Bonkai to happen!
Wow, you said it so perfectly. With Elena gone, Bonnie will seem like a consolation prize. Everyone should hate that.
Plus, as you pointed out, Damon keeps digging a deeper hole for himself, in my eyes. He’s too inconsistent. In the prison world he sort of redeemed himself, besides the fact of him calling Bonnie useless and dumb multiple times. But he was willing to stay behind and fight Kai, so that redeemed him a bit. And then he seemed to miss Bonnie when he came back, then forgot about her again for a few episodes. Now she’s back and for some reason he’s not being honest to her about everything that has happened. He’s taking credit for why she is alive in mystic falls. He used her to get back to 1903, he’s being hypocritical when it comes to hurting and leaving Kai in the prison world. He’s gonna have to gain her trust back. But how is he gonna do that with Mama Salvatore still causing havoc, and with Elena dying/leaving? I can’t see him getting over Elena anytime soon.
So anyway, Bonkai needs to happen. Period.
I know this is an old post, but I was thinking of my mentality back then. I didn’t watch it while it aired but I did watch it after knowing Kai was gone and in my mind Bonnie was never the consolation prize, but Damon was hers because Kai was gone. I went into season 7 specifically for Bamon because I couldn’t have Bonkai, it never really occurred to me then the mentality of the writers and most of the audience would be completely different because as I’ve mentioned on multiple occasions I was once a very casual viewer and didn’t interact with the fandom. The only perspective on the show I had was my own, I never thought of the writers or any other fans responses to the show.
To me Elena was never the end all be all and based on Damon’s reactions to her compared to Bonnie it didn’t seem like she was the end all be all to him either. Like compare his reaction to Elena being dead to when he realizes they couldn’t save Bonnie from the prison world, he looks way more affected by Bonnie, or even that season his reaction to first seeing Elena before she rejects him to when he first see Bonnie, it always looked more significant with Bonnie. So going off of that it never occurred to me that Bonnie would be his consolation prize. It did later the more and more Plec interjected Elena into the s7 narrative, but watch the end of season 6 no, it seemed more like he was her consolation prize for losing everything to me.
I never thought about the writers and their biases, the rabid Delena fans that they would cater to because for me it was just a show I watched, and then stopped watching when it got too exhausting, and then read fanfiction, and then started watching again for context for a lot of those fanfics (Bonkai fanfic to be more specific). My thoughts and predictions for the show were very individual which is such a weird retrospect because I was so naive and not for the generic “I used to ship that” but more of how unaware I was of the toxic nature that went into making the show.
The real tragedy of 8×11 is that Stefan didn’t kill Elena. That almost would have made killing Enzo just for Bonnie to be the deus ex machina again worth it. It definitely would have made Stefan dying worth it.
Day 7 Prompt: visitor Characters: Bonnie Bennett, Klaus Mikaelson Note: dedicated to @irresistible-revolution, who first mused about the idea of a future where Bonnie was a mom and Klaus was the man who darkened her door.
For a few years, Bonnie loathed Halloween.
It seemed to mock her, reminding her of all the horrific things she had seen (and done). Of course, hoards of children marauding as ghouls is a far cry from the reality of what really lurks in the dark but it had cut deeply enough to make her want to shy away from it.
(Marcus always teased her when she had shut the lights off, not realizing how she tensed in his arms)
Of course, everything changed when Macie came along (David was not far behind her). She had looked at the faces of her children and realized she could not deny them anything.
POC of TVD 