She was but if you notice TVD completely negates slavery in general. If you go back to the 1864 flashbacks it’s not mentioned once, when Alaric is going over the Civil War in class it’s also not mentioned, and when Bonnie was talking about her ancestors from Salem again it’s not mentioned that they were slaves or even free slaves. It also makes no sense that Emily would travel from a free state to a slave one. Plus Damon was a Confederate soldier who left because he “didn’t agree” which was vague af and probably an opportunity to save the implications of that but chose not to because as far as Plec and Williamson were concerned slavery never existed and was a fairy tale.
TVD chose to set it’s show in Civil War era Virginia and completely ignore the context of that which is why Emily ended up being called “handmaiden” even though we knew she was anything but. Just look at how Katherine treated Emily, that’s not how you treated a handmaiden.
In fact, the only time Slavery is acknowledged is in TO with Marcel, but that was just to serve the “white savior” complex and even ignored the context of that from there after. When Marcel talks about his past it stopped being about slavery and about daddy issues to make Klaus seem like a good guy for letting Marcel have basic human rights. Which is very telling to Plec’s mindset.
I mean, even in earlier seasons, Candice and Nina got some nice styles, it was just that they were ordinary clothes because they were ordinary teens and I respected that, I essentially had Elena’s seasons 1-3 and Caroline’s season 2 wardrobe when I was 16.
and then you had Bonnie
Like they purposefully covered her up and made her frumpy.
What I found was that they had her in clothes that looked like hand-me-downs from Caroline and Elena which is why it was always ill-fitted and that the clothes they had her matched a mommy blog from 2009, the year TVD aired.
Look I’m not denying Damon is a sexual predator, but narratively it makes absolutely no sense. Rapist don’t make sense but stories do. Him being a rapist makes no sense because it served no purpose to the plot or the character motives the writers established. And because his behavior is never framed correctly doesn’t even serve as an allusion to sexual assault–it’s just there and it’s random. Meaning it’s gratuitous.
Him not being able to compel Bonnie doesn’t really even factor in because that’s not his only form of manipulation. As I said in the “Damon has always been Random” post he had an in with Bonnie through Emily that due to the fact that they did nothing with it is also random.
You can explain it with the logic of real life but it doesn’t apply because the logic of real life aren’t applied in the series. In its current form just contributes to rape culture due to the way it’s ignored and framed as though it’s alright–that’s pretty much the only way it applies to real life logic.
We can discern certain things about his personality due what we see the same way we discern certain things about but Bonnie but the fact of the fact of the matter neither of these characters are well developed. Bonnie due to the lack of development and what is shown, Damon due to inconsistency.
Also they kept making him worse and worse and kept trying to frame it as “redemption” but the fact of the matter is what we see is the only characterization we have to go. Like trying to say Elena is compassionate doesn’t really work due to her never really showing these traits. So yes he is those things, but he’s also a bunch of others that you can’t make heads or tails of so the only consistent thing is abuser and rapist.
It’s pretty much Meredith’s fault that Elena is a vampire. Will there be backlash?
Torrey: Here’s what I’ve been saying, and I really do stand by this: I think Meredith should be getting praised for this! People don’t realize there would be no more Vampire Diaries if Meredith hadn’t saved Elena’s life. She’d be dead! I think we should all acknowledge that.
Speaking of Julie, she recently said Meredith would be a “stabilizing force” for Damon this season. Can you elaborate?
Torrey: I think you’ll see a bond grow between Damon and Meredith. It’s cool because he’s this erratic character, and she really holds her ground with him and with all the other characters. She’s strong-minded and doesn’t put up with his bulls**t. So deep down, whether he acknowledges it or not, he admires that about her. That’s how their friendship begins, really. x
Second, what does “Doesn’t put up with his bullshit” mean in the Plec/Dries era? Nothing! It doesn’t mean anything! Alaric was friends with Damon for about a year, and Damon killed the man one month before he died. Why? Because Ric was getting on his nerves! That’s it! Ric was saying shit he didn’t like so he snapped his neck. Damon doesn’t change. He stay at square one. To Julie, it’s more important for Damon to stay Damon and be problematic and all of that. When you get in Damon’s orbit, you get over yourself, he doesn’t get over himself. What’s “doesn’t put up with his bullshit?” He does something, you say something, and it goes over his head 2 episodes later? Stop. Damon doesn’t change or conform for anybody, he does what he wants. He used to act right back in season 1/early season 2 with depending on who was talking to him (Bonnie), but JP/Dries are in charge now and they think Damon being an ass is cute and entertaining.
Alaric, a man Meredith had only known for like three weeks, show-time, told her that he killed her cousin, and she said, “Ain’t no thang. I got no opinion on this stuff.” So I don’t know how she’s not going to put up with Damon’s shit. Not putting up with Damon’s shit is lip-service, because the show portrays something different. Let’s not act like people not putting up with Damon’s bullshit is even a thing anymore. Everyone puts up with his bullshit because he still feels free to act out with no regard about what anyone will think.
Imma need Meredith to be as relevant as Ric was before Matt Davis defended JP on Twitter and she let that direct her writing.
EDIT: Hold on. My eyes glazed over the introduction of the article, so I missed this:
With her boyfriend gone, and her purpose in Mystic Falls seemingly fulfilled, many fans are wondering WTF Meredith (Torrey DeVitto) will be up to on The Vampire Diaries this season.
With her boyfriend gone, and her purpose in Mystic Falls seemingly fulfilled,
Help me. What was Meredith’s purpose?
Meredith was a doctor in Mystic Falls, a place where many people are sent to the hospital if they’re lucky, and people were worried about what her place would be because she doesn’t have a boyfriend?
This is what I mean h6 ships are currency. While I won’t say Meredith was the most relevant character she had a role that was about as important as the sheriff’s and the fandom couldn’t even see that.
Seriously, people need to let TVD go and let Legacies die. It was not a great series because all it’s doing is continuing the legacy of sexism, racism, and misogynor.
The treatment of this character is probably one of the most overlooked and I understand why. A) he was a heretic, something everyone always saw as knock off Originals. B) he was in season 7 and by that point most people done with Plec’s racist bullshit had stopped watching the show. And C) No one really remembers him probably because he had absolutely no lines, you’d think they would at least have him use sign language, but naw–I’ll get into that later.
I remember him, and I remember being very uncomfortable with what they did to his character and not realizing exactly why beyond the fact that the only black Heretic is also mute and it’s completely gratuitous. After analyzing my thoughts more I realized it’s so much more.
For me the only really memorable heretics were Nora and Mary Louise, and Valerie. The reason for this is because a) a lot of screen time was given to them, b) they’re the only ones that made it past one episode and c) a lot of development was given to these characters. Then I remember Beau, he was one of those three things, and trust me it wasn’t screentime or development. He’s in more than one episode, but why isn’t he given the same treatment as the other heretics? Surely he holds the same exact importance as the others, but he isn’t and I think we all know why.
So a lot bothered me about how this character was written. First he’s the only black heretic which isn’t what bothers, what bothers me is there’s no context for this character. There’s lots of context for what Nora and Mary Louise went through as lesbians in the 19th century, but absolutely none for Beau. Lily, a white woman from the Confederate south meets Beau, a black man who can suck the life out of her quite literally, imma needs some backstory on him. They already had the “white savior” thing going, but I would have loved to know what his struggles were back then–his were a lot worse than Mary Louise and Nora (and I’m not arguing about that so don’t @ me)
Then there’s the fact that he’s mute. The only black one in the bunch literally has no voice, he has no say in anything, but what’s worse is that being mute doesn’t automatically make someone non-communative, that’s just what they did to his character. He rarely voices his opinions in any sense someone else is always doing it for him. There’s also how he lost his voice. The only reason we get this information is because Lily laments about missing his singing voice. He doesn’t get to voice or express any of his pain at losing his voice, it’s Lily, the white woman he’s been essentially an indentured servant for who does–it’s her pain that’s focused on (sound familiar). I seriously could not make this shit up.
But the thing that gets me most is that he is the only one treated as a slave to Lily and it’s all under the mask of “loyalty” which is the most reoccurring theme when it comes to black witches on this show. Bonnie “loyal” to the Elena, Emily “loyal” Katherine, Greta “loyal” to Klaus, Ayanna “loyal” to Esther, and the list goes on and on. Beau seems to be the only one who has to be “loyal”. All the other heretics love and respect Lily, but everyone has rebelled in some capacity, all except Beau. He does everything she says, never questions it, and is honestly the only one ordered to do things. The only other one who gets ordered to do something is Oscar, the only other minority heretic, but at least got to rebel, and choose his own path.
Beau honestly reminded me of Harper from season 1 which I know most of you don’t remember, he was the first tomb vampire to be introduced. He black and the only other thing known about him is that he “died” in the war as a soldier. Again due to TVD’s complete negation of slavery we’re missing context, and he’s the only tomb vampire loyal to Pearl. The only difference is a) he has a voice, b) he has opinions, and c) he isn’t forced to act outside of his own self-interest which are all pretty significant differences BUT why is there such a low bar when it comes to black characters?
Even with that small amount of agency, he, like Beau, ends up dead and forgotten. With as much as Lily stressed that they were a “family” or becomes inherently clear that Beau isn’t apart of it. He isn’t afforded the same amount of care as the other. No character of color is.
I honestly think people have a hard time separating fiction from real life and these reactions are based mostly on the show because they literally act like Nina is Elena, Ian is Damon, and Kat is Bonnie, but even without the show for context that’s no excuse for the way they treat Kat. It also doesn’t excuse their own internal racism because Plec may have framed as though it was okay (which it never was) but that was all it took for them to come out–she didn’t create their racist mindset she just nurtured it.
As for Nina, I never really paid attention to her but now that I’ve had a glimpse, I don’t understand why people keep on defending her. She’s a mediocre actress, petty, manipulative, and if the kind of company she keeps is any indicator, she’s problematic af. She’s not worth the fight.
POC of TVD 