Elena Gilbert is my hero now?!

[botias]

I'm probably so, so wrong. But I can't help but notice that when Elena's vampire boyfriend goes evil, she's willing to give up on him and move on with her life. She doesn't have super powers though she is surrounded by characters that do, but she insists on sticking it to the vamps and weres as best she can. An evil, snarky vampire is way into Elena but she can't abide his evil or return his feelings, yet she rejects him without belittling him or beating him into the ground. She has sex without angsting, feeling ashamed or being punished with 'consequences'. Elena loses people close to her, gets rejected and disappointed by her true love, and faces apocalyptic threats, but she doesn't cope with those things via casual sex or drugs.

Conclusion: maybe horror isn't my genre.

P.S. Is Joss portraying the horrors of patriarchy when he brings the hammer down on Buffy again and again, or is he the patriarchy?

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Elena has grown a great deal since Season One, she's becoming stronger and a lot tougher mentally.

[botias.livejournal.com]

I can't help but like the way Elena keeps calm and carries on, the way she is strong and loyal but has boundaries, and her wacky lack of self-hatred.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

You're going to make me start watching TVD, aren't you?

P.S. Is Joss portraying the horrors of patriarchy when he brings the hammer down on Buffy again and again, or is he the patriarchy?

So much wrong there! Do you read the comics?

[botias.livejournal.com]

Like many shows, TVD takes some time to find it's stride. I quit watching 4 or 6 eps into the first season, but others on my flist kept watching and convinced me to give it another go, and I've been hooked ever since. It's fluffy, yes, and the vampires don't get staked nearly as much as they ought to, but it's one of the most consistently plotted shows I've ever seen. Even if they don't have a MESSAGE about IMPORTANT SUBJECTS, it's the work of some very talented people who take creating fluff very seriously. One of its best features its biggest flaw, the plot moves lightning fast, sometimes too fast to engage emotionally with what the characters are going through. Also a big plus, the show is rife with strong female characters. BtVS helped make Elena possible, but it's almost like looking back on a bad relationship after finding a good one. It doesn't have to hurt! Not that I'm bitter. ;)

I don't read the comics, but I get to hear about all of the goings-on. And the latest news is what sparked this post. I don't know if I'm more angry at the writers or at myself for getting so riled. Some really good fan writers have already covered the pregnancy angle many different ways, so while I'm angry about the way they're going about it (am I mistaken in that the main plot event of seasons 8 and 9 involves Buffy getting violated? First glow-roofied and now the blackout!sex), the pregnancy itself feels to me like it's been done. Plus, didn't they cover all of this in Season 5 with Dawn and losing her mom? Maybe Buffy should be empty-nesting? Going to Community College? Anyway, please rant if you are so inclined.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for shows with strong female characters. And vampires, so I'm obviously doomed to watch TVD! I wonder if it's on netflix?

I'm not hardcore comics fen. I tend to read them in collections after the fact, but I've been reading season 9. So far I have to agree with your thought that a lot of fan-writers have done baby-fic, and done it better. The barb-verse being the obvious example!

I'm not sure I'd say that the main plot of season 8 was the glo-hypnol space-fracking. (Though obviously that was the most ridiculous part!) I can't even think about it without rolling my eyes! There was also a submarine that was magickly (note: magic with a "K"!) transported from off the coast of scotland to the middle of Tibet, for example. And an episode where Buffy was part of a cartoon-version of season 1, though I kind of like that one. You just can't take it seriously when they do things like that!

I did like the Japan arc with Dracula, and giant-Mecha Dawn.

I actually like a fair amount of the set-up for season 9. Buffy is working as a waitress in a coffee bar and living with some roomies she doesn't know well, and trying to figure out what she's doing with her life. I can relate to that! I'm not a fan of the blackout-sex story, but frankly watching the wank in the forums over it is really fun.

I did think this episode/ issue was pretty well done. Buffy and Willow (who have been a little estranged) reconnected, and that was big. And there was a whooole lot of dream stuff re: the First Slayer.

I just don't take it as canon, you know?

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the difference between a dull idealized female character and a really strong, layered female character. "strong" fictional characters are those that have actual flaws. Sometimes they beat and belittle and have a sexual relationship with an evil vampire they have confused and compplicated feelings for, because they have a dark side and personal issues they are having trouble dealing with, kind of like male characters are allowed to, rather than being this wonderful Mary Sue-ish person who exists to be a role model for female virtue and a suitable trophy for the guys in the story. Let's face it, the story isn't really about Elena, it's about what happens around her and which guy "deserves" her and gets her in the end. Which is not what BtVS was ever about, even though so many people want to make it about that.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Do you watch TVD?

While acknowledging the higher expectations on women, I like to think there is room on TV for more than one type. I adore Carrie Mathison on Homeland who is a deeply flawed yet heroic female lead with a very painful story. But I'm not ready to say that Elena is nothing more than a trophy or a role-model for repression. When I watch, I see a character with agency, courage and self-respect, surrounded by a sisterhood with same. I get the warm fuzzies when Elena writes off her 'epic' love when it doesn't work out; I really like the way Elena doesn't seem to care that she doesn't currently have a boyfriend or spend screen time flashback-ing on previous ones; that the writers have her love and lose and come out the other side emotionally whole, and further that slut-shaming, sex negativity, and paternal figures are completely absent. Buffy subverted epic romance and the notion that 'true' love is letting your love life overlay your emotional life like some sort of nuclear blast radius. All the baggage that Buffy has been saddled with is hardly a happily ever after. She is still staggering under it. I like to think that TVD is building a new fable on the foundations of the obnoxious one that Joss smashed. No matter how I feel about the stories Joss chooses to tell, I think BtVS made what is good about TVD possible.

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do. I'm one episode away from finishing season 2. It's like a poor man's BtVS with none of the complexity.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Eh, we'll probably just to accept a difference of taste. :) BtVS had a great deal more gravity and angst, I'll happily concede that.

[botias.livejournal.com]

P.S. I appreciate the feedback.