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frelling_tralk) wrote2015-01-26 06:06 pm
frelling_tralk) wrote2015-01-26 06:06 pm
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I decided to rewatch some of the early seasons of The Vampire Diaries yet again (seasons 1-3 so far), and this entry is basically my trying to figure out Elena's character
I've read many comments on Elena using soft power to manipulate her friends and centre herself as the focal point of the group and, while I still don't always completely agree with every suggested instance of that, it did stand out to me in episode 322 that everyone immediately acts like the choice of whether to take up the deal with Elijah or not was Elena's alone, even though they'd all worked together on the plan to get rid of Klaus, and if Elijah had double-crossed them then they would have all been just as affected by that as Elena would be. The writing can sometimes be a bit too on the nose when it comes to Stefan insisting on respecting Elena's free will, and Damon just yelling 'no' over and over again on the speaker phone and saying that he would tie Elena down if he has too, yet there was no one to bring up that actually maybe it's a decision that they should all discuss and agree on as a group. Elena getting to make her own decisions when it comes to her own life is fair enough, but TvD took it to an extreme in moments like that, so that we're expected to accept as a matter of course that Elena gets the final say on everything
What I'm not completely sure of is whether or not we are supposed to read it as Elena subtly setting herself up as carrying the final word in their group, or is it more a case of the writers subconsciously always making Elena's POV the dominant one as their protagonist? In the show it's obviously Stefan and Damon who ensure that Elena gets prioritised over everyone else, but it is noteworthy that Elena chooses to have Damon and Stefan in her life, in spite of knowing that they will make decisions like a coin-toss over who should be the one to kill Bonnie's Mother in order to save Elena. Yes she was vocal at the time over how mad she was at Damon for that (and interestingly didn't say anything to Stefan, even though he was just as much a part of the coin toss as Damon was), buuuut can it be seen as tacit approval if she's still going to continue associating with those vampires? Lashing out at Damon as the most obvious culprit, and telling Bonnie that she's furious with Damon is all very well, but Elena knows that they will always represent a very real threat to her loved ones whenever it comes down to Elena or them, yet by the end of the season Elena is debating over whether to choose Damon or Stefan as her partner. Indeed she will later get angry when Caroline does question what Elena sees in Damon ("probably off doing bad things to good people"), Elena straight-out says that Damon has always been there for me when I needed him
I can't quite see Elena as the calculating player that some do, but I did pick up on it more this time around that she actually does prioritise her own PoV more than you might pick up on at first, it is very easy for her to protest that her loved ones always come before her own life for her, but then a question arises of why she would continue associating with the Salvatore's in that case? (Stefan before season 3 to a lesser extent perhaps, but certainly Damon has stated outright, in late season 2 among other times, that he would sacrifice her best friend Bonnie's life without even blinking if it meant saving Elena).
And okay in season 2, yes Elena was ready to sacrifice herself to Klaus, but it was very quickly brushed aside that a vampire (originally planned to be Caroline) and a werewolf (would unquestionably have to be Tyler) were going to die in that ritual too if it went ahead, but practically all of the discussions were exclusively centred around Elena as the sacrifice and how to prevent Elena's death. Elena does cry in episode 209 about how Tyler and Caroline are going to be sacrificed in the ritual and all because of her, but then the episodes after that noticeably never bring up those other possible victims of Klaus again, season 2 instead becomes all about Elena's sacrifice for her loved ones and finding a way to prevent Elena's sacrifice. It's really only in the last couple of episodes that the characters were reminded that the ritual would involve other members of their group, but even then Damon's motives in rescuing Caroline and Tyler were very much treating them as an afterthought. (A bit O/T, but I've seen arguments that Caroline should forgive Damon feeding off her and enslaving her, because hey he did rescue her from Klaus's ritual after all, but that's ignoring that Damon's sole focus there was unequivocally shown to be about preventing the ritual happening while Elena had vampire blood in her system)
Protagonist privilege is one thing, but TvD makes it clear time and time again that Elena's life is the sole priority to Damon and Stefan, and it's disturbing how rarely the show questions that, even Elena ultimately never gets that angry with them that she's willing to cut them out of her life entirely, no matter how many times her loved ones became collateral damage. Indeed Elena accepted Damon back into her life with a mouthed "thank you" after he helped to rescue her from Rose/Trevor/Elijah in episode 208, but in the show's timeline that was very close to the time that Damon had lost his temper and snapped her little brothers neck, but it seems like viewers dwelt on that far more than Elena ever did. It's the same pattern every time in fact, she gets noticeably angry with Damon when she discovers the bite marks on Caroline and orders him to stay away, she freezes Damon out after he killed Jeremy, she is angry at him for an episode or two after Bonnie's Mother is killed and turned, and yet every time Damon is back within her social circle within a few episodes at the most...
I've read many comments on Elena using soft power to manipulate her friends and centre herself as the focal point of the group and, while I still don't always completely agree with every suggested instance of that, it did stand out to me in episode 322 that everyone immediately acts like the choice of whether to take up the deal with Elijah or not was Elena's alone, even though they'd all worked together on the plan to get rid of Klaus, and if Elijah had double-crossed them then they would have all been just as affected by that as Elena would be. The writing can sometimes be a bit too on the nose when it comes to Stefan insisting on respecting Elena's free will, and Damon just yelling 'no' over and over again on the speaker phone and saying that he would tie Elena down if he has too, yet there was no one to bring up that actually maybe it's a decision that they should all discuss and agree on as a group. Elena getting to make her own decisions when it comes to her own life is fair enough, but TvD took it to an extreme in moments like that, so that we're expected to accept as a matter of course that Elena gets the final say on everything
What I'm not completely sure of is whether or not we are supposed to read it as Elena subtly setting herself up as carrying the final word in their group, or is it more a case of the writers subconsciously always making Elena's POV the dominant one as their protagonist? In the show it's obviously Stefan and Damon who ensure that Elena gets prioritised over everyone else, but it is noteworthy that Elena chooses to have Damon and Stefan in her life, in spite of knowing that they will make decisions like a coin-toss over who should be the one to kill Bonnie's Mother in order to save Elena. Yes she was vocal at the time over how mad she was at Damon for that (and interestingly didn't say anything to Stefan, even though he was just as much a part of the coin toss as Damon was), buuuut can it be seen as tacit approval if she's still going to continue associating with those vampires? Lashing out at Damon as the most obvious culprit, and telling Bonnie that she's furious with Damon is all very well, but Elena knows that they will always represent a very real threat to her loved ones whenever it comes down to Elena or them, yet by the end of the season Elena is debating over whether to choose Damon or Stefan as her partner. Indeed she will later get angry when Caroline does question what Elena sees in Damon ("probably off doing bad things to good people"), Elena straight-out says that Damon has always been there for me when I needed him
I can't quite see Elena as the calculating player that some do, but I did pick up on it more this time around that she actually does prioritise her own PoV more than you might pick up on at first, it is very easy for her to protest that her loved ones always come before her own life for her, but then a question arises of why she would continue associating with the Salvatore's in that case? (Stefan before season 3 to a lesser extent perhaps, but certainly Damon has stated outright, in late season 2 among other times, that he would sacrifice her best friend Bonnie's life without even blinking if it meant saving Elena).
And okay in season 2, yes Elena was ready to sacrifice herself to Klaus, but it was very quickly brushed aside that a vampire (originally planned to be Caroline) and a werewolf (would unquestionably have to be Tyler) were going to die in that ritual too if it went ahead, but practically all of the discussions were exclusively centred around Elena as the sacrifice and how to prevent Elena's death. Elena does cry in episode 209 about how Tyler and Caroline are going to be sacrificed in the ritual and all because of her, but then the episodes after that noticeably never bring up those other possible victims of Klaus again, season 2 instead becomes all about Elena's sacrifice for her loved ones and finding a way to prevent Elena's sacrifice. It's really only in the last couple of episodes that the characters were reminded that the ritual would involve other members of their group, but even then Damon's motives in rescuing Caroline and Tyler were very much treating them as an afterthought. (A bit O/T, but I've seen arguments that Caroline should forgive Damon feeding off her and enslaving her, because hey he did rescue her from Klaus's ritual after all, but that's ignoring that Damon's sole focus there was unequivocally shown to be about preventing the ritual happening while Elena had vampire blood in her system)
Protagonist privilege is one thing, but TvD makes it clear time and time again that Elena's life is the sole priority to Damon and Stefan, and it's disturbing how rarely the show questions that, even Elena ultimately never gets that angry with them that she's willing to cut them out of her life entirely, no matter how many times her loved ones became collateral damage. Indeed Elena accepted Damon back into her life with a mouthed "thank you" after he helped to rescue her from Rose/Trevor/Elijah in episode 208, but in the show's timeline that was very close to the time that Damon had lost his temper and snapped her little brothers neck, but it seems like viewers dwelt on that far more than Elena ever did. It's the same pattern every time in fact, she gets noticeably angry with Damon when she discovers the bite marks on Caroline and orders him to stay away, she freezes Damon out after he killed Jeremy, she is angry at him for an episode or two after Bonnie's Mother is killed and turned, and yet every time Damon is back within her social circle within a few episodes at the most...
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So we have this weird suspension of disbelief zone where they're accepted back into the group time and time again even though they shouldn't be.
Arguably though they were only accepted because of Elena introducing them to her circle. Caroline, after becoming a vampire, would probably have become involved with them either way, but IMO Matt and Bonnie only became accepting of the Salvatore's because of Elena's approval of them, and that was in spite of the fact that Bonnie loathed vampires and blamed them for her Gram's death, and Matt's sister actually was killed by Stefan and Damon. So Elena must have some subtle power over her social group to convince all of them to accept a vampire as openly sociopathic as Damon. Caroline does start to speak out Damon more often when she sees the Delena relationship start to take off, but even that is mostly out of a place of concern for Elena (at first with her argument that Stefan is your epic love/better for you, and then later on her concern that the sire bond could mean that Damon is taking away Elena's free will
I did also pick up on Elena getting very annoyed with Damon for behaving badly in 303, and telling him not to act like the person that everyone thinks that he is, and that was portrayed as being partly about Elena's concerns of how it reflected on her at a time when she was starting to develop deeper feelings for Damon. Ditto when she and Matt come across Damon and Stefan feeding on a compelled victim later in the season and basically being vampires, and Elena is worrying to Matt about what that says about her that she can still be attracted to them. It seemed like, as time went on, more and more Elena's protests were there on the surface with what she felt that she should be feeling, but she couldn't have felt that strongly about any of it if she was going to continue protecting Damon and Stefan and wanting them to remain in her life.
ETA And she's at her most unapologetic about it in late season 3, after dealing with covering up and suppressing Alaric's darker half, as well as trying to prevent all vampires being wiped out, when she tells Jeremy that she'll be the bad guy if it means not losing any more people that she loves