Switches Off: It's Not Just For Vampires!

[badboy_fangirl]

So here's what I'm doing in the hopes that my Lexi plotbunny will hop away: I am writing Switch Meta. Please join me...

So, I've been thinking about this, and then a chat with linsell_farm reminded me that my thoughts about this subject are a bit complicated, and it might be a good idea to put it out there to the universe in a effort to better understand it.

Comments

[woobloo]

Humanity's a fascinating concept discussed in the show simply because of its subjectivity and lack of definitions.

My take on vampirism and the switch has always been that vampirism heightens all your emotions, sure, definitely, but it also accentuates your 'darker' emotions, your instinctual emotions, your most strong emotions- passion, lust, anger- and humanity, the show seems to be saying, is about seeing beyond those emotions to compassion and empathy.

I once heard somebody say that the difference between good and evil is empathy- no one, or very few someones, are going to make choices that really hurt the ones they love, but choices that hurt the unknown, people they've never met? Those are easier to make.

Empathy seems very, very important to the show's thoughts on humanity, because it's directly related to guilt, which seems to be a symptom of 'the switch.'

Going back to newbie vampires for a second, I think that a direct effect of becoming a vampire is those 'darker' emotions being strengthened, more so even than the 'human' ones, and so a kind of division comes to exist between the 'old','former','human' version of yourself, and the 'new','vampire' version. The switch exists in new vampires because they let the extra-strengthened, gut emotions take them over, and in doing so they lose empathy, even with those they love the most, and so lose love.

But they're not emotionless, then, necessarily, just being incredibly self-involved and acting on instinct.

Which is why hate is an emotion that a supposedly 'switched off' vampire can still feel. That's an incredibly selfish emotion, really- you're looking at it entirely from your own perspective. Like Elena going after Caroline. She's just thinking of all the things Caroline does that bug her, that have been building up, and she no longer has the empathy to say, well, everyone has quirks, etc. etc.

As a vampire gets older, though, I think the 'darker' and 'more human' sides blend. Being a vampire actually changes you, changes your personality; it's the equivalent of some sort of life-defining event. So as your, to borrow a Caroline or Stefan-esque paradigm, 'good' and 'bad' sides meld, so the switch fails to exist, because your empathy becomes part of your passion and lust and anger and all your dark emotions gradually grow lighter and your light emotions gradually grow darker.

Plus everything upopa_epops said.