That Salvatore Woman & some brief thoughts on motherhood narratives in TVD

[ladygawain]

Okay, so this is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Who is Madam Salvatore? Missus Salvatore? Or Mrs. Salvatore? Mama Salvatore? Maman Salvatore? What is her name? Her maiden name? Her anything?

Comments

[ladygawain]

I also like to think that Damon had his mother in a way that Stefan couldn't, not quite like how it is with Giuseppe but close to that, each parent had their favorite of sorts. But I'm also oddly okay with the idea of Mama Salvatore being distant to both her children? Perhaps in different ways, but just having parts of her be completely inaccessible to both of them for reasons more than that they're children and she's an adult; and have that be something Giuseppe experiences with her as well on some level. I'm not making any sense. But I JUST WANT TO KNOW THIS WOMAN. Of course, given me, I would be utterly fixated by a character who is a woman who is a mystery because I'm predictable. Sigh.

Kelly Donovan is one of the reasons why that family is so dear to me, my own mother isn't that similar to her but there's a similar sense of inferiority/disappointment/love/resentment or something that I just kind of get when it comes to those kids?

Family is a very solitary thing on the show, even with the Council that functions very much as a council and not a support system, not a network of understanding despite over a hundred years of history.
This is a really interesting concept to me now that you've pointed it out. Because I've also never seen the Council as a support system so much as a strategic alliance born out of necessity, privilege and mostly greed. And it's fascinating because from what I can see, the Council or the so-called "founding families" are something of a privileged elite in the town, they tend to be well-off and the kinds of people who have streets and buildings named after them; they also horde many of the most important town positions amongst themselves (the Sheriff, the mayor, the town coroner etc.); they just generally leave me with a sour taste in my mouth if I'm honest because they just come off as the last symbolic dredges of too many things I find unpleasant (about the South especially). So thinking about the Donovans as outside of that, definitely without the access or the privilege that any of their friends have and what kinds of feelings that might inspire in them. Well, let's just say, I relate even more, lol.

Ah, please finish your thought though!

I would write all the fic about Mama Salvatore, I really would. But then I don't want canon to come and ruin my life. Eh.

[ladygawain]

Hmmmm, this is interesting. The physicality of these characters is interesting although I have no useful thoughts to add.

I hope they bring her in. Like, I'm dying for a flashback that takes us to these two as children but I doubt it'd be a high priority for a long while.

I want to think they'll give us a closer glimpse into this Council this season because they're so toothless and useless (and ridiculous with all their lavish events to cover up meetings that don't accomplish anything) that it's hard for me to really understand how they function. But fully agree, "maintenance and tradition", sigh.

Everyone should run, lbr, lol.

[clari_clyde]

I wonder if the Council’s distance from each other is from the fortune they got from killing off the vampires. IIRC, there was a sarcastic humor in Ghost!Anna’s tone when she mentioned it. To extrapolate on that revelation: When any loot that has to be divided up in secret, a lot of politicking happens.

@maggie:

they just generally leave me with a sour taste in my mouth if I'm honest because they just come off as the last symbolic dredges of too many things I find unpleasant (about the South especially).

Well, for all their talk about history, they’ve whitewashed it and how much of their lifestyle and tradition come from exploitation. It’s a lifestyle based on the exploitation of slaves, of poor whites (usually irish immigrants), and of supernatural beings. They needed cheap labor to do hard work on the land (slaves) and cheap managers to manage the labor (irish immigrants). Looting vampires (and the witches they owned) was just a logical next step. For all their talk about maintaining tradition, their traditions came from destroying others.

The Lockwoods, Forbes, and the Salvatores are in this weird position in that they’re both founding families yet ultimately are going to be targeted by the Council because there is going to be a lot money, land and influence to be got from killing the m off and stepping into their roles and they could do it while claiming they were protecting the town. The only reason they’re still alive is that no one realizes they’re a group inside a group. I think it’s fascinating watching them juggle multiple masks.

[ladygawain]

Ohh, I like what you're saying about the multiple layers within the Council and the potential drama of that. Why won't the show give me that?

For all their talk about maintaining tradition, their traditions came from destroying others.
Ain't that the way of the world? I'm really taken with your analysis of them here.

[clari_clyde]

Why won't the show give me that?

Well, if this were a more thought-out show, I’d trust that that’s where they’re going. It could go there. In S1, the Council was mostly, “Let’s throw parties, woot!” And I think early S3, the snarky comment along the lines of “an excuse to throw a party for an excuse to plot against vampires behind closed doors.” That’s why, to answer Alaric’s question, a council meeting can’t be just a meeting-people would wonder what’s with all the meetings, what are they plotting? But no one questions a party. And now the murder at the last one.

Dear Show: Please don’t shortchange us!