Pixels of "wtf?"
So, the other day, this graphic of Damon from The Vampire Diaries crossed my path. Aside from the fact that I find the character described to be rather vile and would probably never touch the show if I saw it before watching (despite my near-endless issues with the character and the show's handling of him, I do not find this to be an accurate description) , I want to know who this cold and emotionless Damon described is, because the Damon on the show is extremely volatile?
A large part of the problem with Damon is that he has virtually no control over his emotions. The fact that he doesn't scream or cry of rant or talk about his feelings doesn't mean he doesn't have emotions, because the majority of his actions are emtional reactions. He deals with annoyance, pain, rejection and grief through destruction, murder, assault, manipulation and rape. (And then he does them for kicks, too, unless he's in the mood to behave for a few days.) If you're a mystery he arranges for someone to possibly die (or for one of you to be seriusly hurt) to find out your secret. If you say you don't love him, he brands you a slut. If you reject him, he murders the person you love most. If he finds out you dumped him, he abducts a bunch of college students to turn into his rape and abuse victims for the weekend. If your ancestor ruins his plans, he rips your throat out. If you and your boyfriend interfere with his plans, he assaults you and threatens to turn you into a vampire to make your boyfriend do what he wants.
That is not someone who is emotionless or in control of their emotions. That's a volatile person with little self-control whose instinctive reaction is to hurt others more than he's been hurt, and who makes no effort to curb that instinct.
Then there's this thing, which has been making the rounds yesterday and today. I think it was intended to highlight how writers frequently fail to even bother with female characters, but instead ends up depicting female characters (and actresses) as nothing but one-note stereotypes, ignoring anything about them save for what can be crammed into the stereotype. I could say plenty, but there are already a lot of extensive posts floating around. inkstone links to a bunch here. Feel free to link to more.
A large part of the problem with Damon is that he has virtually no control over his emotions. The fact that he doesn't scream or cry of rant or talk about his feelings doesn't mean he doesn't have emotions, because the majority of his actions are emtional reactions. He deals with annoyance, pain, rejection and grief through destruction, murder, assault, manipulation and rape. (And then he does them for kicks, too, unless he's in the mood to behave for a few days.) If you're a mystery he arranges for someone to possibly die (or for one of you to be seriusly hurt) to find out your secret. If you say you don't love him, he brands you a slut. If you reject him, he murders the person you love most. If he finds out you dumped him, he abducts a bunch of college students to turn into his rape and abuse victims for the weekend. If your ancestor ruins his plans, he rips your throat out. If you and your boyfriend interfere with his plans, he assaults you and threatens to turn you into a vampire to make your boyfriend do what he wants.
That is not someone who is emotionless or in control of their emotions. That's a volatile person with little self-control whose instinctive reaction is to hurt others more than he's been hurt, and who makes no effort to curb that instinct.
Then there's this thing, which has been making the rounds yesterday and today. I think it was intended to highlight how writers frequently fail to even bother with female characters, but instead ends up depicting female characters (and actresses) as nothing but one-note stereotypes, ignoring anything about them save for what can be crammed into the stereotype. I could say plenty, but there are already a lot of extensive posts floating around. inkstone links to a bunch here. Feel free to link to more.