28 Days of Wrong!Shipping: Day Eight
Ugh, I'm already behind on discussion under previous posts, but my boss dropped extra lessons for me to prepare when I was in the middle of my lj time today. So I'm just gonna post this, since it's already written, and come back later to catch up with comments. I'm terribly sorry for delays!
The full list can be found here. Here be TVD spoilers (post written before I watched 4x10, so no worries if you haven't seen the ep yet; though there will probably be spoilers in comments).
Day 8: The ship you want to break up so you can stan the hell out of them.
TVD, Elena/Stefan
Right. So. Technically, they already are broken up, but I'm gonna have them here anyway, because the point stands: the break-up was essential.
Stefan/Elena is the kind of ship I didn't know I wanted until I got it. It's a teenage love story full of ideas I myself had as a teenager. You meet this one special person and it's epic. You stick to them no matter what, you let them hold on to your love, you support them and they support you. Elena's behavior is the most fascinating aspect for me, because after Stefan leaves with Klaus, she treats her love for him like a test she has to pass, some great, mythical challenge. Her identity is contingent upon her behavior in this situation: if she stops pursuing Stefan romantically, if she allowes her pain get in a way, if she doesn't sacrifice everything - she's a terrible person. If she gives up on their relationship in the time of crisis, she's a fake, because her love never was real. And she went through too much to maintain their relationship to let it be turned into something that never existed.
I'm fascinated by this story, because I think many girls nowadays actually have this kind of mindset. You know, all those “nice girls” who take relationships seriously and want to be responsible. And this is precisely why I needed a break-up to really start enjoying S/E: because I believe that in relationships like this, you can only address issues after a break-up. Elena was never going to hold Stefan accountable of anything as long as they were together, because her identity depended on her ability to forgive him. Only now when they're not together anymore, and they're catching some distance, Elena can allow herself to be mad at Stefan. She already started in 4x05, and I honestly hope she will continue. You can't see what's wrong with the kind of a relationship Elena and Stefan had when you're looking at it from the inside - and that's why Elena needed to break outside to recognize the problems.
The full list can be found here. Here be TVD spoilers (post written before I watched 4x10, so no worries if you haven't seen the ep yet; though there will probably be spoilers in comments).
Day 8: The ship you want to break up so you can stan the hell out of them.
TVD, Elena/Stefan
Right. So. Technically, they already are broken up, but I'm gonna have them here anyway, because the point stands: the break-up was essential.
Stefan/Elena is the kind of ship I didn't know I wanted until I got it. It's a teenage love story full of ideas I myself had as a teenager. You meet this one special person and it's epic. You stick to them no matter what, you let them hold on to your love, you support them and they support you. Elena's behavior is the most fascinating aspect for me, because after Stefan leaves with Klaus, she treats her love for him like a test she has to pass, some great, mythical challenge. Her identity is contingent upon her behavior in this situation: if she stops pursuing Stefan romantically, if she allowes her pain get in a way, if she doesn't sacrifice everything - she's a terrible person. If she gives up on their relationship in the time of crisis, she's a fake, because her love never was real. And she went through too much to maintain their relationship to let it be turned into something that never existed.
I'm fascinated by this story, because I think many girls nowadays actually have this kind of mindset. You know, all those “nice girls” who take relationships seriously and want to be responsible. And this is precisely why I needed a break-up to really start enjoying S/E: because I believe that in relationships like this, you can only address issues after a break-up. Elena was never going to hold Stefan accountable of anything as long as they were together, because her identity depended on her ability to forgive him. Only now when they're not together anymore, and they're catching some distance, Elena can allow herself to be mad at Stefan. She already started in 4x05, and I honestly hope she will continue. You can't see what's wrong with the kind of a relationship Elena and Stefan had when you're looking at it from the inside - and that's why Elena needed to break outside to recognize the problems.