TVD: This Is About Women
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So, let's talk Andie.
Seriously, as a character, she doesn’t didn’t interest me much. As a type, she did.
[Fair warning: incoherent rambling behind the cut. Also, rage. If you don't want to hear stuff about characters, don't read. But I've done the squee post, so I'm entitled for a bit].
I’m always at a loss when it comes to this show and self-awareness, because there’ll be a moment where I’m all *headdesk* WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SHOW? And then I’ll be all “OMG, OMG, THEY KNEW ALL ALONG”. Damon especially gets all these self-referential moments which make you think “oh wait, so he did realize”, and then he goes and does the same thing ALL OVER AGAIN and I don’t even.
- I think my entire problem with Andie’s representation is that there’s always an element of doubt in the functioning of her free-will. There are times when you think “oh, that’s her making the decision right there, so Damon doesn’t compel her all the time”. However, the truth function of these moments is always suspect. For instance that was the impression that Klaus gave with Andie’s blithe “you didn’t compel me, so I didn’t leave” speech, but she’s compelled to be in love with him. And the show never makes it explicit whether that remains an overarching compulsion in their ‘relationship’ or what. In which case, her personality is tied to Damon’s subjectivity; she’s basically a zombie, which is just scary, imo. Also, Andie’s occasional sassiness; like telling Damon to use a blood-bag because she needs to rush for work, proves nothing on the compulsion angle whatsoever; Caroline, even under compulsion was able to do an excellent, bitchy “does it look like I do dishes?” Which suggests that compulsion can’t exactly erase someone’s entire personality. For instance, it might be possible to compel someone to sing, but it might not be possible to make them a good singer. In which case, it’s possible for Andie to answer back to Damon or make demands on him without it implying that she’s free from mind-control.
- Either that or the girl is suicidal with a self-esteem that lies somewhere ten thousand feet below the ground. If these are choices she’s making then she’s basically willing to be Damon’s “distraction” as well as his personal chew toy. She apparently went back to him after the entire horrific scene in Klaus (and nothing will convince me that wasn’t a metaphorical representation of rape, she was in her underwear for heaven’s sake). WHY? There seems to be absolutely no concrete reason for it. What the show is showing me in that scene is that Damon, regardless of compulsion (apparently she’s not compelled at the moment), arouses the kind of sympathy in Andie which makes her stay beyond because he ‘needs to know that someone cares about him’. Which, NO. He absolutely does not need to know that, Andie, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM. [Also because he tends to snap whenever someone overtly cares about him; check Jessica after Elena’s ‘friendship’ speech and hug]. Fine, I get the whole reform-the-bad-boy trope, but goddammit, there’s got to be some kind of limit somewhere? Because this, in Real World terms, is sheer apologism; ‘oh he only does that because he’s been hurt so badly, he doesn’t mean to, he just needs to be loved’. This is the psychologically established logic of the victim of abuse. Caroline’s case was very clear, she was terrified of Damon after their first night together; Andie just seems to think Damon being a vampire is some sort of emotional issue that can be cured through friendly support. WTF? Or else she went back to him because she’s compelled, in which case, point one.
- Andie is nothing but a prop in order to influence audience reaction towards Damon (and later Stefan). The whole ending of Daddy Issues was geared towards that. And I think that’s why I have such issues with characters when I didn’t earlier on in the show. I loved Damon in his indifferent, murdering, arrogant bastard avatar in season one, and I passed absolutely no character judgments on him, but that was because the show never passed character-judgments on him. He was the Bad Guy. “People die around you, how could it not matter?” You could like him because he was hot, because he had a certain way of smiling, because he was fun, but not because you thought that he was justified in the acts he was committing. And by the end of Daddy Issues, that’s completely changed. In the bathtub scene at the end, it’s not Andie you’re supposed to be sympathizing with, it’s Damon. Poor guy always “in love with his brother’s girl”, never the first choice, etc, etc. Ian said something to the effect that it’s so sad that Damon can only open up in scenarios where he can erase the fact that he ever opened up (Jessica, Andie) and that’s all the only means of communication he has left. Um, great. But what about Andie as a person in her own right?
- Rose played almost the same role as Andie later did, but that was entirely different because Rose made choices. She chose to stay, chose to sleep with Damon, chose to help him. All Andie chose to do was get naked in a bathtub with Damon.
- Which brings me to- what the hell is it with people saying that Andie chose to sleep with Damon initially therefore anything he does to her afterwards is completely legit? This is the exact same argument that rose in Caroline’s case. Apparently, by saying ‘yes’ once you give someone a permanent right to your body. WTF EVEN? Even worse are the reactions where apparently Caroline and Andie are sluts and therefore deserved to get raped. Except it’s not rape at all because they a) weren’t compelled to have sex with him b) are sluts and sluts can’t get raped. THIS MAKES ME RAGE SO MUCH, I DON’T EVEN. He doesn’t explicitly need to say “I COMPEL YOU TO HAVE SEX WITH ME”, all he need to do is go, “don’t be afraid” (which he did with both Caroline and Andie), and any time they have sex after that, it’s rape, because he’s taken their free will out of the equation. They have no agency to refuse, in fact, they have no reason to refuse, because he’s taken away all the reasons on the basis of which they would have refused. Would either of the girls have stayed if they hadn’t been compelled initially? Obviously not. They were both terrified when they found out, and they would’ve just run as fast as they could have. AND THEY DIDN’T.
- The only reason I can find for someone not accepting it’s assault is because they’re looking at it from Damon’s POV. Guy’s a vampire, so basically ‘not killing the girls’ is going easy on them. Guy is also hot, so who wouldn’t want to sleep with him anyway? It’s all about Damon’s existential crisis- LOOK HE KILLED JESSICA AND DIDN’T KILL ANDIE, PROGRESS, REDEMPTION. But if, even for a moment, it’s taken from the girl’s POV; how does it make a difference to Andie whether he killed Jessica or not? They’re two completely different people. For each of them, Caroline, Vicki, Jessica, Andie, it’s just as horrifying a personal experience regardless of what Damon is or isn’t capable of. Also, the fact that Damon’s been through so much and snaps because of a reason, is again only important if taken from his POV, not from any of the girl’s. Also, most of them only exist as a foil to his redemption arc, which is just a little sad.
- The entire Andie/Damon “let’s go on a road-trip to save baby bro” and “I’m not your slave [get your own champagne]” in the premiere is more than a little farcical imo, because it’s the show trying to abdicate all responsibility for a situation of their creation. I’ve heard it be said that it seems that Andie is not as compelled as before, which is, in fact, my entire problem with the scene. Basically, this is supposed to be resolution for their relationship. This is the writers refusing to show the relationship for what it actually is, and trying to make it seem as if there is no imbalance of power at all, DAMON’S GETTING HIS OWN CHAMPAGNE, HE DIDN’T COMPEL ANDIE TO GET IT FOR HIM SO ALL’S WELL as well as the later OH LOOK DAMON’S SAD AT ANDIE’S DEATH. In the worst case scenario, that scene wasn’t about Andie at all, but just a plot device to get Damon out of the bath-tub and have him run into Elena.
- Stefan. This is just tricky because again Andie becomes a prop to convey Stefan’s love for his brother. The whole point of the drama was to convince Damon that he’s genuinely switched the button off and become a ‘true’ Ripper,which actually he hasn’t. So Stefan made a choice in this scenario; killing Andie is a decision he makes, he kills her to prove a point. And the entire scene was about the lengths Stefan would go to to save his brother-how hard it is on Stefan. Poor guy has to kill people because he sacrificed his life. Again it’s a male drama with a female as collateral damage. And the point is, I’m not sure the show realizes that, I think they’re actually saying it’s ‘really hard’ on Stefan.
- And because of this the entire last scene with Stefan and Elena, which I genuinely loved, also made me *headdesk* because I was going ‘THAT’S A MISTAKE, THAT’S A MISTAKE’ the entire time. Stefan just revealed to Elena that he hasn’t turned the button off, that he’s still there. SO, UM, WHAT WAS THE ENTIRE POINT OF KILLING ANDIE? Does he think Elena is not going to tell Damon or try and find him? OBVIOUSLY NOT. In which case Andie died because the show didn’t know what to do with her any more. Since the ending ENTIRELY negated her death.
- Promo Spoiler. And this is exactly what does happen. Elena is all “but he wouldn’t have called if he wasn’t the same”. After she hears about how he killed Andie. WHOA. Which also means, Elena knew all this while? That possibly everyone knew all this while about the Damon/Andie shenanigans and NOBODY BOTHERED TO DO ANYTHING? Nobody so much as went “hey Damon, what the hell, man?” (except Stefan once or twice, which is sad all on its own). And now he apparently needs consolation because his “fake compelled girlfriend” died. /end
I think none of this would’ve made the slightest difference to me if I felt the show’s trying to tell me that they’re utterly, inherently selfish (which is why I like Katherine so much, because the show doesn’t apologize for her or try to justify her behavior). That this is what they’ve become, this is who they are now. But I’ve never felt like that is what the show’s trying to tell me. After all what would be the point of “don’t give up, Damon, you’re so close.” If there wasn’t a hierarchy of morality being constructed? What would be the point of Damon’s redemption arc if we weren’t supposed to sympathize with him? And if we’re supposed to think his not killing people is good (like we’re obviously supposed to), then how the hell are we also not expected to think that the rest of the characters are actually human!Damons in so far as that no one is willing to engage with the issue itself, even if it isn’t of their own creation. How is Elena not confronting Damon about Andie not OOC for her? In fact not only Elena but Caroline, who's freaking gone through this shit, or Alaric with absolutely no reaction, or anyone, really.
I mean I’m going to think it’s ridiculous if the show keeps telling me that Elena Is Not Katherine because she won’t play with the emotions of both the Salvatores. Seriously, that’s just the lowest common denominator (even though the show seems to feel that it’s the fundamental difference between them). If they’re making Elena darker, showing the audience that she has no boundaries anymore (AND I’M SO DOWN WITH THAT, THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN) then it needs to be obvious, then there shouldn’t be a Elena Good, Katherine Bad dichotomy. Then we should see a transition, otherwise, I can’t even be sure the show knows what it’s doing with Elena’s character.
Okay, I’m done, now I shall totally squee over the next episode, uncritically because this stuff never seems to matter during, y’know, the actual watching.