“I got high on blood like some crackhead and then dirty danced with you” is completely about embarrassment about getting caught letting loose with ew, Damon, Prince of the Id. lol yep
And same about Elena's dodging and coping mechanisms. She didn't once lose control of her actions, she "lost control" of her emotions, i.e. acted on pure id. But she can't accept that it was all her.
She’s not supposed to want to; it’s marginally acceptable to be swept up in the throes of passion and indulge when she’s out of control, but acknowledging that desire is different. She’s wired to want it, like the vast majority of her species, but if she wants it she’s BAD so she represses and denies. Yes. It's a really difficult and complicated thing that's just about impossible to talk about. Because it's clear to me that Elena canonically wants to do X (i.e. gleefully feeding on people, murdering Connor, etc.), but if she rationalizes after the fact that she DIDN'T, then that shuts down the whole conversation in more ways than one.
Because it's clear to me that Elena canonically wants to do X (i.e. gleefully feeding on people, murdering Connor, etc.), but if she rationalizes after the fact that she DIDN'T, then that shuts down the whole conversation in more ways than one.
Right. That, and it's a tough leap for me, because obviously feeding on someone is inherently predatory in a way that sex is not, and the possibility of compulsion creates a power dynamic that I'm not comfortable imputing to sex. But Elena's conflict about it, and the whole idea of the narrative needing to walk that balance of how much agency and wherewithal she can have around what she is emotionally and biologically driven to do, is a really interesting look at those traditional romance tropes. Because that's the narrative, right? As long as she can deny that she wants to do it, then she *has* to deny that she wants to do it, or the story falls apart. And I don't think I've seen quite this honest a take on the number all that can do to your head as Elena's guilt/shame conflation here.
All she proves there is that she can get the jump on an antagonist who stops to give a Bond villain speech because they think she's incapacitated, but Damon's point in that lesson is that she can't depend on that happening... And as a vampire, as was true when she was human, her strong suit isn't going to be heat-of-the-moment confrontations but setting up situations where she is in control. Riiight, got it. That makes sense. Cheers.
I don't know if she has less reason than Caroline to think social success will pay off for her? She's only got to observe Elena to realize the advantages it can give you...I wonder if it's more that Bonnie's not wired to think in those terms to begin with?
I certainly think disposition is part of it. (Part of me thinks Bonnie and Jeremy hit it off because they are basically the only two introverts in Mystic Falls?) But it's mostly that, there's no nice way to say this, Caroline is white. And in Mystic Falls, which proactively concentrates social status in the descendants of its Confederacy-era elites, Caroline being a Forbes means that playing by the rules to some extent is really going to pay off for her, and her floor of social status is relatively high. By contrast, no matter how beautiful and graceful Bonnie is, she's going to be overlooked, and she figured that out at a young enough age to develop different priorities for herself.
I would LOVE to see Elena try to compel him again, and then have Jeremy fake her out by pretending
( ... )
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lol yep
And same about Elena's dodging and coping mechanisms. She didn't once lose control of her actions, she "lost control" of her emotions, i.e. acted on pure id. But she can't accept that it was all her.
She’s not supposed to want to; it’s marginally acceptable to be swept up in the throes of passion and indulge when she’s out of control, but acknowledging that desire is different. She’s wired to want it, like the vast majority of her species, but if she wants it she’s BAD so she represses and denies.
Yes. It's a really difficult and complicated thing that's just about impossible to talk about. Because it's clear to me that Elena canonically wants to do X (i.e. gleefully feeding on people, murdering Connor, etc.), but if she rationalizes after the fact that she DIDN'T, then that shuts down the whole conversation in more ways than one.
See, I don’t get ( ... )
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Right. That, and it's a tough leap for me, because obviously feeding on someone is inherently predatory in a way that sex is not, and the possibility of compulsion creates a power dynamic that I'm not comfortable imputing to sex. But Elena's conflict about it, and the whole idea of the narrative needing to walk that balance of how much agency and wherewithal she can have around what she is emotionally and biologically driven to do, is a really interesting look at those traditional romance tropes. Because that's the narrative, right? As long as she can deny that she wants to do it, then she *has* to deny that she wants to do it, or the story falls apart. And I don't think I've seen quite this honest a take on the number all that can do to your head as Elena's guilt/shame conflation here.
this ( ... )
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Riiight, got it. That makes sense. Cheers.
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I certainly think disposition is part of it. (Part of me thinks Bonnie and Jeremy hit it off because they are basically the only two introverts in Mystic Falls?) But it's mostly that, there's no nice way to say this, Caroline is white. And in Mystic Falls, which proactively concentrates social status in the descendants of its Confederacy-era elites, Caroline being a Forbes means that playing by the rules to some extent is really going to pay off for her, and her floor of social status is relatively high. By contrast, no matter how beautiful and graceful Bonnie is, she's going to be overlooked, and she figured that out at a young enough age to develop different priorities for herself.
I would LOVE to see Elena try to compel him again, and then have Jeremy fake her out by pretending ( ... )
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