Damon, Elena, Stefan - the question of narratives
This entry is based on a comment I posted in an episode discussion hosted by ever-neutral. It's some sort of an intellectual experiment ― I'm bored, my literature classes are not as good as I expected them to be, my TVD discussions on a forum are mostly dying, so I've been entertaining myself with creating this interpretation. I'm well aware that it's not the
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Damon is deeply rooted in Romantic narratives (aka he is the Bella Swan ― thank you for this mental image, ever_neutral…).
LMAO, YOU'RE WELCOME.
So from the beginning of s2 Damon gets a new narrative; a postmodern one. It's ambigious and eclectic and highly personalized; pragmatic to some extent (he is the guy who makes the hard choices without blinking), but also hedonistic (he often does things just because he feels like doing them), realistic (he refuses to pretend that he could be a reformed vampire) and many more. His narrative is still a bit shaky; as you see, it's even difficult to define. Damon's new narrative is still under construction.
YES YES YES YES YES. HE'S A WORK IN PROGRESS, HAHA. And man, I LOVE that you pulled out that word, "post-modern", because he totally is, as a character, as a work of art, and it's excellent.
I'm not talking about the people who didn't like Damon's s2 arc, because they aren't ok with the way the show dealt, or rather didn't deal with the abuse of womenYeah, glad you made ( ... )
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I didn't want to use the word "post-modern", because it felt to broad, but then I simply couldn't find a better word, so I had to settle for "post-modern" + description. Besides, I tend to like some forms of post-modern art (see: fanfiction XD) and I'm not ok with the fact that some people use "post-modernism" as a derogatory term. So I figured I should use it as often as possible to show them my contempt XD.
Yeah, glad you made that distinction, because I have exactly the same issues, but I don't wish they'd written Damon as less bad.
Exactly. It's the lack of any comment that is an issue. TVD it's a teen show, for God's sake, and with that comes some sort of social responsibility :(.
You don't have to look far to see people crying "But Stefan is just doing it for Damon and Elena!!11!!" and "HOW DARE ELENA BE ATTRACTED TO DAMON IT'S SUPPOSED ( ... )
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Awwwwwwww, how did you know Donna is my favorite Doctor Who character? :DDDDDD
LITERARY ANALYSIS OF SHINY VAMPIRE SHOWS = WIN
That's what happens when they don't let mi analyse Hemingway at school - I come back home and do sth insane!
But seriously, how often does life follow one consistent narrative? It's much more interesting to me to see those narratives torn apart and watch the characters flail around without them.
Life certainly doesn't do anything like that, but then not everybody is interested in art that mirrors life. Many people like narratives and want them to work. I usually avoid comparisons like that, but this example is so striking I can't resist it: in 18th century people in England were staging Shakespeare's King Lear with a happy ending. Not because they were dumb or were avoiding depressing subjects, but because their sense of aesthetics was so closely bound with conventions they viewed the original ending as a mistake, as bad literature. So, while I believe that many of the ( ... )
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Stefan is killing again, and he does it for the love of Elena. That would be their narratives dying a horrible and slow death: Stefan is doing evil things for right reasons (you can't have that in manicheism, you're either good or bad), mainly because he loves Elena and wants to protect her (Elena's love has just lead to something ultimately horrible). They haven't faced it yet, because things are happening too fast and they are just trying to keep a facade for the time being, but the damage is done, and now it's just a matter of time. Simultaniously, we've just had Elena having a moment of recognision about Damon: the tension from s2 is broken and now she starts seeing that she has no power over Damon, at least not in a sense she thought she had. So, basically, by mid s3 we'll have two characters who have lost any idea as to what are the rules their worlds function by + a character who has already ( ... )
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I don't want to applaud them too hard yet for being courageous but I loved everything I saw in 3x04. EVEN THE DAMON/ELENA BITS. NO, ESPECIALLY THOSE BITS.
They've made such a wonderful mess, haven't they? Let's hope they'll keep it up, otherwise they'll have THE WRATH OF US.
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I also think Katherine's his Joker. Because she so is. :3 But yeah--Bella works...amazingly well, only she doesn't have much personality herself. I've read those suckers. ....
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Yep.
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I blame ever-neutral for the Bella comparison. The bad mental image of Damon being creepily and mystically impregnated by Katherine... just NO.
For the record, this is what she wrote:
Damon is pretty much the Bella Swan of the TVD universe--he was entirely willing to give up his life and humanity, and leave his family behind, for his abusive vampire girlfriend. Then he spends the next 145 years romanticising that abuse. It's really fascinating gender subversion.
My imagination did the rest. I need some brain bleach.
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