But why would you say it's futile? o_O I do this for fun. Fun was definitely involved in making this post. I legit don't care if the writers would agree with my reading, and I never cared. I write stuff like that because it brings me pleasure to make those characters my own and read stuff into them. It's a part of my fic-writing process. So I really don't see the futility...
Well, I think you know that my take on this is that this show has deteriorated to the degree that it can't actually stand up to kind of analyses that it once could bear (your posts on the sire bond being a perfect example). So, this level of analysis, as well as the stuff you write in general, is like, way more than the can bear.
For once, I am not the only person who thinks this. People agree it's deteriorated, yay. And absolutely everyone has got to agree that your meta is always the best, tight and cogent and thoughtful and lovely. So.. yeah.
I didn't mean to be rude. Obviously you have every right to do this and I enjoy it very much when you do do it. So yeah, I didn't want to come off as dismissive or anything. But yeah, I also think that the reason that people aren't meta-ing this show much any more is because it doesn't stand up to it.
But, see, this is my point. There's a reason why I make disclaimers like this in some posts:
Usual disclaimer: I'm not interested in discussing how the show is not smart enough to do all those things. Author is dead. Or, the show is dead. Whatever.The reason is that I'm well aware that many people think the show is rubbish now. We talk about it in episode reactions and such. But when I write meta and you tell me something like that, you put me in a very awkward position. I can either agree with you that the show is rubbish and make myself look like an idiot for spending hours analyzing things that aren't worth it, or disagree with you and get into a lengthy and tedious conversation about quality. Which I'm not interested in, because evaluative criticism isn't really my cuppa. So it's beside the point how "objectively" bad the show is, or how many people think it's bad, or how much thought the writers do or do not put in writing. I'm simply not interested, and I don't have to be interested. What I am interested in is analyzing my
( ... )
this is why Damon sends Elena away. Not because Stefan thinks that it's right for her, but because Damon feels that it's right for him
Yes, this. I don't even think that's fanwank? I think it's really key that the time Damon tells her to back off because it's the right thing to do, it doesn't take. It's the second time around, when he says she should leave him with Jeremy because it's what he wants. I think Damon's doomed search to experience genuine acceptance is at the heart of his arc, and it's more at the foreground now than it has been since S2.
It's the second time around, when he says she should leave him with Jeremy because it's what he wants.
I think it's really clear in Ian's performance. Because the whole episode Damon is physically distancing himself from Elena, looking very uncomfortable every time she touches him, even though it's completely innocent and nothing they haven't done long before she turned. Rationally speaking, there's nothing wrong with her touching his face. But her affectionate behavior FEELS wrong, and it's eating Damon from the inside.
You are, as usual, completely on top of things and amazing.
In some ways, I can see this as being the best karma that Damon could get. Because he has been living a certain way with not all that much to live for, and now when he does have someone to love and live for, all that he did comes back to bite him in the ass. But yet he's not raging against the whole situation. He's not really fighting Stefan's assessment of the situation or coming up with a third option. I think he sees being trapped in an impossible situation of having no choice in whether the girl he loves gets to choose to want him, as kind of a cosmic penance.
He never wanted to have her. He wanted her to want him. That's the key, and that's what I think he's seeing very explicitly in his life right now. Like, two seasons ago? When he broke Jeremy's neck because Elena said she didn't want him when he pushed himself on her? I think the line was EXTREMELY blurry then to him. He would only have her if she wanted him, he didn't have her because of
( ... )
In some ways, I can see this as being the best karma that Damon could get.
Agreed. I don't think it's coincidence that Damon, of all people -- Damon who eagerly surrounded himself with compelled love more than once -- would be faced with sire bond. Karma is a bitch.
But yet he's not raging against the whole situation.
Yes, I love this. He doesn't make himself into a victim, because he knows how ridiculous it would be. Damon does wrong things not because he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong, but because they are wrong. No one's allowed to feel HIS guilt.
Like, two seasons ago? When he broke Jeremy's neck because Elena said she didn't want him when he pushed himself on her? I think the line was EXTREMELY blurry then to him.
This is definitely something Damon learned over the course of the show, as he became healthier and let go of some of his romantic delusions about epic love.
Because Damon is highly intuitive. He makes moral choices based on what he feels is right, not what he thinks is right. So Elena's question snaps him out of a pointless attempt to figure things out intellectually, and pushes him towards proper introspection. Stefan thinks that not setting Elena free is wrong, but does it feel wrong? I hadn't thought about it this way but that actually makes so much sense.
He knows that Elena had feelings for him long before she turned, but he also knows that she didn't choose to act on those feelings. Which is what people do sometimes: they decide not to pursue someone they love, because, contrary to popular belief, love doesn't solve everything, and sometimes you can't form a relationship with a person you love. Elena says that the bond influences her actions, not her feelings, but that's precisely Damon's problem: in 4x07, Elena decided to act on her feelings for him, and neither of them can tell why. THIS.
And this, for Damon, is the tragedy of the
( ... )
I can't wait to see where the show goes with all of this regarding Damon.
Makes two of us :D. It's fascinating, because there's no way of guessing, actually? Too many factors in play, too many possible options. I legit can't tell what will happen next.
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ALSO OMG!YOU ARE SO VERY CLEVER, OMG!OMG!OMG!
As usual I have nothing intelligent to say back to you, which is as it should be because you are ostensibly a cleversocks and I am obviously not, so..
I enjoyed reading this. GO YOU.
Have a gif
( ... )
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The gif is made of awesome!!! :D
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Well, I think you know that my take on this is that this show has deteriorated to the degree that it can't actually stand up to kind of analyses that it once could bear (your posts on the sire bond being a perfect example). So, this level of analysis, as well as the stuff you write in general, is like, way more than the can bear.
For once, I am not the only person who thinks this. People agree it's deteriorated, yay. And absolutely everyone has got to agree that your meta is always the best, tight and cogent and thoughtful and lovely. So.. yeah.
I didn't mean to be rude. Obviously you have every right to do this and I enjoy it very much when you do do it. So yeah, I didn't want to come off as dismissive or anything. But yeah, I also think that the reason that people aren't meta-ing this show much any more is because it doesn't stand up to it.
Long answer, sorry.
Have another gif:
( ... )
Reply
Usual disclaimer: I'm not interested in discussing how the show is not smart enough to do all those things. Author is dead. Or, the show is dead. Whatever.The reason is that I'm well aware that many people think the show is rubbish now. We talk about it in episode reactions and such. But when I write meta and you tell me something like that, you put me in a very awkward position. I can either agree with you that the show is rubbish and make myself look like an idiot for spending hours analyzing things that aren't worth it, or disagree with you and get into a lengthy and tedious conversation about quality. Which I'm not interested in, because evaluative criticism isn't really my cuppa. So it's beside the point how "objectively" bad the show is, or how many people think it's bad, or how much thought the writers do or do not put in writing. I'm simply not interested, and I don't have to be interested. What I am interested in is analyzing my ( ... )
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Yes, this. I don't even think that's fanwank? I think it's really key that the time Damon tells her to back off because it's the right thing to do, it doesn't take. It's the second time around, when he says she should leave him with Jeremy because it's what he wants. I think Damon's doomed search to experience genuine acceptance is at the heart of his arc, and it's more at the foreground now than it has been since S2.
Reply
I think it's really clear in Ian's performance. Because the whole episode Damon is physically distancing himself from Elena, looking very uncomfortable every time she touches him, even though it's completely innocent and nothing they haven't done long before she turned. Rationally speaking, there's nothing wrong with her touching his face. But her affectionate behavior FEELS wrong, and it's eating Damon from the inside.
Reply
You are, as usual, completely on top of things and amazing.
In some ways, I can see this as being the best karma that Damon could get. Because he has been living a certain way with not all that much to live for, and now when he does have someone to love and live for, all that he did comes back to bite him in the ass. But yet he's not raging against the whole situation. He's not really fighting Stefan's assessment of the situation or coming up with a third option. I think he sees being trapped in an impossible situation of having no choice in whether the girl he loves gets to choose to want him, as kind of a cosmic penance.
He never wanted to have her. He wanted her to want him. That's the key, and that's what I think he's seeing very explicitly in his life right now. Like, two seasons ago? When he broke Jeremy's neck because Elena said she didn't want him when he pushed himself on her? I think the line was EXTREMELY blurry then to him. He would only have her if she wanted him, he didn't have her because of ( ... )
Reply
In some ways, I can see this as being the best karma that Damon could get.
Agreed. I don't think it's coincidence that Damon, of all people -- Damon who eagerly surrounded himself with compelled love more than once -- would be faced with sire bond. Karma is a bitch.
But yet he's not raging against the whole situation.
Yes, I love this. He doesn't make himself into a victim, because he knows how ridiculous it would be. Damon does wrong things not because he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong, but because they are wrong. No one's allowed to feel HIS guilt.
Like, two seasons ago? When he broke Jeremy's neck because Elena said she didn't want him when he pushed himself on her? I think the line was EXTREMELY blurry then to him.
This is definitely something Damon learned over the course of the show, as he became healthier and let go of some of his romantic delusions about epic love.
Reply
Because Damon is highly intuitive. He makes moral choices based on what he feels is right, not what he thinks is right. So Elena's question snaps him out of a pointless attempt to figure things out intellectually, and pushes him towards proper introspection. Stefan thinks that not setting Elena free is wrong, but does it feel wrong?
I hadn't thought about it this way but that actually makes so much sense.
He knows that Elena had feelings for him long before she turned, but he also knows that she didn't choose to act on those feelings. Which is what people do sometimes: they decide not to pursue someone they love, because, contrary to popular belief, love doesn't solve everything, and sometimes you can't form a relationship with a person you love. Elena says that the bond influences her actions, not her feelings, but that's precisely Damon's problem: in 4x07, Elena decided to act on her feelings for him, and neither of them can tell why.
THIS.
And this, for Damon, is the tragedy of the ( ... )
Reply
I can't wait to see where the show goes with all of this regarding Damon.
Makes two of us :D. It's fascinating, because there's no way of guessing, actually? Too many factors in play, too many possible options. I legit can't tell what will happen next.
Reply
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