"Hey, I've Died Twice"
Feb. 12th, 2009 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlI've gotta hand it to Lisa, she almost had me. Last night, as I feverishly wrote about my progress through The Vampire Diaries, it was obvious that I'd started warming up to the series once again. I felt I had a better understanding of the characters and, as a result, had more sympathy for all of them, even the annoying ones.
Well, the last couple chapters of The Struggle massacred all those burgeoning warm fuzzies. Here's why:
1) Last night, I said Damon never comes across as a real threat to to Stefan and Elena's relationship because Elena totally hates him. Okay, so, like, a half hour after I wrote that, I picked up the book and read a chapter where, low and behold, Elena admits she is attracted to Damon. She thinks he's hot and there's chemistry between them, but that's it. She still thinks he's evil and is still in love with Stefan.
2) A couple nights after Elena comes to this realization Damon shows up at her house and threatens to kill her little sister if she doesn't agree to exchange blood with him. You may recall from earlier posts that in the world of The Vampire Diaries the exchanging of blood between two characters who are romantically or sexually interested in each other is a metaphor for sex. She doesn't want to do it, but Elena agrees to Damon's request in order to save her sister's life. Even though Elena willingly allows Damon to drink her blood and drinks his in return, she only does so because she's being coerced. Basically, what we have here is a rape scene, and Elena's behavior the day after confirms it. She remembers what happened, but she's fuzzy on the details. She doesn't recall the sensation of drinking or being bitten. It's as though she blacked out the experience in order to distance herself from it. Even so, she feels unbearably guilty because she has "cheated" on Stefan.
3) Elena goes over to Stefan's house to come clean. Her rendez-vous with Damon is just one of many secrets she has been keeping from him, and all the lying has gotten to be too much for her. So, she gets to Stefan's place and starts off by confessing a secret related to one of the sub-plots. Stefan is angry at first, but when he realizes she only did it to protect him, he melts like a snow cone in July. He is so touched, and Elena so relieved he doesn't hate her, the two "exchange blood" before Elena has the chance to tell him about Damon. While basking in the afterglow Stefan PROPOSES to Elena and she accepts. Never mind that they've only been dating for two months. Never mind that Elena is seventeen. Never mind that she's centuries more immature than Stefan. Oh nooooo, this is TRUE LOVE! It's FOREVER! They were MADE for each other, they just KNOW it!
See, now this is one of my major problems with romantic fiction: the unrealistic convention of having the hero and heroine fall COMPLETELY in love after only a matter of months, weeks, or even days. It takes most people way longer to fall in love, not to mention that most of us never experience the romantic cliche of "love at first sight."
In the case of Stefan and Elena, I'm trying to remind myself that teenagers DO tend to fall in love quickly because they are teenagers and they are stupid. But, given the fact that Stefan is 500 years old, and I still don't really understand why he likes Elena to begin with, his proposal was a steaming pile of shit dumped on my enjoyment of the book.
4) And then, as if one pile of shit wasn't enough, Elena has a fight with her family, makes one of her infmaously stupid decisions, and gets herself killed. That's right, Elena drives Matt's car into a river and drowns. Fucking idiot. I recind my pronouncement that Elena is merely impulsive. I was right the first time. She's just dumb. Stefan, Bonnie, and Meredith find the car and pull Elean's body out of the water. Of course, they are all distraut because Elena was always such a kind friend and honest girlfriend. They leave her body on the bank of the river. Bonnie and Meredith go off to summon the authorities, and Stefan goes in search of Damon because he thinks Damon is responsible for the accident. (I'm not going to explain why, but believe me when I tell you that's actually a sound assumption. It makes sense based on the rules of the world.)
5) Elena awakens on the river bank alone and disoriented. She has no problem seeing in the dark. Her hearing and sense of smell has improved. You guessed it folks, Elena has become a vampire! Let me explain how: in the world of The Vampire Diaries exchanging blood with a vampire won't immediately turn a human into a vampire. The vampire's blood will remain active in the human's body for a number of days, then slowly begin to lose its potency. Eventually, the vampire blood will lose all its power, and the human will remain human. However, if the human should die with enough active vampire blood in their system they'll turn into a vampire. Having consumed Stefan's blood the day before, and Damon's the night before that, Elena has more than enough vampire blood in her system to precipitate a change when she hits the water.
And, if memory serves, Elena dies at least once more before the end of the third book. (Summers? Summers? Summers?) I'm starting to think Stephanie Meyer and Joss Whendon must have these books bronzed and mounted above their mantels. There are just way too many similarities between them. Of course, while I could say they mooched offa Lisa, I could just as easily make a case for Lisa having mooched offa Anne Rice. The dynamic between Stefan, Damon, and Elena is similar to that of Louis, Lestat, and...Kirsten Dunst.
So, yeah, last night I thought the series was heading into more fertile literary ground, and then Stefan and Elena got stupid, and Damon turned into a rapist. Really, how am I supposed to like ANY of these characters now?! How am I supposed to feel sympathy for such fucking idiots?!
My faith in Lisa has dropped to an all time low. My childhood is being dashed before my very eyes. *sigh* I just started volume 3, The Fury. That gives Lisa 1158 pages to spin this pile of crap into gold.
Well, the last couple chapters of The Struggle massacred all those burgeoning warm fuzzies. Here's why:
1) Last night, I said Damon never comes across as a real threat to to Stefan and Elena's relationship because Elena totally hates him. Okay, so, like, a half hour after I wrote that, I picked up the book and read a chapter where, low and behold, Elena admits she is attracted to Damon. She thinks he's hot and there's chemistry between them, but that's it. She still thinks he's evil and is still in love with Stefan.
2) A couple nights after Elena comes to this realization Damon shows up at her house and threatens to kill her little sister if she doesn't agree to exchange blood with him. You may recall from earlier posts that in the world of The Vampire Diaries the exchanging of blood between two characters who are romantically or sexually interested in each other is a metaphor for sex. She doesn't want to do it, but Elena agrees to Damon's request in order to save her sister's life. Even though Elena willingly allows Damon to drink her blood and drinks his in return, she only does so because she's being coerced. Basically, what we have here is a rape scene, and Elena's behavior the day after confirms it. She remembers what happened, but she's fuzzy on the details. She doesn't recall the sensation of drinking or being bitten. It's as though she blacked out the experience in order to distance herself from it. Even so, she feels unbearably guilty because she has "cheated" on Stefan.
3) Elena goes over to Stefan's house to come clean. Her rendez-vous with Damon is just one of many secrets she has been keeping from him, and all the lying has gotten to be too much for her. So, she gets to Stefan's place and starts off by confessing a secret related to one of the sub-plots. Stefan is angry at first, but when he realizes she only did it to protect him, he melts like a snow cone in July. He is so touched, and Elena so relieved he doesn't hate her, the two "exchange blood" before Elena has the chance to tell him about Damon. While basking in the afterglow Stefan PROPOSES to Elena and she accepts. Never mind that they've only been dating for two months. Never mind that Elena is seventeen. Never mind that she's centuries more immature than Stefan. Oh nooooo, this is TRUE LOVE! It's FOREVER! They were MADE for each other, they just KNOW it!
See, now this is one of my major problems with romantic fiction: the unrealistic convention of having the hero and heroine fall COMPLETELY in love after only a matter of months, weeks, or even days. It takes most people way longer to fall in love, not to mention that most of us never experience the romantic cliche of "love at first sight."
In the case of Stefan and Elena, I'm trying to remind myself that teenagers DO tend to fall in love quickly because they are teenagers and they are stupid. But, given the fact that Stefan is 500 years old, and I still don't really understand why he likes Elena to begin with, his proposal was a steaming pile of shit dumped on my enjoyment of the book.
4) And then, as if one pile of shit wasn't enough, Elena has a fight with her family, makes one of her infmaously stupid decisions, and gets herself killed. That's right, Elena drives Matt's car into a river and drowns. Fucking idiot. I recind my pronouncement that Elena is merely impulsive. I was right the first time. She's just dumb. Stefan, Bonnie, and Meredith find the car and pull Elean's body out of the water. Of course, they are all distraut because Elena was always such a kind friend and honest girlfriend. They leave her body on the bank of the river. Bonnie and Meredith go off to summon the authorities, and Stefan goes in search of Damon because he thinks Damon is responsible for the accident. (I'm not going to explain why, but believe me when I tell you that's actually a sound assumption. It makes sense based on the rules of the world.)
5) Elena awakens on the river bank alone and disoriented. She has no problem seeing in the dark. Her hearing and sense of smell has improved. You guessed it folks, Elena has become a vampire! Let me explain how: in the world of The Vampire Diaries exchanging blood with a vampire won't immediately turn a human into a vampire. The vampire's blood will remain active in the human's body for a number of days, then slowly begin to lose its potency. Eventually, the vampire blood will lose all its power, and the human will remain human. However, if the human should die with enough active vampire blood in their system they'll turn into a vampire. Having consumed Stefan's blood the day before, and Damon's the night before that, Elena has more than enough vampire blood in her system to precipitate a change when she hits the water.
And, if memory serves, Elena dies at least once more before the end of the third book. (Summers? Summers? Summers?) I'm starting to think Stephanie Meyer and Joss Whendon must have these books bronzed and mounted above their mantels. There are just way too many similarities between them. Of course, while I could say they mooched offa Lisa, I could just as easily make a case for Lisa having mooched offa Anne Rice. The dynamic between Stefan, Damon, and Elena is similar to that of Louis, Lestat, and...Kirsten Dunst.
So, yeah, last night I thought the series was heading into more fertile literary ground, and then Stefan and Elena got stupid, and Damon turned into a rapist. Really, how am I supposed to like ANY of these characters now?! How am I supposed to feel sympathy for such fucking idiots?!
My faith in Lisa has dropped to an all time low. My childhood is being dashed before my very eyes. *sigh* I just started volume 3, The Fury. That gives Lisa 1158 pages to spin this pile of crap into gold.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 02:52 pm (UTC)Yup, that's pretty much what everyone else I know who has read it has said.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-15 08:49 pm (UTC)