Abby Graham

TVD: To Love Is Not To Own

I’ve been mostly keeping quiet about the Vampire Diaries fan rage that’s been going on lately, but I do have a few thoughts about it that I wanted to set down. There’s a common theme in a lot of the complaints that I’m reading, a pervasive sense of entitlement. As if the fans somehow feel that they are owed a different story than the one that’s been offered.

The truth is, there’s no quid pro quo arrangement between television fans and writers. If we identify ourselves as fans of something, it’s because we choose to do so. I choose to invest time and energy in supporting TVD because I enjoy the show. I admire the people who make it and I love working with my vampire-diares.net colleagues. I like many of the people that I’ve met through our shared love of this series. Basically, I feel that the effort I put into being a TVD fan is worthwhile. I choose to do it because it adds something fun to my life and I get great things out of it.

Know what I don’t get out of it? A say in the story.

Loving a TV show does not entitle us to a voice in its creation. No matter how much time or energy we devote to watching the show, talking about the show, tweeting, voting in internet polls and commenting on websites, we do not get a say in the plot. Even if we spend money on merchandise, DVDs and fan conventions, we still don’t get a say. No matter how big our emotional investment is, it’s still our investment. We are not the writers’ bosses, and our devotion doesn’t put any extra obligations on the people making the show.

The reality is that the writers will write the very best story they can and hope that people like it. That’s where their obligation to us ends. There’s no way they can please everybody, and while the internet can make it look like “everybody” agrees on one thing or another, the vocal audience isn’t the majority of viewers. There are a lot more people watching TVD than the people make the show a big part of their lives. Most people just turn on their TVs every Thursday night, watch the episode, and go on about their lives without ever visiting a fansite or making a comment on twitter. While it is tempting to think that more investment = more power, it just isn’t so. When all is said and done, television is a business and a complicated one at that. There’s a lot more going into the creative decisions than what outspoken fans say they want.

If you want a pairing or storyline so badly that the lack of it ruins the show for you, then that’s just how you feel and that’s valid. I wish you the best, but don’t let love of a TV show make you crazy. Don’t let it make you a bully, or make you think you’re somehow entitled to tell someone else how to do their job. Devotion is a wonderful thing, but in excess it can also be very destructive. Love the show or leave it, but until the TVD writers show up at our jobs and start telling us how to do them, we don’t get a say in what they write.

morteamore:

#Klaus is an effective mailman

Could you imagine Klaus as a mailman though? He’s good at his job, and then he comes up to the house of the people he doesn’t like so he takes the newspaper and instead of tossing it like any normal person he chucks it at the window which breaks then he walks off saying “You got mail motherfucker”.

Obviously Klaus played that 80’s 8-bit classic exercise in epic frustration, Paperboy. Just give ‘im a bike, throw in some cheesy music, and there you have it.

hollye83:

fatallyxfragile:

#BEST SCENE. #I love how everyone else hides #and Damon is having this middle school dodgeball battle #except they’re using stakes… #and how do the neighbors not realize their fence is randomly missing? #OH FLOYD #that blonde man just grabbed our fence!! #he’s throwing it through the Gilbert door #everyday occurrence in mystic Falls

BEST. OH MY GOD BEST.

redcognito:

Abby: I’m pretty sure Vee would happily give an opinion on a banjo played by a toad in a waistcoat, to be honest.
Red: You mean Gabriel?

Abby: Holy crap, Red!
Abby: That’s a toad with a banjo!

wilwheaton:

(via Reddit)

The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: “Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?”

Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, “Nothing.” Then Katz asked the women, “What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?” Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified:

“I don’t make eye contact with men when I walk down the street,” said one.
“I don’t put my drink down at parties,” said another.
“I use the buddy system when I go to parties.”
“I cross the street when I see a group of guys walking in my direction.”
“I use my keys as a potential weapon.”

The women went on for several minutes, until their side of the blackboard was completely filled with responses. The men’s side of the blackboard was blank. I was stunned. I had never heard a group of women say these things before. I thought about all of the women in my life — including my mother, sister and girlfriend — and realized that I had a lot to learn about gender.

“

—	Why I Am A Male Feminist (via e-pic)

redcognito:

You know you watch too much Vampire Diaries when you see the phrase faithful to the originals in advertising and then start pondering if it was Elijah or Klaus who got his paws into the traditional fizzy drinks business.

For the record, their Curiosity Cola is to die for.

My Interview: Vampire-Diaries.net »

katelinnea:

Erin interviewed the four of us from V-D.net about our favorite TV shows and more, so click over if you’re interested in that sort of thing…