It feels like black women can only exist in two ways to people. We’re either the villain or the hero. Never just regular human beings with a range of different emotions tho.
@@LadyAstarionAncunin I only say hero because any “compliments” that black women get are always attributed to being strong and protectors. We’re the ones carrying the community and everyone notices/ acknowledges it while simultaneously looking down on us. The white woman who made that tweet didn’t even look out for the biracial woman on the show she wrote on. She was always killed off and had the weakest storyline.
Villain? We're never the villain. We're usually the sacrificial or sassy token friend. I would love to see a Black female villain written with the complexity of a Cersei Lannister.
Can I ask a question when Julie plec wrote something about black women saving us what was bad about that letter like I know that she is racist but I want to know what is racist about that letter or message
I think she was like solution to every problem to writing like when writers were not able to come up with solution for some situation in plot they just used her to save a day
Lets be honest, Kat was one of if not the best actor on Vampire Diaries and she brought Bonnie to life even though the writers kept trying to kill her off.
You are so right I absolutely hated the way the character of bonnie was treated kat is a great actress I really do feel sorry for the way she was treated
The fact that every time writers brought her back they did it because fans didn't want the character nor the actress gone, not because they actually thought she was a great asset to the show is ridiculous. Like who's the one saving MF every single time? Not Matt, not Elena, not Caroline... Also, yes, the finale sucked in general (imo), but Bonnie deserved so much better!!
I thinks she is just trying to twist her racist ’s thoughts into compliments. As we are too stupid to read between the lines. Her tweet is racist. She only see black women as disposables products. Not humans as yt. It show in all her blacks characters wrtting. There is a study about how some yt people’s brains react when they see à poc. Their brains detect us as object. This thing is deepppppp
White woman CAN do the work. Julie is just so clearly trying to absolve herself of any harm and it’s sickening. Like of course white women shouldn’t be talking over black women and other minorities, but they can absolutely be part of the solution.
agreed. Yes, white people are failing. Its not because we r incompetent, its for a whole range of factors. If we started doing the work together we could get shit done. putting our responsibility on the backs of black folk and other poc is nothing but racism.
@@khem127 precisely! My strength, intelligence, time, and resilience belong to *me* . I can choose invest in others, however, Julie (nor her counterparts) can demand it.
The way Bonnie was used to save all the white folks while they never helped her or cared about her in return is not surprising considering that’s how she feels about Black women. That’s why it’s never just tv. She thinks Black women’s main purpose is to save others and so she created a show all about that.
Listen, the Freud costume was a necessary evil okay! 😂 edit because I finished the video: see, now I’m gonna have to look more into TVD because I always saw people alluding to Bonnie’s treatment but never got around to actually watching the show. Even with that in mind, this video was BEAUTIFULLY put and applies to so many other topics outside of TVD. Painting black women as superheroes because we somehow just “know what to do” or “can actually do it” frustrates me, whether it be in politics, media, or even just every day life. Let us be multifaceted! 👏🏾
Bonnie CARRIED that show. I’ll die believing if they hadn’t been racist as fuck, we would’ve gotten bamon or klonnie as canon - it just would’ve made sense
@@brit_brat Bonnie was a ginger witch in the books. So they made her black (which I'm not complaining about) but they just couldn't make her black AND give her a love story 🤦🏾♀️
If they didn't want her with Damon then they should have had her get with Klaus younger brother. They were planning a whole show centered around witches but didn't think to include Bonnie somehow? Bonnie who was supposed to be so powerful?
The way plec literally distanced her self from white women and tried to align herself with black women with the “white women have failed US”. “Us?” Who’s “us” ms. Plec???
The issue with that tweet to me that annoys me the most is like. No Plec, just do better. White folks can just choose to do better, educate themselves.
Even that "compliment" bs is trash because when a yt person is the hero of the story they're compansated with love, success, etc, Bonnie was never allowed to rest and be loved
Notice how all her love interested were always into other friends before her? It was always as if she was the very last option. Enzo became Bonnie's love after being rejected by almost everyone. Jeremy became Bonnie's love after all his love interests died and it always felt as if he HAD to be with her because she saved him. There was no true love between them. Meanwhile Elena was always the first choice for any guy she dated and Caroline had Klaus who was making her out to be some kind of goddess and then Enzo who couldn't stop babying and obsessing over her. A lot of people wanted Bonnie to end up with Damon or one of the witches e.g. Kai or Klaus brother (forgot his name). Julies argument against Kai was that he was psycho but then so was Damon, stephan, Klaus etc yet they were all allowed to be with other female leads who were made out to be angels. If they didn't want Bonnie with Damon then the best choice would have been Damons brother, the one with the most knowledge on witchcraft. It would have made the most sense considering they planned on having a spin off that would be mostly about witches. Also they could have done a storyline of him mentoring her and them getting closer.
@@chloedsmith Bonnie had fake friends. Any time she died they would mourn her and then live on. But then as soon as someone else died they would suddenly feel the need to bring back Bonnie from the dead because they need to safe the last person who died. They never tried to get Bonnie back simply because they loved her but only ever because they needed her to save someone else
The most frustrating thing about Bonnie and Damon not being allowed to happen is that the fans wanted it! Like do you know how hard it was back then for any fandom to wish love unto a black female character? Almost impossible. But the chemistry was so strong, it just made sense, even the racists could see it. But every time interviewers brought it up, that director looked irritated, like she was annoyed at Bonnie even being mentioned. When i found out how Kat was treated behind the scenes i wasn't even shocked, it showed in the interviews
It's the same thing that happened in Sleepy Hollow. Ugh! It still annoys me. I didn't want Abby and Ichabod to get together, but they had that kind of chemistry/energy, even off camera, and everyone knew it, and a lot of fans, including white fans, wanted them to be together. But what did they do, marginalize her in favor of a white female character meant to only be in the first season, get rid of her, and THEN tried to paint her with the "difficult" brush as an actor. FOX took a show that started to catapult the two leads into superstardom (look at the first season ratings/responses) and killed it because...? The first season was notably diverse and the chemistry between the cast, especially the leads, was also notable. Now what is Nicole Beharie doing? What is Tom Mison doing? I mean big projects. FOX took what could have been the new The X-Files and peed it down their legs. And part of the failure is the bait-and-switch with black female actresses in prime time TV.
@@LadyAstarionAncunin Nicole Beharie, who plays Abbie was actually sick. Her and the her costar got sick. He was allowed to go back to England to heal and recover. Meanwhile Beharie was made to work while sick, to the point She ended up at the hospital. Her doctor asked her to rest, the studio had their doctors confirm the diagnosis. Still They had her working, and sending doctors on set to check that She was sick. Then they used her sickness to slowly push her out, then tried to blackball her, by running a whole "Blind Item" campaign about her being difficult to work with. Thankfully Karma was looking after Beharie coz Her career is quietly but surely thriving. While the show crashed and all of her unsupportive co-workers are where again?
I remember asking myself why Bonnie never really had a love interest when I was younger. I remember internalizing that black women just were not attractive and were only here to save the day. The impact of what Julie Plec does on impressionnable young mind...
jenny nicholson's had a section where she pointed out that the show constantly flashes back to and even celebrates the confederate south, while blatantly ignoring slavery.
And this was an adaptation choice by Plec and Williamson! In the books the Salvatores were from the Italian Renaissance. Maybe they didn’t want to make the actors do accents in flashbacks, but there’s other American history settings they could’ve chosen.
And can we talk about how Kat Graham was also a singer throughout her time on the show but that was never given a spotlight to actually showcase her singing ability, and yet, Candice Accola was put behind a mic many times despite being tone deaf? I distinctly remember there being an ad in the middle of an episode back in the day about her country music album, but I had to find out Graham had a music career by chance online.
And they shoehorned that shit in whereever and whenever, it was cringy! There is just one thing that I cannot sit through, and that is the second hand embarassment of watching someone sing badly
The time they practically paused an episode for everyone to watch Caroline sing Eternal Flame was especially cringe. And they kept finding excuses for her to sing, but no singing scenes for the performer with actual singing talent and successful music career. I can’t qWhite figure it out… 🤔
I also found out about her music online and I loved it! I even named my cat Sassy after her song (I even used to sing to her that song as a lullaby, lmao.) It was so sad seeing Bonnie go through the ringer... I gave up when they killed off Enzo out of nowhere. It was bullshit. She deserved everything! It was so frustrating to watch, uuugh
I can’t believe Ms Julie Plec had my girl Bonnie dying left and right for the yt folk and she couldn’t even get a love interest who didn’t immediately KO 😩 we can’t get nothing out here!
Then why don't you "black folks" make your own love interest shows and movies and stop expecting others people who don't look like you to do it for you. If there wanst a black character on there y'all would call it racism but since y'all character didn't get shine y'all wanted y'all still complain.
@@pitpat2928 Its only "boring and sad" because I told the truth. I know reality is a hard pill for you feminist women to swallow but that Is how the market is ran. People only direct shows and movies on what they see fit and what sells. Black people need to film THEIR OWN LOVE shows and movies ans stop depending on people who don't like them to do it FOR THEM. so me telling them to DO IT THEMSELVES is "sad and embarrassing"? Grow the hell up and quit being a bunch pathetic, weak with no back bone liberals. All y'all do is CRY ABOUT EVERYTHING and GET NOTHING done. Think about it, people who Cry, complain and BEG don't get ANYTHING done. Because y'all expect people to do it FOR Y'ALL.
the context for the tweet is actually mind-boggling. When i saw it in isolation I figured it was a standalone comment about the role of black women in US elections. That wouldn't have made it a good thing to say, but I remember that exact sentiment of "black women will save this country" becoming super common in 2016 and showing up in elections since. But in the context of an individual woman being attacked online for experiencing intimate partner violence... there are no words for how inappropriate that was.
Literally JUST got shot and this WW fixed her mouth was like you’ll save us! How fucking out of touch with reality do you have to be to say something like that when someone expresses that they are 1. Emotionally hurt 2. Physically hurt?
This!! How is a black womans fresh bullet wound making you immediately think "yes, you are here to save us black women. Get over that blood gushing from your flesh and back to the front lines". Where did that thought even come from?
bonnie carried that entire show on her back and got so little recognition for it. i will never forgive julie plec for what she put bonnie (and many other Black and Brown characters) through
Yeah, even when watching the show when I was younger part of my brain was going. "Dang Bonnie is sacrificing alot for her friends who are mostly obsessed with boys. I'm not sure these friendships are healthy for her." And it was weird how few romantic plotlines she got. Like the doppleganger girl gets two powerful vampires and the all-powerful witch gets... The annoying younger brother? How dare the show ever imply Jeremy was in Bonnie's league.
That show was always about the ships, especially towards the end. It’s the only reason I watched for so long, not because the content was actually that good 💀 They wrote Katherine and Caroline dating every MF but Bonnie could only date Jeremy ? Nah …
@@workinprogress3329 Right. They all were swapping the same partners in their friend group. And didn’t Bonnie have to keep that relationship a secret anyways 😭 she just couldn’t win
Caroline literally has a romantic and/or sexual relationship with every major male character in the show (Damon, Matt, Tyler, Klaus, Alaric, Stephan) whereas Bonnie gets just Jeremy and Enzo, and she dies for Jeremy and Enzo gets killed. Trash.
Did you even notice the fact that in the final scene for Bonnie, mofos has her going to visit Africa in the brochure...not an actual country in Africa but the whole damn continent of Africa. VD was so trash with their treatment of Bonnie and actress Kat Graham.
I literally remember watching it and thinking nah this is just a prank y'all are gonna bring him back like you brought back Katherine like twice, Matt was always getting saved...but then the show ended and I was just shocked that they did that to her
The actor playing Enzo was so rude towards her out of acting, their kissing scène were ackwards. He always treat her with contempt out of acting. So disturbing to watch knowing all of it....
The thing that really gets me is the way that Julie would undermine the show to make sure that Bonnie didn’t get the spotlight. Like in season 6, there was a rating bump with the Bonkai/prison world storyline. But she decided to kneecap that storyline because it was getting too popular (to this day, I am HEATED by how they resolved that storyline). She did the same thing earlier when she refused to put Bonnie and Damon together despite the fact that that’s what happens in the novels. Bonnie has the most potential out of any of the characters and the fact that Julie wanted to kill her permanently in season 5 just shows how artistically stunted she is when it comes to black women. Because black women could only be one thing in her mind and that’s a mammy. No matter how much she claims to be “anti racist” now 🙄
@@kitj3301 Yeah. That was always the most infuriating part. She gave her self-inserts (Caroline) more storylines and agency then the actual second female lead in the book (Bonnie). Bonnie and Damon are literally described as soulmates in the books. Recreated every relationship except for that one.
Yeah the whole plot with how they handled the bonkai/bennett and Gemini coven arc will forever annoy me it was disgusting how they treated kat /bonnie this storyline practically wrote itself if this was Caroline this storyline absolutely would have happened Nina was leaving and Candice was pregnant at the time there's no excuse for it not to happen bonnie should have been the main character from that point on with kai as her love interest with a awesome witch storyline the show needed something fresh besides Caroline and Elena relationships drama
the way Bonnie died over and over and over again just because of Elena and her friends just for Elena’s brother who was dating Bonnie to cheat on Bonnie with a ghost and for Stefan to kill Enzo who was Bonnie’a actual soulmate…
The insane part is when Elena was casted asleep, the plot of the show should've been centered around Bonnie because it's suppose to be about Bonnie living her life out before Elena.
I really can't get over WHERE Julie is doing this too... Like its bad enough to say any of this to begin with but then. Megan just got shot. Leave her the hell alone. "I know you just experienced domestic violence but come save me from- IDK trump or whatever" I cannot...
The fact that Bonnie was such an integral part of TVD and in the second spinoff Legacies there is a musical about the Mystic Falls and Bonnie gets a throwaway line....literally everyone on that show would be dead if it weren't for her... I think Bonnie was the first time as a child I noticed the magical negro trope (even though I didn't really know how to word it or what is was exactly). She always came to the aid of the white characters but no one really had as much urgency to save her. She barely got to experience any happiness and was thrown Elena's little brother for a love interest, occasionally getting a little romance or two (all of which ended in her partner's death, leaving her traumatized). The show even introduced Black male witches and had Bonnie become connected with one but ends up killing him off. It was obvious that Kat was facing discrimination behind the scenes whenever the cast was at conventions; despite being one of the most popular characters, her fans cries for her were ignored by her coworkers and bosses and she was barely able to even respond to them without getting cut off. The fact that Bonnie's sendoff in the final episode shows her with a plane ticket to AFRICA speaks volumes...they couldn't even bother to google a country to send her to...
Let alone how even though she was mixed she had very kinky hair and they never let her wear it natural ever... i've been seeing interviews where she asked to be able to do that and told no.. also she was one of the youngest people in the show and started the show at 19 so definitely got taken advantage of
There’s a vogue interview where Kat did one of those GRWM. She talks about how she always hated her hair. She mentions the vampire diaries and how the wigs ruined her hair. That show had so much negative impact on Kat. She deserved better.
of course she hated her hair everyone told her not to wear it that way ...so you wonder if something ma wrong with it..when the society tells you that it's ugly of course you're going to think it's ugly too.. Im mixed too and I can relate...I can not imagine how that conversation went and how uncomfortable and insecure she must of been made to feel
with the way Kat was treated behind the scenes, i just can’t give Julie the benefit of the doubt. Even if she meant it as a compliment the way the show runners treated Bonnie shows that they view black women as disposable imo.
There's a academic theory about how unfairly black girl characters are portrayed in speculative fiction, it's call the Dark Fantastic cycle by doctor Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and she analyses Bonnie's story in depth. It's so worth to check it out
It’s so weird that we’re only shown the strength black women have from how they deal with loss. Look at the POWER she shows when her loved one dies. Look at the EMOTION she expresses when she loses someone she cares about. Look how good she is at pushing her emotions down when she’s forced to protect someone else. Look how willing she is to put her feelings aside to support others. Is she not allowed to feel weak from loss and mourning? Are others not allowed to protect her or care for her in her time of need? Is anybody risking (or sacrificing) their lives to protect her other than her parents or partner ? Is she not allowed to express intense emotions or show her peak of power without trauma ? Everyone else is..
When you talk about how a character your color would be treated I think of how abhorrent the character of Tara played by Rutina Wesley in true blood. He whole life and her family and any chance at love and even her humanity was sacrificed for her blonde bestie.
I still want to fight about It. But I'm not shocked all those white writers my, even as talented as Allan Ball, have a lot of blind spot when It comes to writing non white character.
And It was crazy bc I read the books first and In the books shes a light skinned black woman and goes through a lot of stuff but then the show made her dark skinned so I got excited and then THEY PUT HER THROUGH WORSE SHIT THAT NEVER HAPPENED TO HER BOOK COUNTERPART. Like WHY
The way I'm still salty about Bamon is unreal. The one time Bonnie was treated as a main character and Damon had a progression as a character and they had actual chemistry to boot, but noooo.... Delena had to be endgame for... reasons? Jf
I loved this. When yu said we aren’t Alien or Magic . Like they literally think we LIKE to be strong. Or we LIKE to get everything done. Like I am not Super women , I’m tired too wtf. I want the Strong Black Women to stop being the way we raise daughters. We need help too. Everyone needs help. It’s not OK.
Bonnie was sooo mistreated in Vampire Dairies. Honestly, I couldn't watch past season 2 because of it. Also black women don't owe anyone sh!t expect human decency. I'm so tired of the "strong black woman" stereotype.
I can't believe Julie Plec exists in 2021. while many writers make genuine mistakes in their writing Plec is not one of them, she knew what she was doing in my opinion. There are many Delena and Klaroline scenes that were STRAIGHT UP stolen from Book Bamon, and yet Bamon show never got them. we all know why.
that practice/habit of mystifying women really, based off experience and observation, more often than not is just a lazy and easy way out to sweep abuse and neglect under the rug. where i live, every ethnic group have their own version/ideals of what make women "great" but wherever and whichever it is, it's ... really not a compliment. especially when it comes from men or people in general who'd never had to shoulder the burden of the expected gender roles-which sometimes includes women of the upper class. it's because "women are so strong, smart, diligent, and resilient" decades of mistreatment of women get dismissed because "they can take it". it's not always explicitly said, but once you notice it you really can't unsee it. it's also used as an excuse for parents, relatives, and teachers to be harder and stricter with girls in various forms of education, bc supposedly we're inherently several steps behind the boys but due to our strong qualities should be able to catch up-we just need to put up with those multiplied workload. (don't dream of surpassing the boys, though. that's a no no unless you want to be a lonely, unwanted, old virgin.) am definitely coming from a different background, esp in terms of culture and geography; but that """compliment""" about how black women are so strong and capable that they'll "save us all" ... i just hear alarm bells ringing. anyway, bamon is endgame canon in my book and no one can ever change my mind.
@@whoknows9085 oop, that’s what I was gonna say. But I never knew this also happened to other none-BW. But those other women are always celebrating this toxic idea.
i tend to find the pop-culture analysis videos so interesting regardless of whether i'm familiar with media they cover; because the videos themselves always end up traversing such an interesting range of ever-relevant topics. looking really forward to this one!
I literally watched Jenny Nicholson's video about TVD and I completely missed all of this, so I'm really glad I saw this video. Perspective really matters, especially if you don't share that perspective (I haven't actually seen TVD xD)
I also have problems with how some mythical humans were specifically supposed to be racialize people: travelers ( who are supposed to be romani people) and werewolves (who again are supposed to be indigenous) were potreid by mostly white actors and most of the time were villians and didn't always got the empathic treatment that mostly white vampires got, also don't get me started on how Katherine's Bulgarian and traveler ethnicity were so overshadowed and they could have used it more. This show like to combine different identities with mythology, but when it wasn't useful it threw them away.
Tbh considering their utter lack of nuance and care, it's probably for the best that they didn't delve too deep into that. Remember how their whole little town was straight up built on slavery and Damon was a Confederate soldier and we just don't talk about that, ever? Even though his best friend is black, and her ancestor was Katherine's servant?
@@chloedsmith i believe they said in the show that damon's dad forced him to join the confederacy, and he deserted bc he disagreed with it. but it's still depicted in a very weird way lmao. i never understood why she chose this background, so unecessary.
and Mikaelsons were supposedly Norwegians but they never talked Old Norse/Norwegian and also lived in America for some reason (in 10th century!). they never referenced their culture, religion or history and don't even get me started on the names, because half of them are not even Nordic. the only thing suggesting they were Norwegian were the runes they've written on the walls of the cave. that's it. and i know that it's not as problematic as race and ethnicity , but it shows that the writers don't give a damn about either race or culture, no matter how significant the characters (and i'd say the originals were pretty significant, having their own bloody show)
@@acrossthesoftuniverse1575 they mentioned that they came to america because of a plague that was afecting europe. that they heard from a witch of a "land where no one got sick" (because it was a werewolf colony), so that's how they ended up in america, which wasn't known by mortals yet. but later they explain that they had to leave because of dahlia and the curse.
@@analupelosi3319 still, seems a bit unbelievable to me. couldn't they just live in Norway and then come to America? it wouldn't make a big difference when it comes to the plot and it'd be more realistic
I never watched this show, but what stood out to me in your video was you saying "Even in fantasy." All you have to do is think about whose fantasies are being depicted (the writers, and the rest of the cast and staff) to understand. Again, diversity behind the scenes is the key to it all.
OMG I just remembered the reason Bonnie's mom supposedly abandoned her was also to save Elena! They wrote a storyline about how she lured a big bad Original and magically "put him down" and then just stayed gone. WTF! And don't get me started on how fast they killed off her Gram! I always thought it was crappy that she was the only one in the show with no living relatives that she felt close to (TBH their writing made me forget she even had a dad until she mentioned him in an exposition dump). Even the town "outcast" Vicky had her brother Matt.
I can’t wait to watch this. I remember finishing TVD a few months ago and then watching follow up vids and comments on Kat’s treatment. Also how fans wanted her and Damon as a thing and Julie shut it down, but also killing off Enzo and sending her to Africa. Like, she couldn’t choose a country so she said, whole continent sis! 🥱 then putting her away from camera shot in tvd press runs. Yo, Julie actually worked hard to minimise and dismiss her🙆🏾♀️
@@darkservantofheaven ffs, his father forced him and he deserted. If youre gonna put so much into the storyline then get it right. Maybe Damon raping Caroline should have put you off instead of a random damn costume.
Kat Graham was treated very poorly as an actress, as a human being and as the character that she portrayed, and that's a conversation that we need to have.
kinda makes me think of a post I saw floating around about how instead of praising people for being resilient, take down the systems that force them to be that way. and there was another one about not wanting to be called resilient ever again.
Child! This came at the perfect time! I was introducing my fiancé to VD and I was telling him how OP and great Bonnie was. But as I was rewatching it, Bonnie was only in episodes when her friends needed her, she never really got her own arc. Like, they go several episodes without her until she was needed like a prop.
Whew Chile…this reminds me of my last two semesters in college. Literally had to do the group essay because everyone else was trash and lazy. Must be nice…
It's so frustrating that Bonnie (and Kat) were not given the same treatment and opportunities that Elena and Caroline. I mean, the chemistry between Bonnie and Damon was amazing but it didn't happen bc the writers didn't wanted to, they didn't like the idea of it and in recent podcast Julie said that they didn't do it ““bc Bonnie had more self respect”, which it's absurd. And it's not only the writers to blame, the fandom too, until this day there are people that hates Bonnie even though she didn't do as harm as the rest of main characters and most of them only wanted Delena to be endgame, even though it was a toxic relationship.
It's so ridiculous for Julie to insist on Bonnie and Damon staying friends when the whole main cast apart from her had relationships with each other despite them being friends before (especially Stefan and Caroline - they had a great friendship but the creators had to make it romantic for some reason). Like clearly the creators didn't value friendships between people of opposite genders more than romantic relationships. But the one time that Bonnie has a deep, potentially romantic connection with someone from the main cast it just gets treated as them being "best friends"..
@@EleiyaUmei Exactly, just when it happens to Bonnie then they decided that a friendship needs to stay as it is. It was very stupid, Bamon had all the chemistry that Delena lost after S5. Then they gave Bonnie a love interest but they killed him, which was pure bullsh*t.
@@DiegoSinclair1820 tbh, I think Delena never had real chemistry to begin with (apart from physical I guess) and Bonnie was the person Damon had the most chemistry with... You can really see how much of a Delena shipper Julie is/was, mistreating better characters and compelling plot lines just for the sake of making Delena endgame. Using her power like that, it is evident that she could have done more with Bonnie and Bamon but actively chose not to...
@@EleiyaUmei tbh Delena shouldn't event happen in the first place. I'm watching the show again and it's frustrating how Damon treats Elena, it's disgusting. And I agree with you, the chemistry between Bonnie & Damon was better, but neither Julie or the writers gave them a chance, just to keep safe the toxic main relationship.
@@DiegoSinclair1820 I can't judge about Delena being problematic because my OTP was and still is Klaroline ^^' But I always felt like either Damon was making Elena to a different/worse person or TVD's creators changed a bit of her character in order for her to fit better with Damon... At the same time, the toxic cliché of a woman "fixing" a bad boy was perpetuated with Delena... (But also with Klaroline, so I *really* shouldn't judge that hard >.
Graham wanted to wear her hair nappy but the show runners would not allow it. There were many examples of passive aggressive racism that she had to endure both on set and behind the scenes.
I can understand why they didn't. With straight hair, she looks as white as possible. I've never watched the show, but in any clips I've seen, she looks like a white woman with a very slight tan. Kinky/coily natural hair would disturb that image.
Honestly, as a whole, TVD, outside of the first two seasons, was poorly written. Hell, the only good and coherent season was S1, S2 only for Katherine's fuckery. And I have to disagree about Caroline, yeah she went through shit and was automatically more relatable than Elena who was blander than wonder bread, but her plotlines were far more consistent than anyone else's and I have to wonder how much of that was actually because she was pretty and blonde?
White women should probably do what they want supportive white men to do. Run interference, protect, show up, and talk about it. It's pretty easy to visualize and understand. Like, what do white women want from supportive white men? Cool, cool, maybe do that thing!
Just off the title alone....let's get into it!!! Bonnie deserved so much better and it really speaks to the cultural thought around the 'Black woman superhero/savior' mess
Black women saviour/super hero of everyone but themselves. That's the thing, fiction explore the hero figure thro and fro but the moment said hero is black and a woman, the nuances of humanity are lacking
I already side eyed Julie Plec for not allowing Caroline and Klaus to be together (toxic? yes, but they're my guilty pleasure). But the constant agony she put Bonnie through just infuriated me. Like it got to a point where it just felt uncomfortable to watch the show because Bonnie was either in physical pain or it was setting her up to be hurt in some capacity. If Elena or even sometimes Caroline are allowed to be selfish once in a while and do thing based on their own desires and wants, without the concern of how it affects those around them............then why can't Bonnie?? Side Note: remember when Damon was trying to sympathize with Bonnie (i forgot the context) and he said "I love you....the way Elena loved you". I damn near flipped my table.
*Katara Avatar voice* Black People Latine Asian White Long ago, the 4 nations lived in harmony. But then, the white people attacked. Only black women, masters of dealing with bullshit on every level, could stop them. But when the world needed them most, they vanished. One day we found them at a hair product convention in Atlanta. And though their hair braiding skills were great, they still had a to learn. But I believe, black women can save the world. *Que Avatar music* Duuuuuuuuun-Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUUUUn That's immediately where my mind goes to.
Even though the "strong black woman" trope is meant to be empowering, it has also created this layout for writing one dimensional black women, where they're not allowed to be soft or vulnerable (or you know, human). And it's not just a problem of representation, it has real life consequences like medical racism (among other things) because black women are perceived to supposedly endure more pain and therefore not given painkillers or proper treatment. The Take did a great video analyzing "the strong black woman" trope, I greatly recommend it.
I'm so glad that this is being spoken about. Nicole Beharie went through something very similar on Sleepy Hollow. Her character was supposed to be 1 of the 2 witness of the apocalypse, but often had to finish spells after Ichabod's struggle witch of a wife kept passing out. Also, both Nicole and the actor who played Ichabod got sick. He was allowed to go to England to recover, but she had to continue to work. She got so sick that a doctor had to tell the higher ups that she was too sick to work. After that, they killed her character off and black listed her. After she died, her spirit came back to tell ichabod that she was his stepping stone.
Yes!! What the Sleepy Hollow producers and FOX did to Nicole Beharie was awful!!! And completely stupid because I think most viewers dropped off after they killed off Abby. They were also pretty shitty to Lyndie Greenwood too. And the way they kept trying to hype Ichabod/Katrina was such a waste when Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison clearly had better chemistry. I think Mison must’ve shipped it too because he always played Ichabod as practically having heart eyes for Abby while looking totally bored around Katrina lol.
I haven’t seen the Vampire Diary series but Bonnie’s character eerily parallels Tara from True Blood - hell Tara’s might have been slightly more traumatizing 😭 She was literally there to protect basic ass blonde Sookie ALL the time
Ugh! Tara should have been done with Sookie after she had her turned into a vampire knowing that Tara would have preferred to die because she hated vampires!
@@alorapendrak9752 Exactly!! Sookie so selfishly wanted her best friend back that she literally violated her most paramount request likeeee???? How self centered can you be? Literally turned her into the thing she hated the most. Nah Sookie was actually so annoying
They masculinized the hell out of Tara and it was clearly to make her seem less beautiful and womanly than a legitimate character trait. They also set up as stark Madonna/whore dichotomy with her relationship to Jason in comparison to Jason's relationship with Jess. Plus they played into the angry black woman trope HARD. They did her so dirty.
@@juliekring7574 I completely agree, which is such a shame because she had the foundation to be a really good character with a genuine story but it felt like they just used Tara as a vessel for trauma porn and a side piece to elevate the other characters' story. She definitely deserved better Also, no amount of masculinization could take away Tara's beauty. The actress who played her is a stunnerrr (But i totally agree lol)
I could really relate when Khadija brought up the example of being the employee the manager dumps all the work on and doesn't hold the coworkers not doing the work accountable. As black women, we need to stop letting people work us to death. Say No more often, and don't apologize. And let these people struggle until they get it together. Now, I'm only giving as much as I'm getting, and no more. It's like be a savior, for what? And they will definitely miss you when you're gone 😂
I don’t think I Watch Vampire diaries until the end but I always thought that I rather watch a show that focuses on Elenas two best friends Bonnie and Caroline. Especially Bonnie seemed so powerful and was never used. She just could never be happy 😕 either like just make her have a great and chill life with a cool boyfriend and leave her alone.
The job comparison solidified that for me. Yeah, why do I pick up someone elses slack but they dont get transferred or fired, they get to stay and do whatever the want. No ty. This is currently happening at my workplace. I stopped watching TVD after season 3 or 4, but couldnt even rewatch TVD after Jenny Nicholson covered all of its issues. She goes down rabbit holes with topics, and one brief point was that Bonnie was given nothing as a character, but had to do everything in the end to save everyone. AND that when she was stuck with Damon they were only “ best friends” but werent romantic, when everyone else at one time or another got together. Thank you for exploring this!
One of your white women viewers here. My best friend in highschool was black. I was the naive kind of color blind back then, I just hadn't really thought about it. We were both anime nerds, theater geeks, and I loved her dearly. It wasn't until she pointed out how she was being treated when we were cast in shows, how the teacher/director was directing her to play characters ect... That I started paying attention. It wasn't her job to teach me, but just venting her frustrations like any friend would, and being honest with me, taught me a lot. And the fact that our whole theater club wasn't afraid to call people on their bullshit. That's when I learned to listen, learned to speak out, and learned to pay attention. Edit: This is in response to the Plec clearly doesn't have friends who care about these issues thing. I know I'll always have learning to do. But I learned how to learn while immersed in the very passionate and diverse theater environment.
One thing that’s never sat right with me is that vampires (especially certain originals) literally lived through historical atrocities all the while knowing they had abilities to compel people
I already know this video essay is gonna be good... I've been waiting for someone to talk about Kat Graham's treatment on the Vampire Diaries for a whileee
And they repeated same BS with the black characters on the Originals. Vincent and Marcel constantly have to fix the Mikaelson mess , now don't get me wrong, I love the Klaus and the others but it was too much. And Legacies. All the black characters MJ, Kaleb, Raphaël, Cleo are always the servants of the white characters. servent
I could like write a whole essay, have a whole dissertation about how this show fundamentally changed how I as a black girl (now more woman but that was back then lmao) navigate media as a whole. It was really the breaking point for me. It's the reason why I barely even watch tv shows anymore but since I still wanna watch things I just opted out to going 98% anime. Just literally can't stand watching a show where I can't even at least have a good black female side char. It was not even enough for me. If it's not a Lovecraft country, Blood and Water, Sella and the spades which are good or great examples for black female castings I simply do not want it, I'm really tired. As a major vampire fan since I was a kid that Twilight/TVD era rly sucked me dry which I realise the irony.
Bonnie was my favourite female character and I always hated how they treated her and they even ruined her happy ending at the end which made me so mad. After seeing a video of the way the staff and some cast treated Kat I was even more angry. As a kid I didn't realise that Kat was being treated badly and I'm so upset that they did that to her.
I feel this so much! The job thing especially! Oh lawd I remember when I was a teen working in retail and a small earthquake happened. It's kinda common here and it was like a rumble and not life ending or even a bad clean up. The point is that an older yt woman grabbed me and asked me what to do? I couldn't shake her off and my manager told me I was cold and to be considerate of her feelings. It still irritates me to this day that I as a teenager had to make this woman old enough to be my mother feel better. Maybe it was part of the customer service gig but I hated it. Why didn't that frail grown ass woman go to the authority figure for protection and direction?
Now you got me thinking. It’s crazy how the only time (I think) when Elena’s life wasn’t chosen over Bonnie’s and when Bonnie was actually able to catch a break was when the actual actress, Nina Dobrev, decided to leave the show.
Omg I didn’t know that Julie Plec tweeted this under Megan Thee Stallion’s tweet about her incident of gun violence, that is even worse like Megan is talking about the violence she went through, I don’t think she needed to be told that while she’s speaking on a vulnerable situation
Remember when they randomly inserted Caroline singing Eternal Flame but never gave Bonnie any musical moments even though Kat Graham‘a singing career has been way more successful than Candice King’s?
Hell, both Ian Somerhalder and Joseph Morgan wanted Bonnie to get with their characters at some point. Pitched the idea hella times, but the showrunners turned both options down smh
Just want to say, the musical number at the beginning was everything dahling. I always thought it was disturbing how Bonnie went through disproportionately more pain and suffering than anyone else on that show. And why? Now I know. Hm. Also Bonnie and Damon would've been such a hot couple.
Remembering how that woman treated kat Graham and allowed others on her show to treat her is why I stopped watching anything she produces. I still haven't finished vampire diaries or legacies to this day.
I love the work analogy! It feels good to be depended on like that for a little while until it drains you completely and destroys your mental and physical well being. OOF
Thanks for talking about this. It upset me so much how Bonnie’s character was frequently needed for major plot lines but never got any real storylines outside helping her friends.
I've been so frustrated by this very thing I've told off white men about some of the things you spoke about. There are so many stereotypes, perceptions and presumptions regarding black women, it gets exhausting waking up in the morning, simply existing.
Watching your videos,as a South East Asian who has never really dealt with racism ever,it made me realize how these priviledged white people just end up evolving their ways of racism to y'all and its honestly infuriating like wtf 😭
"Hey, sorry we made this mess for you, thanks for cleaning it up for us, you're so good at cleaning, wish I were!"
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Exactly
😭
😂😂😂 and still scoff their noses at reparations.
Lol
“ I believe Black Women will save us all,” what is this? Avatar? We are not the Avatar of America.
I sure hope not. I have real stuff to do. Lol.
If it's Avatar, then the Fire Nation ladies are all acting towards Aang: WELL, AREN'T YOU GONNA FIX THIS...??!
Cripes Dx
Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
“But I believe, Black women will save the world…”
I’m cackling😂🤣
It feels like black women can only exist in two ways to people. We’re either the villain or the hero. Never just regular human beings with a range of different emotions tho.
It's not even being the "hero." It's being the help. We're either the villain or the help.
@@LadyAstarionAncunin I only say hero because any “compliments” that black women get are always attributed to being strong and protectors. We’re the ones carrying the community and everyone notices/ acknowledges it while simultaneously looking down on us. The white woman who made that tweet didn’t even look out for the biracial woman on the show she wrote on. She was always killed off and had the weakest storyline.
Villain? We're never the villain. We're usually the sacrificial or sassy token friend.
I would love to see a Black female villain written with the complexity of a Cersei Lannister.
Can I ask a question when Julie plec wrote something about black women saving us what was bad about that letter like I know that she is racist but I want to know what is racist about that letter or message
@@aliaali6421 bruh u didt watch the video.
Just love how Bonnie had no urgency other than to save and serve Elena and her white friends. Takes the whole 'Magical Negro' to new heights
XD
Hahaha 🤣🤣🤣
Or no heights
It's like how sis got got in Behind Her Eyes.
I think she was like solution to every problem to writing like when writers were not able to come up with solution for some situation in plot they just used her to save a day
Lets be honest, Kat was one of if not the best actor on Vampire Diaries and she brought Bonnie to life even though the writers kept trying to kill her off.
You are so right I absolutely hated the way the character of bonnie was treated kat is a great actress I really do feel sorry for the way she was treated
The fact that every time writers brought her back they did it because fans didn't want the character nor the actress gone, not because they actually thought she was a great asset to the show is ridiculous.
Like who's the one saving MF every single time? Not Matt, not Elena, not Caroline...
Also, yes, the finale sucked in general (imo), but Bonnie deserved so much better!!
there was no VD with bonnie because the way they NEEDED her was insane
@@sassyqueen9739srsly?
yeeeeeeeeeeeessssssss!!! EEEXACTLYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
twilight has always made me mad. so the wealthy white vampires vs the ethnic poor werewolves...
Like…
THAT PART!
wait i never noticed that OMG
Is it really bout race though
@@imjustbetter2010 that's the only thing I can see looking at it. and she stole the lore from indigenous ppl :/
julie plec really said "white woman are failing us" when she's a white woman
Exactly... like who is us, Julie? YOu are failing poc, julie.
@@mewmew6158 Delusional. Same way I’ve had heard whyte women blaming whyte men for everything 😂
So the call is coming from inside the house, but it’s this lady and she doesn’t even realize she’s holding the phone.
@@angryotter9129 🤣🤣🤣
I thinks she is just trying to twist her racist ’s thoughts into compliments. As we are too stupid to read between the lines. Her tweet is racist. She only see black women as disposables products. Not humans as yt. It show in all her blacks characters wrtting. There is a study about how some yt people’s brains react when they see à poc. Their brains detect us as object. This thing is deepppppp
White woman CAN do the work. Julie is just so clearly trying to absolve herself of any harm and it’s sickening. Like of course white women shouldn’t be talking over black women and other minorities, but they can absolutely be part of the solution.
agreed. Yes, white people are failing. Its not because we r incompetent, its for a whole range of factors.
If we started doing the work together we could get shit done.
putting our responsibility on the backs of black folk and other poc is nothing but racism.
Periodt
Julie was just telling us how she really feels. Black women are here to serve her and do the heavy lifting.
Exactly!!! How is that different from our roles during enslavement????
Yup
@@khem127 precisely! My strength, intelligence, time, and resilience belong to *me* . I can choose invest in others, however, Julie (nor her counterparts) can demand it.
💯💯🤦
Think she had good intentions
The way Bonnie was used to save all the white folks while they never helped her or cared about her in return is not surprising considering that’s how she feels about Black women. That’s why it’s never just tv. She thinks Black women’s main purpose is to save others and so she created a show all about that.
Listen, the Freud costume was a necessary evil okay! 😂 edit because I finished the video: see, now I’m gonna have to look more into TVD because I always saw people alluding to Bonnie’s treatment but never got around to actually watching the show. Even with that in mind, this video was BEAUTIFULLY put and applies to so many other topics outside of TVD. Painting black women as superheroes because we somehow just “know what to do” or “can actually do it” frustrates me, whether it be in politics, media, or even just every day life. Let us be multifaceted! 👏🏾
I knew if I yelled Freud in a video you would come 😈
Lol jkjkjk
Bonnie CARRIED that show. I’ll die believing if they hadn’t been racist as fuck, we would’ve gotten bamon or klonnie as canon - it just would’ve made sense
In the books Bonnie and Damon were a thing
@@brit_brat Bonnie was a ginger witch in the books. So they made her black (which I'm not complaining about) but they just couldn't make her black AND give her a love story 🤦🏾♀️
@@ereristark425 Bonnie could be a ginger witch while black. It wouldn't have been impossible or out there to do.
@@sseraphim2818 my cousin is a ginger
If they didn't want her with Damon then they should have had her get with Klaus younger brother. They were planning a whole show centered around witches but didn't think to include Bonnie somehow? Bonnie who was supposed to be so powerful?
The way plec literally distanced her self from white women and tried to align herself with black women with the “white women have failed US”. “Us?” Who’s “us” ms. Plec???
I call that ‘racial pick mes’
The issue with that tweet to me that annoys me the most is like. No Plec, just do better. White folks can just choose to do better, educate themselves.
And we all lift!
Thank you, Cara💯
Like, are black women not tired?
Even that "compliment" bs is trash because when a yt person is the hero of the story they're compansated with love, success, etc, Bonnie was never allowed to rest and be loved
She was allowed to rest... *in peace*
They straight up had her save the day and then DIE for another season til they needed her again
The closest Bonnie ever got to resting was when she was a ghost
@@gateauxq4604 Ouch so true.
Notice how all her love interested were always into other friends before her? It was always as if she was the very last option. Enzo became Bonnie's love after being rejected by almost everyone. Jeremy became Bonnie's love after all his love interests died and it always felt as if he HAD to be with her because she saved him. There was no true love between them. Meanwhile Elena was always the first choice for any guy she dated and Caroline had Klaus who was making her out to be some kind of goddess and then Enzo who couldn't stop babying and obsessing over her. A lot of people wanted Bonnie to end up with Damon or one of the witches e.g. Kai or Klaus brother (forgot his name). Julies argument against Kai was that he was psycho but then so was Damon, stephan, Klaus etc yet they were all allowed to be with other female leads who were made out to be angels. If they didn't want Bonnie with Damon then the best choice would have been Damons brother, the one with the most knowledge on witchcraft. It would have made the most sense considering they planned on having a spin off that would be mostly about witches. Also they could have done a storyline of him mentoring her and them getting closer.
@@chloedsmith Bonnie had fake friends. Any time she died they would mourn her and then live on. But then as soon as someone else died they would suddenly feel the need to bring back Bonnie from the dead because they need to safe the last person who died. They never tried to get Bonnie back simply because they loved her but only ever because they needed her to save someone else
The most frustrating thing about Bonnie and Damon not being allowed to happen is that the fans wanted it! Like do you know how hard it was back then for any fandom to wish love unto a black female character? Almost impossible. But the chemistry was so strong, it just made sense, even the racists could see it.
But every time interviewers brought it up, that director looked irritated, like she was annoyed at Bonnie even being mentioned. When i found out how Kat was treated behind the scenes i wasn't even shocked, it showed in the interviews
In the books they ended up together so Julie went out of her way to shaft Bonnie continuously
@@brit_brat honestly it felt so forced to keep them apart.
The BONNIE + DAMON was literally nominated as a category on some choice awards show. Like people REALLY wanted it
It's the same thing that happened in Sleepy Hollow. Ugh! It still annoys me. I didn't want Abby and Ichabod to get together, but they had that kind of chemistry/energy, even off camera, and everyone knew it, and a lot of fans, including white fans, wanted them to be together. But what did they do, marginalize her in favor of a white female character meant to only be in the first season, get rid of her, and THEN tried to paint her with the "difficult" brush as an actor.
FOX took a show that started to catapult the two leads into superstardom (look at the first season ratings/responses) and killed it because...? The first season was notably diverse and the chemistry between the cast, especially the leads, was also notable. Now what is Nicole Beharie doing? What is Tom Mison doing? I mean big projects. FOX took what could have been the new The X-Files and peed it down their legs. And part of the failure is the bait-and-switch with black female actresses in prime time TV.
@@LadyAstarionAncunin Nicole Beharie, who plays Abbie was actually sick. Her and the her costar got sick. He was allowed to go back to England to heal and recover.
Meanwhile Beharie was made to work while sick, to the point She ended up at the hospital. Her doctor asked her to rest, the studio had their doctors confirm the diagnosis. Still They had her working, and sending doctors on set to check that She was sick. Then they used her sickness to slowly push her out, then tried to blackball her, by running a whole "Blind Item" campaign about her being difficult to work with.
Thankfully Karma was looking after Beharie coz Her career is quietly but surely thriving. While the show crashed and all of her unsupportive co-workers are where again?
“Elena sneezed, Bonnie use your magic to heal her, she must be getting sick” girl I HOWLED
I don’t know why Elena can’t just save herself for once. Urrrrgg
I kept screaming through out the show - leave Bonnie alone.
I remember asking myself why Bonnie never really had a love interest when I was younger. I remember internalizing that black women just were not attractive and were only here to save the day. The impact of what Julie Plec does on impressionnable young mind...
yeah same
That’s why it was so toxic, especially considering that Damon is Bonnie’s love interest in the books.
She isnt black but mixed but I get your point.
@@MichouThe mixed with black = black and other, so still black lol
@@shantiaelise Huh? It's simple biology. Mixed with black is mixed not black. Folks need to let go off the slav3 masters one drop rule. Damn!
So we are just going to ignore that Damon was a Confederate soldier during the 1864 flashbacks or was it just me
jenny nicholson's had a section where she pointed out that the show constantly flashes back to and even celebrates the confederate south, while blatantly ignoring slavery.
It's a running theme in contemporary vamp media. Twilight, TVD, and True Blood all have them.
Right?! Like, these vamp shows love ignoring slavery💀
@@ZadnoleyaEdits Beautiful creatures can be added to the list too
And this was an adaptation choice by Plec and Williamson! In the books the Salvatores were from the Italian Renaissance. Maybe they didn’t want to make the actors do accents in flashbacks, but there’s other American history settings they could’ve chosen.
And can we talk about how Kat Graham was also a singer throughout her time on the show but that was never given a spotlight to actually showcase her singing ability, and yet, Candice Accola was put behind a mic many times despite being tone deaf? I distinctly remember there being an ad in the middle of an episode back in the day about her country music album, but I had to find out Graham had a music career by chance online.
And they shoehorned that shit in whereever and whenever, it was cringy! There is just one thing that I cannot sit through, and that is the second hand embarassment of watching someone sing badly
The time they practically paused an episode for everyone to watch Caroline sing Eternal Flame was especially cringe. And they kept finding excuses for her to sing, but no singing scenes for the performer with actual singing talent and successful music career. I can’t qWhite figure it out… 🤔
I also found out about her music online and I loved it! I even named my cat Sassy after her song (I even used to sing to her that song as a lullaby, lmao.) It was so sad seeing Bonnie go through the ringer... I gave up when they killed off Enzo out of nowhere. It was bullshit. She deserved everything! It was so frustrating to watch, uuugh
Even in shows about supernatural entities, we still get to be the magical Negro...
I can’t believe Ms Julie Plec had my girl Bonnie dying left and right for the yt folk and she couldn’t even get a love interest who didn’t immediately KO 😩 we can’t get nothing out here!
Idk why my mind immediately went to True Blood and Tara. The way they killed Eggs and she was SA'd the ENTIRE next season.... *sigh*
I keep reading yt as "youtube" then get confused
Then why don't you "black folks" make your own love interest shows and movies and stop expecting others people who don't look like you to do it for you. If there wanst a black character on there y'all would call it racism but since y'all character didn't get shine y'all wanted y'all still complain.
@@ozmalee7114 i just wanted to inform you this comment is hilarious, embarrassing, and sad
@@pitpat2928 Its only "boring and sad" because I told the truth. I know reality is a hard pill for you feminist women to swallow but that Is how the market is ran. People only direct shows and movies on what they see fit and what sells. Black people need to film THEIR OWN LOVE shows and movies ans stop depending on people who don't like them to do it FOR THEM. so me telling them to DO IT THEMSELVES is "sad and embarrassing"? Grow the hell up and quit being a bunch pathetic, weak with no back bone liberals. All y'all do is CRY ABOUT EVERYTHING and GET NOTHING done. Think about it, people who Cry, complain and BEG don't get ANYTHING done. Because y'all expect people to do it FOR Y'ALL.
the context for the tweet is actually mind-boggling. When i saw it in isolation I figured it was a standalone comment about the role of black women in US elections. That wouldn't have made it a good thing to say, but I remember that exact sentiment of "black women will save this country" becoming super common in 2016 and showing up in elections since. But in the context of an individual woman being attacked online for experiencing intimate partner violence... there are no words for how inappropriate that was.
Right? One of the times where context makes things a lot worse
The US have always made everything about POC political and when you try to expose their bias, the arguments of IT's Not a RAcE ThiNg
Literally JUST got shot and this WW fixed her mouth was like you’ll save us! How fucking out of touch with reality do you have to be to say something like that when someone expresses that they are 1. Emotionally hurt 2. Physically hurt?
Yes, I do remember this happening a lot in the media💯
This!! How is a black womans fresh bullet wound making you immediately think "yes, you are here to save us black women. Get over that blood gushing from your flesh and back to the front lines". Where did that thought even come from?
bonnie carried that entire show on her back and got so little recognition for it. i will never forgive julie plec for what she put bonnie (and many other Black and Brown characters) through
Yeah, even when watching the show when I was younger part of my brain was going. "Dang Bonnie is sacrificing alot for her friends who are mostly obsessed with boys. I'm not sure these friendships are healthy for her." And it was weird how few romantic plotlines she got. Like the doppleganger girl gets two powerful vampires and the all-powerful witch gets... The annoying younger brother? How dare the show ever imply Jeremy was in Bonnie's league.
😂 FORREAL
That show was always about the ships, especially towards the end. It’s the only reason I watched for so long, not because the content was actually that good 💀 They wrote Katherine and Caroline dating every MF but Bonnie could only date Jeremy ? Nah …
@@workinprogress3329 Right. They all were swapping the same partners in their friend group. And didn’t Bonnie have to keep that relationship a secret anyways 😭 she just couldn’t win
Caroline literally has a romantic and/or sexual relationship with every major male character in the show (Damon, Matt, Tyler, Klaus, Alaric, Stephan) whereas Bonnie gets just Jeremy and Enzo, and she dies for Jeremy and Enzo gets killed. Trash.
Jeremy literally cheated on Bonnie with his ghost ex girlfriend 😂 like they hated Bonnie so much
They made Bonnie go through so damn much. And when they killed off Enzo towards the end I was just sitting there like "Are y'all serious🤨".
I wanted them to end up together so fucking bad!!! They were so cute
Did you even notice the fact that in the final scene for Bonnie, mofos has her going to visit Africa in the brochure...not an actual country in Africa but the whole damn continent of Africa. VD was so trash with their treatment of Bonnie and actress Kat Graham.
I literally remember watching it and thinking nah this is just a prank y'all are gonna bring him back like you brought back Katherine like twice, Matt was always getting saved...but then the show ended and I was just shocked that they did that to her
Yes! Both of them werr put through so much and then when they have 1 good thing it's taken away like that
The actor playing Enzo was so rude towards her out of acting, their kissing scène were ackwards. He always treat her with contempt out of acting. So disturbing to watch knowing all of it....
The thing that really gets me is the way that Julie would undermine the show to make sure that Bonnie didn’t get the spotlight. Like in season 6, there was a rating bump with the Bonkai/prison world storyline. But she decided to kneecap that storyline because it was getting too popular (to this day, I am HEATED by how they resolved that storyline). She did the same thing earlier when she refused to put Bonnie and Damon together despite the fact that that’s what happens in the novels.
Bonnie has the most potential out of any of the characters and the fact that Julie wanted to kill her permanently in season 5 just shows how artistically stunted she is when it comes to black women. Because black women could only be one thing in her mind and that’s a mammy. No matter how much she claims to be “anti racist” now 🙄
WAIT bonnie and damon get together in the books?!
@@kitj3301
Yeah. That was always the most infuriating part. She gave her self-inserts (Caroline) more storylines and agency then the actual second female lead in the book (Bonnie). Bonnie and Damon are literally described as soulmates in the books. Recreated every relationship except for that one.
@@themelanatednomad6989 that’s so crazy i thought elena and damon were always supposed to get together even in the books, maybe i will read them😂
Yeah the whole plot with how they handled the bonkai/bennett and Gemini coven arc will forever annoy me it was disgusting how they treated kat /bonnie this storyline practically wrote itself if this was Caroline this storyline absolutely would have happened Nina was leaving and Candice was pregnant at the time there's no excuse for it not to happen bonnie should have been the main character from that point on with kai as her love interest with a awesome witch storyline the show needed something fresh besides Caroline and Elena relationships drama
On top of that they sent Bonnie to AFRICA at the end of the series like which country in Africa? The jokes write themselves at this point
Probably went to the same area of Africa that Nas went to in Belly
the way Bonnie died over and over and over again just because of Elena and her friends just for Elena’s brother who was dating Bonnie to cheat on Bonnie with a ghost and for Stefan to kill Enzo who was Bonnie’a actual soulmate…
The insane part is when Elena was casted asleep, the plot of the show should've been centered around Bonnie because it's suppose to be about Bonnie living her life out before Elena.
I really can't get over WHERE Julie is doing this too... Like its bad enough to say any of this to begin with but then. Megan just got shot. Leave her the hell alone. "I know you just experienced domestic violence but come save me from- IDK trump or whatever" I cannot...
The fact that Bonnie was such an integral part of TVD and in the second spinoff Legacies there is a musical about the Mystic Falls and Bonnie gets a throwaway line....literally everyone on that show would be dead if it weren't for her...
I think Bonnie was the first time as a child I noticed the magical negro trope (even though I didn't really know how to word it or what is was exactly). She always came to the aid of the white characters but no one really had as much urgency to save her. She barely got to experience any happiness and was thrown Elena's little brother for a love interest, occasionally getting a little romance or two (all of which ended in her partner's death, leaving her traumatized). The show even introduced Black male witches and had Bonnie become connected with one but ends up killing him off. It was obvious that Kat was facing discrimination behind the scenes whenever the cast was at conventions; despite being one of the most popular characters, her fans cries for her were ignored by her coworkers and bosses and she was barely able to even respond to them without getting cut off.
The fact that Bonnie's sendoff in the final episode shows her with a plane ticket to AFRICA speaks volumes...they couldn't even bother to google a country to send her to...
Let alone how even though she was mixed she had very kinky hair and they never let her wear it natural ever... i've been seeing interviews where she asked to be able to do that and told no.. also she was one of the youngest people in the show and started the show at 19 so definitely got taken advantage of
There’s a vogue interview where Kat did one of those GRWM. She talks about how she always hated her hair. She mentions the vampire diaries and how the wigs ruined her hair. That show had so much negative impact on Kat. She deserved better.
of course she hated her hair everyone told her not to wear it that way ...so you wonder if something ma wrong with it..when the society tells you that it's ugly of course you're going to think it's ugly too.. Im mixed too and I can relate...I can not imagine how that conversation went and how uncomfortable and insecure she must of been made to feel
@@workinprogress3329 Yup, Troyce TV also did a video on all the drama!
@@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024 I gotta go find it. I haven’t seen many people talk about it. Thank you 🙏🏻
@@workinprogress3329 Ugh, it was so emotional! I started crying with her! Seeing her gushing about her afro and how much she loves it was amazing.
with the way Kat was treated behind the scenes, i just can’t give Julie the benefit of the doubt. Even if she meant it as a compliment the way the show runners treated Bonnie shows that they view black women as disposable imo.
And this is why I continued to read Bonnie centric fanfics where Bonnie gets love or revenge !!
I've been reading fanfic too!!! Can ypu please recommend me good ones and the sites you read them from?
There's a academic theory about how unfairly black girl characters are portrayed in speculative fiction, it's call the Dark Fantastic cycle by doctor Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and she analyses Bonnie's story in depth. It's so worth to check it out
Oohhh👀 🧐....✍
+++
It’s so weird that we’re only shown the strength black women have from how they deal with loss. Look at the POWER she shows when her loved one dies. Look at the EMOTION she expresses when she loses someone she cares about. Look how good she is at pushing her emotions down when she’s forced to protect someone else. Look how willing she is to put her feelings aside to support others.
Is she not allowed to feel weak from loss and mourning? Are others not allowed to protect her or care for her in her time of need? Is anybody risking (or sacrificing) their lives to protect her other than her parents or partner ? Is she not allowed to express intense emotions or show her peak of power without trauma ?
Everyone else is..
I remember being in 8th grade watching the vampire diaries just expecting Bonnie to get a solid love interest or even a happy storyline…
Yeah I was furious that bonnie didn't get any great storylines her character potential was wasted
When you talk about how a character your color would be treated I think of how abhorrent the character of Tara played by Rutina Wesley in true blood. He whole life and her family and any chance at love and even her humanity was sacrificed for her blonde bestie.
I still want to fight about It. But I'm not shocked all those white writers my, even as talented as Allan Ball, have a lot of blind spot when It comes to writing non white character.
Ugh Tara’s character went thru it.
I wanted her to turn Vampire with the nutjobs who loved her and just kill everyone. 🤫🤫🤫
And It was crazy bc I read the books first and In the books shes a light skinned black woman and goes through a lot of stuff but then the show made her dark skinned so I got excited and then THEY PUT HER THROUGH WORSE SHIT THAT NEVER HAPPENED TO HER BOOK COUNTERPART. Like WHY
And worse, she got killed off screen!!
The way I'm still salty about Bamon is unreal. The one time Bonnie was treated as a main character and Damon had a progression as a character and they had actual chemistry to boot, but noooo.... Delena had to be endgame for... reasons? Jf
I loved this. When yu said we aren’t Alien or Magic . Like they literally think we LIKE to be strong. Or we LIKE to get everything done. Like I am not Super women , I’m tired too wtf. I want the Strong Black Women to stop being the way we raise daughters. We need help too. Everyone needs help. It’s not OK.
Bonnie was sooo mistreated in Vampire Dairies. Honestly, I couldn't watch past season 2 because of it. Also black women don't owe anyone sh!t expect human decency. I'm so tired of the "strong black woman" stereotype.
I can't believe Julie Plec exists in 2021.
while many writers make genuine mistakes in their writing Plec is not one of them, she knew what she was doing in my opinion.
There are many Delena and Klaroline scenes that were STRAIGHT UP stolen from Book Bamon, and yet Bamon show never got them. we all know why.
👏🏽👏🏽
I wasn't even a book fan, but the feeling of disrespect that they never did the bathtub scene
BLACK WOMEN SAVE YOURSELF, BE SELFISH, TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.❤
that practice/habit of mystifying women really, based off experience and observation, more often than not is just a lazy and easy way out to sweep abuse and neglect under the rug. where i live, every ethnic group have their own version/ideals of what make women "great" but wherever and whichever it is, it's ... really not a compliment. especially when it comes from men or people in general who'd never had to shoulder the burden of the expected gender roles-which sometimes includes women of the upper class. it's because "women are so strong, smart, diligent, and resilient" decades of mistreatment of women get dismissed because "they can take it". it's not always explicitly said, but once you notice it you really can't unsee it. it's also used as an excuse for parents, relatives, and teachers to be harder and stricter with girls in various forms of education, bc supposedly we're inherently several steps behind the boys but due to our strong qualities should be able to catch up-we just need to put up with those multiplied workload. (don't dream of surpassing the boys, though. that's a no no unless you want to be a lonely, unwanted, old virgin.)
am definitely coming from a different background, esp in terms of culture and geography; but that """compliment""" about how black women are so strong and capable that they'll "save us all" ... i just hear alarm bells ringing.
anyway, bamon is endgame canon in my book and no one can ever change my mind.
Yeah but this was about Black women and how society, including other NonBlack women tell us that it is our sole responsibility to lift everyone up
@@whoknows9085 oop, that’s what I was gonna say. But I never knew this also happened to other none-BW. But those other women are always celebrating this toxic idea.
That’s a good point. These “Compliments” can be used to ignore the suffering of a group so easily.
i tend to find the pop-culture analysis videos so interesting regardless of whether i'm familiar with media they cover; because the videos themselves always end up traversing such an interesting range of ever-relevant topics. looking really forward to this one!
rightt??
I literally watched Jenny Nicholson's video about TVD and I completely missed all of this, so I'm really glad I saw this video. Perspective really matters, especially if you don't share that perspective
(I haven't actually seen TVD xD)
Absolutely, Hailey. This is why I try my hardest to watch pop culture analysis videos and make my bootleg version of the videos... Make me stop😭
I also have problems with how some mythical humans were specifically supposed to be racialize people: travelers ( who are supposed to be romani people) and werewolves (who again are supposed to be indigenous) were potreid by mostly white actors and most of the time were villians and didn't always got the empathic treatment that mostly white vampires got, also don't get me started on how Katherine's Bulgarian and traveler ethnicity were so overshadowed and they could have used it more. This show like to combine different identities with mythology, but when it wasn't useful it threw them away.
Tbh considering their utter lack of nuance and care, it's probably for the best that they didn't delve too deep into that.
Remember how their whole little town was straight up built on slavery and Damon was a Confederate soldier and we just don't talk about that, ever? Even though his best friend is black, and her ancestor was Katherine's servant?
@@chloedsmith i believe they said in the show that damon's dad forced him to join the confederacy, and he deserted bc he disagreed with it. but it's still depicted in a very weird way lmao. i never understood why she chose this background, so unecessary.
and Mikaelsons were supposedly Norwegians but they never talked Old Norse/Norwegian and also lived in America for some reason (in 10th century!). they never referenced their culture, religion or history and don't even get me started on the names, because half of them are not even Nordic. the only thing suggesting they were Norwegian were the runes they've written on the walls of the cave. that's it. and i know that it's not as problematic as race and ethnicity , but it shows that the writers don't give a damn about either race or culture, no matter how significant the characters (and i'd say the originals were pretty significant, having their own bloody show)
@@acrossthesoftuniverse1575 they mentioned that they came to america because of a plague that was afecting europe. that they heard from a witch of a "land where no one got sick" (because it was a werewolf colony), so that's how they ended up in america, which wasn't known by mortals yet. but later they explain that they had to leave because of dahlia and the curse.
@@analupelosi3319 still, seems a bit unbelievable to me. couldn't they just live in Norway and then come to America? it wouldn't make a big difference when it comes to the plot and it'd be more realistic
I never watched this show, but what stood out to me in your video was you saying "Even in fantasy." All you have to do is think about whose fantasies are being depicted (the writers, and the rest of the cast and staff) to understand. Again, diversity behind the scenes is the key to it all.
Intentional diversity behind the scenes cause everyone can be problematic if we aren’t checking ourselves
Yup! I want places to be forced to put up their cast online on some type of online thing. So we can see the diversity.
She doesn't even get peace in death bro she has to constantly be hurting
OMG I just remembered the reason Bonnie's mom supposedly abandoned her was also to save Elena! They wrote a storyline about how she lured a big bad Original and magically "put him down" and then just stayed gone. WTF! And don't get me started on how fast they killed off her Gram! I always thought it was crappy that she was the only one in the show with no living relatives that she felt close to (TBH their writing made me forget she even had a dad until she mentioned him in an exposition dump). Even the town "outcast" Vicky had her brother Matt.
I can’t wait to watch this. I remember finishing TVD a few months ago and then watching follow up vids and comments on Kat’s treatment. Also how fans wanted her and Damon as a thing and Julie shut it down, but also killing off Enzo and sending her to Africa. Like, she couldn’t choose a country so she said, whole continent sis! 🥱 then putting her away from camera shot in tvd press runs. Yo, Julie actually worked hard to minimise and dismiss her🙆🏾♀️
i truly believe that woman is going to hell lmfaooooo.
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR MORE PPL TO TALK ABOUT THIS. THEY DID BONNIE SO BAD!!!!! #Bamon
I was on the Bamon train for a hot minute, but then I remembered he was a confederate soldiers
@@darkservantofheaven ffs, his father forced him and he deserted. If youre gonna put so much into the storyline then get it right.
Maybe Damon raping Caroline should have put you off instead of a random damn costume.
@@Grimm_Butterfly god yes everyone was so quick to forget that and damon NEVER apologised or was held accountable for his actions.
The whole "black women have to save us because white women won't" gives me "The Little Red Hen" vibes...
I wouldn’t even be surprised if the Little Red Hen was inspired by how black women are treated in society
Kat Graham was treated very poorly as an actress, as a human being and as the character that she portrayed, and that's a conversation that we need to have.
kinda makes me think of a post I saw floating around about how instead of praising people for being resilient, take down the systems that force them to be that way. and there was another one about not wanting to be called resilient ever again.
Child! This came at the perfect time! I was introducing my fiancé to VD and I was telling him how OP and great Bonnie was. But as I was rewatching it, Bonnie was only in episodes when her friends needed her, she never really got her own arc. Like, they go several episodes without her until she was needed like a prop.
bonnie was one of my favorite characters, and I am so here for criticizing how they treated her and kat graham
*This tweet is ''Black women are going to be the only one in the group project to work, sorry for the anxiety.''*
Whew Chile…this reminds me of my last two semesters in college. Literally had to do the group essay because everyone else was trash and lazy. Must be nice…
It's so frustrating that Bonnie (and Kat) were not given the same treatment and opportunities that Elena and Caroline. I mean, the chemistry between Bonnie and Damon was amazing but it didn't happen bc the writers didn't wanted to, they didn't like the idea of it and in recent podcast Julie said that they didn't do it ““bc Bonnie had more self respect”, which it's absurd. And it's not only the writers to blame, the fandom too, until this day there are people that hates Bonnie even though she didn't do as harm as the rest of main characters and most of them only wanted Delena to be endgame, even though it was a toxic relationship.
It's so ridiculous for Julie to insist on Bonnie and Damon staying friends when the whole main cast apart from her had relationships with each other despite them being friends before (especially Stefan and Caroline - they had a great friendship but the creators had to make it romantic for some reason). Like clearly the creators didn't value friendships between people of opposite genders more than romantic relationships. But the one time that Bonnie has a deep, potentially romantic connection with someone from the main cast it just gets treated as them being "best friends"..
@@EleiyaUmei Exactly, just when it happens to Bonnie then they decided that a friendship needs to stay as it is. It was very stupid, Bamon had all the chemistry that Delena lost after S5. Then they gave Bonnie a love interest but they killed him, which was pure bullsh*t.
@@DiegoSinclair1820 tbh, I think Delena never had real chemistry to begin with (apart from physical I guess) and Bonnie was the person Damon had the most chemistry with... You can really see how much of a Delena shipper Julie is/was, mistreating better characters and compelling plot lines just for the sake of making Delena endgame. Using her power like that, it is evident that she could have done more with Bonnie and Bamon but actively chose not to...
@@EleiyaUmei tbh Delena shouldn't event happen in the first place. I'm watching the show again and it's frustrating how Damon treats Elena, it's disgusting. And I agree with you, the chemistry between Bonnie & Damon was better, but neither Julie or the writers gave them a chance, just to keep safe the toxic main relationship.
@@DiegoSinclair1820 I can't judge about Delena being problematic because my OTP was and still is Klaroline ^^' But I always felt like either Damon was making Elena to a different/worse person or TVD's creators changed a bit of her character in order for her to fit better with Damon... At the same time, the toxic cliché of a woman "fixing" a bad boy was perpetuated with Delena... (But also with Klaroline, so I *really* shouldn't judge that hard >.
People don't like us but they want us to be the heros and protect them. :(
Where's the help when we need it?
Graham wanted to wear her hair nappy but the show runners would not allow it. There were many examples of passive aggressive racism that she had to endure both on set and behind the scenes.
What? They stopped her from wearing her natural hair? Wtf
Yep. She did a video for Vouge or Elle (not certain) talking about it and how she was learning how to embrace her natural hair.
I can understand why they didn't. With straight hair, she looks as white as possible. I've never watched the show, but in any clips I've seen, she looks like a white woman with a very slight tan. Kinky/coily natural hair would disturb that image.
@@LadyAstarionAncunin um???
@@LadyAstarionAncunin she don’t look like no damn white woman she looks like a light skinned black woman who just has straight hair smh
Honestly, as a whole, TVD, outside of the first two seasons, was poorly written. Hell, the only good and coherent season was S1, S2 only for Katherine's fuckery. And I have to disagree about Caroline, yeah she went through shit and was automatically more relatable than Elena who was blander than wonder bread, but her plotlines were far more consistent than anyone else's and I have to wonder how much of that was actually because she was pretty and blonde?
White women should probably do what they want supportive white men to do. Run interference, protect, show up, and talk about it. It's pretty easy to visualize and understand. Like, what do white women want from supportive white men? Cool, cool, maybe do that thing!
idk about y’all but i’m not here to save the world. i don’t need that type of burden on my shoulders 🤷🏾♀️
Exactly! I rebuke that burden.
Just off the title alone....let's get into it!!! Bonnie deserved so much better and it really speaks to the cultural thought around the 'Black woman superhero/savior' mess
Black women saviour/super hero of everyone but themselves. That's the thing, fiction explore the hero figure thro and fro but the moment said hero is black and a woman, the nuances of humanity are lacking
Kat Graham deserved better. The cast & writers treated her and her character like trash.
I already side eyed Julie Plec for not allowing Caroline and Klaus to be together (toxic? yes, but they're my guilty pleasure). But the constant agony she put Bonnie through just infuriated me. Like it got to a point where it just felt uncomfortable to watch the show because Bonnie was either in physical pain or it was setting her up to be hurt in some capacity. If Elena or even sometimes Caroline are allowed to be selfish once in a while and do thing based on their own desires and wants, without the concern of how it affects those around them............then why can't Bonnie??
Side Note: remember when Damon was trying to sympathize with Bonnie (i forgot the context) and he said "I love you....the way Elena loved you". I damn near flipped my table.
*Katara Avatar voice*
Black People
Latine
Asian
White
Long ago, the 4 nations lived in harmony. But then, the white people attacked. Only black women, masters of dealing with bullshit on every level, could stop them. But when the world needed them most, they vanished. One day we found them at a hair product convention in Atlanta. And though their hair braiding skills were great, they still had a to learn. But I believe, black women can save the world.
*Que Avatar music* Duuuuuuuuun-Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUUUUn
That's immediately where my mind goes to.
I can’t believe it took me so long to get the reference
Even though the "strong black woman" trope is meant to be empowering, it has also created this layout for writing one dimensional black women, where they're not allowed to be soft or vulnerable (or you know, human). And it's not just a problem of representation, it has real life consequences like medical racism (among other things) because black women are perceived to supposedly endure more pain and therefore not given painkillers or proper treatment.
The Take did a great video analyzing "the strong black woman" trope, I greatly recommend it.
I'm so glad that this is being spoken about. Nicole Beharie went through something very similar on Sleepy Hollow. Her character was supposed to be 1 of the 2 witness of the apocalypse, but often had to finish spells after Ichabod's struggle witch of a wife kept passing out. Also, both Nicole and the actor who played Ichabod got sick. He was allowed to go to England to recover, but she had to continue to work. She got so sick that a doctor had to tell the higher ups that she was too sick to work. After that, they killed her character off and black listed her. After she died, her spirit came back to tell ichabod that she was his stepping stone.
Yes!! What the Sleepy Hollow producers and FOX did to Nicole Beharie was awful!!! And completely stupid because I think most viewers dropped off after they killed off Abby. They were also pretty shitty to Lyndie Greenwood too.
And the way they kept trying to hype Ichabod/Katrina was such a waste when Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison clearly had better chemistry. I think Mison must’ve shipped it too because he always played Ichabod as practically having heart eyes for Abby while looking totally bored around Katrina lol.
I haven’t seen the Vampire Diary series but Bonnie’s character eerily parallels Tara from True Blood - hell Tara’s might have been slightly more traumatizing 😭 She was literally there to protect basic ass blonde Sookie ALL the time
Ugh! Tara should have been done with Sookie after she had her turned into a vampire knowing that Tara would have preferred to die because she hated vampires!
@@alorapendrak9752 Exactly!! Sookie so selfishly wanted her best friend back that she literally violated her most paramount request likeeee???? How self centered can you be? Literally turned her into the thing she hated the most. Nah Sookie was actually so annoying
They masculinized the hell out of Tara and it was clearly to make her seem less beautiful and womanly than a legitimate character trait. They also set up as stark Madonna/whore dichotomy with her relationship to Jason in comparison to Jason's relationship with Jess. Plus they played into the angry black woman trope HARD. They did her so dirty.
@@juliekring7574 I completely agree, which is such a shame because she had the foundation to be a really good character with a genuine story but it felt like they just used Tara as a vessel for trauma porn and a side piece to elevate the other characters' story. She definitely deserved better
Also, no amount of masculinization could take away Tara's beauty. The actress who played her is a stunnerrr (But i totally agree lol)
I could really relate when Khadija brought up the example of being the employee the manager dumps all the work on and doesn't hold the coworkers not doing the work accountable. As black women, we need to stop letting people work us to death. Say No more often, and don't apologize. And let these people struggle until they get it together. Now, I'm only giving as much as I'm getting, and no more. It's like be a savior, for what? And they will definitely miss you when you're gone 😂
I don’t think I Watch Vampire diaries until the end but I always thought that I rather watch a show that focuses on Elenas two best friends Bonnie and Caroline. Especially Bonnie seemed so powerful and was never used. She just could never be happy 😕 either like just make her have a great and chill life with a cool boyfriend and leave her alone.
In season 5 Elena literally leaves and Caroline and Bonnie become the main characters for 2 seasons.
The job comparison solidified that for me. Yeah, why do I pick up someone elses slack but they dont get transferred or fired, they get to stay and do whatever the want. No ty. This is currently happening at my workplace.
I stopped watching TVD after season 3 or 4, but couldnt even rewatch TVD after Jenny Nicholson covered all of its issues. She goes down rabbit holes with topics, and one brief point was that Bonnie was given nothing as a character, but had to do everything in the end to save everyone. AND that when she was stuck with Damon they were only “ best friends” but werent romantic, when everyone else at one time or another got together. Thank you for exploring this!
Her tweet and this show gave me Daf in Get Put vibes. That whole "I voted for Obama" or the Karen's who say "I'm not a racist I have a Black friend".
On a lighter note. Eileen saying "beast" in her best dramatic soap opera voice will always be hilarious🤣🤣🤣
She was so sick for that😂😭
One of your white women viewers here. My best friend in highschool was black. I was the naive kind of color blind back then, I just hadn't really thought about it. We were both anime nerds, theater geeks, and I loved her dearly. It wasn't until she pointed out how she was being treated when we were cast in shows, how the teacher/director was directing her to play characters ect... That I started paying attention. It wasn't her job to teach me, but just venting her frustrations like any friend would, and being honest with me, taught me a lot. And the fact that our whole theater club wasn't afraid to call people on their bullshit. That's when I learned to listen, learned to speak out, and learned to pay attention.
Edit: This is in response to the Plec clearly doesn't have friends who care about these issues thing. I know I'll always have learning to do. But I learned how to learn while immersed in the very passionate and diverse theater environment.
One thing that’s never sat right with me is that vampires (especially certain originals) literally lived through historical atrocities all the while knowing they had abilities to compel people
I already know this video essay is gonna be good... I've been waiting for someone to talk about Kat Graham's treatment on the Vampire Diaries for a whileee
Friendly Space Ninja's Vampire Diary video sent me here! So glad I was pointed your way!
And they repeated same BS with the black characters on the Originals. Vincent and Marcel constantly have to fix the Mikaelson mess , now don't get me wrong, I love the Klaus and the others but it was too much. And Legacies. All the black characters MJ, Kaleb, Raphaël, Cleo are always the servants of the white characters. servent
I could like write a whole essay, have a whole dissertation about how this show fundamentally changed how I as a black girl (now more woman but that was back then lmao) navigate media as a whole. It was really the breaking point for me. It's the reason why I barely even watch tv shows anymore but since I still wanna watch things I just opted out to going 98% anime.
Just literally can't stand watching a show where I can't even at least have a good black female side char. It was not even enough for me. If it's not a Lovecraft country, Blood and Water, Sella and the spades which are good or great examples for black female castings I simply do not want it, I'm really tired. As a major vampire fan since I was a kid that Twilight/TVD era rly sucked me dry which I realise the irony.
Bonnie was my favourite female character and I always hated how they treated her and they even ruined her happy ending at the end which made me so mad. After seeing a video of the way the staff and some cast treated Kat I was even more angry. As a kid I didn't realise that Kat was being treated badly and I'm so upset that they did that to her.
I feel this so much! The job thing especially! Oh lawd I remember when I was a teen working in retail and a small earthquake happened. It's kinda common here and it was like a rumble and not life ending or even a bad clean up. The point is that an older yt woman grabbed me and asked me what to do? I couldn't shake her off and my manager told me I was cold and to be considerate of her feelings. It still irritates me to this day that I as a teenager had to make this woman old enough to be my mother feel better. Maybe it was part of the customer service gig but I hated it. Why didn't that frail grown ass woman go to the authority figure for protection and direction?
Bonnie LITERALLY carried the ENTIRE show🙃
That laugh, man, that laugh heals souls.
💕
Now you got me thinking. It’s crazy how the only time (I think) when Elena’s life wasn’t chosen over Bonnie’s and when Bonnie was actually able to catch a break was when the actual actress, Nina Dobrev, decided to leave the show.
Omg I didn’t know that Julie Plec tweeted this under Megan Thee Stallion’s tweet about her incident of gun violence, that is even worse like Megan is talking about the violence she went through, I don’t think she needed to be told that while she’s speaking on a vulnerable situation
Remember when they randomly inserted Caroline singing Eternal Flame but never gave Bonnie any musical moments even though Kat Graham‘a singing career has been way more successful than Candice King’s?
Hell, both Ian Somerhalder and Joseph Morgan wanted Bonnie to get with their characters at some point. Pitched the idea hella times, but the showrunners turned both options down smh
The black women as saviors trope and expectation is so tiring.
Just want to say, the musical number at the beginning was everything dahling.
I always thought it was disturbing how Bonnie went through disproportionately more pain and suffering than anyone else on that show. And why? Now I know. Hm. Also Bonnie and Damon would've been such a hot couple.
Remembering how that woman treated kat Graham and allowed others on her show to treat her is why I stopped watching anything she produces. I still haven't finished vampire diaries or legacies to this day.
I love the work analogy! It feels good to be depended on like that for a little while until it drains you completely and destroys your mental and physical well being. OOF
Bonnie is my favourite character from the show. And always felt her character deserved more showtime.
Black women aren't seen as protagonist of their own lives, it's kinda painful
Oh jeez... Thanks for sharing ❤️
Ian Somerhalder told the writers that if they kill off kat he would leave the show
Thanks for talking about this. It upset me so much how Bonnie’s character was frequently needed for major plot lines but never got any real storylines outside helping her friends.
i needed that black joy in the beginning💜💙💚💛🧡❤ because remembering how tvd treated bonnie on the show is. . . whew. issa lot.
I've been so frustrated by this very thing I've told off white men about some of the things you spoke about. There are so many stereotypes, perceptions and presumptions regarding black women, it gets exhausting waking up in the morning, simply existing.
Watching your videos,as a South East Asian who has never really dealt with racism ever,it made me realize how these priviledged white people just end up evolving their ways of racism to y'all and its honestly infuriating like wtf 😭