The Vampire Diaries and Consent

Despite a few exceptional moments, The Vampire Diaries has been fairly disappointing lately. The main bright spot in the last few episodes has been the Christmas ep, when Klaus killed all the hybrids. That was way cool. On the other hand, Caroline is a total jerk, the show still hasn’t resolved any of its race issues (Seriously, how long do we think Bonnie’s dad is going to last? He’s black AND a parental figure—I’m pretty sure he’s doomed.), Stefan’s acting like a spoiled child, and the show is incredibly over-reliant on the idea of compulsion.

If The Vampire Diaries wasn’t such an awesome show, I wouldn’t feel the need to criticize it so heavily. But for several seasons now, it’s been one of the best shows on tv, so when these problems keep cropping up, I can’t help but think that this show should be better than that.

The issue that I’m all up in arms over today is the show’s overuse of compulsion and its seeming lack of self-awareness when it comes to that subject.

In the TVD universe, vampires have the ability to compel—or hypnotize—humans into doing their bidding. They’ve used it in previous seasons to score an easy snack, easy sex, and to modify memories, just as a few examples. A couple of troubling instances from recent seasons include Elena having Jeremy’s memory constantly modified, and Damon using Andie as a sex/chew toy. Both of these examples bring up issues of consent that I don’t think the show has adequately dealt with.

Before Jeremy became a hunter, Elena had his memory modified several times to “save” him from particularly painful memories. In my mind, the show always presented this as an altruistic gesture from Elena, even though Jeremy was never asked if he even wanted these memories removed.

With the Damon/Andie example, I think his compulsion of her was clearly presented as morally wrong, yet none of the other characters ever confronted him about it. Even Elena, who is so concerned with the idea of Damon being “good,” never seemed to be all that upset about it. Which is odd, since Damon tends to be blamed for everything on the show, including things that he isn’t responsible for. He is the Mystic Falls punching bag, and yet no one bothers to stand up for poor Andie.

Yet even as I’m here referring to Andie as a victim, the rules and effects of compulsion are presented very inconsistently on the show. Sometimes the compelled is mindless and happy to be doing the vampire’s bidding, while other times, the compelled person can grumble and disagree and beg for mercy before still doing what he/she is told. The same goes for the ridiculous idea of the “sire bond,” which seems to be very similar to the idea of compulsion in that a vampire must obey everything his/her sire says.

The new conflict this season on The Vampire Diaries is Elena’s newfound vampirism and all that entails. Elena is apparently “sire-bound” to Damon as the show’s big “fuck you” to Damon/Elena fans. Instead of allowing the couple’s relationship to develop on its own, it is apparently the result of a different kind of compulsion.  To his credit, once Damon finds this out, he immediately tries to do right by Elena, albeit taking away her consent in a completely different way—by ordering her to stay away from him. Elena doesn’t get a choice either way.

Another problem is that no one seems to take Elena’s feelings seriously, even though Tyler was very specific that the sire bond only affects your actions, not your feelings and emotions. Elena tells Damon over and over that she loves and wants him, yet no one believes her. In fact, Stefan seems to be living in a permanent state of denial, and only becomes more determined to find the cure for vampirism.

Now that I mention it, can we take a moment to talk about how ridiculous this whole Race for the Cure (yeah, I went there) storyline is??

As soon as Elena became a vampire, everyone freaked out about how she’s not “supposed” to be a vampire. Um, what does that even mean? She is a vampire now. Why is Elena so special that everyone feels the need to save her from this horrible fate? No one threw a fit when Caroline became a vampire!

Anyway, so now that Elena’s a vampire, of course there might be a cure, and our boys will stop at nothing until they find it. And the sire bond just gives Stefan yet another reason to be obsessed with the search—if she’s cured, the sire bond will be broken, and Elena can finally make a choice, even though… she already did? Seriously, this show needs to make up its damn mind as to whether or not the sire bond/ compulsion affects people’s feelings. 

All of these are really interesting issues. The problem is, as much as I love it, I’m not sure the show is sophisticated enough to answer these questions. I get the feeling that, even if the writers recognize these issues of consent that they’re raising, we might not get any satisfying resolutions. And in an era where consent is already such a muddy issue in our culture and legal system, that could present a real problem.

Doctor Who Season 5, Part 2

(Many of these are a bit shorter, because I've already talked about them in previous posts)

Amy’s Choice is, again, an awesome story, and while the characterization is a bit better, it’s not perfect. Amy is caught in between two fake worlds: the Doctor’s and Rory’s. In the Doctor’s world, she is in the Tardis in terrible danger, but clearly having the time of her life. In Rory’s, she is pregnant living in a quiet village with her husband and his ponytail. Now, it’s obvious that Amy prefers the Doctor’s world, much to Rory’s distaste, because it’s not like she could ever have any sort of compromise (in the finale, perhaps?). Rory clearly thinks that just because Amy wants to have adventures she obviously doesn’t love him at all. Interestingly, in the end, Amy does choose both: Rory dies in his world, so she chooses the Doctor’s world where Rory is still alive.

Also, in an interesting twist, the villain of the piece turns out to be the Doctor’s dark side, and reveals a lot about the Doctor’s insecurities and self-loathing. The more I think about it, the more I sort of like it, because it hearkens back a bit to the darkness of the Tennant era.

The Hungry Earth: I actually like this one, though I’m not quite as enthusiastic about this two-parter as I was when they first aired. But the story is pretty good, even if nothing much happens in this first installment. Some good characters are introduced, like Tony and Nasreen, and some not so good, like Ambrose, whose only role is basically to be a bitch.

Cold Blood introduces two more bitches, Silurian warriors. I still like the story overall, though the politics of it may be ill-advised. Also, Rory is erased from time and space.

Vincent and the Doctor is definitely my favorite episode of the season, and possibly one of my all-time favorites. Despite a couple of weak moments and a lot of emotional manipulation, the chemistry between the characters and the acting just made this a joy to watch. The ending was bittersweet and just beautiful.

The Lodger: This is another great one. Amy is largely absent as she is trapped in a malfunctioning Tardis, and the Doctor investigates a mystery in an apartment building. The ep is basically just Matt Smith being adorable for 45 minutes, and is honestly the moment when I decided that I wholeheartedly embrace him as the Doctor.

The Pandorica Opens marks the returns of River Song and Rory and the death of Amy. Although it’s not really the return of Rory, because he’s really an Auton and a Roman Centurion (yeah, it’s confusing). Also it’s the return of almost all of the Doctor’s past foes, who blame him for the Crack and lock him in the Pandorica to stop the end of the world (?). Which leads us to…

The Big Bang: Again, it’s probably too confusing for its own good, but still a good solid episode. After an impossible bit of time travel, the Doctor is freed from the Pandorica, and Amy is put in because she is only “mostly dead” a la Westley in the Princess Bride. In a lovely bit, remembering his humanity causes Rory to retain his humanity (basically) and he guards Amy in the Pandorica for 2,000 years while the Crack continues to open and screw with Amy’s past life. Honestly, there are so many elements and ideas it’s easy to get bogged down, but if you go with it, it’s good fun.

So then the Doctor gets all “mostly dead” himself, boards the Pandorica, transports it to the Tardis, and sends the Tardis into the sun in order to stop the end of time and gets erased from history for his trouble. Whew....

So here’s the cool part: Amy lives her life over again, but this time she has parents and actually marries Rory (no idea if she’s any more enthusiastic about him this time around). On her wedding day, she remembers the Doctor, causing him to return to existence, thus completing the theme. Mr. and Mrs. Pond then fly away into time and space.

For one thing, I really like this episode because unlike every other season finale, this episode has a happy ending, which I think we were due for. This episode does raise many more questions than it answers. Some of which, hopefully, will be answered next season. The memory-as-creation theme is awesome, but did the stuff with the Crack and Pandorica actually happen because Amy remembered it? How does this effect the events of the entire season (most importantly, did the stuff with Van Gogh and the Lodger actually happen?)? Was the entire season a dream of sorts? What about previous Doctors? Were they erased from existence, too? Is the entire history of Doctor Who now rendered moot? Did Amy return them to existence (and other people’s memories) with her memory? How has Amy’s life changed now that her life has started over?

Also, as a side note, the memory theme is interesting in connection with Donna’s story. As per the end of the 4^th season, Donna is now half Timelord, but she’s not because she doesn’t remember it. If she remembered, it would be real and it would kill her.

Anyway, there is obviously lots to think about before the start of the next season. Hopefully, some of the above questions will be answered. And hopefully Matt Smith continues to be adorable!

Doctor Who Season Five, Part 1

I’m definitely late on this, but I really feel the need to do an overview of the Doctor Who season after seeing the whole thing and finding out how the story arc was completed. However, I should say that it’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen the finale, and there were definitely some things that I missed/didn’t understand upon first viewing. So these are just my initial impressions of the season—I think a second viewing would really help, but I don’t have that kind of time right now.

Overall, I thought this was a strong season. There were definitely some low points, but when it was good, it was really good. Also, some of my opinions on specific episodes have changed in hindsight.

The Eleventh Hour: I thought this was an awesome beginning—a great entrance by Matt Smith, although I was admittedly unsure of him until near the end of the season (I apparently have issues with change). Here we meet little Amelia Pond, who is adorable, though definitely not normal. For one thing, she is way too mature for her age, and doesn’t seem to have any guardians.

Her strange life is made even stranger by the arrival of the Doctor, who completely charms her before taking off in the Tardis, promising to be back in five minutes. He doesn’t return for twelve years.

Now, a lot has been written about Amy Pond, some of it by me, and the sexism inherent in the writing of her character. Some have taken issue with the media focus on Karen Gillan’s basic hotness. Though I’m generally against objectification, I can’t help but take note of the fact that she is very, very pretty. That said, I have no problem with Amy’s job as a “kiss-o-gram,” and disagree with those who have said that this somehow means that the Doctor turned her into a giant whore. It’s refreshing to see a woman on television who is secure in her sexuality. I think Amy is screwed up, but in a way where she doesn’t know what she wants or even really who she is (and honestly, neither does the audience).

By abandoning her, the Doctor seems to have left Amy without any sense of direction or way to move on and grow up, and now he has to fix it, which he pretty much does in the finale. Looking ahead to that episode, which I admit I didn’t entirely understand, we find out that somehow the crack in Amy’s wall is responsible for her lack of a family, and the Doctor’s sacrifice fixes it. What we don’t really find out to what extent her life was changed as a result of the finale. Is she still a kiss-o-gram? Is she still in charge of her sexuality? Is she really all that in love with Rory? Maybe we’ll find out next season.

The Beast Below: This episode is one of those low points that I mentioned earlier. First off, there’s just some lazy writing. Queen Elizabeth asks her minions if the Doctor did “the thing?” for no other reason than to add mystery and to keep whatever stupid thing a secret from the audience. Like really, who would say that? Also, the Doctor is a complete dick to Amy for trying to protect him from the knowledge of the space whale.

Then there’s the space whale itself. The end of this episode could be seen as kind of beautiful in a way, but I have trouble believing that an animal who would willingly have lived in servitude to the humans would continue to do so after it had been brutally tortured for centuries. I feel like there’s a weird analogy to African slavery there. Also, the whale is awesome because it spared the children that were fed to it, but did we forget that it still apparently ate the adults? This just fails on so many levels.

However, this does mark the beginning of a giant theme throughout this season of memory. According to the recording, the people must choose to forget the truth, because if they remember, it will be changed, and everyone will die. Memory brings about change.

Victory of the Daleks was actually pretty forgettable, all things considered. For one thing, the Mighty Morphin’ Power Daleks were nothing but a blatant marketing ploy. However, this episode does further the theme of memory and ties directly to the finale. While I didn’t like this subplot the first time it aired, in hindsight I think the idea that just by remembering something, even something that didn’t actually happen, it becomes real, is an interesting one. The scientist becomes human just by remembering his (false) human life.

Time of the Angels introduces us to the concept that “That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel,” which could be an interesting play on the theme of memories coming true. However, I really hate both of these episodes for what they do with the Weeping Angel mythology. Now, instead of sending people back in time, they just snap their necks, which just seems so… vulgar. And they have all these new powers, like stealing the voices of dead people and becoming stone just by an image. Perhaps worst of all, we get to see these angels move, which actually made them a lot less scary for me. The cool thing about the angels in “Blink” is that when audience was watching, the angels didn’t move. The camera and the audience literally shared in the gaze. And then the camera would cut for a second, and when it returned, however they had moved was so creepy. This episode was just disappointing.

Flesh and Stone: These episodes really piss me off. My big issue in these, though, I covered in a previous post. The fear of Amy’s sexuality apparent in the writers is just shitty. However, something I should have covered is the fact that Amy essentially sexually assaults the Doctor. She comes on to him, he says no, and she doesn’t stop; and the whole thing is played for laughs. Honestly, if the roles had been reversed, nobody would have been laughing or cheering Amy on or whatever. So there’s that, which is inexcusable, but there’s also the fact that the Doctor reacts by basically saying, “You’re not in charge of your own body and we need to get you married off ASAP to this guy you’re not incredibly attracted to.” It’s just problematic on so many levels.

One more thing: the Doctor says that Amy can remember the soldiers eaten by the Crack because she is a time-traveller, but unlike with the Doctor in the finale, her ability to remember them does not make them exist. I don’t really know what to do with that, but there it is.

Vampires of Venice was both cool and infuriating. I really like the idea of it, and the baroness lady was a great villain, although the raping fish aliens squicked me out. Yet again, though, the writers horribly mishandled Amy. This time, her fiancé Rory is along for the ride, and it’s clear that she’s more attracted to the Doctor than to him. The Doctor maintains, though, that once Amy experiences the thrill of danger with Rory, she’ll go mad for him again. And it works, suggesting again that Amy is an irrational lady with an irrational lady-brain that will go after anything once her adrenaline starts pumping. She doesn’t know what she wants, and if she thinks she does, she is obviously wrong.

Okay, that's part 1, part 2 will probably be posted tomorrow....