30 Days of TVD - Day Seven + general fannishness

[semele]

I was looking for something to do instead of studying, and I remembered that I still have the meme!


Day 7 - Your favorite Damon scene

When I was choosing the scene for today, I realized that all my favorite Damon moments are about his relationships with other characters. So I do have a favorite Damon & Stefan Moment, a favorite Damon & Elena Moment (probably more than one...), favorite Damon & Alaric Moment and a favorite Damon & Katherine moment, but nothing that would be about Damon himself. Oh, but wait. I DO have a favorite scene that is about Damon himself; it's just weird to choose something like that for a favorite scene of a favorite character in the show. Well, I never claimed I liked him because he was such a nice person.



You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares? It just goes away. All you have to do is flip the switch and snap.

This was an extremely stupid thing to do, cruel, and brainless, and impulsive. In other words: congratulations, show, you've got my attention. Placing this scene so late, in the beginning of s2, after the whole you thought that I was worth saving build up in s1 was the most brilliant writing choice this show has ever made. If Damon wants to redeem himself, he has to do better than just fall in love with a nice girl and hope that this will save him, because, well, it won't.

It's also amazing that we can see his entire motivation. For the whole episode we see step by step how he is on an emotional roller-coaster, and that it's all not his fault. I mean, of course it was wrong to kiss Elena, but he was ready to face the consequences of this action, and it's not what makes him unstable. What really shakes him is that it turns out that in fact it wasn't Elena, and everything that happens to him after that is not his fault; it's something done to him because he made an honest mistake. So I feel for him, I have this huge emotional background and I understand Damon's actions... and still I can't justify what he did to Jeremy. What Damon did can be explained, but it cannot be excused, and I'm deeply in love with this kind of storytelling. I guess it was ever_neutral who said that there will be no Other-ing of abuse in this show? And there shouldn't be. Abusers have feelings, they have reasons, and sometimes they even can be someone else's victims. Does it justify what they do? No way. And it also goes the other way round. Even if we understand someone's motivations, it doesn't mean we automatically excuse their actions. Love or compassion have nothing to do with it; people we love sometimes do horrible things, and there is no contradiction in this statement.

Here, have an Angel quote:

Spike: She's...one of us now. She's a monster.
Angel: She's an innocent victim.
Spike: So were we... once upon a time.

Last but not least, I loved how brutally honest this scene was when it came to describing love. Because Damon really does love Elena, and it doesn't stop him from killing her brother. Damon/Elena is incomprehensible without this scene; what they have is real (no matter if it's friendship, or attraction, or love, or God knows what else), but it's still dangerous, and nothing can be done about it. They may be extremely important to each other, and still they will damage each other. There never was a question whether or not this understanding they have is good for them. The question is whether or not it's worth it.

Now, about other fannish activities:

The Vampire Diaries Free-For-All Comment Ficathon is still happening, and I feel that I'm behaving like this crazy shipper person I never suspected I was. Seriously, I looked at my "to write" list, and there were only Damon/Elena prompts left there. And it's not like I've decided that ok, I'm going to have a Shipper Glee Week and write nothing but D/E; I just made a list of prompts that really got my attention, and almost all of them turned out to be D/E.

I don't know how it works, but somehow writing in a forgein language helped me to suspend the perfectionist attitude; I'm well aware that I've probably written some pretty ridiculous things (like, I must've created some incredible expression the English language has never seen before XD), so I just don't care if what I'm writing is any good, I'm simply enjoying myself. It feels amazing. I don't know how much more am I going to write, because I need to get started on all the December fics, but if everything goes as I've planned, there will be at least one more story. This year was horrible for me when it comes to writing, and it didn't happen very often that I was actually enjoying doing it, so now I'm really grateful to softly_me, and all the prompters, writers and readers, because I'm really having a great time :D.

And, finally, yet another meme. Snatched from penny_lane_42. Please, tell me:

1.) Which fictional character I remind you of.
2.) What fictional character you ship me with.

Long post is long. I guess now I have no excuse not do do schoolwork, but I'll try to do it quickly, so that I can at least start writing a fic before I go to bed.

Comments

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

Oh, but wait. I DO have a favorite scene that is about Damon himself; it's just weird to choose something like that for a favorite scene of a favorite character in the show. Well, I never claimed I liked him because he was such a nice person.

NO KIDDING THO. Dude. 90% of my favourite Damon scenes are ones in which he's being a reprehensible, abusive, unmitigated piece of shit. MY LOVE. {dozens of black hearts 'n' flowers}

(… No amount of therapy will fix my issues.)

Placing this scene so late, in the beginning of s2, after the whole you thought that I was worth saving build up in s1 was the most brilliant writing choice this show has ever made. If Damon wants to redeem himself, he has to do better than just fall in love with a nice girl and hope that this will save him, because, well, it won't.

A-FUCKING-MEN. ALL THE AWARDS. ALL THE FUCKING AWARDS.

I guess it was ever_neutral who said that there will be no Other-ing of abuse in this show?

YES YES YES. And Damon is the best fucking demonstration of this. You can kill him for it; he doesn't care. It was all him.

Also, your prompt fills have been amazing. Carry on.

Meme answers:
1) lol. Alaric. And Wesley. ;)
2) Well, I guess I ship you with Damon then. (Or Lilah or Faith.) PERISH THE THOUGHT.

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

90% of my favourite Damon scenes are ones in which he's being a reprehensible, abusive, unmitigated piece of shit. MY LOVE

Hey, I also like scenes when he is a victim! And his awesome scenes with Stefan are almost nice! Maybe there is hope for me?

Who am I kidding...

(… No amount of therapy will fix my issues.)

LOL, this is what I thought when I filled the "absolute creep" prompt. I looked at the fic and I was all: "Ok, if I ever have anything to do with a shrink of any sort, and he finds it, I'm screwed...".

And Damon is the best fucking demonstration of this. You can kill him for it; he doesn't care. It was all him.

Of course it was. Nobody is allowed to feel his guilt.

Also, your prompt fills have been amazing. Carry on.

Thank you :D. Your prompts are incredible, btw. I don't know how you do it.

It's FUN to be Alaric, ok? And Wesley! I have all the books, man! And Damon. And Lilah. And Faith. OMNOMNOMNOMNOM

[bluesuzanne.livejournal.com]

DUDE. I want to play in the ficathon but I already committed to the holiday ficathon and I think I will go nuts if I try to look at other prompts than the ones people are giving me. But I am so tempted.

MUST. NOT. CLICK. LINK.

Also I love that this is your favourite Damon moment, because it's one of mine too. I actually had to go back to check what I picked for this moment because I felt sure it must have been this. Well, it wasn't, and I stand by my choice, but at the same time... this is really one of my favourite moments of the whole show so. Isn't it crazy? The one thing that all the haters list as the reason to loathe Damon/Elena is up there with my most cherished moments in their story? Like?

Perspectives are interesting.

I don't know if I know you well enough to say which character you remind me of yet... but I'll ship you with Damon, okay? Just for the fun?

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Oh, what's the ficathon you're participating in?

But I am so tempted.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it! *whistles*

I went to check what you chose for a Damon moment, and I agree, this scene was pretty awesme :D. The dialogue, and how he kills Vicky, and all the dancing... I chose the Jeremy scene, because it affected me so much when I was first watching the show.

Isn't it crazy? The one thing that all the haters list as the reason to loathe Damon/Elena is up there with my most cherished moments in their story? Like?

I guess there is a big misunderstanding here, because the haters rightly assume that this scene means that there can't be a functional relationship between Damon and Elena, but what they miss is that we don't really want our ship functional? And they miss it, because there is a bunch of people who still imagine that it can end well.

Of course I've just made a huge generalization based on the fact that I usually talk about it to reasonable people who can respect that someone can have a different perspective. And I would never call those people "haters", but I do what I can to avoid actual haters, so I guess what I've just said only works if we replace "haters" with "non-shippers".

What I'm doing now is so far from coherent it can only be excused by the fact that it's ungodly early. Sorry for the amount of babbling!

I'll ship you with Damon, okay? Just for the fun?

I'm still deciding if you want to: 1) get me killed; 2) make sure I have REALLY good time tonight; 3) give me an opportunity to ask him ALL THE QUESTIONS. ;)

[bluesuzanne.livejournal.com]

Hahah no I know what you mean. There are clear groups in fandom. The fans who just hate on D/E blindly, and the fans who just don't feel it like they feel S/E, or take serious issue with the squick factor of it, but are still awesome people to talk to. And then there's the fans who love D/E blindly, and say things like 'Elena just doesn't deserve Damon' and 'But it's okay because he didn't mean to'. And then there's us :)

The ficathon is this thing WHICH YOU SHOULD TOTALLY DO BY THE WAY JUST SAYING :)

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Oh, this! I am doing it, and it scares me to death. It's here (http://upupa-epops.livejournal.com/107917.html). Actually, thanks for reminding me, I keep forgetting that I was supposed to update the list of prompts.

Yeah, I can see the groups you're describing. Surprisingly, I handle blind hate better than I handle blind love. When I know that someone just hates D/E, I simply talk to them about other things, while when I see the blind love I have this urge to tell people that they are WRONG, lol.

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

And there shouldn't be. Abusers have feelings, they have reasons, and sometimes they even can be someone else's victims. Does it justify what they do? No way. And it also goes the other way round. Even if we understand someone's motivations, it doesn't mean we automatically excuse their actions.

I love when you talk about Damon and D/E. <333 I expect a big S3 Damon and D/E introspective post at some point during this hiatus.

ARE YOU IMPLYING YOU'VE POSTED MORE FIC IN THE FICATHON?? *RUNS OFF*

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D. The meta post will appear on Dec 13 ;). Well, I don't plan it as s3 post, but a general D/E post, but still, s3 is not excluded.

I've posted three so far :).