@@dumbledoresgotstyle Tara’s treatment always disgusts me. It’s even worse bc she’s a dark skin black woman continuously being painted as irrationally angry, even when she’s absolutely right. And Bill being a confederate?? Awful
The writers should be ashamed of themselves for the way they treated Kat Graham AND Bonnie Bennett. I don't blame her for never wanting to return to TVDU again.
To this day I’m deeply disappointed how the writers intentionally limited BONNIE storyline and Kat still made that storyline epic and interesting 🎉🎉🎉🎉 How they personally side lined Kat Graham and those particular cast members (👀👀👀side eyeing to this day) who were annoying and petty. You always come through in your deep dives ❤❤. Let me sit my butt down and actually watch the entire video. No offense for black women the way they treated her love 💕 life and those multiple deaths (still side eyeing to this day👀👀👀)
@@CrystalGoddess90 They are reported friends and she was present for his wedding. Funnily enough, it's said they didn't get along at first but became good friends over time. Similarly, Nina Dobrev admitted that she and Paul Wesley (Stefan and Elena of all people) didn't get get along at first either. Seems likely the “rumors” about Ian threatening to quit are true especially given the thinly-veiled contempt the writers clearly showed for her, not to mention HER thinking/worrying at any moment they would kill her off for good. 🤷🏾♂️
While I never watched the show, I saw many commentaries on the show and each time, I love the real life friendship between these two actors and I love hearing how he stood up for her. And I liked seeing the clips of Ian being horrified of how many romanticize his character. I feel more boys and men speaking out against that. And the more I hear about Bonnie, I think I would watch the show if she was the main protagonist.
On a show of ridiculously good-looking people, Kat Graham stood out. Her character was my favourite and I wish they had let her take on a bigger role in the series.
@@juliettullysame!! They had amazing chemistry and Bonnie ACTUALLY held him accountable in a way no one else could. She brought out the best in him more than Elena did and Bonnie just seemed comfortable being herself around him
@@SerenaSkybourne The saddest part of all this is Julie Plec has amazing writing that is actually worthy of being leveled with Shonda Rhymes shows - who is God tier at capturing essence of womanhood. However, I do believe that Feminism has been compromised due to Julie Plec's who don't want to share this space with women of color. It's as disappointing as J.K Rowling TERF war because it doesn't have to happen. This is why MEN are winning, women aren't willing to work together and it's easy to divide them up (Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese beef is orchestrated by media and fans).
The books the show were based upon took place in the south and the Confederacy was mentioned there as well. However, Damon and Stefan never joined the Confederacy (They were 500+ years old from The Renaissance Italy) and Bonnie was never at a Parade like that. The show created all that.
I'll never forget Elena only mourning Damon when Bonnie and Damon get stuck in the prison world. Not only that but when Bonnie sacrificed herself for Damon to go home, they literally only tried to help her once with the message and left it at that. Had Elena been left there they would have done everything and more to save her.
Yes, I'm totally on board with this take. Unlike Elena and Caroline, the white female leads, we don't learn as much about Bonnie. She just exists to support them, and we don't even see her house or family until Season 5. Both Bonnie and Kat deserved better.
Which is crazy since she has such an interesting heritage and backstory with being raised by her dad after her mom left them. And it took them like three seasons to even get into her mother leaving her as a child
@@xosecox12 The saddest part of all this is Julie Plec has amazing writing that is actually worthy of being leveled with Shonda Rhymes shows - who is God tier at capturing essence of womanhood. However, I do believe that Feminism has been compromised due to Julie Plec's of the USA who don't want to share this space with women of color. It's as disappointing as J.K Rowling TERF war because it doesn't have to happen. This is why MEN are winning, women aren't willing to work together and it's easy to divide them up (Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese beef is orchestrated by media and fans)
Kat Graham was all on board for a possible Bonnie/Damon pairing, but the producer shot down her suggestion in a group interview. I wish that they'd allowed Kat to wear her natural hair as Bonnie.
Ian Somerhalder pushed for a romantic storyline between Damon & Bonnie, but the producer refused. He also pushed for Bonnie to be a part of that season in which they were trapped in the other world. If it wasn''t for him, they would have eliminated her from that entire season aside from maybe a couple of episodes. He also threatened to quit the show if her character was not included in that season.
The show LITERALLY established that the overuse of magic is lethal to witches and can kill them. It's how her Grams died. It’s how she (fake) died fighting Klaus (inside Alaric’s body, I think) at the 70s dance in season 2. It even killed HER when she used THREE forms of magic JUST to resurrect Jeremy for Elena (who couldn't even be bothered to REALLY check up on her or insist on actually SEEING her, even via video chat, then realizing something was wrong)… They ALL knew ALL of this and STILL kept asking her to do magic for them, risking her life countless times. Great friends 🙃
And usually it was for something she was morally against or for someone who wasn’t even a friend of hers. She deserved so much better than to be their resource
FOR REAL!!! You could not have summed it up better. ^^^ How weird is it that the writers made the people who are usually black (witches typically) have consequences for using their powers, but every other super powered person (usually a white person) is just allowed to be powerful and grow that power with practice, with very few consequences for growing their power in comparison? HMMMMM.... GEE I wonder why THAT might be the case....? Couldn't be racism, surely no. (Sarcasm, to be clear. They knew that they were being racist, or at least subconsciously made an effort to make the black characters much less essential to the story, less fleshed out as people, and less cared for when they make sacrifices or mistakes or great choices or whatever. )
@@xosecox12 Tbh, for me, even if they changed NOTHING else about the show but at LEAST showed her regularly taking out enemies, I would have been MUCH happier. Because she’s this powerful witch with all these powers… and she almost NEVER gets any kills??? Telekinesis alone she should be EASILY stopping enemies of the week, even if they want to save the big bads for the whites. I recall her staking (like physically, not even with her telekinesis) a vampire ONCE when she was in her cheerleader uniform… I was like… that’s IT??? She’s there for big rituals, plot convenience, and to serve her white friends but she can't be badass on her own more than just attacking a little bit and then stopping and letting the enemy get away/almost kill her?
@@PenelopeAstony I will NEVER understand how SO many witches in this universe have all this power, least of all telekinesis and FIRE manipulation… and they REGULARLY get slaughtered by vampires… It’a definitely giving white superiority and Blacks only being useful as servants… 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
great writers. this video essay compiles enough instances to make it a clear mindset and not a mistake or coincidence, writers are racists. show is racist. and Kate unfortunately signed on to be the vessel of that. Julie Plec is a menace. you seer it in all her works, TVD, Vampire academy,The Originals= black people in servitude.
The trope Bonnie embodies is the Magical Negro trope. And in the show she’s literally magical. Don’t forget the throwaway line from Mrs. Lockwood about the underground slave quarters behind “the old plantation house”. She said “We don’t talk about those rooms”. The Lockwoods were slave owners. George Lockwood probably had the most slaves in 1864.
Another thing about it that really gets me is the fact that Kay Graham was one of if not the best actress on the show. So the fact that they heavily underused her is insane. Like she would be gone for multiple consecutive episodes, basically being paid less even though she’s definitely pulling her weight and acting her ass off. Plus, every time Bonnie died on the show, Kay always believed that she was off. AND IT HAPPENED EVERY SEASON. Just imagine that: every time she films one of Bonnie’s death scenes, Kat truly believed that that was over for her: that she wouldn’t return for another season. And again, something to consider is the fact that Bonnie’s only meaningful love interests were white. Every other one, like the warlock from season 2 or her technically adopted brother (which was weird) were always black and never lasted . She was denied the right to date Damon, because God forbid Bonnie have one of Elena’s boyfriends but Caroline can MARRY Stefan. And to add to the racism thing, there was absolutely no reason to set the flashbacks in 1864. In the books, the Salvatore’s are from Renaissance Italy. They’re over 500 years old, so around the age Katherine was in the show. Plus, Fell’s Church, which is the name of the town in the book I’m pretty sure, was never given a state. That means the writers CHOSE to set the show in Virginia and CHOSE to make the flashbacks to the Confederate period.
Who hired these writers is my question… I haven’t watched anything with Julie at the helm and it actually turn out good. She recently made a Vampire Academy show…. It was one of my favorite book series growing up… she managed to ruin it like I knew she would. Why do people still give her money and opportunities?
It's crazy because i remember people shipped Bonnie with Kol (one of the originals) and the producer replied to this demand by saying 'why would a good girl like Bonnie date a guy like Kol' only for the spin off show (The Originals) have Kol date a good girl witch named Davina. I can't understand the difference between Bonnie and Davina other than their race. This show was so racist lmao.
I remember an episode where Klaus basically kidnapped Bonnie. It was so sad to see her leave that house crying. On the phone with one of her friends they asked if she was ok and she said something like "I don't know" and just started breaking down and walked home alone. Again, in the face of trauma she was just left alone. When Elena went through something traumatic, at the very least, the Salvators would come running. When Caroline went through traumatic experiences, she'd at least get a girls night with Elena and Bonnie to support her. When Bonnie went through trauma... she got crickets. Or she got Enzo. But we all know what happened there, so....
Bonnie and Damon having a romantic connection in the original book series + Kat and Ian pushing for the possibility of exploring said romantic connection on the show + Caroline Dries shutting down the possibility in the harshest possible manner during a public interview = my villain origin story 🦹🏾♀️
Both Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Ian Somerhalder (Damon) wanted their characters to be with Bonnie. To Klaus' character it would be even more logical having her as love interest instead of Caroline because Bonnie is a powerful witch and Klaus is a powerful man himself. He kind of hates witches but still had fling with Genevieve in The Originals (they kind of both used each other).
Wait Joseph did??? That would have been an interesting possibility. You know what’s funny (it’s kinda random)… but Jospeh is married in real life to the woman who played Bonnie’s mom…. But back to what I wanted to say. I have always thought that Klaus and Caroline should have ended up together. Stephan should have ended up either single or back with Elena. Or hell, find some way to resurrect Kathrine and they could have ended up together. Damon should have ended up either single or with Bonnie. I honestly prefer Bonnie and Kai together though.
Which is perfect like Klaus, Kol, and Elijah have a history of dating witches and lots of ties to Bonnie’s family tell me why they didn’t even get with her. Bonnie and Kai makes no sense he traumatized her the most. Caroline and Klaus make no sense
A thing that I can't look past is why Damon and Klaus never took interest in Bonnie. And with Klaus it's because the Bennett's and the Mikaelson's go way back, so Klaus being interested by Bonnie's power should have been the main plot point in S3, which develops into a romance resulting in Hope being conceived. Unlike Hayley, who was a random wolf from Tyler's pack that came out of nowhere, conceived of Tribid, who was also a witch, something that Klaus and Hayley never have. It should have been Bonnie as the main lead in the Originals, because it heavily focuses on Witches and Vampires more as supernatural beings and would have given her, as a character a stronger arc, and Kat Graham much more to material to play with as a talented actress, other than sacrificing herself for her so called white 'Friends'.
I remember reading a Reddit post about how the Mikaelsons really should've had a storyline with Bonnie and how Bonnie should have gone to New Orleans with them because of the way Bennett witches were the main source of the Scooby Doo gangs power and also because Ayana (Bonnie's ancestor) was Esther Mikaelsons mentor and taught her everything she knew, it was Bennet witches who Esther had to channel to help kill her children, Bonnie and her mom were the only ones that were able to open the coffin, Ayana was the first person Mikael and Esther went to for help to turn their children into vampires but Ayana refuses to help. Like they had the backstory/build up to back the storyline up why didn’t they fallow through literally they had the perfect enemies to lovers slow burn they could’ve done for Bonnie with Klaus or Kol I can also see Elijah having respect for Bonnie in a Potomac way or romantic because of them being main thing that keeps everyone together and putting themselves second and her and Rebecca could have been best friends plus people were already shipping Kol with Bonnie.
That's such a good idea! She could have been called first by Hayley/a New Orleans witch to talk about the magical baby who will cause the end of all witches and then stayed for the rest of the show either to live with the witches of NO or to work/study with the Mikaelson family (+ Freya once she arrives). I could see her work really well with Elijah and she could have been a love interest for Finn too so that he could have stayed a little longer on the show and maybe have a different character arc!
She so could be Finns love interest with how Bonnie was scared of her witch side in the beginning of TVD and with how Finn hated being a vampire they were both dragged into this world against their choice
29:50 no, it gets worse cause in the original books, Damon and Stefan was born in 1500s ITALY. So that means, the show runners, whoever, deliberately changed the time period and setting for the show. There was absolutely no reason for them to do that, considering it wasn’t in the books.
The entire narrative taught the audience not to empathize with Bonnie. Her pain was never taken seriously by the other characters. She was always made to be the “voice of reason,” which meant she could never have fun. She wasn’t styled as nicely or portrayed as desirably as the other girls. Everything was purposefully arranged to ensure the character (and the actress) never took up too much space or garnered too much positive attention. Her constant suffering and the apathy of her so-called “friends” are why I cannot comfortably rewatch the series. It’s just egregious. Thank you for bringing attention to this! We were in the trenches back in 2014, attempting to articulate the racial discrimination being levied at Bonnie Bennett & Kat Graham by Julie Plec & Caroline Dries. I think without the support of Ian, Kat might’ve left the show early too. There’s been a lot of gaslighting, but I’m glad people are examining TVD with a critical lens now and asking *why* certain creative choices were made.
Hey do yourself a favor and watch Interview with the Vampire on AMC. Then come back here and let me know what you think. They actually treat their black characters well
@@remholloway2579 I love IWTV! That series is fantastic, excellent writing for all of the characters and they do a good job of integrating race/black culture into the narrative in a way that feels authentic. I heard today it’s coming to Netflix this year, so hopefully more people will get into it. Thank you for recommending!
As much as the writers wanted us not to care about Bonnie, Kat Graham still managed to make us love Bonnie regardless. Julie Plec was showing her true colors imo.
It BOGGLES MY MIND how writers accidentally wrote a good relationship and character arc! Bonnie and Damon actually developed! Their relationship was a rollercoaster but not in the same toxic romance that we have seen 100 times over. They grew!
ngl the only thing i remember about bonnie's family is her grandma. when you mentioned her dad i was like????? ive watched this show too many times to have forgotten him and yet here we are
also her mom Abby who she lost due to Damon and to thwart Klaus if i remember right. even Caroline stood up for her that she's always the one who loses the most
@@personafanatic4597 i remember abby, but i feel like if someone asked me to remember her id probably forget she was bonnies mum or something. but i can picture her face. 😂
The writers used Bonnie as a supporting character. Her storyline was horrible she always ended up alone and in agony. It infuriated me the first time I noticed it because I love this show so much. Even seeing the racism on the internet whilst the show was on air was sickening, the panels were so visibly uncomfortable for her it’s so upsetting.
so, since this whole tiktok rumour about "ian threatened to leave the show for kat" is everywhere now, i gotta say it didn't happen. there were two separate occasions: ian somerhalder promised to leave the show if michael malarkey (enzo) gets killed off (that was before he was supposed to update his contract for s7-s8, he signed it but demanded to keep michael as a series regular, that's why enzo came back from the dead in s5) michael talks about it all the time, you can find the videos etc ian also really liked kat as an actress and they had the same acting coach, so he asked julie to give him more scenes with her, that gave her more screentime and bamon fandom grew bigger i think these two things just got mashed together, what did happen is julie plec tweeting *herself* that she thought of keeping bonnie dead in s5, but kat thought "there were more stories to tell", kat saved herself ok 🙏
Unpopular opinion: I never shipped Bonnie with Enzo, like we never saw them falling in love. They had one scene with chemsitry and then almost immediately there was a time jump and they already were dating
I never shipped them either I didn't buy into he was her epic love enzo they just got stuck with because of the actor and they had nothing for him to do so they put him with bonnie because they was tired of people asking why she didn't have a love interest they put no effort into their relationship and he wasn't even a interesting enough character on his own much less as a love interest to bonnie she deserved better
Bonnie was hardly fleshed out. If it wasn’t for Kat, she wouldn’t be compelling and that’s a testament to her acting skills which were outstanding. It’s funny she was never given anything, just scraps, even love interests which were either killed off or just cheated on her. Bonnie as a character was one of the most powerful, yet she wasn’t sort out, heavily desired. Klaus, Kol, Damon even Stefan would’ve made sense. It’s funny how Klaus respected and loved witches until it was time for Bonnie to have a LI. So many of the actors, Joseph included wanted Klaus to go after Bonnie. The mistreatment of Bonnie, Kat especially regarding her race which makes rewatches as a black woman so uncomfortable is so blatant.
38:34 the love that kat graham got in brazil is especially meaningful when you consider that half of brazil's population is of african descent. they were rooting for her and it meant a lot for her to receive that kind of support
Its a little thing but I hate how Bonnie doesn't get an invitation for Klaus's ball. Do you want to tell me that Kat wouldn't be amazing in a full ballgown? Everybody else goes with a partner: you are insinuating Bonnie could't get a partner? Also as you said, it makes no sense storywise either.
The way Bonnie could end everyone she’s by far the most interesting and powerful tbh and she’s reduced to “well we have a problem let’s call bonnie” 🤡 Byeeee . Justice for Kat … how is that kind of behavior and prejudice just allowed??? Damon and Bonnie have so much chemistry and Since Nina and Ian separated by the time the show ended you can tell especially Ian doesn’t want anything to with her lmao so messy! He looks so out of it! Bonnie beating Klaus up in season 2 forever remains iconic!! Her entrance alone!!
To throw even more praise towards Kat Graham; in one of the same interviews you showed in the video, she mentioned that she would have liked to explore a WLW relationship on the show and have Bonnie explore her sexuality a bit. This was probably during S7 when there was a queer character named Nora who Bonnie developed a bit of a friendship with. There were so many missed opportunities with her character all in the name of racism. 🙄
You're absolutely correct. The writers stated in an interview that they start their writing process each season by laying out the ships and then see how they're going to work their way to that. Clearly Bonnie was given the leftovers.
THANK YOU FOR THIS I want to scream this into the streets. Being a fan of TVD is such a complicated relationship bc it's a lovable show that's so nostalgic for so many but then you have to contend with stuff like this that makes you wish we could have seen a version of the show where they handled things better
It really is interesting how much they included all that “gone with the wind” and “daughters of the confederacy” aesthetic to the show when that just… wasn’t there in the books. The Salvatores were like Italian Nobles in the source material so why they changed it from that and made it what it was I will never understand.
Yea it’s giving tell me your racist without telling me your racist. In a whole other level I am now realizing how sinister this show actually is. It’s conditioning you to be ok with that. Especially the younger audiences that this show is marketed for. They don’t have as developed reasoning capabilities as older audiences. So they are taking in this content and internalizing it.
@@dramaqueen465 I beleive the original setting in the novel’s was still in Virginia but the novels didn’t have all that gone with the wind weirdness… though the novel had its own issues with people of color (the kitsune stuff anyone?) but it wasn’t as “adoring” or southern history as the show decided to be with Mystic Falls so if I remember right the show took a few things that were questionable and heightened up to 11 while dialing down some of the more… progressive aspects of the books (Sage being a queer man and into Damon being one of them).
@@remholloway2579 I didn’t even really pick up on it until years later and upon rewatch when I realized how weird a lot of that was because I started watching when I was so young so I know a lot of other preteens who probably watched it didn’t notice anything wrong with a lot of those probably intentional undertones.
The writers really confused me with Bonnie and how they created her character for the show. It was very clear that there were some heavily racist undertones with how they handled Bonnie as a minority character and Kat as woman of colour. It begs the question as to why they made the show version of Bonnie black in the first place when the book character is white, ginger and of Irish descent. I'm all for diversifying casts but clearly they only used Kat to fill a quota and then grossly mishandled her and the character in their quest to look like they were doing something. I can't speak for any minority but I have to admit I feel a lot of secondhand rage about this entire situation.
@@tajtay It gets worse because they later introduced an aged up version of Meredith, presumably to avoid an inappropriate relationship between an underaged girl and a school teacher, but that justification loses a lot of ground when you remember that the entire series is based on relationships between underaged girls and old vampire men. Plus, they cast an Italian actress in a role that was supposed to be Hispanic. The Vampire Diaries was a mess of racial ignorance and flimsy excuses for it.
@baked_alaska I haven't seen a lot of episodes but have seen the discourse around Bonnie/Kat. That makes no sense lol. More excuses to cover up, the didnt care about minority characters
Julie plec and the writers made a big mistake on how they wrote bonnie she totally deserved better i really feel bad at how kat was treated while on the show im glad she had ian somerhalder in her corner i have so much respect for him he was the only one who ever stood up for her
i completely forgot about being the anchor thing! holy hell! did the writers absolutely hate Bonnie or was it also a sprinkle of racism? like they just tortured her for the whole show
Don’t even get me started how in Legacies they did a school musical about the life of the Salvatore brothers and Bonnie was written out and never mentioned in that musical but Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan, etc. were 🙃
9:10 I hope you eventually talk about how Caroline Dries has done terrible things to not only Kat, but to Javicia Leslie who played Batwoman. She literally does not care about black women and the fact that she is still employed drives me insane Before you guys ask, she lied to the press about them making a new character Batwoman saying they weren't going to do the "soap opera" thing by recasting Ruby Rose, yet, nine episodes into S2, they did EXACTLY THAT Add in that Javicia was hit with racism and hatred for ABSOLUTELY no reason with no support from the showrunners or network, this woman knew what would happen when she did that and DID NOT CARE.
@@angelaholmes8888 yeah, it was a hellscape defending Javicia. Everyone was just mad Batwoman was black, not understanding that this was basically done maliciously
This is getting me irritated again. Season 6 was a golden opportunity for things to turn around for Bonnie, but they fumbled it. In my head cannon one of two scenarios was play out; originally they were going to have Kai be Bonnie’s love interest, but he got a part on another show. In my head I would have made them a thing, but make it a complicated and maybe a bit slightly fucked up love story where Kai convinces Bonnie to hate her “friends”. Or two Make Damon and Bonnie a thing. I remember Ian was hella pushing hard for it, but the writers didn’t end up listening… My friends… if you actually want a good Vampire TV show that also happens to treat their black characters and characters of color well then do yourself a favor and watch Interview with the Vampire over on AMC.
Kai wasn't killed off because of the actor going on another show he was killed off because they wanted to rip off the red wedding and get rid of Elena kai was supposed to be bonnie love interest other people had too big of a issue with bonnie being with relevant characters because that would have brought attention to her chris wood aka kai wasn't even given the role in the other show by that time
The treatment of Bonnie's character was the main reason I stopped watching this show. She was my favorite character in the original book series and she deserved so much better.
21:05 omg this!! Her romance with Enzo felt like a slap to the face. Not only because of how we saw him pinning over characters in the show but there was no build up, no hints of them finding each other attractive or interesting. Then we just skip to both of them being together for shock value. To say I was salty is an understatement. Before her relationship with Jeremy I really wanted her with Luka martin, that scene with both of them channeling each other! It lives rent free in my mind. We saw someone new who is interested in her and she was connecting with someone around her age about being a witch. of course he had his motive for approaching her but who didn’t in this show? But no! The show decided this was the perfect time to set her up with Jeremy and he was third wheeling in almost all their scenes. Once that hope was crushed by killing him the way they did yikes! We saw how they undermined her relationship with Jeremy and from then on I could not tolerate him. Then Enzo happened another character with past relationship baggage. After they worn me out by shoving these two in my face, I was able to enjoy them being cute together despite everything. I just wanted to see her happy but we all know how that ended. Maybe I’m biased since I wasn’t rooting for her two canon relationships. Anyways thanks to Bonnie fans I saw other pairings that would have been interesting to explore and out of all Bonnie ships my favourite has to be Bonkai. Idk, I just wanted to end this long rant on a high note😅
Bonkai my favorite too they had alot of potential and chemistry and he's one of the few males that isn't a original who could rival damon and if they ain't doing bamon there literally was no reason for them not to do bonkai
My thing is every season Bonnie either dies or loses her magic. How is she the most powerful witch if she never LIVES long enough to learn how to develop, hone, and advance with it? I also say just like everyone else #Bonniedeservesbetter. I was/ still am a Benzo fan though.
I really like that you mentioned her relationship with Jeremy, because I too think that he is probably the only person who never wanted to use her and her power for his or anyone's advantage, which is just sad. And the way they just forgot and skipped over their relationship was just disrespectful.
When you mentioned how they didn't have to set the flashbacks in 1864, it reminded me of the fact that in the books, Stefan and Damon were actually born and grew up in Italy in the 16th or 17th century (I can't remember exactly but it was during the Renaissance era). They lived there until they were both turned into vampires by Katherine. Now, the books were far from unproblematic. If anything, they were much worse than the TV Show. But I think that the producers of the show should at least have taken that from the books.
As much as Bonnie frustrated me sometimes, there's absolutely no denying that the character was mistreated at every turn. One of the things that I've always remembered is that Bonnie's mother just left her behind to get rid of Mikael for Elena's sake, lost her powers (I might not be 100% on that but I'm pretty sure that happened) and just didnt bother coming back, only to adopt another kid and be present for him instead. WHO DOES THAT? Sure, Elena's the Doppelganger but MY GOD... I don't even have kids but I can't imagine ever doing something like that. Bonnie was always too nice, too forgiving. She really should've started charging for her services because she just got abused...
She seriously should have made them pay her per hour 😂 And I should have mentioned this in the video too but I agree, it irritated me sooo much too that Bonnie’s mum abandoned her and then went off to be a better mum for this other kid
Bonnie Bennett is one of many female characters of colour in shows like these that get sidelined and placed in a servitude role. People have written about it talking about not just Bonnie but Tara in True Blood, Martha in Doctor Who, Abbie Mills in Sleepy Hollow and more and more
Racism is sadly Alive and Well in not just Hollywood, but the world..😢 Antisemitism, Islamophobia (which is on the Rise) And blackphobia.. We need to stick together against that! Thx for this vid!! ❤❤❤❤
showrunners "bonnie wouldnt like a bad boy" tvd books: *literally has bonnie have a relationship with damon, the bad boy* i honestly love bonnie and damons friendship and i do appreciate a good friendship bc sometimes im just tired of tv shows like the vampire diaries having everyone date and break up. but like... the prison world would have been such a good opportunity to have damon and bonnie develop feelings and there could have been so much fallout from that when they got back to the real world because obviously damon would have previously had feelings for elena etc and bonnie is elena's best friend. let's just say in my version elena doesn't have her memories erased (i do not need to hear "who was damon salvatore?" "he was my boyfriend. i loved him. and he died" ever again) so when damon gets back they're both happy to see each other and they get together and are in a relationship bc damon hasn't quite accepted his feelings for bonnie and elena is obviously expecting him to want to be with her, so it happens. like it would have been ripe for some good teenage angst and all the like complicated feelings in both bonnie and damon that by suddenly wanting to be together they were betraying elena. we could have had a whole "no, we cant be together" story where they're both pining for each other and you get all those moments where they almost kiss but end up turning away from it. it would have been so good. like we could have seen damon getting out of the prison world first and being obsessive about saving bonnie (to the point its a little sus, yk?👀👀like we see you damon, ur not hiding anything) and then when she gets out we can see his relationship with elena begin to fizzle because he be staring at bonnie whenever she walks into a room, like he's getting dISTRACTED. and we could have had some really good bonding moments between damon and bonnie because he's experienced the prison world, so that would have also been a chance for them to delve into her trauma in regards to trying to take her own life and damon could have shared his experiences (im not sure if i'm remembering correctly, but im pretty sure initially damon was really against being a vampire and so he tried to let himself get fried in the sun? so he knows the feeling of being ready to end everything). Like mmm this is the fanfic obsessed 16 year old popping out in me but we could have had some good old bonnie's having a nightmare and damon hears and then they snuggle, or vice versa. the "will you stay with me until i fall asleep?" scene. and they just keep trying to deny their feelings until they can't do it anymore and damon and elena's relationship is not working. and elena is just like OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU AND BONNIE??? and damon's like i DONT KNOW MAYBE I LOVE HER (love a good angsty confession). and elena is pissed at first but eventually gets over it when she finds out bonnie likes damon, and she gives them her blessing bc yk she does want her friend to be happy and everything is wonderful until yk whatever cliffhanger the season ends on. there was just so much potential and it would have actually made a compelling subplot. like idc how many people like delena (it would have divided the fandom HARD on people who were delena shippers and people who shipped damon+bonnie), this is better. i will be taking no further questions. by the end of the show i was done with delena and how dirty the writers did damon (even ian somerhalder has said he was not happy with how one note damon became). also if we're sticking with the whole "elena's in a coma" plot then we could have kind of had bonnie take over as the central character. it would have worked so well given how much build up the previous season would have dedicated to her and damon's relationship. anyways thank you for reading my fanfiction 😂😂 (if i made any mistakes/was inaccurate its bc i havent seen the show in a long time. like i dont think im mixing up the chronology of the show... bonnie and damon get stuck in the prison world, elena erases her memories, and then she gets them back and kai puts her in a coma) bonnie really had so much potential (i honestly havent thought too much about it before) and it was purposefully wasted
I’ll never understand people who shipped her with Kai, a man who targeted her, hunted her, TERRORIZED her, and STABBED her… People said “they have chemistry”. They can act, they know how to make/show chemistry. She had chemistry with EVERYONE because she was that good. They said “well, enemies to lovers happens all the time on this show!” Not in THAT way. Damon never physically hurt Elena like that. Not to injure, or even terrorize. Klaus, Matt, Tyler, or Stefan never did that to Caroline (Damon was biting her and mind controlling her, but unless a vampire bites to KILL, It’s basically sexual. Also the show ignored all of that later and acts like that never happened between Damon and Caroline). The white girls NEVER got physically harmed the same way (again, I don't count biting, nor them getting neck-snapped as vampires which is basically just getting knocked out for them because it can’t kill them), and even got to get married. Stefan DID die in the end, but it wasn't senseless OR needless like it was for Enzo. But tbh, Bonnie should have been with Damon JUST because he WAS the show and mia popular character and there would have been NO WAY they could continue to underwrite and underdevelop her if it happened. That’s why those writers shot down Bamon EVERY chance they could and gave Bonnie leftovers (even JEREMY wasn't interested in her first. She was third place for him… AND ENZO, lmao. She had a couple of FORGETTABLE love interests who liked her first and were brought on to like her… and two died after betraying her, and the other was her “kinda sorta not” stepbrother who vanished from the show... They did her FOUL. The writers, some of the cast, AND THE FANDOM WERE EVIL. The things they would say on forums, wikis, videos, etc… I couldn't believe it, and I was there in real time. 🫠
With kai It's simple chemistry character family history and their connection despite their rivalry they had a equal rivalry at no point was there any equality in their relationship bonnie gave back as good as she got this ridiculous moral policing that julie set for bonnie and people play into it is ridiculous damon stefan Klaus all of the dudes have killed not only family members but kids and keep on mind all these dudes have hurt bonnie yet the plot enables their behavior and bonnie becomes friends with them so it isn't far fetch for her to fall for a redeemed version of kai or even going bad herself
Klaus stabbed Caroline but they’re the second most popular TVDU ship. When it comes to TVD, people’s standards of abuse are different because it’s fantasy and these are supernaturals. Kai retaliated against Bonnie. Bonnie killed him first and also kept him from leaving the prison world. It was tit for tat. He was an antagonist who has a weird s*xual subtext with Bonnie so that’s why people like myself ship them. Kai was someone who wasn’t Elena/Caroline sloppy seconds. He was into her and her only in his weird psycho way. They had good chemistry and he was a powerful siphon. So it’s not weird that Bonkai has fans. Elena and Caroline have more uneven dynamics with their bad boys than Bonnie ever did with Kai.
The writer's in general really changed a lot by season 2. For instance, originally it was implied that Bonnie and Elena were closer than Caroline and Elena. Especially, that first episode when they get to school and Elena has to prepare herself for interacting with Caroline. They've known her since she was little yes, but in season one it's implied that they were never really that close, if I recall properly? Then in later seasons they try to make it seem like Caroline and Elena were close since they were little??? When really it seemed that it was Bonnie and Elena. Not that I don't like them being a good group of friends, but they definitely switched things around towards their own biases and conveniences. Bonnie and Damon having had a genuine dislike for each other, and Bonnie hating him throughout the series was valid. Which is why forcing them together in the prison world and them having a hard time being with each other, but being forced to be with each other was such a good and well done thing. I think that's why their chemistry really sparked and I personally could definitely see the romantic tension building up there. It's sad they didn't allow themselves to go there because it was valid and interesting. The prison world changed them and Damon should've had a more realistic redeeming character arc considering all the horrible things he's done. And I think Bonnie was truly a good incentive for that. And, if not putting Bonnie with Damon, I have to say that she and Nora actually also had some strong romantic chemistry in my opinion. Especially when Nora called her beautiful and expressed her admiration for her. Plus, considering Nora had been with Mary Louise, it was implied she's into girls already too. But, I genuinely felt a strong romantic chemistry with them two too. But, of course the writer's didn't want to give her that either. And, it's so true, her parents both died, I believe, her grandma died, and they never really focused on how it's affected her long term or at least show more scenes of her alone mourning? And, let's not get into how I feel they butchered Elena's character.... In my opinion. And, I personally never felt a romantic connection between Caroline and Klaus. Plus, I don't think I can understand why she'd go for someone who hurt and tortured all her friends. He not only killed Elena's aunt, but he also killed her ex's mother. Not saying that Tyler or his mom were perfect, but they weren't evil and they were more realistic than some of the other characters. Plus, in general if she was capable of loving Tyler at one point, I'd think she'd be more caring about his wellbeing even if it's simply from afar. IDKKKK. BUT, we can't blame Bonnie for making Kai mad. He was genuinely a jealous monster. He tortured her in that prison world. He killed his own siblings and most family members because of the way his father and elders treated him. He kill his little siblings because he was angry and jealous. He was psychotic and Bonnie had many valid reasons to not want to see him at all and attack him. Just because he merged with his brother, and suddenly he got some more loving feelings for people doesn't mean he's fully changed, in fact it was verified that he hadn't changed when he decides to throw a temper tantrum, if I recall correctly, and kills his pregnant sister at her own wedding.
I’ve tried so many time to eat this show but the racism/ microagressions were so clear. I also heard how badly kat graham was treated in real life which didn’t help.
Now that I think about it… I am realizing that The Vampire Diaries is kinda a toxic show for teenagers/young adults. Besides the glamorization of slavery, and the confederate south. It actually conditions our young people to view black people or people of color in the way the show views Bonnie. On the periphery, the side character of no importance. The only time they are necessary is when you need help. This is incredibly bad…
The treatment of Bonnie and the actress, Kat Graham, is the reason why I refuse to watch Vampire Diairies. She deserved better and deserves her flowers 💐.
Congratuations! I can only ever get through half way of season 4 of Vampire Diaries before I give up. I don't know what it is that makes me stop but I just can't do it. I really like Bonnie. I am always looking for more shows about Witches, so I was excited to see her in Vampire Diaries but very sad that she wasn't given enough screen time.
I wrote my paper on this in HS called the *Blck Sacrifice 🎉 highlighting Bonnie Bennet and Aisha/Layla from Winx and Tara Thornton form true blood among many. Bonnies was sad cause it was her whole bloodline
given how she just dont want to have anything to do with her time back then, it was a pretty bad experience and you can tell from her storyline it's like the writers insert here without having any thought to it.
also bonnie is always going thru something and she never tells the others, and that's just the writers wanting to silence Bonnie's pain so the storyline would'nt revolve around her pain. Whereas Elena for example is sad over Damon and the entire storyline is about her being sad over him.
I was first a fan of the books (at least the first four), and Bonnie was my favorite character. Years later, when it was announced that they were coming out with a TVD show, I was psyched. Even more so because my favorite character, Bonnie, was going to be played by a Black woman. WHAT?! I was so here for it! I was an original Bamon fan due to the books. So you can imagine my utter dismay when one of the frontrunners in the story was used as a plot device and borderline treated as an extra. I remember, in real time, going on different forums expressing my outrage and being met with mostly people who were either fine with it or simply didn’t care at all as long as Elena was okay. It was maddening. After a while, I just couldn’t take it anymore. The utter disrespect of it all. I eventually had to tune out altogether. It was too much. Too depressing. Though way late, I do very much appreciate videos like yours. You nailed EVERYTHING in your deep dive. Thank you for this.
I love Bonnie the most because of the live the actress Kat Graham gave to her. she is the best and i am sad how she and the character of Bonnie were teated 😢 they deserve a series of their own🎉
I'm just gonna say it: #Justice4Kat! Also, Why did they change the Salvatore family's backstory from Renaissance Italy, around the early 16th Century in the books, to the Confederate South in ca 1864/65 in the show? Just think Ever After (1998) vibes, but make it Gothic! Changing it to the Confederate South adds an ick factor to nearly everyone! I know the answer: So they could have Gone With The Wind vibes, without anyone confronting that! They literally have a beauty contest, for the founding families but only if you're a White descendant of these families! Bonnie should've let Mystic Falls burn in Hellfire! I'm sorry if I come off as too harsh, Julie Plec should be ashamed/embarrassed, Ian, Joseph, and Kat, you were the heroes the show didn't deserve, Love you guys! Could we have developed a backstory for the residents of Mystic Falls and the Salvatore Brothers that didn't involve the enslavement of human beings? We have the potential for a Nanowrimo group project! We could offer our Ideas for a Complete rework of TVD!
Bonnie always got sidelined out of everything even her own plots her canon romances sucked because they was with Insignificant characters nobody shipped her with prior to them putting her with them so it was always random and underdeveloped then add on the moral policing/ gaslighting bonnie out of having a bad boy romance like everyone else because they Didn't want her to have a ship that got attention they didn't know what to do with bennett witches but the moment they could have white ones they all of the sudden had plots and spin offs about them when the Bennetts had the most potential for spin offs and plots the mikaelsons and the Gemini coven all had to do with bennett witches in some way yet somehow it turned into Caroline stefan and damon storylines and bonnie was pushed out of them I see exactly why Kat Graham had no interest in returning for spin offs
(VERY long comment. Be warned, lol. It’s a rant) I’d say for ME that it’s not as much as how MANY love interests you have, but the QUALITY of them, ergo their relevance to the main plot and/or popularity in the show/fandom. Elena had Stefan, Damon, Elijah was obviously into her and they were ship teased, and there was Matt pre-show (but no one cares, lol. She didn't, anyway). Caroline had EVERY MAIN MALE CHARACTER in the show. Of them, Enzo was HEAVILY teased, but the loudest fans wanted Klaus so they didn't like Enzo for her and the writers dropped it… AND THEN Enzo was into Stefan and Damon’s mom… also went nowhere and she died… THEN he got with Bonnie and HE died… 🥴). Tyler was never a FAVE for most folks but the werewolf storyline was mostly focused on him, so he was VERY relevant at the time and the two had been together in the books as well. Matt was probably the LEAST important to any plot when he and Caroline were together. HOWEVER, their relationship was handled with care, made INCREDIBLY adorable and likable, and it helped them BOTH grow. He had previously been the sad ex of the main girl who didn't know he existed anymore and she was the vapid, vain alpha b*tch who THOUGHT she was closer to Elena and Bonnie when secretly they didn't like her all that much behind the scenes and preferred each other as best friends. After Matt & Caroline got together, BOTH grew and were more beloved (especially once Caroline became a vampire and THRIVED for the rest of the series). Bonnie got… Jeremy who was his third choice and her best friend’s little brother (like SERIOUSLY??? THAT girl couldn't get more guys to notice her??? Even in the South, I PROMISE folks would be interested. Whether they were good for her or treated her right… I can't say, lol, but they would ABSOLUTELY be down). He was irrelevant at the time and their relationship did NOT get the care the others got. We already talked about Enzo, lol, Bonnie was third place for him too. Luka and Arrow’s Oliver Queen’s little brother who was in one episode, both betrayed her. She was ship teased with her BITTER enemy who literally stabbed her, and didn't even bother to make THAT happen either (not that I wanted them to), probably because they realized Kai WAS relevant to the plot and the ship would have elevated her. Sorry for all the long ass comments... Lol, but this show is like the thorn in my side… but ALSO was genuinely good at points and I ENJOYED IT (UGH!). Mostly for Bonnie, but other elements genuinely worked. Wish they would have just treated Bonnie better or just cast an actress who looked like the book character (a red-headed white girl), because she would have been the most popular character if they had. She would have been Willow 2.0. AND she would have had Damon, at least at SOME point, because they happened in the books.
@@CrystalGoddess90 You're forgetting half of them. She also had explicit relationships with Damon and Klaus, she was engaged to Alaric and she had a fling with Jesse and Liam.
@@Melissa-sx9vh She was r@ped by Damon, that doesn't count as a relationship. She did NOT have a relationship with Klaus. He fancied her, she was flattered but more annoyed. She was only engaged for her daughters, she was not physically involved with Alaric. A fling is not a relationship. Her only relationships, REAL relationships, was only three. In more than two decades, she dated three guys.
@@CrystalGoddess90 I agree about Damon and the flings, I was just pointing out that if we take the show and its narrative factually, Caroline "had" all of these men even if briefly. Can't agree about Klaus though, yes he fancied her and she was flattered but they had sex, she came back to him multiple times in TDV and TO, they literally shared a goodbye kiss where they implied that if the circonstances had been different they would have been together together. Yes they were never in an official bf/gf relationship but that doesn't mean it wasn't a meaningfull relationship. And with Alaric it was one-sided but he was still in love with her and she accepted his mariage proposal so I still consider it her being in a "relationship" with him.
@@Melissa-sx9vh She grew to care about Klaus, they never had a relationship. A one night stand to get one out of their lives forever is not a relationship. Alaric fell in love with the idea of "his" daughters having a mother, he never actually loved her. He yelled that the girls weren't hers, but only his and his ex's. That's abuse and insults, not love. He wouldn't be interested in her of her body wasn't violated to save a couple of embryos.
I will never forgive TVD for how they treated Bonnie and Kat Graham. She was one of the most (if not the most) talented person in the TVD cast and her character deserved so much better. It is really a testament to how talented Kat is that Bonnie is still such a great character despite her character constantly being undermined. Imagine what could have happened if she had been given the chance to thrive and display her full potential. The blatant racism is disgusting
What made Vincent a cool character in The Originals. That man was a powerful witch. But there were times where he look the strongest creatures in the face and stick it to them. And be done with the Michaelsons sometimes. Bonnie deserved so much better, she sacrificed so much for no appreciation.
I remember when I first watched the show I found the way the character was treated to be really weird. She had a lot of potential to be one of my favorite characters, but she basically disappeared whenever I as an audience member started to feel close or interested in her.
I was so ready for this. Another great, high-level analysis, thank you for this. I knew about all the problems but I had never thought of that desirability thing, and it makes a lot of sense. I can't wait for the rest of your series! I hope you'll diss Elena haha
Thank you for making this. This is a huge issue and not just with TVD or their universe, but the industry as a whole. If you look at anything we watch you will see how they treat the black characters, even when it comes down to casting, they'll more than likely cast someone who is either bi-racial, light-skinned or mixed or someone who ISN'T American and they'll casting make them the best friend, the savior or the sacrifice instead of allowing them to have their own voice and their own place apart from their white counterparts. Even when it comes to "black shows" the pretty girl will always be light-skinned, bi-racial or mixed to continue the false narrative that the closer you are to white the more desirable you are. And it's not just for more mature shows and films it's also in family and children's content as well, even if it's animated. It's not just the fault of the writers and show runners it's also the suits, the executives and shareholders, those who are funding these projects. They all have the same mindset and belief systems and its important to be vocal about this and for rightful representation, but not that just but being specific about said representation because they can cast someone to be black and then make them foil, a plot device, something other than black, like an animal, make them mute or cripple or even a villain that the white characters have to defeat and save the day from. The conversations are important. Thank you again. You're awesome. God bless.
I know this is a long show to cover. Especially considering how much there is to talk about! So I really appreciate you for being vrave wnough to do it!😂😂❤❤
@@SerenaSkybourne I find that all this DEI coming out now is a reaction to Africa turning towards BRICS and decolonizijg the West. And since the West places greater importance in maintaining control over Africa and black Americans, they're now realizing they need to loan more voices to them but it's too late now. The 90s was more progressive than it is now in 2024. A lot of the young generation is interested in East Asian content and culture and the West is at a loss.
If Bonnie and Damon had fallen in love, it would’ve created a great storyline because maybe they would’ve struggle with some guilt being Elena’s love and best friend. It would’ve been really interesting.
Its definitely very odd what they did with her character. I was a book reader and I stopped watching season 1 just because I had other stuff to watch. But in S1 Kat Graham was the only actor in the entire show that I'd seen in other shit. Like to me the rest were unknowns so it's funny how they still managed to side line her and give her barely anything to do. Meanwhile, fucking Jeremy, who is not in the books in anyway, gets a tonne of annoying random shit to do! Like wtf. I also did not rate his writing, or performance at al! But Kat Graham is the one with nothing to do. Disgraceful!
This is no dig on you at all but while one can emphasize with the effects of racism on black people and people of color, one cannot truly understand it unless one experiences it. All black people understand it because we all experience it. Even black republicans, but is it a shock they aren't honest about it? I would have watched Vampire Diaries in full but the episode when they had their "founders day" parade and the main characters were dressed as confederate soldiers with Kat Graham in the crowd waving and cheering for a parade celebrate the traitors who fought to keep her ancestors as slaves did it for me. Jenny Nicholson did a, like, four hour retrospective of Vampire Diaries and pointed this out and give me a full run down of everything that happened in the show. But that scene was beyond racist. The idea that a black woman would be okay cheering on a racist army who fought for a racist reason was absolutely horrible. I heard about the back stories with Bonnie's ancestor being a (Ra help me) "handmaiden" for the Vampires back in the time of enslavement. And everyone who talks about it says they were literally trying to white wash slavery by saying "see, she was a handmaiden, not actually a slave" when at that time Bonnie's ancestor would not only have been a slave but her treatment would have been beyond horrible. And I've read the white justifications for these decisions, but I'm an old school geek. I've heard a metric ton of white justifications for this sort of nonsense.
Because of them, every member of her family was murdered, Grams, Mother, and Father. (Even her cousin Lucy who they just casually mentioned was used and killed off screen) and they were like, but keep helping us though. WHAT?!?
One thing that also disappoints me about Bonnie is how the writers treated her ancestry. On paper a girl who comes from a matriarchal bloodline of witches that dates back to biblical times should be quite interesting. However, just like the character of Bonnie the Bennett witches are in general used to wrap up plot lines. Also, I would like to add that the racism of the show really hurt the story and what I mean by this is take Damon for example. He and many other of the White Male vampires were allowed to kill people without consequences. Anytime something went wrong for Damon he was allowed to act out of control. However, because of this privilege it now can be argued that Damon didn’t really have a character arc. As many debate as to whether Damon actually had a story arc or if he the only difference between the season finale him and him throughout the show is that he is now human. Lastly, there insistence on making Bonnie the servant hurt the story as well. To me it makes absolutely no sense as to why she would bring Jeremy back at the end of season 4 considering all the consequences she suffered for doing it at the end of season 2. Did she forget about how her resurrecting Jeremy opened a door to the Other Side that allowed spirits to come back to the land of the living and seek revenge, Jeremy now being able to see ghosts and cheating on her with his dead ex, or the spirits abandoning her for said thing. To me it made complete sense for Bonnie to let Jeremy stay dead as she has more than enough experiences with the consequences of bringing people back. When it comes to the character of Elena one thing that the fans and even characters in the show critique her for is that she always has to get what she wants even if it is to the expense of others. If Jeremy had stayed dead this would have been a time where she would have really had to leave to cope. It would have been a great storyline for her to learn about living without her brother. Since the actor who played Jeremy ended up leaving anyway it only makes sense. Also, one thing with the vampires diaries is that the moment they give Bonnie a badass moment they immediately have to recon it. For example, at the end of season 2 Bonnie gains the power of 100 witches. Then in season 3 they make the spirits abandon her for “abusing” her power. Then at the end of season 3 she tells Klaus she’s tired of being bullied by everyone. Only for in her first episode of season 4 to be bullied by Klaus into doing what he wants. Like they could just let her be badass and powerful. One thing that pisses me off is that in season 5 they have her tell Olivia that she was more powerful then she ever was even though this is extremely untrue based on what we have seen. Bonnie at one point in time had the power to kill an ORIGINAL vampire. By the time season 4 comes around Bonnie has learned 4 different types of magic (traditional, dark, spirit, and expression). Truthfully that’s why after season 4 I believe they stopped Bonnie from using expression because they made it to where you could do whatever you wanted with expression and if Bonnie mastered it she would have been essentially able to do whatever her body allowed. The only good thing they did for her character was at the end of season 8. Because they allowed Bonnie to initially direct hellfire within the shows own canon her magic is the equivalent to 100 witches. Now I know that her family came and helped her send it back. But she was able to draw hellfire herself first. Since the spirits have abandoned her and she stopped using expression the only conclusion the audience can come to is that Bonnie’s magic is the equivalent to 100 hundred witches and this is after not using magic for several months. But yeah Bonnie Bennett could be a bigger character than she already is if the writers weren’t racist and anti-black.
SO pumped that this is out and cannot wait to come back to finish it once the lawn is mowed. Not even four minutes in and I'm saying yes every few seconds like im with my husband on our wedding night. (Apologies if such analogies are inappropriate in your opinion; I just couldnt think of another context where someone says "yes" repeatedly 😅)
if you want to see a video about my initial first impressions on the show, check out my patreon! www.patreon.com/SerenaSkybourne
"Bonnie Bennet: A Case Study of Black Servitude in the 2010s" is how I titled the final paper for my philosophy class senior year 💀
I wanna do the same with Tara from True Blood. They truly deserved better
@@muminaweliyoomg don’t get me started on Tara! These freaking writers and producers should be ashamed
@@dumbledoresgotstyle Tara’s treatment always disgusts me. It’s even worse bc she’s a dark skin black woman continuously being painted as irrationally angry, even when she’s absolutely right. And Bill being a confederate?? Awful
omg
Woah ❤️
The writers should be ashamed of themselves for the way they treated Kat Graham AND Bonnie Bennett. I don't blame her for never wanting to return to TVDU again.
i agree
To this day I’m deeply disappointed how the writers intentionally limited BONNIE storyline and Kat still made that storyline epic and interesting 🎉🎉🎉🎉
How they personally side lined Kat Graham and those particular cast members (👀👀👀side eyeing to this day) who were annoying and petty.
You always come through in your deep dives ❤❤.
Let me sit my butt down and actually watch the entire video.
No offense for black women the way they treated her love 💕 life and those multiple deaths (still side eyeing to this day👀👀👀)
TVDU?
@@michaelstone5298 The Vampire Diaries Universe.
@@BenjiXAddictX4Ever oh I see thanks for the clarification! ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
The writers wanted her dead and GONE. It took Ian Sommerhalder (Damon) to threaten to QUIT in order for her character to stay alive and on the show. 🙃
I thought that was only a rumour? But he did like her and enjoyed filming Damon's and Bonnie's scenes together in the prison world.
@@CrystalGoddess90 They are reported friends and she was present for his wedding.
Funnily enough, it's said they didn't get along at first but became good friends over time. Similarly, Nina Dobrev admitted that she and Paul Wesley (Stefan and Elena of all people) didn't get get along at first either.
Seems likely the “rumors” about Ian threatening to quit are true especially given the thinly-veiled contempt the writers clearly showed for her, not to mention HER thinking/worrying at any moment they would kill her off for good. 🤷🏾♂️
@@CrystalGoddess90 you’re right
He also did the same thing with Michael Malarkey (Enzo), he threátened leave if they got rid of him.
While I never watched the show, I saw many commentaries on the show and each time, I love the real life friendship between these two actors and I love hearing how he stood up for her.
And I liked seeing the clips of Ian being horrified of how many romanticize his character. I feel more boys and men speaking out against that.
And the more I hear about Bonnie, I think I would watch the show if she was the main protagonist.
On a show of ridiculously good-looking people, Kat Graham stood out. Her character was my favourite and I wish they had let her take on a bigger role in the series.
she deserved more scenes for sure
She was my favorite too! I shipped her so much with Damon, who I had a huge crush on lol. I liked them better than him and Elena tbh
@@juliettullysame!! They had amazing chemistry and Bonnie ACTUALLY held him accountable in a way no one else could. She brought out the best in him more than Elena did and Bonnie just seemed comfortable being herself around him
@@SerenaSkybourne The saddest part of all this is Julie Plec has amazing writing that is actually worthy of being leveled with Shonda Rhymes shows - who is God tier at capturing essence of womanhood. However, I do believe that Feminism has been compromised due to Julie Plec's who don't want to share this space with women of color. It's as disappointing as J.K Rowling TERF war because it doesn't have to happen. This is why MEN are winning, women aren't willing to work together and it's easy to divide them up (Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese beef is orchestrated by media and fans).
@@juliettully I'm not sure but I think in the books Bonnie and Damon do get together
The fact that the show was also set in the south with a lot of mentions of confederacy and "the past", Bonnie being disrespected so much is even WORSE
The books the show were based upon took place in the south and the Confederacy was mentioned there as well. However, Damon and Stefan never joined the Confederacy (They were 500+ years old from The Renaissance Italy) and Bonnie was never at a Parade like that. The show created all that.
I'll never forget Elena only mourning Damon when Bonnie and Damon get stuck in the prison world. Not only that but when Bonnie sacrificed herself for Damon to go home, they literally only tried to help her once with the message and left it at that. Had Elena been left there they would have done everything and more to save her.
AND when bonnie came back, they didnt even care that she was back. Soooo underwhelming.
Yes, I'm totally on board with this take. Unlike Elena and Caroline, the white female leads, we don't learn as much about Bonnie. She just exists to support them, and we don't even see her house or family until Season 5. Both Bonnie and Kat deserved better.
Which is crazy since she has such an interesting heritage and backstory with being raised by her dad after her mom left them. And it took them like three seasons to even get into her mother leaving her as a child
@@xosecox12 The saddest part of all this is Julie Plec has amazing writing that is actually worthy of being leveled with Shonda Rhymes shows - who is God tier at capturing essence of womanhood. However, I do believe that Feminism has been compromised due to Julie Plec's of the USA who don't want to share this space with women of color. It's as disappointing as J.K Rowling TERF war because it doesn't have to happen. This is why MEN are winning, women aren't willing to work together and it's easy to divide them up (Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese beef is orchestrated by media and fans)
@@suzygirl1843Julie doesn’t have amazing writing there were other showrunners and as soon as they left and Julie was alone the shows tanked
Kat Graham was all on board for a possible Bonnie/Damon pairing, but the producer shot down her suggestion in a group interview. I wish that they'd allowed Kat to wear her natural hair as Bonnie.
Ian Somerhalder pushed for a romantic storyline between Damon & Bonnie, but the producer refused. He also pushed for Bonnie to be a part of that season in which they were trapped in the other world. If it wasn''t for him, they would have eliminated her from that entire season aside from maybe a couple of episodes. He also threatened to quit the show if her character was not included in that season.
The show LITERALLY established that the overuse of magic is lethal to witches and can kill them.
It's how her Grams died.
It’s how she (fake) died fighting Klaus (inside Alaric’s body, I think) at the 70s dance in season 2.
It even killed HER when she used THREE forms of magic JUST to resurrect Jeremy for Elena (who couldn't even be bothered to REALLY check up on her or insist on actually SEEING her, even via video chat, then realizing something was wrong)…
They ALL knew ALL of this and STILL kept asking her to do magic for them, risking her life countless times.
Great friends 🙃
And usually it was for something she was morally against or for someone who wasn’t even a friend of hers. She deserved so much better than to be their resource
FOR REAL!!! You could not have summed it up better. ^^^
How weird is it that the writers made the people who are usually black (witches typically) have consequences for using their powers, but every other super powered person (usually a white person) is just allowed to be powerful and grow that power with practice, with very few consequences for growing their power in comparison? HMMMMM.... GEE I wonder why THAT might be the case....?
Couldn't be racism, surely no.
(Sarcasm, to be clear. They knew that they were being racist, or at least subconsciously made an effort to make the black characters much less essential to the story, less fleshed out as people, and less cared for when they make sacrifices or mistakes or great choices or whatever. )
@@xosecox12 Tbh, for me, even if they changed NOTHING else about the show but at LEAST showed her regularly taking out enemies, I would have been MUCH happier.
Because she’s this powerful witch with all these powers… and she almost NEVER gets any kills???
Telekinesis alone she should be EASILY stopping enemies of the week, even if they want to save the big bads for the whites.
I recall her staking (like physically, not even with her telekinesis) a vampire ONCE when she was in her cheerleader uniform…
I was like… that’s IT???
She’s there for big rituals, plot convenience, and to serve her white friends but she can't be badass on her own more than just attacking a little bit and then stopping and letting the enemy get away/almost kill her?
@@PenelopeAstony I will NEVER understand how SO many witches in this universe have all this power, least of all telekinesis and FIRE manipulation… and they REGULARLY get slaughtered by vampires…
It’a definitely giving white superiority and Blacks only being useful as servants… 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
great writers. this video essay compiles enough instances to make it a clear mindset and not a mistake or coincidence, writers are racists. show is racist. and Kate unfortunately signed on to be the vessel of that. Julie Plec is a menace. you seer it in all her works, TVD, Vampire academy,The Originals= black people in servitude.
The trope Bonnie embodies is the Magical Negro trope. And in the show she’s literally magical.
Don’t forget the throwaway line from Mrs. Lockwood about the underground slave quarters behind “the old plantation house”. She said “We don’t talk about those rooms”. The Lockwoods were slave owners. George Lockwood probably had the most slaves in 1864.
Another thing about it that really gets me is the fact that Kay Graham was one of if not the best actress on the show. So the fact that they heavily underused her is insane. Like she would be gone for multiple consecutive episodes, basically being paid less even though she’s definitely pulling her weight and acting her ass off. Plus, every time Bonnie died on the show, Kay always believed that she was off. AND IT HAPPENED EVERY SEASON. Just imagine that: every time she films one of Bonnie’s death scenes, Kat truly believed that that was over for her: that she wouldn’t return for another season. And again, something to consider is the fact that Bonnie’s only meaningful love interests were white. Every other one, like the warlock from season 2 or her technically adopted brother (which was weird) were always black and never lasted . She was denied the right to date Damon, because God forbid Bonnie have one of Elena’s boyfriends but Caroline can MARRY Stefan. And to add to the racism thing, there was absolutely no reason to set the flashbacks in 1864. In the books, the Salvatore’s are from Renaissance Italy. They’re over 500 years old, so around the age Katherine was in the show. Plus, Fell’s Church, which is the name of the town in the book I’m pretty sure, was never given a state. That means the writers CHOSE to set the show in Virginia and CHOSE to make the flashbacks to the Confederate period.
Who hired these writers is my question… I haven’t watched anything with Julie at the helm and it actually turn out good. She recently made a Vampire Academy show…. It was one of my favorite book series growing up… she managed to ruin it like I knew she would. Why do people still give her money and opportunities?
Bonnie and the actress deserved so much better.
I will never forget seeing her break diwn in tears because she was so loved in Europe.
It's crazy because i remember people shipped Bonnie with Kol (one of the originals) and the producer replied to this demand by saying 'why would a good girl like Bonnie date a guy like Kol' only for the spin off show (The Originals) have Kol date a good girl witch named Davina. I can't understand the difference between Bonnie and Davina other than their race. This show was so racist lmao.
I remember an episode where Klaus basically kidnapped Bonnie. It was so sad to see her leave that house crying. On the phone with one of her friends they asked if she was ok and she said something like "I don't know" and just started breaking down and walked home alone. Again, in the face of trauma she was just left alone.
When Elena went through something traumatic, at the very least, the Salvators would come running.
When Caroline went through traumatic experiences, she'd at least get a girls night with Elena and Bonnie to support her.
When Bonnie went through trauma... she got crickets.
Or she got Enzo. But we all know what happened there, so....
Bonnie and Damon having a romantic connection in the original book series + Kat and Ian pushing for the possibility of exploring said romantic connection on the show + Caroline Dries shutting down the possibility in the harshest possible manner during a public interview = my villain origin story 🦹🏾♀️
Both Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Ian Somerhalder (Damon) wanted their characters to be with Bonnie. To Klaus' character it would be even more logical having her as love interest instead of Caroline because Bonnie is a powerful witch and Klaus is a powerful man himself. He kind of hates witches but still had fling with Genevieve in The Originals (they kind of both used each other).
Wait Joseph did??? That would have been an interesting possibility. You know what’s funny (it’s kinda random)… but Jospeh is married in real life to the woman who played Bonnie’s mom…. But back to what I wanted to say. I have always thought that Klaus and Caroline should have ended up together. Stephan should have ended up either single or back with Elena. Or hell, find some way to resurrect Kathrine and they could have ended up together. Damon should have ended up either single or with Bonnie. I honestly prefer Bonnie and Kai together though.
Which is perfect like Klaus, Kol, and Elijah have a history of dating witches and lots of ties to Bonnie’s family tell me why they didn’t even get with her. Bonnie and Kai makes no sense he traumatized her the most. Caroline and Klaus make no sense
A thing that I can't look past is why Damon and Klaus never took interest in Bonnie. And with Klaus it's because the Bennett's and the Mikaelson's go way back, so Klaus being interested by Bonnie's power should have been the main plot point in S3, which develops into a romance resulting in Hope being conceived. Unlike Hayley, who was a random wolf from Tyler's pack that came out of nowhere, conceived of Tribid, who was also a witch, something that Klaus and Hayley never have.
It should have been Bonnie as the main lead in the Originals, because it heavily focuses on Witches and Vampires more as supernatural beings and would have given her, as a character a stronger arc, and Kat Graham much more to material to play with as a talented actress, other than sacrificing herself for her so called white 'Friends'.
I remember reading a Reddit post about how the Mikaelsons really should've had a storyline with Bonnie and how Bonnie should have gone to New Orleans with them because of the way Bennett witches were the main source of the Scooby Doo gangs power and also because Ayana (Bonnie's ancestor) was Esther Mikaelsons mentor and taught her everything she knew, it was Bennet witches who Esther had to channel to help kill her children, Bonnie and her mom were the only ones that were able to open the coffin, Ayana was the first person Mikael and Esther went to for help to turn their children into vampires but Ayana refuses to help. Like they had the backstory/build up to back the storyline up why didn’t they fallow through literally they had the perfect enemies to lovers slow burn they could’ve done for Bonnie with Klaus or Kol I can also see Elijah having respect for Bonnie in a Potomac way or romantic because of them being main thing that keeps everyone together and putting themselves second and her and Rebecca could have been best friends plus people were already shipping Kol with Bonnie.
That's such a good idea! She could have been called first by Hayley/a New Orleans witch to talk about the magical baby who will cause the end of all witches and then stayed for the rest of the show either to live with the witches of NO or to work/study with the Mikaelson family (+ Freya once she arrives). I could see her work really well with Elijah and she could have been a love interest for Finn too so that he could have stayed a little longer on the show and maybe have a different character arc!
She so could be Finns love interest with how Bonnie was scared of her witch side in the beginning of TVD and with how Finn hated being a vampire they were both dragged into this world against their choice
@@SelenaVasquezsI think Elijah makes sense because they’re both self sacrificial and have a strong sense of duty
29:50 no, it gets worse cause in the original books, Damon and Stefan was born in 1500s ITALY. So that means, the show runners, whoever, deliberately changed the time period and setting for the show. There was absolutely no reason for them to do that, considering it wasn’t in the books.
The entire narrative taught the audience not to empathize with Bonnie. Her pain was never taken seriously by the other characters. She was always made to be the “voice of reason,” which meant she could never have fun. She wasn’t styled as nicely or portrayed as desirably as the other girls. Everything was purposefully arranged to ensure the character (and the actress) never took up too much space or garnered too much positive attention. Her constant suffering and the apathy of her so-called “friends” are why I cannot comfortably rewatch the series. It’s just egregious.
Thank you for bringing attention to this! We were in the trenches back in 2014, attempting to articulate the racial discrimination being levied at Bonnie Bennett & Kat Graham by Julie Plec & Caroline Dries. I think without the support of Ian, Kat might’ve left the show early too. There’s been a lot of gaslighting, but I’m glad people are examining TVD with a critical lens now and asking *why* certain creative choices were made.
Hey do yourself a favor and watch Interview with the Vampire on AMC. Then come back here and let me know what you think. They actually treat their black characters well
@@remholloway2579 I love IWTV! That series is fantastic, excellent writing for all of the characters and they do a good job of integrating race/black culture into the narrative in a way that feels authentic. I heard today it’s coming to Netflix this year, so hopefully more people will get into it. Thank you for recommending!
As much as the writers wanted us not to care about Bonnie, Kat Graham still managed to make us love Bonnie regardless. Julie Plec was showing her true colors imo.
Bonnie Bennett was one of the reasons why I decided to rewrite the show. Because I wanted to give Bonnie the storylines she deserved.
Where can I read the fanfiction?🤩
Omg where can I find this rewrite?
Unfortunately I haven’t put out anywhere yet
It’s not quite finished
@@ennisfoster7063 Oh okay, would be glad if you share it here, when or if you may feel like it!
It BOGGLES MY MIND how writers accidentally wrote a good relationship and character arc! Bonnie and Damon actually developed! Their relationship was a rollercoaster but not in the same toxic romance that we have seen 100 times over. They grew!
ngl the only thing i remember about bonnie's family is her grandma. when you mentioned her dad i was like????? ive watched this show too many times to have forgotten him and yet here we are
Yup Silas killed him when he compelled the town square. First time I saw that scene I cried so much her scream was so gut wrenching
also her mom Abby who she lost due to Damon and to thwart Klaus if i remember right. even Caroline stood up for her that she's always the one who loses the most
@@personafanatic4597 i remember abby, but i feel like if someone asked me to remember her id probably forget she was bonnies mum or something. but i can picture her face. 😂
@@personafanatic4597which happened because Elena couldn’t shut her damn mouth. She’s saying ohhh Elijah doesn’t deserve that like girl STAND UP
The writers used Bonnie as a supporting character. Her storyline was horrible she always ended up alone and in agony. It infuriated me the first time I noticed it because I love this show so much. Even seeing the racism on the internet whilst the show was on air was sickening, the panels were so visibly uncomfortable for her it’s so upsetting.
so, since this whole tiktok rumour about "ian threatened to leave the show for kat" is everywhere now, i gotta say
it didn't happen.
there were two separate occasions:
ian somerhalder promised to leave the show if michael malarkey (enzo) gets killed off (that was before he was supposed to update his contract for s7-s8, he signed it but demanded to keep michael as a series regular, that's why enzo came back from the dead in s5) michael talks about it all the time, you can find the videos etc
ian also really liked kat as an actress and they had the same acting coach, so he asked julie to give him more scenes with her, that gave her more screentime and bamon fandom grew bigger
i think these two things just got mashed together, what did happen is julie plec tweeting *herself* that she thought of keeping bonnie dead in s5, but kat thought "there were more stories to tell", kat saved herself ok 🙏
God everyone repeats this all the time with Ian. Glad to clear that up.
@@user-bk9bs3oc8c it's giving white savior tbh, ian was supportive but that whole "he threatened to leave" is made up
Unpopular opinion: I never shipped Bonnie with Enzo, like we never saw them falling in love. They had one scene with chemsitry and then almost immediately there was a time jump and they already were dating
I never shipped them either I didn't buy into he was her epic love enzo they just got stuck with because of the actor and they had nothing for him to do so they put him with bonnie because they was tired of people asking why she didn't have a love interest they put no effort into their relationship and he wasn't even a interesting enough character on his own much less as a love interest to bonnie she deserved better
Bonnie was hardly fleshed out. If it wasn’t for Kat, she wouldn’t be compelling and that’s a testament to her acting skills which were outstanding. It’s funny she was never given anything, just scraps, even love interests which were either killed off or just cheated on her. Bonnie as a character was one of the most powerful, yet she wasn’t sort out, heavily desired. Klaus, Kol, Damon even Stefan would’ve made sense. It’s funny how Klaus respected and loved witches until it was time for Bonnie to have a LI. So many of the actors, Joseph included wanted Klaus to go after Bonnie. The mistreatment of Bonnie, Kat especially regarding her race which makes rewatches as a black woman so uncomfortable is so blatant.
38:34 the love that kat graham got in brazil is especially meaningful when you consider that half of brazil's population is of african descent. they were rooting for her and it meant a lot for her to receive that kind of support
I remember watching her Vogue video with her natural hair and being so in awe of how beautiful her hair is
Its a little thing but I hate how Bonnie doesn't get an invitation for Klaus's ball. Do you want to tell me that Kat wouldn't be amazing in a full ballgown? Everybody else goes with a partner: you are insinuating Bonnie could't get a partner? Also as you said, it makes no sense storywise either.
Esther is channeling her bloodline and she doesn’t get an invite?
The way Bonnie could end everyone she’s by far the most interesting and powerful tbh and she’s reduced to “well we have a problem let’s call bonnie” 🤡 Byeeee . Justice for Kat … how is that kind of behavior and prejudice just allowed??? Damon and Bonnie have so much chemistry and Since Nina and Ian separated by the time the show ended you can tell especially Ian doesn’t want anything to with her lmao so messy! He looks so out of it! Bonnie beating Klaus up in season 2 forever remains iconic!! Her entrance alone!!
To throw even more praise towards Kat Graham; in one of the same interviews you showed in the video, she mentioned that she would have liked to explore a WLW relationship on the show and have Bonnie explore her sexuality a bit. This was probably during S7 when there was a queer character named Nora who Bonnie developed a bit of a friendship with. There were so many missed opportunities with her character all in the name of racism. 🙄
You're absolutely correct. The writers stated in an interview that they start their writing process each season by laying out the ships and then see how they're going to work their way to that. Clearly Bonnie was given the leftovers.
THANK YOU FOR THIS I want to scream this into the streets. Being a fan of TVD is such a complicated relationship bc it's a lovable show that's so nostalgic for so many but then you have to contend with stuff like this that makes you wish we could have seen a version of the show where they handled things better
i agree, i love it so much but this one thing disappoints me
It really is interesting how much they included all that “gone with the wind” and “daughters of the confederacy” aesthetic to the show when that just… wasn’t there in the books. The Salvatores were like Italian Nobles in the source material so why they changed it from that and made it what it was I will never understand.
Yeah wasn’t the original in New England? The showrunners are obsessed with that antebellum south
Yea it’s giving tell me your racist without telling me your racist. In a whole other level I am now realizing how sinister this show actually is. It’s conditioning you to be ok with that. Especially the younger audiences that this show is marketed for. They don’t have as developed reasoning capabilities as older audiences. So they are taking in this content and internalizing it.
@@dramaqueen465 I beleive the original setting in the novel’s was still in Virginia but the novels didn’t have all that gone with the wind weirdness… though the novel had its own issues with people of color (the kitsune stuff anyone?) but it wasn’t as “adoring” or southern history as the show decided to be with Mystic Falls so if I remember right the show took a few things that were questionable and heightened up to 11 while dialing down some of the more… progressive aspects of the books (Sage being a queer man and into Damon being one of them).
@@remholloway2579 I didn’t even really pick up on it until years later and upon rewatch when I realized how weird a lot of that was because I started watching when I was so young so I know a lot of other preteens who probably watched it didn’t notice anything wrong with a lot of those probably intentional undertones.
its called the "self insert" writers do it all the time😁
The writers really confused me with Bonnie and how they created her character for the show. It was very clear that there were some heavily racist undertones with how they handled Bonnie as a minority character and Kat as woman of colour. It begs the question as to why they made the show version of Bonnie black in the first place when the book character is white, ginger and of Irish descent.
I'm all for diversifying casts but clearly they only used Kat to fill a quota and then grossly mishandled her and the character in their quest to look like they were doing something. I can't speak for any minority but I have to admit I feel a lot of secondhand rage about this entire situation.
I remember comments saying it was because they cut out Elena's Latina friend from the book. It was a cover-up for cutting the only WOC character
@@tajtay It gets worse because they later introduced an aged up version of Meredith, presumably to avoid an inappropriate relationship between an underaged girl and a school teacher, but that justification loses a lot of ground when you remember that the entire series is based on relationships between underaged girls and old vampire men. Plus, they cast an Italian actress in a role that was supposed to be Hispanic. The Vampire Diaries was a mess of racial ignorance and flimsy excuses for it.
@baked_alaska I haven't seen a lot of episodes but have seen the discourse around Bonnie/Kat. That makes no sense lol. More excuses to cover up, the didnt care about minority characters
Julie plec and the writers made a big mistake on how they wrote bonnie she totally deserved better i really feel bad at how kat was treated while on the show im glad she had ian somerhalder in her corner i have so much respect for him he was the only one who ever stood up for her
i completely forgot about being the anchor thing! holy hell! did the writers absolutely hate Bonnie or was it also a sprinkle of racism? like they just tortured her for the whole show
Right, the anchor thing was so intense for no reason 😭
Don’t even get me started how in Legacies they did a school musical about the life of the Salvatore brothers and Bonnie was written out and never mentioned in that musical but Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan, etc. were 🙃
9:10 I hope you eventually talk about how Caroline Dries has done terrible things to not only Kat, but to Javicia Leslie who played Batwoman.
She literally does not care about black women and the fact that she is still employed drives me insane
Before you guys ask, she lied to the press about them making a new character Batwoman saying they weren't going to do the "soap opera" thing by recasting Ruby Rose, yet, nine episodes into S2, they did EXACTLY THAT
Add in that Javicia was hit with racism and hatred for ABSOLUTELY no reason with no support from the showrunners or network, this woman knew what would happen when she did that and DID NOT CARE.
I had know idea about this I really feel bad for javicia
@@angelaholmes8888 yeah, it was a hellscape defending Javicia. Everyone was just mad Batwoman was black, not understanding that this was basically done maliciously
both caroline dries and julie plague are on my shit list, I vow to never watch anything made/ produced by them.
This is getting me irritated again. Season 6 was a golden opportunity for things to turn around for Bonnie, but they fumbled it. In my head cannon one of two scenarios was play out; originally they were going to have Kai be Bonnie’s love interest, but he got a part on another show. In my head I would have made them a thing, but make it a complicated and maybe a bit slightly fucked up love story where Kai convinces Bonnie to hate her “friends”. Or two Make Damon and Bonnie a thing. I remember Ian was hella pushing hard for it, but the writers didn’t end up listening… My friends… if you actually want a good Vampire TV show that also happens to treat their black characters and characters of color well then do yourself a favor and watch Interview with the Vampire over on AMC.
Kai wasn't killed off because of the actor going on another show he was killed off because they wanted to rip off the red wedding and get rid of Elena kai was supposed to be bonnie love interest other people had too big of a issue with bonnie being with relevant characters because that would have brought attention to her chris wood aka kai wasn't even given the role in the other show by that time
The treatment of Bonnie's character was the main reason I stopped watching this show. She was my favorite character in the original book series and she deserved so much better.
21:05 omg this!! Her romance with Enzo felt like a slap to the face. Not only because of how we saw him pinning over characters in the show but there was no build up, no hints of them finding each other attractive or interesting. Then we just skip to both of them being together for shock value. To say I was salty is an understatement.
Before her relationship with Jeremy I really wanted her with Luka martin, that scene with both of them channeling each other! It lives rent free in my mind. We saw someone new who is interested in her and she was connecting with someone around her age about being a witch. of course he had his motive for approaching her but who didn’t in this show? But no! The show decided this was the perfect time to set her up with Jeremy and he was third wheeling in almost all their scenes. Once that hope was crushed by killing him the way they did yikes! We saw how they undermined her relationship with Jeremy and from then on I could not tolerate him.
Then Enzo happened another character with past relationship baggage. After they worn me out by shoving these two in my face, I was able to enjoy them being cute together despite everything. I just wanted to see her happy but we all know how that ended.
Maybe I’m biased since I wasn’t rooting for her two canon relationships.
Anyways thanks to Bonnie fans I saw other pairings that would have been interesting to explore and out of all Bonnie ships my favourite has to be Bonkai. Idk, I just wanted to end this long rant on a high note😅
Bonkai my favorite too they had alot of potential and chemistry and he's one of the few males that isn't a original who could rival damon and if they ain't doing bamon there literally was no reason for them not to do bonkai
My thing is every season Bonnie either dies or loses her magic. How is she the most powerful witch if she never LIVES long enough to learn how to develop, hone, and advance with it? I also say just like everyone else #Bonniedeservesbetter. I was/ still am a Benzo fan though.
Also what I hated about this show was how witches were basically called the servants and nature and so many of the witches on the show were Black.
I really like that you mentioned her relationship with Jeremy, because I too think that he is probably the only person who never wanted to use her and her power for his or anyone's advantage, which is just sad. And the way they just forgot and skipped over their relationship was just disrespectful.
When you mentioned how they didn't have to set the flashbacks in 1864, it reminded me of the fact that in the books, Stefan and Damon were actually born and grew up in Italy in the 16th or 17th century (I can't remember exactly but it was during the Renaissance era). They lived there until they were both turned into vampires by Katherine. Now, the books were far from unproblematic. If anything, they were much worse than the TV Show. But I think that the producers of the show should at least have taken that from the books.
As much as Bonnie frustrated me sometimes, there's absolutely no denying that the character was mistreated at every turn.
One of the things that I've always remembered is that Bonnie's mother just left her behind to get rid of Mikael for Elena's sake, lost her powers (I might not be 100% on that but I'm pretty sure that happened) and just didnt bother coming back, only to adopt another kid and be present for him instead. WHO DOES THAT?
Sure, Elena's the Doppelganger but MY GOD... I don't even have kids but I can't imagine ever doing something like that. Bonnie was always too nice, too forgiving. She really should've started charging for her services because she just got abused...
She seriously should have made them pay her per hour 😂 And I should have mentioned this in the video too but I agree, it irritated me sooo much too that Bonnie’s mum abandoned her and then went off to be a better mum for this other kid
I’m so mad that she never ended up with Damon. Like even in the books they are together? We were robbed
Bonnie Bennett is one of many female characters of colour in shows like these that get sidelined and placed in a servitude role. People have written about it talking about not just Bonnie but Tara in True Blood, Martha in Doctor Who, Abbie Mills in Sleepy Hollow and more and more
Racism is sadly Alive and Well in not just Hollywood, but the world..😢
Antisemitism, Islamophobia (which is on the Rise)
And blackphobia..
We need to stick together against that! Thx for this vid!! ❤❤❤❤
showrunners "bonnie wouldnt like a bad boy"
tvd books: *literally has bonnie have a relationship with damon, the bad boy*
i honestly love bonnie and damons friendship and i do appreciate a good friendship bc sometimes im just tired of tv shows like the vampire diaries having everyone date and break up. but like... the prison world would have been such a good opportunity to have damon and bonnie develop feelings and there could have been so much fallout from that when they got back to the real world because obviously damon would have previously had feelings for elena etc and bonnie is elena's best friend. let's just say in my version elena doesn't have her memories erased (i do not need to hear "who was damon salvatore?" "he was my boyfriend. i loved him. and he died" ever again) so when damon gets back they're both happy to see each other and they get together and are in a relationship bc damon hasn't quite accepted his feelings for bonnie and elena is obviously expecting him to want to be with her, so it happens. like it would have been ripe for some good teenage angst and all the like complicated feelings in both bonnie and damon that by suddenly wanting to be together they were betraying elena. we could have had a whole "no, we cant be together" story where they're both pining for each other and you get all those moments where they almost kiss but end up turning away from it. it would have been so good. like we could have seen damon getting out of the prison world first and being obsessive about saving bonnie (to the point its a little sus, yk?👀👀like we see you damon, ur not hiding anything) and then when she gets out we can see his relationship with elena begin to fizzle because he be staring at bonnie whenever she walks into a room, like he's getting dISTRACTED. and we could have had some really good bonding moments between damon and bonnie because he's experienced the prison world, so that would have also been a chance for them to delve into her trauma in regards to trying to take her own life and damon could have shared his experiences (im not sure if i'm remembering correctly, but im pretty sure initially damon was really against being a vampire and so he tried to let himself get fried in the sun? so he knows the feeling of being ready to end everything). Like mmm this is the fanfic obsessed 16 year old popping out in me but we could have had some good old bonnie's having a nightmare and damon hears and then they snuggle, or vice versa. the "will you stay with me until i fall asleep?" scene. and they just keep trying to deny their feelings until they can't do it anymore and damon and elena's relationship is not working. and elena is just like OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU AND BONNIE??? and damon's like i DONT KNOW MAYBE I LOVE HER (love a good angsty confession). and elena is pissed at first but eventually gets over it when she finds out bonnie likes damon, and she gives them her blessing bc yk she does want her friend to be happy and everything is wonderful until yk whatever cliffhanger the season ends on.
there was just so much potential and it would have actually made a compelling subplot. like idc how many people like delena (it would have divided the fandom HARD on people who were delena shippers and people who shipped damon+bonnie), this is better. i will be taking no further questions. by the end of the show i was done with delena and how dirty the writers did damon (even ian somerhalder has said he was not happy with how one note damon became). also if we're sticking with the whole "elena's in a coma" plot then we could have kind of had bonnie take over as the central character. it would have worked so well given how much build up the previous season would have dedicated to her and damon's relationship.
anyways thank you for reading my fanfiction 😂😂 (if i made any mistakes/was inaccurate its bc i havent seen the show in a long time. like i dont think im mixing up the chronology of the show... bonnie and damon get stuck in the prison world, elena erases her memories, and then she gets them back and kai puts her in a coma)
bonnie really had so much potential (i honestly havent thought too much about it before) and it was purposefully wasted
I’ll never understand people who shipped her with Kai, a man who targeted her, hunted her, TERRORIZED her, and STABBED her…
People said “they have chemistry”. They can act, they know how to make/show chemistry. She had chemistry with EVERYONE because she was that good.
They said “well, enemies to lovers happens all the time on this show!” Not in THAT way. Damon never physically hurt Elena like that. Not to injure, or even terrorize. Klaus, Matt, Tyler, or Stefan never did that to Caroline (Damon was biting her and mind controlling her, but unless a vampire bites to KILL, It’s basically sexual. Also the show ignored all of that later and acts like that never happened between Damon and Caroline).
The white girls NEVER got physically harmed the same way (again, I don't count biting, nor them getting neck-snapped as vampires which is basically just getting knocked out for them because it can’t kill them), and even got to get married.
Stefan DID die in the end, but it wasn't senseless OR needless like it was for Enzo.
But tbh, Bonnie should have been with Damon JUST because he WAS the show and mia popular character and there would have been NO WAY they could continue to underwrite and underdevelop her if it happened.
That’s why those writers shot down Bamon EVERY chance they could and gave Bonnie leftovers (even JEREMY wasn't interested in her first. She was third place for him… AND ENZO, lmao. She had a couple of FORGETTABLE love interests who liked her first and were brought on to like her… and two died after betraying her, and the other was her “kinda sorta not” stepbrother who vanished from the show...
They did her FOUL. The writers, some of the cast, AND THE FANDOM WERE EVIL. The things they would say on forums, wikis, videos, etc…
I couldn't believe it, and I was there in real time. 🫠
Klaus stalked Caroline, tortured her and tried to kill her. He watched her suffer in agonizing pain for hours without even considering to help her.
With kai It's simple chemistry character family history and their connection despite their rivalry they had a equal rivalry at no point was there any equality in their relationship bonnie gave back as good as she got this ridiculous moral policing that julie set for bonnie and people play into it is ridiculous damon stefan Klaus all of the dudes have killed not only family members but kids and keep on mind all these dudes have hurt bonnie yet the plot enables their behavior and bonnie becomes friends with them so it isn't far fetch for her to fall for a redeemed version of kai or even going bad herself
Klaus stabbed Caroline but they’re the second most popular TVDU ship. When it comes to TVD, people’s standards of abuse are different because it’s fantasy and these are supernaturals. Kai retaliated against Bonnie. Bonnie killed him first and also kept him from leaving the prison world. It was tit for tat. He was an antagonist who has a weird s*xual subtext with Bonnie so that’s why people like myself ship them. Kai was someone who wasn’t Elena/Caroline sloppy seconds. He was into her and her only in his weird psycho way. They had good chemistry and he was a powerful siphon. So it’s not weird that Bonkai has fans. Elena and Caroline have more uneven dynamics with their bad boys than Bonnie ever did with Kai.
The writer's in general really changed a lot by season 2. For instance, originally it was implied that Bonnie and Elena were closer than Caroline and Elena. Especially, that first episode when they get to school and Elena has to prepare herself for interacting with Caroline. They've known her since she was little yes, but in season one it's implied that they were never really that close, if I recall properly? Then in later seasons they try to make it seem like Caroline and Elena were close since they were little??? When really it seemed that it was Bonnie and Elena. Not that I don't like them being a good group of friends, but they definitely switched things around towards their own biases and conveniences.
Bonnie and Damon having had a genuine dislike for each other, and Bonnie hating him throughout the series was valid. Which is why forcing them together in the prison world and them having a hard time being with each other, but being forced to be with each other was such a good and well done thing. I think that's why their chemistry really sparked and I personally could definitely see the romantic tension building up there. It's sad they didn't allow themselves to go there because it was valid and interesting. The prison world changed them and Damon should've had a more realistic redeeming character arc considering all the horrible things he's done. And I think Bonnie was truly a good incentive for that.
And, if not putting Bonnie with Damon, I have to say that she and Nora actually also had some strong romantic chemistry in my opinion. Especially when Nora called her beautiful and expressed her admiration for her. Plus, considering Nora had been with Mary Louise, it was implied she's into girls already too. But, I genuinely felt a strong romantic chemistry with them two too.
But, of course the writer's didn't want to give her that either.
And, it's so true, her parents both died, I believe, her grandma died, and they never really focused on how it's affected her long term or at least show more scenes of her alone mourning? And, let's not get into how I feel they butchered Elena's character.... In my opinion.
And, I personally never felt a romantic connection between Caroline and Klaus. Plus, I don't think I can understand why she'd go for someone who hurt and tortured all her friends. He not only killed Elena's aunt, but he also killed her ex's mother. Not saying that Tyler or his mom were perfect, but they weren't evil and they were more realistic than some of the other characters. Plus, in general if she was capable of loving Tyler at one point, I'd think she'd be more caring about his wellbeing even if it's simply from afar. IDKKKK.
BUT, we can't blame Bonnie for making Kai mad. He was genuinely a jealous monster. He tortured her in that prison world. He killed his own siblings and most family members because of the way his father and elders treated him. He kill his little siblings because he was angry and jealous. He was psychotic and Bonnie had many valid reasons to not want to see him at all and attack him. Just because he merged with his brother, and suddenly he got some more loving feelings for people doesn't mean he's fully changed, in fact it was verified that he hadn't changed when he decides to throw a temper tantrum, if I recall correctly, and kills his pregnant sister at her own wedding.
I’ve tried so many time to eat this show but the racism/ microagressions were so clear. I also heard how badly kat graham was treated in real life which didn’t help.
Now that I think about it… I am realizing that The Vampire Diaries is kinda a toxic show for teenagers/young adults. Besides the glamorization of slavery, and the confederate south. It actually conditions our young people to view black people or people of color in the way the show views Bonnie. On the periphery, the side character of no importance. The only time they are necessary is when you need help. This is incredibly bad…
The treatment of Bonnie and the actress, Kat Graham, is the reason why I refuse to watch Vampire Diairies. She deserved better and deserves her flowers 💐.
Congratuations! I can only ever get through half way of season 4 of Vampire Diaries before I give up. I don't know what it is that makes me stop but I just can't do it.
I really like Bonnie. I am always looking for more shows about Witches, so I was excited to see her in Vampire Diaries but very sad that she wasn't given enough screen time.
thank you for this video!! i will forever die on the hill that Bonnie deserved so much better and so did Kat. she was too good for this show tbh
I wrote my paper on this in HS called the *Blck Sacrifice 🎉 highlighting Bonnie Bennet and Aisha/Layla from Winx and Tara Thornton form true blood among many. Bonnies was sad cause it was her whole bloodline
#justiceforBonnie fr
given how she just dont want to have anything to do with her time back then, it was a pretty bad experience and you can tell from her storyline it's like the writers insert here without having any thought to it.
And the irony is that everyone loves Bonnie and everyone hates Elena
Her boyfriend cheated on her… with a ghost. A literal ghost.
also bonnie is always going thru something and she never tells the others, and that's just the writers wanting to silence Bonnie's pain so the storyline would'nt revolve around her pain. Whereas Elena for example is sad over Damon and the entire storyline is about her being sad over him.
I was first a fan of the books (at least the first four), and Bonnie was my favorite character. Years later, when it was announced that they were coming out with a TVD show, I was psyched. Even more so because my favorite character, Bonnie, was going to be played by a Black woman. WHAT?! I was so here for it! I was an original Bamon fan due to the books.
So you can imagine my utter dismay when one of the frontrunners in the story was used as a plot device and borderline treated as an extra. I remember, in real time, going on different forums expressing my outrage and being met with mostly people who were either fine with it or simply didn’t care at all as long as Elena was okay. It was maddening.
After a while, I just couldn’t take it anymore. The utter disrespect of it all. I eventually had to tune out altogether. It was too much. Too depressing. Though way late, I do very much appreciate videos like yours. You nailed EVERYTHING in your deep dive. Thank you for this.
I LOVE YOU YOU DESERVE YOUR FLOWERS FOR THIS ONE TY BAE👏🏾❤️
I love Bonnie the most because of the live the actress Kat Graham gave to her. she is the best and i am sad how she and the character of Bonnie were teated 😢 they deserve a series of their own🎉
Im so happy that Kat is still doing her thing and sharing her talent. That must have been a traumatic time for her.
Justice for the Bennett bloodline !!
you have no idea how happy i am that you're starting a tvdu analysis series 😭😭 your pll series is already fantastic so i can't wait for more this!!
29:09 THANK YOU OMG I remember watching the founders episode and being sooo confused on why they chose this theme it was so uncomfortable and weird
She’s my favourite character in the series
I'm just gonna say it: #Justice4Kat! Also, Why did they change the Salvatore family's backstory from Renaissance Italy, around the early 16th Century in the books, to the Confederate South in ca 1864/65 in the show? Just think Ever After (1998) vibes, but make it Gothic! Changing it to the Confederate South adds an ick factor to nearly everyone! I know the answer: So they could have Gone With The Wind vibes, without anyone confronting that! They literally have a beauty contest, for the founding families but only if you're a White descendant of these families! Bonnie should've let Mystic Falls burn in Hellfire! I'm sorry if I come off as too harsh, Julie Plec should be ashamed/embarrassed, Ian, Joseph, and Kat, you were the heroes the show didn't deserve, Love you guys! Could we have developed a backstory for the residents of Mystic Falls and the Salvatore Brothers that didn't involve the enslavement of human beings? We have the potential for a Nanowrimo group project! We could offer our Ideas for a Complete rework of TVD!
Bonnie always got sidelined out of everything even her own plots her canon romances sucked because they was with Insignificant characters nobody shipped her with prior to them putting her with them so it was always random and underdeveloped then add on the moral policing/ gaslighting bonnie out of having a bad boy romance like everyone else because they Didn't want her to have a ship that got attention they didn't know what to do with bennett witches but the moment they could have white ones they all of the sudden had plots and spin offs about them when the Bennetts had the most potential for spin offs and plots the mikaelsons and the Gemini coven all had to do with bennett witches in some way yet somehow it turned into Caroline stefan and damon storylines and bonnie was pushed out of them I see exactly why Kat Graham had no interest in returning for spin offs
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!!!!
(VERY long comment. Be warned, lol. It’s a rant)
I’d say for ME that it’s not as much as how MANY love interests you have, but the QUALITY of them, ergo their relevance to the main plot and/or popularity in the show/fandom.
Elena had Stefan, Damon, Elijah was obviously into her and they were ship teased, and there was Matt pre-show (but no one cares, lol. She didn't, anyway).
Caroline had EVERY MAIN MALE CHARACTER in the show. Of them, Enzo was HEAVILY teased, but the loudest fans wanted Klaus so they didn't like Enzo for her and the writers dropped it… AND THEN Enzo was into Stefan and Damon’s mom… also went nowhere and she died… THEN he got with Bonnie and HE died… 🥴).
Tyler was never a FAVE for most folks but the werewolf storyline was mostly focused on him, so he was VERY relevant at the time and the two had been together in the books as well.
Matt was probably the LEAST important to any plot when he and Caroline were together. HOWEVER, their relationship was handled with care, made INCREDIBLY adorable and likable, and it helped them BOTH grow. He had previously been the sad ex of the main girl who didn't know he existed anymore and she was the vapid, vain alpha b*tch who THOUGHT she was closer to Elena and Bonnie when secretly they didn't like her all that much behind the scenes and preferred each other as best friends. After Matt & Caroline got together, BOTH grew and were more beloved (especially once Caroline became a vampire and THRIVED for the rest of the series).
Bonnie got… Jeremy who was his third choice and her best friend’s little brother (like SERIOUSLY??? THAT girl couldn't get more guys to notice her??? Even in the South, I PROMISE folks would be interested. Whether they were good for her or treated her right… I can't say, lol, but they would ABSOLUTELY be down). He was irrelevant at the time and their relationship did NOT get the care the others got. We already talked about Enzo, lol, Bonnie was third place for him too. Luka and Arrow’s Oliver Queen’s little brother who was in one episode, both betrayed her. She was ship teased with her BITTER enemy who literally stabbed her, and didn't even bother to make THAT happen either (not that I wanted them to), probably because they realized Kai WAS relevant to the plot and the ship would have elevated her.
Sorry for all the long ass comments... Lol, but this show is like the thorn in my side… but ALSO was genuinely good at points and I ENJOYED IT (UGH!). Mostly for Bonnie, but other elements genuinely worked. Wish they would have just treated Bonnie better or just cast an actress who looked like the book character (a red-headed white girl), because she would have been the most popular character if they had.
She would have been Willow 2.0. AND she would have had Damon, at least at SOME point, because they happened in the books.
Caroline actually only had three: Stefan, Matt and Tyler.
@@CrystalGoddess90 You're forgetting half of them. She also had explicit relationships with Damon and Klaus, she was engaged to Alaric and she had a fling with Jesse and Liam.
@@Melissa-sx9vh She was r@ped by Damon, that doesn't count as a relationship. She did NOT have a relationship with Klaus. He fancied her, she was flattered but more annoyed. She was only engaged for her daughters, she was not physically involved with Alaric. A fling is not a relationship. Her only relationships, REAL relationships, was only three. In more than two decades, she dated three guys.
@@CrystalGoddess90 I agree about Damon and the flings, I was just pointing out that if we take the show and its narrative factually, Caroline "had" all of these men even if briefly. Can't agree about Klaus though, yes he fancied her and she was flattered but they had sex, she came back to him multiple times in TDV and TO, they literally shared a goodbye kiss where they implied that if the circonstances had been different they would have been together together. Yes they were never in an official bf/gf relationship but that doesn't mean it wasn't a meaningfull relationship. And with Alaric it was one-sided but he was still in love with her and she accepted his mariage proposal so I still consider it her being in a "relationship" with him.
@@Melissa-sx9vh She grew to care about Klaus, they never had a relationship. A one night stand to get one out of their lives forever is not a relationship. Alaric fell in love with the idea of "his" daughters having a mother, he never actually loved her. He yelled that the girls weren't hers, but only his and his ex's. That's abuse and insults, not love. He wouldn't be interested in her of her body wasn't violated to save a couple of embryos.
The confederacy stuff was so weird. Tons of shows are set in the south without all that weird stuff.
I will never forgive TVD for how they treated Bonnie and Kat Graham. She was one of the most (if not the most) talented person in the TVD cast and her character deserved so much better. It is really a testament to how talented Kat is that Bonnie is still such a great character despite her character constantly being undermined. Imagine what could have happened if she had been given the chance to thrive and display her full potential. The blatant racism is disgusting
What made Vincent a cool character in The Originals. That man was a powerful witch. But there were times where he look the strongest creatures in the face and stick it to them. And be done with the Michaelsons sometimes. Bonnie deserved so much better, she sacrificed so much for no appreciation.
FINALLY I been wanting a this for so long and thank you because have read our minds ❤❤
Subscribe to see the rest of this series as it comes out!
I remember when I first watched the show I found the way the character was treated to be really weird. She had a lot of potential to be one of my favorite characters, but she basically disappeared whenever I as an audience member started to feel close or interested in her.
Bonnie imo was the most interesting out of her, Caroline, and Elena it’s too bad she was always done dirty
I was so ready for this. Another great, high-level analysis, thank you for this. I knew about all the problems but I had never thought of that desirability thing, and it makes a lot of sense. I can't wait for the rest of your series! I hope you'll diss Elena haha
Thank you for making this. This is a huge issue and not just with TVD or their universe, but the industry as a whole. If you look at anything we watch you will see how they treat the black characters, even when it comes down to casting, they'll more than likely cast someone who is either bi-racial, light-skinned or mixed or someone who ISN'T American and they'll casting make them the best friend, the savior or the sacrifice instead of allowing them to have their own voice and their own place apart from their white counterparts. Even when it comes to "black shows" the pretty girl will always be light-skinned, bi-racial or mixed to continue the false narrative that the closer you are to white the more desirable you are. And it's not just for more mature shows and films it's also in family and children's content as well, even if it's animated. It's not just the fault of the writers and show runners it's also the suits, the executives and shareholders, those who are funding these projects. They all have the same mindset and belief systems and its important to be vocal about this and for rightful representation, but not that just but being specific about said representation because they can cast someone to be black and then make them foil, a plot device, something other than black, like an animal, make them mute or cripple or even a villain that the white characters have to defeat and save the day from. The conversations are important. Thank you again. You're awesome. God bless.
I know this is a long show to cover. Especially considering how much there is to talk about! So I really appreciate you for being vrave wnough to do it!😂😂❤❤
I have to watch this series over again but I just want to say I love your channel
Thankyou 🥹🥹
@@SerenaSkybourne I find that all this DEI coming out now is a reaction to Africa turning towards BRICS and decolonizijg the West. And since the West places greater importance in maintaining control over Africa and black Americans, they're now realizing they need to loan more voices to them but it's too late now. The 90s was more progressive than it is now in 2024. A lot of the young generation is interested in East Asian content and culture and the West is at a loss.
I just got off work I am so READY
me too!
If Bonnie and Damon had fallen in love, it would’ve created a great storyline because maybe they would’ve struggle with some guilt being Elena’s love and best friend. It would’ve been really interesting.
You can literally see the disdain on the writers face when they talk about Bonnie they have such an issue w black women
Its definitely very odd what they did with her character. I was a book reader and I stopped watching season 1 just because I had other stuff to watch. But in S1 Kat Graham was the only actor in the entire show that I'd seen in other shit. Like to me the rest were unknowns so it's funny how they still managed to side line her and give her barely anything to do. Meanwhile, fucking Jeremy, who is not in the books in anyway, gets a tonne of annoying random shit to do! Like wtf. I also did not rate his writing, or performance at al! But Kat Graham is the one with nothing to do. Disgraceful!
This is no dig on you at all but while one can emphasize with the effects of racism on black people and people of color, one cannot truly understand it unless one experiences it. All black people understand it because we all experience it. Even black republicans, but is it a shock they aren't honest about it? I would have watched Vampire Diaries in full but the episode when they had their "founders day" parade and the main characters were dressed as confederate soldiers with Kat Graham in the crowd waving and cheering for a parade celebrate the traitors who fought to keep her ancestors as slaves did it for me. Jenny Nicholson did a, like, four hour retrospective of Vampire Diaries and pointed this out and give me a full run down of everything that happened in the show. But that scene was beyond racist. The idea that a black woman would be okay cheering on a racist army who fought for a racist reason was absolutely horrible. I heard about the back stories with Bonnie's ancestor being a (Ra help me) "handmaiden" for the Vampires back in the time of enslavement. And everyone who talks about it says they were literally trying to white wash slavery by saying "see, she was a handmaiden, not actually a slave" when at that time Bonnie's ancestor would not only have been a slave but her treatment would have been beyond horrible. And I've read the white justifications for these decisions, but I'm an old school geek. I've heard a metric ton of white justifications for this sort of nonsense.
the whole anchor situation proved that the writers truly hated kat and bonnie
Because of them, every member of her family was murdered, Grams, Mother, and Father. (Even her cousin Lucy who they just casually mentioned was used and killed off screen) and they were like, but keep helping us though. WHAT?!?
One thing that also disappoints me about Bonnie is how the writers treated her ancestry. On paper a girl who comes from a matriarchal bloodline of witches that dates back to biblical times should be quite interesting. However, just like the character of Bonnie the Bennett witches are in general used to wrap up plot lines. Also, I would like to add that the racism of the show really hurt the story and what I mean by this is take Damon for example. He and many other of the White Male vampires were allowed to kill people without consequences. Anytime something went wrong for Damon he was allowed to act out of control. However, because of this privilege it now can be argued that Damon didn’t really have a character arc. As many debate as to whether Damon actually had a story arc or if he the only difference between the season finale him and him throughout the show is that he is now human. Lastly, there insistence on making Bonnie the servant hurt the story as well. To me it makes absolutely no sense as to why she would bring Jeremy back at the end of season 4 considering all the consequences she suffered for doing it at the end of season 2. Did she forget about how her resurrecting Jeremy opened a door to the Other Side that allowed spirits to come back to the land of the living and seek revenge, Jeremy now being able to see ghosts and cheating on her with his dead ex, or the spirits abandoning her for said thing. To me it made complete sense for Bonnie to let Jeremy stay dead as she has more than enough experiences with the consequences of bringing people back. When it comes to the character of Elena one thing that the fans and even characters in the show critique her for is that she always has to get what she wants even if it is to the expense of others. If Jeremy had stayed dead this would have been a time where she would have really had to leave to cope. It would have been a great storyline for her to learn about living without her brother. Since the actor who played Jeremy ended up leaving anyway it only makes sense. Also, one thing with the vampires diaries is that the moment they give Bonnie a badass moment they immediately have to recon it. For example, at the end of season 2 Bonnie gains the power of 100 witches. Then in season 3 they make the spirits abandon her for “abusing” her power. Then at the end of season
3 she tells Klaus she’s tired of being bullied by everyone. Only for in her first episode of season 4 to be bullied by Klaus into doing what he wants. Like they could just let her be badass and powerful. One thing that pisses me off is that in season 5 they have her tell Olivia that she was more powerful then she ever was even though this is extremely untrue based on what we have seen. Bonnie at one point in time had the power to kill an ORIGINAL vampire. By the time season 4 comes around Bonnie has learned 4 different types of magic (traditional, dark, spirit, and expression). Truthfully that’s why after season 4 I believe they stopped Bonnie from using expression because they made it to where you could do whatever you wanted with expression and if Bonnie mastered it she would have been essentially able to do whatever her body allowed. The only good thing they did for her character was at the end of season 8. Because they allowed Bonnie to initially direct hellfire within the shows own canon her magic is the equivalent to 100 witches. Now I know that her family came and helped her send it back. But she was able to draw hellfire herself first. Since the spirits have abandoned her and she stopped using expression the only conclusion the audience can come to is that Bonnie’s magic is the equivalent to 100 hundred witches and this is after not using magic for several months. But yeah Bonnie Bennett could be a bigger character than she already is if the writers weren’t racist and anti-black.
SO pumped that this is out and cannot wait to come back to finish it once the lawn is mowed. Not even four minutes in and I'm saying yes every few seconds like im with my husband on our wedding night. (Apologies if such analogies are inappropriate in your opinion; I just couldnt think of another context where someone says "yes" repeatedly 😅)
You are so pure. There’s definitely another scenario where people say yes repeatedly and it would have been a way more inappropriate analogy 💀
this video came at the perfect time of me rewatching tvd and going down the rabbit hole of how kat grahm was treated on set