Why I loved The Vampire Diaries

There were some memes I found the other day on Instagram with "Are you Team Edward" or "Team Jacob", referring to Twilight movie drama, and the meme was replying "Team Salvatore" and it could not be closer to the truth. In my opinion, at least.

First, I had seen the Twilight series a couple of times before by now, but never have I watched the Vampire Diaries until now. Yes, it is a cheesy movie, and yes I do watch that sort of soap operas. I don't think we need to catch our breath here on the fact that there is junk food just like there is junk series or movies. I enjoy easy, romantic, comedy type, poor quality movies even as a form of escapism. I like watching Spanish soap operas too. And I don't think I should be ashamed for that as that, does not mean I am superficial or think or act or behave as the characters in my favourite episodes. On the contrary, because I am so deep and profound, because I feel and sense too much, being somewhat of a sensitive, emotional type yet a poker face in the face of adversity, because of all these inside my heart and mind, that I need superficiality around me. It is my way of coping with life, as I am sure you have your own defence mechanisms. So, having this out of our way, let's proceed with understanding what it is making the Vampire Diaries so catchy and so utterly popular.

As explained, I first watched Twilight and for some reason, I was expecting the Vampire Diaries to either be similar in the plot or story or, I was thinking one of them is what inspired the other. Well, I was delighted to discover indeed, that, the pleasure of unfolding the mystery of the Vampire Diaries far exceeded what was going on in Twilight. There is, of course, a length of time included here and it does not do any good for Twilight to be compared with, as the Vampire Diaries probably has around 700 hours of watch time and it is impossible to not catch feelings for the characters.

The magical world created in the Vampire Diaries is the best way to escape reality yet at the same time to enjoy the reality you face, because no one would like to struggle through life with what the characters of the series need to deal with. So, I think, the first season was rather acceptable, but nothing that really stuck with me, apart from the general idea or vibe of Damon's sarcastic and funny nature. Stefan did not really make me like him until maybe season 3, as I did not feel he had a personality until more of him was unveiled. I did not feel that Elena had much of anything for the Salvatore brothers to be so much into her until season 4 or 5 maybe, when feelings for Damon were developed and she actually started to have a thinking and acting of her own, that you could easily put your finger on and comment "That's what Elena would do". I enjoyed watching her as she is a beautiful actress and I simply liked watching her character playing the scenes. Just wanted to know what would happen next. As I said, it is a catchy series. The episodes reminded me of old series I would watch when I was younger, and each episode would have a theme or new characters, or something was happening that needed to be put back in order or the day had to be saved somehow by the main characters, while at the same time, something else was occurring in their lives. It was always a lot of change, a lot of things happening at once, a lot of action, yet a lot of fun and a lot of routine. The routine of knowing that each episode would end up like any fairy-tale does, with a happy everlasting ending. Only this time, it would be everlasting until the next episode. You could not catch your breath because there was constantly something going on. It is because of this constant change that nevertheless created the routine which was addictive. It's addictive. But routine is boring.

Routine is boring indeed when what you are doing is made up of boring, uncomplicated things. But when this routine is portrayed as adventure, fun, never ending action, fighting the bad and always expecting the good to win, this, really does create addiction. You want this to be true. You start filtering images and moments of life beauty and perfection from the character's episodes as if these are to be a constant battle which will eventually lead to a sort of permanent success or happiness. It's setting the expectation that you need to fight but at the same time expect things will work out, even if they might take some time. It entangles your mind in this fairy-tale that the good will always prevail. That is the addiction. The idea that all will be well. The need we crave to be told everything will be fine and everything will end in our favours. I don't think it is a bad thing. Yes, for disturbed minds, it could be a problem. It can create issues. But for a healthy critical mind which the majority of people owe, why should watching series alike The Vampire Diaries pose an issue? Why would people criticise you for watching cheesy movies or idiotic vampire adventures? It is not the vampires that captivated me. It was not the idea that they would exist or what they do. It was the storyline. I was enchanted by the Salvatore's house. I was enchanted by the mysterious yet familiar vibe of "being home". The Salvatore living room and the entire house décor, the lights and the fireplace. The cozy feeling of being safe, taken care of and stimulated at the same time. Which is probably what all female characters of all time fairy-tales are attracted by in their choice of princes. In the Vampire Diaries there were 2 princes: Stefan and Damon, the brothers, the main male characters.

Elena was the princess. But there were other princesses too. Her best friends and other female characters friends of all the other princes that occasionally appeared in the series. People could identify with one or another from the variety of characters offered by this series. You were able to empathise, sympathise and despise. You were able to feel all emotions and not be considered at fault for feeling any of them. Maybe this was in part because of the way Damon's character played along. Maybe it was in part because of Stefan's role in the series. Just as you come to love the characters of a good book you read, you end up really loving the characters of the Vampire Diaries.

And why, would you not? The love stories are all fascinating. All love entanglements have their own magic and level of desirability. I thought Klaus was a wonderful man for Caroline, with all his evilness, it does not mean he cannot be allowed to love. But even that evilness presented throughout the episodes in each character has a motive. It is there for a reason. It has history behind it. It is nostalgic to think of the Vampire Diaries and I actually believe it is for all fans.

You know, I started the series simply as a way to escape inner struggles that I did not wish to deal with. I was simply watching and paying attention to the first series criticising and bitching about the characters or the plot. I wanted to hate it because people expect you to hate something that it's not within their own radars as well. People expect you to like what they like, to enjoy the same things as they do, people expect you to behave in same manner as they do because they need someone alike them, they need someone to confirm their identities to be fine, identities that were built on the same criteria that they are trying to build you up on too: this idea that you cannot have your own ideas, your own thoughts, your own criteria, your own rules, your own life, your own unique desires. Why do people ever watch movies if not to escape their own miseries and live for 2 hours in a world where everything is possible for the main characters, in a world where the main characters are allowed to do what they want to and they succeed through their own rules of living? The answer is simple: the movies and tv series and the books and the computer games are the outlets we all make use of to escape life, to live life differently.

But why do we want to escape life? Because we were brought with this idea in mind, idea nurtured by all those fairy-tales we were read or told or we listened to, while growing up, that life is a fairy-tale, where the prince will come along and rescue the princess and where the prince will be happy ever after with his princess, who is the most beautiful in the world.

The prince, a.k.a. the boy grows up knowing he needs to find the most beautiful decent girl in the kingdom of his city or country, that he needs to rescue her and have her in his castle. He is growing up knowing a princess needs a castle and he must have a castle in order to obtain a princess. Men struggle just as much as we struggle with society expectations. Sure, their lives might be easier, but that does not mean they do not face adversity or the same need for escapism as us, women. Men play games to fight, to direct their energy somewhere where the good does win. Men want action because that's what's in their nature, but because it's also what they are brought up to believe through all those fairy-tales - they need to fight for the girl, for their kingdom, for their lives.

Is it possible that we have all misplaced our childhood nurtured future dream life desires?

Are we all trying to escape that collective idea upon which society is built? Are we trying to avoid fighting to obtain that which we are inspired to believe it will last forever or are we trying to fight against that, because now, grown up as we are, know that there are no such things as fairy-tales in real life, it was all an illusion.

Are we finding ourselves in an illusion or are we fighting it?

No matter the answer, tv series such as the Vampire Diaries are a form we use to escape answering these and other existential crisis questions. Yet, I think us watching and living through these fictional stories is useful because it can remind us to fight for what we want, it can remind us that the good will always win, it can remind us to never stop hoping, it can remind us that all will be well again, it can remind us to never stop believing, it can remind us that life is worth living with all the suffering that comes along.

For me, the Vampire Diaries was a beautiful fairy-tale that I will forever keep in my memories for it reminded me that life is not what we always want, but still it will be something that we like all bad things included, for if that was not to happen to us, we would not have ended up in the places we find ourselves in at this very moment. Every love story teaches you something, every problem gives you a different perspective on life and every conflict displays to you a renewed version of the person you thought you were fighting, showing you, we always change in accordance to how life challenges us to do so. And that's because we must learn the routine of change: disciplined, constant, persevering, sudden and always messy, adventurous, beautiful, "but above all, epic".