Sunday, May 13, 2012

Jessica Says: One of the Reasons Why I Love "The Vampire Diaries": The Subject of Humanity

UPDATED: June 28, 2012
  • Videos added
 Image Source
 BACKGROUND INFO :
ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TELLING ME MOST WHILST I'M UNWILLINGLY IN TEARS IN FRONT OF THEM:
"It's okay to be human."
or
"You're only human."

Anyone who truly knows me knows that though I don't really watch too much television, I still watch "The Vampire Diaries" because it incorporates a lot of different things I find entertaining or intriguing in its writing and screen visuals (and it seriously has the best music on any show I've ever watched) - and this theme is humanity, something I personally embrace and brush away - it's a love-hate relationship. Though I will not deny that this third season is nearly pure fan fiction...which needs to stop...the writers still fully incorporate this theme into its writing and generally, the cast does a wonderful job of portraying this theme. And the music really helps, too. I'm not saying that anyone should or shouldn't embrace their humanity, but I think it has become an exceedingly interesting topic to me lately, though I am uncertain how I'll feel if that interest goes away.

 Anyway, I understand TVD is just a show, but I think people should watch it for the many things it embodies. It's not just another ~vampire show, thankfully. Otherwise I would not be watching it. Besides, isn't Hollywood now on the "remake of fairytale classics" train? Yawn.

Here's the final scene to the Season 3 Episode 22 "The Departed" Finale...riddled with humanity, emotion, death - the usual for a good TVD episode. Quite a beautifully-done scene. Tear-worthy, I'd say..oh, and don't watch it if you haven't seen it yet. But it's realllllllllly good.

For those who don't understand why the underwater scenes change, the girl, Elena Gilbert, is having flashbacks of when her parents drowned in the car.

SO WHAT IS HUMANITY? :  
From this website.

1
:
the quality or state of being humane
2
a : the quality or state of being human b plural : human attributes or qualities <his work has the ripeness of the 18th century, and its rough humanities — Pamela H. Johnson>
3
plural : the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics)
4
: the human race : the totality of human beings
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JESSICA SAYS:
So I know lately in my posts I have been ranting on about humanity, convictions, emotions, standing up for what you believe in, but it really all ties together. Those who know me personally and have kept up with this blog and my personal life know why I have been reinforcing these ideas in these blog posts (which have generally just been "Jessica Says" ones). I cannot say that I will still feel the same way in time, but part of me hopes that this new attribute (or rather, dug-up attribute) to my personality won't go away. But we'll see. "Turning off" humanity is still an option, though, too, as it probably is for others. Not in a cowardly sort of way, but it just makes things easier if there's sh*t going on in your life. But how can you live if you don't feel anything? But then the retort would be "Well why would I want to/What if I've no reason to?" which I respect all the same. Believe me. Those who know me personally know the details of my words here and how they truly pertain to my life. And I don't judge anyone for choosing to embrace or brush away humanity.

Again, here is my dedication blog post to those who helped me embrace my humanity when I needed to most:
Click Here

Below video is a video from YouTube that contains scenes from TVD as well as background music called "Human" by Civil Twilight.
Seriously, this show has the BEST depressing songs. And party songs.
Here's a link to where you can look up all of the songs used on TVD:
Click Here!

I'll list a few videos with some of the good depressing songs (who does this?):

 Here's another YouTube video of some TVD scenes with the song "All You Wanted" by Sounds Under Radio
Here's one of my favorite and most heartbreaking scenes of TVD during the beginning of Season 3. "This Woman's Work" by Greg Laswell
Another one of my favorite scenes from TVD at Aunt Jenna's funeral. "Skinny Love" cover by Birdy.
"Hate and Love" by Jack Savoretti
"Shelter" by Birdy
"Runnin' Up That Hill" by Placebo
"I Need To Know" by Chris Allen
"Lullaby" by Sia
"A Drop in the Ocean" by Ron Pope
"In Between" by Courier
 "Echo" by Jason Walker
 "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran
"I Was Wrong" by Sleeperstar
"In My Veins" by Andrew Belle
"Guarded" by Kevin Daniel
"Losing Your Memory" by Ryan Star
"Can't Go Back" by Rosi Golan
"Wires" by Athlete
"Down" by Jason Walker
"Holding On and Letting Go" by Ross Copperman
"Make It Without You" by Andrew Belle
"Cut" by Plumb

And because all of those have been depressing, but lovely selections from TVD, here's one of my fav "party" songs:
"Future Starts Slow" by The Kills (Gawd, I love Katerina)  

Людство

TO THE READERS: 
  • What do you think about the concept behind humanity and all of the things that makes that up?
  • Is it easy for you, as it generally is for me (except lately), to "turn off humanity?"
  • Are you aware that I left a link for you to look up these awesome songs used in TVD? Will you check out the site? You can also find these songs on YouTube, as well.
  
~xxj 

4 comments:

Dan Monteleone said...

Hey,
I think that our "humanity" is the best part of what we are. It gives life a certain poignacy that is hard to truly explain. It is sorrow, pain, joy, happiness, comfort, hate, friendship and grief. It is how we truly live and to me, is the only way to go through this journey. Turn everything up to level 10 and go.
That said, when I need to, I can lower how much certain situations effect me, kinda like a dimmer switch. Not off, just diminished. I think to totally extinguish your feelings is to rob yourself of life. Allowing experiences to penetrate intoour hearts is what makes life so hard, but also what makes it worth living, at least to me.
Also, I love TVD's music. Most of it I had heard before, but if I haven't I usually look it up. TVD and one of my other favorite shows, Sons Of Anarchy, they have the best music on TV for sure!

xNina Writes said...

Dan,

That is an awesome paragraph! I really, really like it.

That's interesting that for you, it's like a dimmer switch. Maybe I should look into that. I mean, it's easy for me to not care about people if they cross me or something...like I legit drop their existences...but some things I can't drop. Maybe I'm like just a polar opposites sorta person: full-on humanity or full-off humanity. Maybe. But putting it in a way that's like "robbing yourself of life" is a very interesting way to look at it. Very insightful paragraph.

And YES! I've never heard of 98% of it before, but I love it. The majority of my music on my phone is TVD music. And I'll have to look into that, too. Secret Circle apparently has good music, as well, but one of the writers from TVD is the main writer on that show.

~xxj

MP said...

Tisk tisk, you're still trying to hide your humanity? We all know there's a big heart in there somewhere, miss jessica. Don't be ashamed of it. I wish I knew more people like you.
-mp

xNina Writes said...

You're hilarious, MP. But thank you for the kind words. I really do appreciate them.

~xxj