The Vampire Diaries

Introduction
The twenty-first century is centered around the wired world, which can be seen through anyone being able to instantly access information on Google or through major companies installing gamification techniques to motivate their employees as if they were playing a video game. More directly these new technologies are re-defining how we interact with a text. No longer is there a “special ability of books to provide a kind of experience you can’t get anywhere else.” People can now simply turn on their computer and read online instead of having to go to the library or bookstore. Coincidentally, this has also changed the relationship between the author and reader. The new format allows for readers to directly comment back on what they thought of the reading. As well as some readings allow for a more interactive approach including sound, picture, video, and even hypertext in addition to the text. Computers are giving old media new life, and allowing readers to experience literature in a brand new way. Overall, the Internet provides a tremendous amount of opportunities for everyone, and if we use it properly we can “assist in the transformation of the computer from a utilitarian instrument to a culturally alive catalyst for writing, reading, and thinking.” So it seems technology is helping to spread literature, and giving reader a new avenue to explore texts.

Moreover this web-based technology has also allowed for online communities to be formed. The most notable of these communities being Wikipedia, which invites anyone and everyone to edit its online encyclopedia, saying that it “doesn’t favor the PhD over the well read 15 year old.” So, groups likes these create unity as everyone is working towards a common goal, allowing people with similar tastes to have a place to converse with each other and make web pages of text that they themselves and many others value as well. Also, these types of sites where users gather to collectively come up with information convey the notion that “what holds a collective intelligence together is not the possession of knowledge, which is relatively static, but the social process of acquiring knowledge, which is dynamic and participatory, continually testing and reaffirming the group’s social ties.” The Internet allows for a place for people to gather like no other place in the world. Readers can form groups with people all over the world and then they can respond to a text however they wish, whether it be blogging about their favorite book or trying to spoil next week’s television show. Clearly, the dynamic of reading has shifted, as readers are now able to explore media online and create interpretative communities online, and even remediate other forms of media. Readers have the ability to directly engage their text, and explore it in a whole way, even allowing the reader to take the text, change it, and present in a different way then it was originally conceived. This allows anyone to engage a piece of text in whichever way their imagination lets them, allowing for many interpretations of the author’s text.

Specifically, a show that has transpired into the online community is The Vampire Diaries. Originally written as a series of books in 1991 by author L.J. Smith, in 2009 the text transcended to the television and is now on its third season on the CW Network. The show is centered around the actors of Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena Gilbert, as well as Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder who play Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Both Salvatore brothers are vampires who are in love with the human teenage girl, and this is about one of the few areas that the show has in common with the book. The online community begins here with the interpretative disputes groups, as many fans converse about the differences between the book and the television show and argue about which medium is better. Still though, the online presence continues with knowledge communities who work together, just like Wikipedia, to try and spoil future episodes of the show. Another place that fans make their existence felt on the web is through remediation, uploading various artworks inspired by the series and making their own inspired videos. Undoubtedly, the Internet has served as a space for The Vampire Diaries fans to get together and explore different dimensions of the show online in a community of which if the wired world didn’t exist they most likely wouldn’t be able to.

Interpretaive Disputes
One of the biggest talking points about the show The Vampire Diaries is how the show compares to the book that it is based on. Many online communities talk about the differences and similarities between both mediums, and which direction they like better. On one specific site two fans, one who has read all of the books brought out so far and one who is an avid watcher of the series, talk about how each genre deals with a specific plot detail of The Vampire Diaries, and then decide on which genre does a better job. First, they talk about the main character Elena in each form of media, in which the person who represents the books says she is “a BEYOTCH. She is whiny and mean and snobby”, whereas the person representing the show says “she’s really sweet and caring, and tough! She stands up for herself and others.” Both people decide that they like Show’s portrayal of the character Elena better. Then they talk about the main two vampire brothers origins of which in the text they become vampires by ingesting vampire blood and then fighting each other to the death, which they feel is a lot more thrilling origin than in the show where they ingest vampire blood and then are killed by their father who wants to kill anything vampire related. Then when it came to the actual plot both fans found a standstill between the book and the show because of “all of the crazy plot twists and turns!” So, this put them at a draw between the show and the book, but the factor that has swayed them and many other fans is the sex appeal of the show. The show has an ensemble of very attractive looking cast members, and some fans say they watch the show just to get “a chance to see Ian Somerhalder [the actor who plays Damon] shirtless.”

Still though some of the fans started off on the books and find the differences between the show and book to be too much, commenting that “The only thing that bothers me about the show is that there is no Meredith.” The show’s first two seasons didn’t have the book character Meredith, but eventually she is added into the third season but is an entirely different character then was in the book. As so pointed out by a fan on fanpop.com. Another fan praises the show by saying “the plot moves lightning fast, the acting is great, they got away from the lame diary entries, sorry that was just terrible, and mist & crows.“ All in all it seems both the book and the television show have their shining moments as well as flaws, but as one fan puts it “it seems like 2 completely different things, with only the names and very minor plots alike.“ It seems both the writer of the books L.J. Smith and the writer of the show Kevin Williamson had different authorial intentions and used their specific mediums to convey their stories. The fact that there are such strong supporters of both reading the stories and watching the stories shows that new media doesn’t erase old media. As Matthew Kirschenbaum said “technology does not hurt reading, but instead adds another dimension.” The electronic medium, the television, just adds another dynamic and dimension in story telling, and from watching The Vampires Diaries on television it can also encourage the fans to read the novels as well and vice versa. As one fan on says “the books are definitely worth reading. They explain so much about the show and the characters. I am the type who normally likes the show better than the book but the books are outstanding and so is the show.” As the fans have shown it may be hard to say which medium better portrays the Vampire Diaries, but I think either way the fans would agree that each version captures the show in it’s own light, is extremely entertaining, and is a joy to watch unravel.

Knowledge Communities
One of the first things a reader is tempted to do when beginning a book is to read the last page. So, it makes sense that someone watching his or her favorite television show would want to do the same thing, But, unlike a reader who can merely flip to the end of the book, the television viewer must try to gather various hints and clues both inside the television show and outside the television show to spoil the ending before it actually comes on television. Fans of the television show The Vampire Diaries are using this strategy to spoil the season finale of the third season of the show. Specifically, the fans have tried to do so by looking at various interviews from actors and producers of the show to see if they could find any hidden clues. The fan site finds a video created by Julie Plec, the executive producer of the show, where she talks about the season finale episode “The Departed”. In the video Plec says “it’s a doozie of an episode, I can say now for 100 percent that there is someone who does not survive to the end” Since the fans know that someone is going to die, they now try and look at different information about the characters that would suggest who is going to die. One fan on the site buddytv.com makes a comment that “Isn’t the character playing Alaric going to star in another CW show? So he is going to die”. The fans find out that Matthew Davis who plays Alaric Saltzman on the show has gotten casted by the same network to star in a new show called “Cult”, so many feel that he will be the one who dies on the show. Still though the fans are able to find another interview by executive producer Julie Plec that she did with Entertainment Weekly where she again comments about the season finale saying “the show will shock even the most devoted fans.” This again leads fans to believe the notion that the character Alaric will die because in order for him to die the main character Elena must also die because “her blood created the Super Vampire (Alaric), her death can kill him” as pointed out by a fan on. So, now the fans speculate that the huge twist in the season finale will be that both Alaric and Elena will die. A certain fan on suggests that from the preview for the season finale which shows Elena crashing in a car over a bridge into water, that they “feel like its finally Elena’s time to choose, and by that I mean choose the “vampire” life over the “human” life, and she may not have a choice, as we saw in the forthcoming accident.” So, this would allow the main character Elena to continue on the show because her death would transition her from a human to a vampire, and would be the shock that Julie Plec referenced to.

So, just like the fans in “Spoiling Survivor: The Anatomy Of A Knowledge Community”, these Vampire Diaries fans were able to work together and piece together different clues to come up with a very strong prediction of what happens in the season finale. These fans of the show have been using this spoiling technique of “the most hardcore fans who go to extraordinary lengths to ferret out the answer” all throughout the season trying to spoil episodes before they would air. In most cases they would gather previews of the next episode from different countries, and then try to piece certain parts of the episode together. This can be seen here http://www.vampire-diaries.net/tv-series/extended-canadian-promos-for-dangersous-liasons-ep314 as fans look at both the U.S. and Canadian preview of a following week’s episode. A tremendous amount of work goes into trying to unravel the plot of the next episode, but the hard work pays off for the fans when they do guess the next episode’s plot correct, as they did with the season three finale. All of this was done through a teamwork process in which “these communities are held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge.” So, this approach of everyone bringing their own piece of knowledge to the table is similar to the idea of Wikipedia in that “a person’s knowledge is by definition partial, and that truth is established only when people pool their wisdom.” Each fan watches the show, and then goes onto to compile their thoughts and findings, and in the end they use each other’s findings to come up with a very strong idea of what they think will happen in the following week’s episode. These Vampire Diaries fans know this show this best, and hence know where to find the clues, which for this show would be through direct interviews with the people who make the show. And by using the previous week’s show along with the following week’s extended previews and insight are able to spoil the twists before they happen.

Remediation
Underneath all of the twists and turns of the show The Vampire Diaries, the story remains centered upon the question of which Salvatore brother should Elena be with, Stefan or Damon. This is one of the most talked about matters of the show, and many fans have made different pieces of art to illustrate who they feel Elena should be with and to characterize Elena’s relationship with each brother. Specifically are two videos, one with Elena and Stefan and the other with Elena and Damon. Each video truly captures the relationship Elena has with each brother, and because her relationship is so different with each brother has led to so much controversy of who she should be with. Everything from the music of each video, to the clips of the show each video has, shows the persona of each brother and clearly illustrates how different they are. In a quote from episode 19 of season 3 “Heart of Darkness”, the character Rose describes each brother’s relationship with Elena saying “It’s not just that she makes him a better person, she does, but he changes her too. Damon challenges her, surprises her, he makes her question her life, her beliefs. Stefan is different. His love is pure. He will always be good for her. Damon is either the best thing for her, or the worst.”

The first video of Damon and Elena has very intense and upbeat music, illustrating the strong sexual attraction between the characters, and how their relationship is largely hot and steamy. They have a strong desire for each other as pointed out by the words on the screen that are added indicating various body language throughout the video. Most of these scenes involve them kissing and finally letting their guard down so they can fully embrace each other. Damon’s character is that of someone who uses his sex appeal to toy with many girls throughout the series, and is constantly fulfilling the role of a bad boy. A fan on says that there relationship is a “blind and desperate, passionate love”, once again in agreement with the video which characterizes these traits. Then in the second video with Stefan and Elena the viewer gets a whole different feeling. The music is a lot more slowed down and serious, which emphasizes the stability of their relationship and how it is a lot more serious then a hot fling. In most images the characters are either hugging or staring intently into each other’s eyes. Also, the kisses aren’t a full on make out, but instead a longer romantic kiss. Additionally the video shows both characters expressing various emotions together such as sadness and elation, simulating that they have this history together, building up a strong foundation for a relationship. A fan on tvfanatic.com makes this comparison as well saying “at the end of the day Stefan is probably a better bf in more traditional ways.” Clearly, the videos show a strong contrast between the Salvatore brothers’ relationships with Elena, and how they each have a different kind of love.

So, the video is taking clips from the show and presenting it in a different form of video supplementing it with added subtitles and music, which presents each brother with Elena in a different light. This act of remediation is also present in the story “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. Just as these videos draw out the brothers’ main characteristics of their relationships with Elena, the creation Frankenstein creates is meant to illustrate the defining characteristics of a man. The creation is characterized by his strength and physical prowess, which are characteristics men are synonymous with. Overall, this video captures the true essence of each brother’s love and gives each brother’s relationship with Elena new life.

Another piece of remediation is a hand drawn picture of the Salvatore brothers with Elena. In the sketch is Elena lying down with Damon about to kiss her neck and Stefan about to kiss Elena’s mouth. The picture is very well drawn and looks extremely realistic to a photograph. This picture once again shows the love triangle between Damon, Stefan, and Elena. Also, along with the video, it shows how Stefan and Elena’s relationship is more meaningful as he is the one who is locked eyes with Elena and about to kiss mouth to mouth. The fact that Damon is about to kiss her neck is more of a sexual thing then a show of romance and passion. It seems fans are fascinated by this love triangle as they continue to make videos and artwork of the three characters together, and it seems throughout the various media they manage to capture both personalities of the different relationship with Elena. Fans are continuing the love between the characters on screen into other mediums that clearly shows a fascination for the bizarre love triangle.

Links
The Vampire Diaries Wikipedia Page

The CW Network's Official Page For The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries Fansite