Okay this is gonna be a long one but stay with me. I just finished rewatching the vampire diaries since the first time I watched when it aired. (1/??)

Honestly it is a good show, I mean I watched 8 seasons all over again, I enjoyed the acting (for the most part) and the storyline is intriguing, and I love fantasy. But the one thing that stuck out to me, was the lack of representation.

And all the main characters apart from Bonnie are white (although Tyler played by Michael Trevino is half Mexican, which I didn’t know until I searched it up, yet he was portrayed as white). And being the one main, recurring POC throughout all 8 seasons, miss Bonnie Bennett,

was never ever given a shred of happiness, and she was the one that sacrificed the most time and time again to help her friends, but never helped herself. And she did get some good storylines I guess but mostly, she was cheated on, broken up with, died every now and then,

he people in her family all died, and was always called just to do magic for all the other white characters. Every single person of colour that came along on tvd died, and was horribly mistreated. And on the other hand, this was by far the STRAIGHTEST show I have ever watched,

oh my goodness seasons 1-5 (and most of 6) there was no queer representation whatsoever (apart from Carolines dad, who left her mom for a man… did we ever see this man? Did they ever talk about his queerness, not a single time). Nora and Mary-Louise, as a lesbian couple in

in the 17th ep of season 6 and died a mere 17 episodes later. In the course of 171 episodes, the queer community was given 17 episodes of representation. As a gay woman myself, I enjoyed all those 17 episodes, and although the representation was not good, it was all there was!

The fact that Nora and mary-louise were the only form of representation I still cried at their proposal scene, as well as their death.

The point of this thread was not only to shit on the vampire diaries, but also to show why representation is sooo important.

The way people complain “there’s always a gay character ” don't understand the need to see yourself on tv so you don’t feel crazy being yourself. These are the same people that argue why there isn’t a "straight parade" & dont have to fight for their right to marry who they love.

Representation on TV is the reason I was able to accept my sexuality & be who I am today. And that is a main reason why I want to act, I am a queer woman of colour, and if I saw someone who looked like me on tv the I was younger, I would’ve have felt so out of place in the world.

I still have yet to see a middle eastern actress that doesnt have an accent, that isn’t a side character, etc. We deserve representation that just shows us as regular people, I want a movie about a gay character that has nothing to do with their "struggle" of being gay.