Hi! I love your posts and would like to hear your opinion on this:
Is it just me or does the fandom seem to have different standards between Caroline and the rest of the female characters?
Like, for example, Caroline is allowed to have her flaws (Like being unnecessary mean at times, insensitive slut-shaming, etc) and the fandom praises her and loves her for it. But whenever the any of the other female characters (Elena, Bonnie, Hayley, Liv, etc) behave similarly they’re bashed for it.
This isn’t bashing Caroline, btw. I do like her, this is just something I’ve observed.
First, thank you so much! I'm glad you like my posts <3
Second, I'm going to try and answer this in a way that I offend the least amount of people possible. But remember, these are just my opinions and interpretations of the show. You can like/dislike whatever character you want. My opinion doesn't need to matter to you.
The fandom in general has a lot of misogyny in it and I do think we can blame a lot of it on the writers for encouraging it. But, yes, each of the women in the show are treated very differently for various reasons.
I like Caroline, but I'll talk about my feelings on her more in another post. I know there is a lot of discussion in the fandom of Caroline being a self-insert for JP and it allows others to have her be a self-insert for themselves. Therefore, the fandom tends to be more understand with her because they see themselves in her. I agree with this to an extent. I do think that Caroline is easier for the audience to understand because her problems feel more human. Most people can understand being an insecure teenager or feeling left out by her friends, a girl who has boy drama and fights with her mom. Season 1 really cemented Caroline as the teenage human girl. While Bonnie and Elena were dealing with supernatural problems. While, as an audience, we can appreciate them, we can't fully understand what they were going through.
This plays a part throughout the series for a lot of people. I see fans often forget the struggles of other characters but hold on to Caroline. To me, it's because they related to Caroline on a personal level they just aren't able to do with the others. A lot of girls are watching Caroline struggle through the same issues they are as they are struggling through them. While I don't necessarily think it's in a self-insert type of way, Caroline does represent the average teenage girl, even after she is turned. I don't think this is a problem per se, people will always find ways to relate to a character. It's the point of media.
I hate discussions on who is the better friend between the three because they all have moments where they are amazing friends and moments where they had issues to different extents.
We also can't discuss how everyone is treated without mentioning race. Bonnie is constantly held to a higher standard because of this. As the only black/POC character for the vast majority of the show, Bonnie has to represent the whole community. She's not allowed to be angry or loud or rude because then it furthers stereotypes. And when she is, people jump on these stereotypes and write her off as a character in general to make it seem like it's not just their racism.
Now for the rest of the women, I have seen hate for every single woman on this show get unnecessary hate. Including Caroline. I do think Caroline stans let her slide on a lot and will defend her like their lives depend on it, but so will Katherine stans and Elena stans, etc. We tend to want to see our favorite characters as perfect and any critique is seen as an attack on their choice of favorites instead of just that, a critique. There is not a single character alive that cannot be critiqued.
Caroline sleeping with Klaus after everything he did was wrong. Just like Elena sleeping with Damon after everything he did was wrong. Caroline was wrong for murdering 12 witches to save her friend just as Hayley was wrong for helping get 12 hybrids killed to find her family. These things don't cancel each other out or make one alright.
Bonnie is perfect and has never done anything wrong.
I do think Caroline stans tend to make up a very large and vocal part of the fandom so it does come across that Caroline is allowed to do anything without critique, but I feel like I've seen a shift in the fandom (or maybe just the side I'm on) where she does get called out. And this is coming from someone who has gotten some nasty inbox messages from Care stans. But some of my favorite mutuals are also Care stans. I've seen so many people love the villains but criticize the teenagers for absolutely everything they do. People just want their faves to be perfect and for everyone to love them. Don't let the problematic, toxic stans represent the character or the fandom as a whole.
Thanks for the ask!