Hollywood’s History of Romantically Neglecting Black Women:
Bonnie Bennet - Bonnie Bennet is a character from The Vampire Diaries, played by Kat Graham. I never seen The Vampire Diaires because of my Christian beliefs, but Ebony Elizabeth Thomas wrote a chapter about Bonnie Bennet in her book titled The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games. This book talks about how black women characters are written in fantasy franchises like the Hunger Games, Merlin, and the Vampire Diaries. One line from this book that stood out to me was when Ebony questioned how a show that includes teenage sexuality never showed Bonnie being sexually active.
Since the beginning of the film industry, black women has always received the short end of the stick in general as well as romance. We started off as the mammies and the maids, then we slowly transistioned into the best friend roles. Our jobs were to always support the non-black protagonist in one way or another, cheer them on as they attempt to reach their goal, give them a shoulder to cry on when they’re sad, and never do better or want better for them. And we’re not allowed to be anything other than happy because if we’re not happy then we can’t keep our protagonist in good spirits. The only time we were allowed to be seen as vulnerable if when we’re harmed, allowing the white protagonist to save us in one way or another. Either way, black women were always props and pawns in someone else’s story, but was not allowed to have a story of our own.
Based on what I read in Ebony Elizabeth Thomas’s book, I gather that Bonnie is the character that has in one way or another furthered everyone else’s story, but has not had a story of her own. Even her villain arc and death was a way to further someone else’s story, and once the writers were done abusing her, they tossed her away.
In the romance department, Bonnie had an unhealthy on and off relationship with one person and other relationships that just wasn’t written well, which is a far cry from her novel counterpart Bonnie McCullough. In the novel, Bonnie is written as white teen with reddish-gold hair, and she was in a relationship with Damon Salvatore. It seems that when they casted her with Kat Graham, they didn’t make the effort to put her in a relationship with Damon and instead put him in a triangle for Elena’s heart. From my perspective as a black girl, it feels like they didn’t want audience to see Bonnie Bennet as desirable as her friend Elena, which wouldn’t be the case if they had kept her white.
In a way, I worry that Lady Danbury will become victim to this.