1. DIVERSITY ISSUES & TREATMENT OF BONNIE
Numerous fans, time and time again, has brought up the issue of lack of diversity. Out of the 9 main characters, there’s only one black character. Even though there has been recurring characters of color, but either they were killed off soon or their storyline ended too soon. That leaves us only with Bonnie Bennett. Kat Graham played the character of Bonnie Bennett on the Vampire Diaries. A powerful Bennett witch who descended from the powerful bloodline of witches. The Black fandom brought up plenty of issues concerning Bonnie and her treatment on the show. While Julie Plec clarified that the reason they never paired Bonnie and Damon because it was against the character of Bonnie. Even though Bamon was as a thing in the books. Bonnie was also never given a top-tier love interest unlike Caroline and Elena. Many fans have complained that Bonnie is one of the badly treated characters in the TV series history.
The character was placed in a position where she had to serve the interests of other people. Up until Season 5, she got very less screen time compared to other characters. And the screen time she got involved her casting the spells, not because she wanted to do it, but because she has been coerced, ordered, or forced to do it. The writers treated her as a loophole plot device. Her character didn’t get the character development such as Damon or Caroline received. Bonnie was robbed of her narrative, her love life wasn’t emphasized, her choices were robbed. Fans even pointed out as how comparatively her character was downplayed whether it’s the clothes or makeups. An example that has been cited numerous times as how Bonnie was absent from the Mikaelson Ball. She wasn’t even featured in the Mystic Falls dance in Season 1. While characters such as Caroline, Elena got the privilege of being shipped with almost every character, but Bonnie was placed in a forced and dull storyline with Jeremy.
When Klaus showed up as the big bad villain in Mystic Falls, Bonnie was the only character who can match him in terms of power. This resulted in an interesting dynamic between the two. Fans began shipping Klaus and Bonnie. The Klonnie ship could have been a thing and attracted plenty of media’s attention, but the writers were quick to shut down Klonnie and moved to Klaroline. Bonnie fans moved to Kennett (Kol and Bonnie), but Julie Plec was quick to shut down the ship. She said that it would be wrong to have a strong and beautiful woman such as Bonnie to be dating someone rabid as Kol. But at the same time, Elena and Caroline had the freedom to date all sorts of dangerous vampires. And whatever friendships and romances Bonnie was a part of, they all were one-sided where she had to sacrifice herself for the others. Time and time again, she was made the sacrificial lamb who sacrificed her dreams, happiness, and well-being for others. She fought the battles she had no business with.