Brief rant about certain things that alarm me and make me question whether the people making that new Vampire Academy television show actually understood multiple aspects and themes of the Vampire Academy book series. I’m not assuming the worst of that new Vampire Academy television show, and no hard opinions have been formed as I haven’t seen it yet as it’s not publicly released as of rn, but these are just some things that I reckon could be questioning indicators.
Most of this is probably gonna relate to Blood Promise tbh.
Dimitri Belikov is Russian and that is an important part of both his character and the books in general. Ok. Apparently, that new television show isn’t going to have their interpretation be Russian. Why is that an issue? It’s definitely not racism, Russian is not a race. It could be a studio lumping all of Russia and Russian citizens in with the horrific and terrible actions of the Russian government, and wanting to avoid Russia altogether because of that, which, while not great, isn’t as bad as actual racism. Ok. Why is Dimitri being Russian important, at least on a thematic level? Obviously I love certain things like Dimitri’s Russian nickname for Rose, which while I personally consider extremely important, I know why production studios might not.
However, Russia does become much more thematically important in Blood Promise, where Rose goes to a foreign country in persuit of Dimitri. Part of the reason why Russia specifically is thematically, and plot-wise, relevant, is because it’s a distant land both literally and metaphorically to Rose at that time. It’s a place that Rose knows very little about, and the little that she knows doesn’t paint it in a very good light, and she repeatedly mentions throughout the 1st 4 books how before she went to Russia, she didn’t understand why anybody would want to live there, and how it seems like a cold and uninviting place. When Rose gets there, and especially once she meets and spends some time with Dimitri’s family in a town with a particularly bad reputation, she sees and experiences how beautiful, warm, inviting, and full of life it is. She learns not just about Dimitri’s family, or a foreign country, but a different way of life that can actually be extremely beautiful and fulfilling, and even considers staying there. It gives her a new perspective on the world, and also the world of Dhampirs, Moroi, and Strigoi, and opens up her mind to new ways of life and her worldview significantly changes and becomes more open-minded, and less judgementful, and more accepting. A place that she previously thought of as cold, uninviting, and had a bad reputation becomes a potential second-home for her.
I don’t think that those themes are easily substituted if you replace Russia with just any other country. It HAS to be far away, it HAS to seem inaccessible, and it HAS to have a bad reputation from the perspective of an American teenage girl (while Sisi Stringer is Australian, as am I, Vampire Academy is told through a very U.S.A. lens, and that plays into its themes and is self-aware of that).
Places like Italy, or England, or Spain, wouldn’t be able to deliver on those themes even close to as well as Russia, as those countries are romanticised, or at least doesn’t have the same bad reputation that Russia has from an U.S.A. - Americanised lens. An argument could be made for certain other countries possibly being able to deliver on some of those themes, for example some predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East, and then they can show their culture as beautiful instead of the little to no positive representation in mainstream western media, however I highly doubt that they’re going to do that. Being from the same country and simply a different part of that country almost completely undermines all of those themes and elements, as well.
Also, I personally feel that a large part of what kickstarts Sydney Sage and Rose Hathaway’s friendship is them both being in an extremely foreign country together. They have some base level of understanding of each other that comes from both being from the same country while in an extremely foreign country. Sydney tells Rose that she’s from Utah, and Rose has thoughts and feelings about that because she’s at least somewhat familiar with Utah, in a way that only somebody from the same country but a different part of it would be. Rose is grateful for Sydney being able to translate Russian, not just the spoken language but also being able to read the Russian alphabet, and Sydney can guess what sorts of foods Rose might gravitate towards. Rose and Sydney both find amazing beauty in the Russian architecture that they see, although both for different reasons. Part of the reason why Rose stays with Sydney when they 1st meet is because Sydney can help her navigate Russia, both from a book-based knowledge, and also navigating that culture, and Dhampir, Moroi, and Strigoi hotspots. If there’s no Russia, then why do Rose and Sydney become friends??
These sorts of themes and plot elements and character elements actually are extremely important. If all it was was the loss of a beautiful nickname, and maybe an accent, then it’d suck but it wouldn’t be the same as losing such massive and extremely important and impactful parts of the Vampire Academy book series. Not including that, or not considering it important, seriously makes me question if the people who made those decisions really understood or understand the Vampire Academy books at all, even remotely.
Disclaimer: no hate to the cast. Also this is by no means an exhaustive nor complete list, and also feel free to re-read that 1st paragraph. It’s impossible for adaptions to be exactly like the original because everybody interprets the original in their own, different, way.
