The Name That Speaks For Itself
Many people have now become entranced by the lure of the cunning Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp)—but is this caused by the great acting and complicated plot or is the answer more simple? With a simple look at the title, the answer may become quite clear. Although Emily had made a good life for herself and could be happy living anywhere, she moved back to the Hamptons in order to avenge her father’s death and make everybody responsible pay—especially that of top of the social and economic hierarchy, Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe). Her life than becomes complicated and her emotions seep into her plans. So even if Emily is seen as the heroine, she is a flawed being who has been corrupted by her seek of vengeance. This is what intrigues the viewer because it is what humans know and are used to—this is how the human race acts today. VanCamp sums up this statement clearly when saying, “Revenge is a universal language. Everybody has thought about it at some point. I think that people are looking for good old escapism.” The show reflects the feelings and actions of humans in today’s society. Although we believe we have good intentions and seem to have everything planned out going into something, it seems to become corrupted and flawed yet we seem to blame everybody else for the downfall. We may think to seek revenge to punish others that are believed to be responsible or want retribution towards others—yet we may become so overwhelmed that we lose sight in what we really wished to accomplish in the first place. The dreams we once aspired become corrupt and seem out of reach. In these time of fear and hurt—whether it be towards school shootings or a possible collapse of an economy—people turn to a show like Revenge and compare their lives to the characters are see how much more corrupt the characters’ lives our than their own. Stowe says, “People are enjoying seeing (the characters’) lives go askew,” and what many would say is a guilty pleasure. Us who tune into the show feel the guilt associated with the basic concept of vengeance, knowing that in some way it has corrupted us and has once put a blockade in our dreams—yet we still fell a sense of pleasure seeing how awful it can truly end up and how plans can become corrupt. So is there truly a dream or plan that can be followed without anything getting in the way and changing it or in many cases making it worse? Or does everybody accept it and then only come to seek revenge?