Twilight, Or, The Sparkly Mormon Alpha Vampire
Good morning, everyone. I have news: pump-driven espresso makers are a little louder than steam-driven ones. But they do make a lovely cup, with nice crema. And what happened to my old steam-driven one, you might ask?
Don’t ask. Please. Just let’s call it “the poor thing gave its all for years and finally, gave up the ghost.” While almost giving me a heart attack, I might add.
So. I did read Twilight recently, and lots of people have asked me for my opinion. I think I might best give it by giving this link–Smart Bitches Sarah, on Edward Cullen as a standard romance alpha hero. For what it’s worth, I completely agree. I feel profoundly conflicted about the alpha hero anyway, even when I write him.
Now, I did go and do a Breaking Dawn event recently for the release of the fourth book in the series, but that was because I was asked and I like doing release events (even if they’re not my book, kaff kaff). I was amazed at the energy of the mostly young and mostly female fans; but I held off reading the books because, you know, I’m writing YA too and I didn’t want to contaminate the well, so to speak.
It took Cleolinda’s blow-by-blow of Breaking Dawn (Part One of it is here) to convince me that perhaps, maybe, I should just read this and see what all the fuss is about, contamination or no. I picked up Twilight this last weekend and finished it in a couple days, in between laundry and writing and other stuff (like eating).
It was a hard slog.
Now, Meyer’s obviously onto something. Her fans are legion and very excited, and the Readers, of course, always know best. But I had a couple problems with the book, most of which spring from being an adult reading a YA book and others that spring from external influences.
Let’s take the external influences first. First, Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon*, and my feelings about that corporation are, shall we say, less than charitable. Don’t get me wrong–I would fight to the death for their right to lawfully follow the religion of their choice, and I feed all the Mormon kids who come to my door on mission. (That’s part of my own vows, thankyouverymuch.) But I had the bad fortune to read Orson Scott Card’s panegyric to Meyer (in Time magazine) right after I read his horrid little jerkwad anti-gay-marriage screed, and the two became uneasily conflated in my brain. Not to mention that I’ve been following Warren Jeffs and the other branches of the FLDS through the news for years now, and am sickened and disgusted both by the child abuse, murder, spousal abuse, and polygyny; AND by the mainstream LDS church’s refusal to both give some of its billions (raked in through tithes and things like Deseret) to help the victims of the FLDS OR to speak out loudly against the abuses perpetrated by their fanatical co-religionists. So, knowing that about the author did color my perception of the book, and I’ll admit that openly. Mea culpa; but I was willing to give it a chance.
However, (and here’s where we get to the nitty-gritty) this is not a book I’d ever recommend to my daughter.
We have a reach-and-read-it policy in our household. “If you can reach it, you can read it, and if you cannot reach it, get a stool!” I am not in the habit of censoring books for my children. If I find something objectionable, I discuss it with the child reading it. We talk about how I feel, how the kid feels about it, and the kid is free to read it as long as we’ve discussed it. That’s reasonable, and if my daughter finds Twilight on the shelf and wants to read, more power to her.
But you bet your sweet bippy I’m not going to recommend it, and if she find it and wants to read it we’re going to have a talk about how your life does NOT need to revolve around some boy. Especially some boy who stalks you, tries to control your life, and sucks blood/energy. (I find the bloodsucking to be a big metaphor, but we all knew that.)
That’s the crux of my problem with this book. Is Bella an appropriate role model for young women?
Now I know you might remark, “Would you even care if you didn’t know the author’s religious choice?” That’s a fair question, and I don’t know. I do know that the religious bent of the author, and the Mormon church’s dismal record when it comes to female rights or even emancipation (this is still a church that educates women only in order to make them better housewives, as a friend of mine so memorably remarked not too long ago), SQUICKS ME RIGHT OUT when added to Bella’s absolute inability to say no or even to enforce her own boundaries when it comes to Edward. And Edward’s violation of Bella’s boundaries added to his refusal to stop when she does tell him “no” because “he knows best”? Ugh. No thank you.
I have less of this problem when reading alpha-hero romance intended for an adult audience, and I can really see the attraction of Edward Cullen for teenage girls. It’s great to think that there is someone out there–someone handsome, brave, sparkly, “ethical”**, smart, rich, and fantastic in all senses of the word–who will find your klutziness engaging, who will be head over heels with just you as a person. Believe me, I’m thirty-two frocking years old and I still see the attraction.
But that does not mean I would ever give up pieces of myself and let someone trespass over my boundaries and take over my life ever again.
I say “ever again” because I’ve been there. I’ve been in abusive relationships and I’ve been stalked, and some (okay, most) of Edward’s behavior skeezes me out to the max. I know it’s supposed to be Romeo and Juliet-esque, and believe me I have my problems with that play too, nevermind that it was my favorite childhood Shakespeare I can still quote by the ream. (I like to think that my choice of Richard III now shows a certain maturity. Or maybe not. *snerk*) What really skeezes me is that Bella thinks Edward’s behavior is appropriate and downright fuzzy romantic, and the author placed her parents in the book as nonentities. The book could just as easily be titled “Edward Saves Bella From Absent Father And Flighty Mother, Ushering Her Into Teh Perfekt Nuklear Fam, In Which It Is Okay To Suck Blood Because Our Wimmins Are In Their Place And Everyone Is Sporty/Pretty And Camps A Lot.”
Which, when added to the image of a perfect family noised about by the Mormon church, just sends me into twitching spasms. The fact that I know where the series ends up–with a teen marriage and pregnancy, Bella not going to college because she “wants to be with Edward so much” etc., turns me RIGHT OFF.
This begs the question of whether or not I think some other aimed-at-teen-girl series are appropriate role models for young women. Like, say, Gossip Girls or even the American Girls series (on the younger end). I’m not speaking to those because the phenomena isn’t as huge and widespread. The Twilight thing is, to me, a perfect storm. I cannot separate the fame of the series from my feelings about the author or from my feelings about the book, and knowing that the series ends up with the protagonist getting hitched and knocked up instead of going to college because of a hormonal glow of first love just makes me cringe.
Edward’s behavior in book one–he even STAYS THE WHOLE NIGHT IN HER ROOM when her dad doesn’t know about it–and Meyer’s subtle comment on the parenting styles of Bella’s mum and dad just make me so uncomfortable. And opening up the book with a heavy-handed quote from Genesis about the Tree of Knowledge? Man, I was probably lost the moment I read that, to be absolutely honest.
I do know I’m not going to be buying/reading the rest of the series unless my daughter finds the first one on her own, reads it, and falls utterly in love. Then I’m going to have to, and I’m going to have to discuss them with my little girl. Which will be all flavors of fun for her, I’m sure. I can just see her now. “Mom, it’s a book. I know this isn’t real. It’s just fun to read. Sheesh!”
Which is probably the best reaction she could have.
I wish Ms. Meyer all the best–publishing being what it is, we will probably cross paths sometime in the future, and she seems like a cool person. She’s made a lot of Readers very happy, and that’s awesome. I respect the hell out of that, and will probably go see the Twilight movie when it comes out. I suspect I will be the median age in the audience, too, given the size of the adult Twilight fanbase. I’m even going to go so far as to say I read something way outside my comfort level, and I’m glad about that. Not only am I glad, but I’m happy to see the books being discussed and analyzed by people like the SBs. This just underscores the power of fiction to bring people to the table and give them a chance to talk about all sorts of things–gender roles, religion, equal rights, social expectations–without getting into a war over it.
Or at least, let’s hope. Bear me out here by being decent to each other in the comments section, okay?
* I am fully aware my own religious preferences, stated openly, have driven some Readers away too. That’s a chance one takes with being a public personality, and a choice I made when I sold my first books dealing with the material I deal with. ‘Nuff said.
** Much is made of the Cullens’ ethics, as in not hunting humans. When conflated with Edward’s controlling behavior toward Bella, the cognitive dissonance is jarring.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I think you’re generalizing a bit much on the mainstream LDS religion.
And not that I think helping ANY victims of abuse is a bad thing, but why is it expected that the LDS church help specifically the FLDS victims? That’s like saying because the Protestant church came from a reform of the Roman Catholic church, they should be required to pay assistance for any victims caused by principles taught by Protestantism. The churches may have things in common but they certainly aren’t connected in beliefs and how they run things.
Perhaps there could have been a louder outcry from the LDS church leaders about the abuses being perpetuated by the FLDS. I’ll not argue that could have been handled differently as I agree myself.
As for the church’s record for female rights…well…I disagree quite strongly. The problem is that it’s always the fanatics that seem to get the most mileage about their beliefs. I won’t say that I haven’t seen rights trampled and beaten down, because that would be a lie and silly to boot. But my experience has been that it’s a pretty even percentage across the board of different religions that the perpetrators are active in. And, again regardless of the form of worship, it always seems to come from those who are interpreting the teachings of these churches to benefit themselves in the most way, or in my mind, fanatics. It was always taught in my home and community any man who took advantage of or abused any child or woman was doing wrong. In those situations law enforcement officers or welfare caseworkers were notified and the victims given as much help as needed. In my family if my father had even hinted at abuse of any kind (emotional, physical, verbal), my mother would have put a stop to it immediately. That goes for my extended family and friends who are also members. I’ve never been taught anything but that women are daughters of God and are to be treated as such, that we are on equal footing with the men. That I have as many rights and privileges as the men do. And if my husband was to treat me any other way, I’d smack him silly before packing my things and leaving. In fact, I was involved in an emotionally and verbally abusive relationship. He was not a member of the LDS church and my family fought just like any good family should to get him out of my life. He was so controlling and dominating that it wasn’t until AFTER that I could see what they saw. That was how he was raised. It was how his father and later his step-father treated his mother. All of which, were never members of the LDS church.
I’m not saying the LDS church is perfect (no church is perfect, that’s a fact of life) or that its teachings are. But one of the biggest things I do love about the LDS teachings is the emphasis on individual free will. I spent almost a decade after leaving home, finding my own path and looking at other religions before coming back to the mainstream LDS church. So I do have other experiences to draw from. I’m just saying people aren’t perfect, and any church leaders are just ordinary people. Just like the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the fanatics get the sound bites.
I personally don’t agree with a lot of “crap”, for lack of a better word, in Meyer’s books. I don’t understand the fanatic fan base for it. The whole series, while being fantasy, was unrealistic to me. Even fantasy has to feel real to the reader. I have a cousin who Bella vaguely reminded me of and I kick her in the butt verbally to take some responsibility for her actions and do something with her life. The fact that these books are touting a get married and have babies only theme is sad and discouraging. If someone chooses to do that, there is nothing wrong with that. They’ve exercised their free will. If someone falls into that because they feel it’s expected, that’s wrong. And sad they don’t have enough self esteem to look around and say, “You know, I think I’m going to do something I want to do.” and then do it.
Not a big fan of all of Orson Scott Card’s stuff. Some of it, yes. But definitely not all. But then there are a lot of other authors that I don’t enjoy or agree with what they are writing either. I have a hard time swallowing a lot of romance authors and not just those catagorized as LDS romance. They come off as ridiculous most of the time. Any little girl I raise will know she always has a choice and is just as important of a person standing on her own as by someone’s side as a wife.
So while I do agree with you wholeheartedly about the Twilight series, I don’t about the generalizations of mainstream LDS. And I’m not trying to convince you otherwise, just wanted to offer a different perspective.
It’s totally your choice how you see things. I hope I haven’t sounded preachy. That certainly wasn’t my intention. You’re one of my favorite authors and will continue to be so. (BTW as a side note, Selene is coming out MUCH too slow. Three days a week is not fast enough. You keep leaving me hanging, woman! o_O) I just thought I’d offer up my perspective to the blog gods in response.
Toodles,
Nicki
September 4th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I haven’t read the Twilight series, and I’ve heard enough that I don’t intend to. And I must say, it is nice to see some of the reasons other people *don’t* like it. I get enough of the glowing reviews… balance and perspective are good.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I am glad to know that I am not alone in my discomfort with Bella’s passivity and the whole relationship between her and Edward. Your insights were far more eloquent! Thanks for the link to the SB blog, too.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
TWILIGHT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^1000000000000
THATS COMING FROM A STRAIGHT A student, athelete, and person who going 2 college! Twilight is awesome and my favorite book ever! sorry i hav’nt read your books
TWILIGHT LOVER OUT!
September 4th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I’ve never read Stephanie Meyer’s books, but I have seen the posters advertising it at my local bookstore, even a whole display set up featuring all of the Twilight series. And from what I understand its quite popular with all different age groups. Being into Dark Fantasy books I thought I might give the series a try, but after reading some of the reviews online I decided that it would not be to my taste mostly for the reasons that Lilith has mentioned. I like my heroines to have a bit more backbone and independence than Bella seemed to display. I’m glad I’m not the only one who seems to think so too.
Also, I didn’t know the ending, like I said not having read the series, but since you mentioned it, I find it quite disturbing (considering the books popularity) that the heroine gives up her chance at education to get married and become pregnant at a young age. Now there’s nothing wrong with that decision, for some people its the right one, but I think it should be the exception rather than the rule — that this book is a role model for young girls disturbs me greatly to say the least. In my opinion, if someone really loved you, they would want you to better yourself and get an education so you could have a higher quality of life.
Anyway, like Chris said before me, your insights were helpful and eloquently put and reinforced my decision to steer clear of this series.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I have a 16 year old niece who has read this series and enjoyed it, but she is fully aware it is only a fantasy. She has not admired Bella’s behavior much but that doesn’t appear to affect her appreciation of what she considers a “good read”. From the reviews, I have no desire to read these books myself though my niece has offered to lend me her copies. There are too many really good books out there that I need to read and so little free time!
September 5th, 2008 at 12:06 am
ladyn couldn’t have said it better…
September 5th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Oh my. My advice to you is DO NOT READ NEW MOON. Bella’s subservience to Edward intensifies to an extreme level, it becomes utter dependence, and you just have to wonder if Meyer understand what she is telling her younger readers; that’s its ok to have no sense of self outside a relationship, that a man can define you, and that if he leaves you there must be a reason for the ‘greater good’ or because he ‘loves you’ and even though he is gone you must stay true to him.
But I’ll admit I have read all of the books more than once, except for Breaking Dawn, reason one being I read that book two weeks before turning 18, a mere year younger that Bella was ‘meant’ to be, (I say meant because the character seemed to mature about 5-10 years in the span of 100 or so pages) and having a child at my age seems like a monumental thing, and would be at any age but particularly at such a young one, and even that was not truly explore in the book rather passing the story to Jacob.
I do love these books don’t ask me why, I have no idea, but the difference I found for my friends and I from a lot of the readers I know of is that we have a greater world view than is expressed in the books and can understand this are only books, but I read the books at 16-17 so had time to define my own views or at least have so definition, but I have had many discussions with younger reads trying to get across to them that these are only books and are really not applicable to ‘real’ life, Meyer says she writes for herself but the books have a young readership, and the book is not written as an adult novel so she should have at least understood what the books would be saying to those young readers.
Though on another note the books are interesting as Meyer has a different idea of vampires to the norm.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:03 am
[...] trouble with how passive Bella is in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. Author Lilith Saintcrow had some of the same issues with Twilight, but was much more eloquent than I! I agree and hope that teens reading the series don’t consider Bella an acceptable role [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 6:03 am
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! I am a faithful practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mormon) and I whole heartedly agree with all of your well-founded discomfort with these books - I have been stating the very same points for several years now. (thankfully you only made yourself slog through #1). And thankfully my own two intelligent teenage daughters wouldn’t put up with such nonsence - they didn’t make it past the first chapter.
Let me state emphatically that Stephanie Meyer is not representing members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (’Mormons’) with her books! You won’t find our beliefs contained in the pages! In fact, it is very clear Meyer has made every concerted effort to write a book farthest away from her Latter-day Saint values as possible. I guess she thought that would take the spotlight off of her religion somehow. Funny, but no review of her book goes by without her religion being mentioned over and over. How many YA authors are being described as a “Catholic housewife”, or a “Jewish mama” or an “Islamic grandma” or whatever…give me a break. So why pick on the whole Mormon issue? It’s so unprofessional.
You have allowed yourself to confuse our church with a reclusive group in Texas who do not have anything whatsoever to do with us, nor our lifestyle, nor our beliefs. I recommend you go to http://www.mormon.org to get the facts. And as an aside, our church absolutely DOES reach out to help people in distress - our humanitarian outreach is one of the largest and best organized in the world. We spend millions of our dollars every year sending aid everywhere in the globe where there is a disaster or other need becuase we believe in helping our fellow brothers and sisters and following Jesus Christ’s example. We also DO help women escape polygamy - if they want to leave. We DO NOT infringe on someone’s rights to practice their beliefs, nor do we storm down gates with tanks and take women and children hostage becuase we think we are superior. That’s not us.
I have served as a leader of the LDS Young Women’s group (age 12-18) for many years. As youth leaders, we spend every minute worrying about these beautiful young girls and helping them reach their highest potential as strong vibrant intelligent talented women. We don’t sit around talking about how to change diapers, or make casseroles! We teach them the important practical directives of our prophet and leaders to help safeguard their moral, physical and spiritual well-being and build them into successful women. Let me list a few of the very important things the church teaches our teenage daughters - including my own two teenage daughters (and as you read this condensed list, you can compare to Meyer’s books) - Since you only read #1, trust me they get worse and fall farther away from this list.
1. The LDS Church teaches its Young Women that they need to “get as much education as they can possibly obtain!” They are continually urged to attend college and get higher degrees. They are to choose careers and strive for excelling in them. Perhaps they will chose to stay home with their children, and that is wonderful. But in our economic modern times, it is most likely they will be working outside the home for at least a significant time period of their lives, and they need to have professional training, and skills in a profession of their choosing. We anticipate that some day they will marry and have children of their own, and to be a good mother they will need education, life experiences, wisdom, and this will require TIME.
2. We NEVER tell them to marry young, nor that they are expected to be baby breeders. That is not our church. Thats someone else. Latter-day Saint women are among some of the smartest, savviest, sassiest and coolest women you will ever meet. They are high acheivers. They excel in all specialties. They are doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, researchers, scientists, and awesome ‘home management experts’. Our young women are taught that they can be whatever they want to be. They can also be a wife and mother and that is very cool, too.
3. We teach our girls that they should not marry young! Our young men and women are not allowed to date until age 16. From age 16-18 the church teaches them to date in “groups”. They should not pair off with one young man until after age 18 and since our young men serve 2-year full-time missions at age 19, we highly encourage the group dating to continue until after the men return from missions at age 21. Our young women are eligible to serve a full-time mission at age 21 and are encouraged to prepare to do so. If she so chooses, that would put her earliest marriage age at 23, and usually beyond. I served a full-time mission myself, and married at age 24. The median marriage age in the church is on the rise, comprable to the national average. Our youth are not rushing into marriage. They take that step very seriously. I feel that our girls are smarter and more self-assured than any generation before.
5. We teach over and over and over DO NOT EVER IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE allow a young man into their bedroom, nor go into his. (duh!) They do not lay down next to a young man. They do not give backrubs, or remove articles of clothing of a young man, nor remove their clothes with a young man present, nor allow him to remove any of their clothes! They certainly do not get inside sleeping bags with young men to “warm up”! (book 2 or 3) They DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES put themselves in a situation where they are alone with a man with no one else around, and certainly not in the dark. We teach these things because they are common sense! We know that these activities can stir up inappropriate sexual desire, which naturally breaks down resistance and leads to sexual activity.
4. The LDS Church teaches strict sexual abstinence before marriage and complete fidelity after marriage. “Any sexually stimulating behavior outside the bonds of marriage is inappropriate” - french kissing, necking, petting, etc. are all on the list of violating the law of chastity and you need to have a serious conversation with your bishop if you fall into this kind of behavior. Stimulating sexual feelings of arousal, even if you don’t “go all the way” is very serious, and inappropriate conduct and shows disrespect for each other’s bodies and boundaries.
5. The LDS Church teaches its youth to honor their father and mother. Youth are to respect their parents and to be honest with them. Listen to them and obey their counsel.
6. The LDS Church teaches that you must beware of controlling and abusive individuals and do not allow relationships with these kind of people. We have had the rape crises center come to do presentations to our girls several times. They have given them handouts with warning signs and profiles of abuse perpetrators to watch out for and not allow to be their boyfriends. Edward Cullin is a classic emotional abuse poster-child, and Bella is a classic co-dependant.
Ok, I’ll stop with the list - I could go on. I hope this helps you see clearly that the beliefs and standards of the LDS Church and it’s members are in sharp contrast to Ms. Meyer’s Twilight series. Please do not allow your hatred with her story to color your feelings toward an entire 13 million strong religion! Good heavens! As a faithful, fellow practicing Latter-day Saint I am ashamed of Stephanie Meyer for writing this sleaze. I am also ashamed of her for misrepresenting our religious beliefs, and for having such a powerful negative influence on so many beautiful young minds. These books discount all the important “real life” instruction that we are giving our girls. These books promote the idea that Bella’s behavior and her manipulative relationships with the men in her life is acceptable and somehow healthy! As far as I am concerned Ms. Meyer has wasted her talent. She sold out her high standards for a ‘mess of pottage’. Pornography always sells. Her literary creation is nothing more than a cheap harliquin romance. It titilates the senses for her female readers young and old. For those of you who have not read it - celebrate! For those considering it - Run Away! And for those who have read it or choose to read it, just heed this disclaimer and remember that this is NOT a mormon book. Ms. Meyer’s books are in no way associated with her religion. There couldn’t be a bigger disconnect.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Thanks for this. Between you and Smart Bitches I’m able to see why some people love and hate these books to death (pun *fully* intended).
As someone who had a near miss with an abusive relationship (I almost married the guy straight out of high school!) your description of these books and how they end sends unease crawling along my spine. It also sharpens my resolve to not let my own protagonist walk down that path… I’m glad I’ve written her to bounce back from pushoverville and have some strength, rather than give up her life to a guy.
Though, as much as I dread the thought of getting into Bella’s head, I may have to read these so I can form the basis of a good argument against them. I know my 19 year old cousin has read and loved this series, and this bit of information makes me worry for her.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:38 am
And now here am I, not sure I fully understand what you have read and what I read in those books.
1st of all I am a 26 years old single Greek woman who tries to exercise her free will as much as she can. who enjoys reading dark fantasy, fantasy, a bit of romance and almost everything in between and that I try to read the stories not to find ways to make my relationships better or my life like the the heroine’s. Sure, what girl and woman doesn’t dream of that mysterious, strong, dark knight that will protect her and love her and blah blah blah… yes, I do enjoy reading those stories, but I do know how they differ from this reality.
2nd, though I do believe in the greater beneficent power that many see in Jesus and God I am not such a fanatic as to not see the wrongness in some aspects of every church I read or hear about. And I do try to keep an open mind towards other’s religious beliefs (at least to the point where the others don’t try to change my beliefs with their own, If I wish to change religion I’ll search on my own ThankYouVeryMuch.)
3rd and hope, I’ll end it here. I have enjoyed reading the books, no, I didn’t see that end coming but still I read the stories, I didn’t try to decipher the hidden or not hidden meanings of the stories.
I was though feeling quite “incredulous’ (for luck of a better word) to read of adults (well when we are talking about 17-18 year olds who have the ‘traditional’ role of protecting their community against the ‘evil’ of vampires we are talking about young adults) who get ‘betrothed’ to toddlers through a hazy - to me at least - procedure. it really reminded me of the old Kingdoms’ alliances.
Then we get the heroine having unprotected sex - well since her ‘husband’ didn’t have blood but venom in his veins then I would guess that his semen fluids would have venom as well. - but instead of that what do we get? an ultra - short pregnancy that almost kills the mother, that she doesn’t want to end (okay, I can understand that) that even the Doctor abides to her wishes (One thing I do know, when the mother’s life is in danger the doctors vastly prefer to terminate the pregnancy and save the mother’s life) and of course we get a half mortal - half vampire child that in 7 years would reach maturity-
- as if her emotions, psyche, mind, all will be ready in all of 7 years (now isn’t that so conveniently the number of completion in just too many religions?) to take all the burdens of a mature woman of I don’t know, 20 years old?
And what I guess is the tip of the iceberg - Edward - the ‘father’ - trying to understand how Jacob, who is betrothed to Edwards daughter from the day she was born(!) doesn’t consider the possibilities of their relationship in the end of the next 6 1/2 years… even if I got through everything else (which really I didn’t) this really had me rolling my eyes.
To start from the very beginning though, I haven’t read Twilight in a quite long time, it was just a story for me. I guess I didn’t expect it to give me tips on relationships or the norms of a Happily Ever After. It was a story, just like the old fairy tales with the Prince bringing back Snow White. Perhaps it is because I grew up and stopped believing in Prince Charming (not that I ever believed in him…) perhaps it was because I was trying to help a friend with too many abusive relationships and never really being able to help her. But one thing I am sure of is that I didn’t search for those undercurrents, so I didn’t see them in the books. The 1st one yeah, It was a bit “Right! And her dad knows nothing…” the second had me “What the **** is he doing?” the third… oh it did put a new aspect in… the vampire saying “No! I am not changing you, you are going to College and I’m paying it” (That got me on edge…) It wasn’t like she fought too much… she wanted to become a vampire so that she wouldn’t be so ‘fragile’ and accident-prone… and then in 4th well, surprise surprise, once sex comes in… “Ah, yeah, I’ll go to college….” get a life! all it took him to get her to say yes to college was making love? now that’s a really disturbing thought….
well I am not sure how much sense I make here but What I meant to say is, every boy and girl in this world has to decide for their life. Just because some heroine of the 1800s (or Bella of the 21st century) decided to get married and have a child at 18 (because she doesn’t want to be off her teens as her beloved.) and then become a vampire so that she might live in eternal bliss (that is until fate strikes again) that doesn’t mean we all have to do the same…
In this world? she stays home to take care of child or works at the lowest payment, he works where he can and they fight everyday because life is not what they thought… Life is not a romantic fairytale or a convenient story when all end happily for the good guys….
and here I am cutting it because If I keep on…
Oh! and Selene is GLORIOUS!!!!
September 5th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I love hearing more criticism concerning the Stephanie Meyer books. I slogged through Twilight just to understand the hype surrounding the series and, after my grey matter recovered from the shock, I handed it off to a friend so she could revel in the awfulness of Bella and Edward’s co-dependent relationship. Much to my chagrin she LOVED the book and immediately went out and bought the rest of the series. For a while I thought I was in a very tiny minority of people who could not abide the Edward’s creepy stalking and Bella’s slavish devotion. *Phew* The cheese no longer stands alone!
Additionally, did anyone else find it extremely obnoxious that every other paragraph describes how beautiful/wonderful/sexy/SPARKLY Edward is? The book could easily have been 100 pages shorter if Bella’s character didn’t comment on Edward’s eyes etc. Maybe her character could, you know, focus on school since that is nominally what people her age do. While I am a good 5 years out of high school, I do seem to remember that there was more to it than mooning over Mr. Perfect and falling down in gym class. Perhaps I’m just having a case of generational disconnect…though I hoped I could avoid that malady until I was at least 30.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I have a love/hate affair with the series. I love the books - have them all, even some in hardcover, and even went to a release party for Breaking Dawn. BUT, I have always been uncomfortable with Bella’s entire life revolving around a “man”. She even attempts suicide (passively, but still) when he’s gone from her life. Bella and Edward do not have a healthy relationship, that’s for sure. I’m also very uncomfortable with the role - or lack thereof - of Bella’s parents in her life. It’s nice that she’s independent (in a way), but the parents always seem to be left out of everything that goes on. Even when Bella’s life is in danger, her mother hardly shows her face. Bella is most certainly *not* a good role model. Yet as an adult, I can still enjoy the parts I like and squick over the parts I don’t. Overall, I still like the series, even though I have a lot of problems with it.
And I do have to agree with some of the other posters here that it’s a slippery slope to link LDS with FLDS. and that to Meyer. I abhor FDLS - I’ve read quite a bit about the cult and followed all of the news stories very closely. However, FDLS is a cult - it’s like saying Christianity is evil *because* David Koresh and the Branch Davidians had horrible practices. One may still dislike Christianity of course, but for other reasons instead. Linking a cult with a mainstream religion is conflation. And of course, it seems to me to be wrong to dislike a book because of the religious or political leanings of the author. I love Orson Scott Card’s books, but I can’t stand his political stances. Come to think of it, he’s a Mormon, isn’t he? Well, there you go - no one really says “The Mormon author Orson Scott Card”, but they do it to Stephanie Meyer. Maybe it’s a bit of sexism in there, too? It’s difficult to separate an artist’s work from his or her beliefs, but it’s only fair to do so.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
*Perhaps I’m just having a case of generational disconnect…though I hoped I could avoid that malady until I was at least 30.*
Mermari, I totally agree with you and for the record, its not just generational disconnect, it is also an appreciation for recognizing B.S. in whatever form it appears in.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I really enjoyed the twilight series, but I did get creeped out by Edward A LOT. Seriously, he’s a major stalker. Plus, he becomes extremely obsessive over Bella.
Also, Bella is not a fit role model in any way, shape, or form. I was repulsed by the fourth book and how Edward and Bella would go “all night long” every single night. Let’s look at the facts here. Bella JUST graduated from college and she’s only 18 when she has a kid. Is this what we want kids to see?
I still enjoyed the first three books, and i’m extremely hyped up to see the movie, but I can see the problems with the books. And I completely agree with you.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Twilight rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just because Bella is a whimp does not mean im gunna emulate her! Edward just found his true love so thats why he won’t let her go and thats why some people find him stalkery. ITS TRUE LOVE~ WOULD YOU LET TRUE LOVE SLIP THROUGH YOUR HANDS? ALSO ITS JUST A BOOK JEEZ
September 19th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Hey- Thought I would add my two cents: I am 43 yo African American, married woman, no kids, unfortunately. When a series is this big, you have to take a looke see. I have yet to read Breaking Dawn. I like the series, but not enough to buy it. It is very weird in some respects, but it does hold my attention.
Here’s the thing: I believe she is holding up a mirror to how it is to be that age in those circumstances. As an author, I know that Ms. SaintCrow is very cognizant of the world she makes for her charactars and their struggles- their ethics match her own. But I think Ms. Meyers just said- here is my charactar- what would she do? And she just followed the charactar, no matter how wrong headed she might have been.
I think at that age, when first love comes, the boy IS all that matters- that all I cared about when I was teen- finding someone to love me and being heartbroken when noone was to be found. Even so, I got good grades, got into a great school, etc. I had all the bad “loves” and found a better love. I grew up.
So, Bella’s behavior: IT’S A PHASE TEEN GIRLS GO THROUGH. Then they outgrow it. What she thinks she wants forever at 17 is not what she will want at 27. But it is the narcissism of youth to believe that what matters NOW is all that will ever matter.
I am not always comfortable with Edward’s behavior, but then, he is an 18 yearold male from the early 1800’s- why is everyone so surprised at his actions? He’s had limited contact with people in the modern world. And those in his family are from a similar time.
Further- I find Bella extremely manipulative of the people in her life. So, i’m not always comfortable with Bella either.
Although Meyers hasn’t said so, she hints at it: I think that Bella has no choice in loving Edward. I think that she is chemically addicted to him, an evolutionary development to keep prey as a ready source. If Ms.Meyers writes from that perspective- basically an addict- well, no surprise Bella is so passive and will do anything to keep him.
Last thought: Authors grow in their craft and change with time. I’d be more interested to see what her next YA series is like.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I have the same problems with the Twilight series, but I have nearly the same problem with Dante. The same total dependence on a man (of whatever species). There are times in both books when I was thinking ‘just kill him already, you may die because of it but at least you’ll die as your own person’. Or something to that effect. Both situations made my skin crawl, probably because I have seen abusive relationships. However both are also good series to read, even with those flaws.
Leading on to the second side note: I’m agnostic, of the variety that believes NO religion has gotten it truly right about higher power(s) that may or may not exist. However, I feel that the FIRST repsonse of main-stream Mormons should NOT be to first deny any comparision between them and other ‘fundamentalist groups’ (same goes for Christians, and Muslims, or any other religion for that matter). The focus should be on the PEOPLE who are suffering - and how they or their group are helping those people not ‘That’s not us! Don’t confuse us with them! WE don’t do those things.’ I also feel that those same people who posted here should have explained their beliefs - so we can all understand them better too.