And now the exciting conclusion of my thoughts on the Twilight series.
SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read the books, intend to do so, and wish to be surprised as to the events therein, you may not want to read the rest of this post.
As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, I found the Twilight series to be problematic. While the writing style didn't entirely agree with me, the chief issues I had with the books involved the content of the story itself. First, the female protagonist, Bella, becomes nearly suicidal when her vampire boyfriend, Edward, breaks up with her in the second book. While I found it a clever device to label consecutive pages after the breakup scene only December, January, February, etc., to express that time has gone by in a blur for a little while, I have a definite problem with the fact that the character feels that she would rather die than live without her boyfriend. Furthermore, once the two are back together at the end of the book, Edward forbids Bella to see her werewolf best friend. This controlling behavior is justified, and almost glorified. Bella explains it away by saying that he doesn't really mean it; he just doesn't understand. Does this seem like a slippery slope to anyone else? Being that the primary audience for these books is the teenage girl, what kind of message is this sending?
The fourth book also presents several problems. First of all, it represents a complete departure in that all of the other three at least maintain some connection to a reality-based scenario; Bella attends school, has awkward adolescent interactions with her parents, and other normal teenage activities. By the fourth installment, she and Edward are married, she becomes pregnant with a half-vampire child who attempts to claw its way out of her body such that she needs to drink blood to calm it down, and she is made into a vampire so that she will not die from the delivery. (No, I'm not making that up.)
The fact that Bella became a vampire is something that bothered me quite a bit. Throughout the series she begs Edward to turn her, and through a near-death experience, she gets her wish. My stepmom Deanna put the main issue with this turn of events best by saying that Bella chose death. She is then rewarded by becoming the most beautiful and powerful vampire, and having the "perfect" child and "perfect" family, for eternity. Again, the message the story sends is extremely questionable. The story is pure adolescent wish fulfillment, which can explain its popularity amongst that demographic, and also adults who want to escape into that kind of a fantasy.
I will admit, I got sucked in and read the entire series in a matter of a couple weeks. The author did have a knack for driving the story along. I just found too many things that really bothered me about the story to truly enjoy it. I'm sure there are many, many folks out there who disagree with me. Those of you who have read the books, what are your thoughts?
The problem with Twilight and Harry Potter and 95% of everything that has come out since 1996 is they suck.
ReplyDeleteKate, I have to agree with you. Like you, I ran through the Twilight series in a matter of days (yep, days), purely because the books are sticky, sweet, yummy brain candy. That being said, I also had issues with the plot. Aside from the lack of character development (Bella has so much potential and more backstory on Edward would have been helpful in understanding his motives in why he feels the need to control Bella's every move), the whole werewolf-imprinting-on-the-baby-thing really makes my skin crawl. Ew. Speaking of Jacob, why did he turn into a whiny three-year-old when he didn't get his way? Hello? We spend all of New Moon getting to know--and like--Jacob, only to have him really piss us off with the temper tantrums in books three and four. Please. I have my own kid throwing fits; I don't want to read about another one when I am trying to relax.
ReplyDeleteBack to Bella. There is so much potential there for her to be a strong character but she doesn't grow any hint of a spine until the last book. As you said, what message is this sending to teenage girls? Let four months go by unnoticed when a guy leaves you? That's great. What happened to teaching girls about becoming strong young women? How about teaching them that gee, you have your own brain???? Having experienced at least one horrifingly bad break up myself, I can honestly say that life does go on and time does not slip away like that. Yes, certain things you do lose but it's not as if you were possessed during that time (as Bella seems to have been, as she can't remember anything).
Regarding Harry Potter...well, I could go on for a long time about that. Yes, there are some common themes between the two series, but the HP characters are so well developed and, as the series goes on, there are some very adult references that children weren't meant to pick up. I like that there is that added level to the series. What did you think of the movie, anyway???
Well, you succinctly stated my problem with the whole Twilight series, and you know I had a long discussion with it about it with our local librarian. I promise not to rant now.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I will continue to stand by the written Harry Potter series forever (even if I become the world's most beautiful vampire with powers and riches beyond most people's wildest dreams). Rowling's concepts of love being more powerful than the darkest of magic, everyone (Neville) has the courage to face their fears, and finally, accepting death as the final journey, will always ring true for me.
I'll admit to having read most of "Twilight," and to having seen the film. (Let's not delve into what unfortunate circumstances led me towards Twilight's dark shadow.) So I can't speak for the series, only for the first entry. And thusly I say unto you: It sucked. Hard. The writing was passable, at best. Of course, I'm not the target audience here, and I'm sure there are others who really dig reading page after page about how darn pretty Edward is.
ReplyDeleteThe prettiest boy in school falls for the clumsy, average-looking one. Because he smells all intoxicating to him. I suppose there are worse reasons to fall for someone, though Meyers makes it seem more like a junkie lusting after a narcotic than anything resembling true love.
He saves her from would-be rapists, he saves her after she gets kidnapped … In essence, it's bad escapist romance. Nothing wrong with escapist fiction or romance. Except when it's bad. And it was.
But not as bad as the film, which proved Edward to be a whiney kid who likes to take his girlfriend on piggyback rides through the woods. I suppose we should get all uptight when Bella's mom gets kidnapped, except that the audience is barely introduced to her and thus is given little reason to care for the character, except that she's Bella's mom, and the story becomes so familiar it's blasé.
If a film about a vampire can't be scary (and there's nothing about the Daytime Sparkles Ken doll that is Edward), it should at least be fun. Twilight is neither.
Bite me, Twilight. Bite me hard.
(PS–It takes a well written blog to get me all ranty, so you could say, Kate, that these last two entries were especially well written).