I have a confession. I don't like Twilight.
Both girls have read the series, Mary Grace is a big fan. James even read Twilight (and I'm not going to question why an adult male would want to read a book with a 17 year old girl as narrator). We went to see the movie as a family. It was entertaining enough.
However...
James left the novel for me to read, so I've been giving it a try. I don't like it. Never mind that this puts me clearly in the minority opinion of this series. Never mind that I can't actually tell the family I don't like it. I simply do not like this book.
I expected the novel to be better than the film, but it hasn't captured my attention. I'm also reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, after having watched the movies with the family as well. I like that series, so it's not fantasy or young adult fiction that I'm opposed to - it's the melodramatic, overstated restrained passions, the delicate fainting female lead, the perfection of the men, the "I'm not good enough" routines.... I can't even write coherently about it, it bothers me so much.
This harks back several years ago, when I took a course in European History from 1815 to 1914, and we read Frankenstein, Dracula and Germinal. I enjoyed Germinal. Hated Frankenstein and Dracula. The lead character in Frankenstein drove me crazy - make a decision and stick with it, stop complaining and moaning about everything! In Dracula, the limp, weak women bothered me no end. Why did all the male characters resist the vampire, but none of the women could?
So here we are, 2009 and another woman falls weakly for the "dazzling" so-called perfection of her male hero. ~sigh~ I sure hope I can find books with smart, decisive, independent women as lead characters and suggest that the girls give those books a try.
Next week I'm back to academic reading, have put in my book orders and they've started to arrive. Twilight and Mr. Potter will have to wait for another day.
3 comments:
I figured I was the only person in the world left who had not read it. That's all I hear about. Nah, not for me. Give me trashy magazines any day, hahahahaha.
I don't admit this to many, but I'm a 25 year old male and I'm a huge fan of the series. I'm not sure what that says about me. ;)
My wife is an even bigger fan and some of the things that you mentioned do bother me. Edward's love for Bella comes off as almost unrealistic, but when you consider that he has been waiting a century for her, I guess it kinda makes sense.
I personally don't hold your views about the male image in literature, as Edward and Jacob are breathes of fresh air compared to other men portrayed in literature and the media. I guess the reason that I like the series so much is the ethics and purity that Edward holds to, despite his desires.
Thank you for your comment Josh. I agree about the ethics aspect. That's due to the views of the author, and is a refreshing change from most teen series which seem to assume lots of sexual activity. The Boston Globe had an article a couple weeks ago about female authors who are also Mormon and how that impacts their writing, it was interesting.
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