Twilight- Apologia pro librum meum.
Mar. 11th, 2010 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishI've read all the Twilight books, and at one time or another I owned a copy of each of them. I read them based on the recommendation of a friend who has similar tastes in recreational reading. Those tastes are, by the way, fairly varied, but we neither of us mind a book with some flaws to it if there is an interesting story, and think that readings levels are suggestions, rather than mandates.
She rec'd Twilight to me while I was in Austria and needing fun books to read, and she told me that I would like the story and find the main character kind of whiney and annoying. And it was true- I find Bella kind of whiney, and sometimes annoying, but she has enough internal life that I was willing to keep reading. And, that was fine, actually. I was in it for the story, and while I was reading it, the story was actually quite engaging.
So, I kind of devoured the books in a lump one vacation, and I went back to Austria soon thereafter and that was that. There was no Twilight culture in Austria, and so I didn't get overwhelmed by it. It was, in a way, like my reaction to Americana while I was abroad- when it's not everywhere all the time, I like it. When there's too much, I rebel like a cat on a leash, but when there's just a little, I'm happy.
So I chatted with my friend about the books, and we both agreed that Edward was rather too perfect and that Meyer's attitude toward sex was antiquated at best, and then I found out that she was a Mormon and, to be frank, it explained a lot. I liked Jacob for his attitude towards the whole suddenly-a-werewolf thing, and Bella's stupid insistence on staying with Edward (who was portrayed as being too perfect for me to like him, and too pateralistic, and, frankly, aside from liking each other, they didn't seem to have any fun together- what's the point of being with someone if they can't make you squirt milk out your nose?), well, it just seemed kind of Juliet-ish.
And I don't mean that in any kind of a good way- it means she's throwing herself and her hopes away on a boy she met at seventeen. It means she does not seem like she values herself as anything more than what she is now- there's no room for change or progress or anything. At seventeen, she's who she wants to be? Really? Because at seventeen I wanted to get the hell out of my hometown and get a real life. Now, when I look back at my seventeen-year-old self, I'm kind of embarrassed. I've come a long damned way, and I frankly like myself a lot better now than I did at the time. I cannot imagine a person who, at seventeen, is exactly where she wants to be without thinking that person is monumentally short-sighted and just plain wrong.
So, I kind of had an opinion about Bella and her choices. I was pretty well on Team Jacob, but on the whole I thought the books were a little silly and that there was no real reason to be so entranced by the whole series. The story was decent, but there've been better, and there've been worse. I've read a lot
of vampire fiction (Vampire Diaries, Anne Rice, Sunshine, The Time of Feasting, Dracula, Fang, Vamped, the Silver Kiss, Salem's Lot, I am Legend, the Historian, and a selection of LJ Smith) and Twilight? was really just another take on the issue for me. Some new elements, but generally the pattern of a girl falling for a vampire was not a new plot to me, and vampires were something that came in a variety of shapes and colors, only one of them sparkly. And I had no problem with that- it was just one way of telling the story, and if Meyer wanted to tell it like that, fine by me.
And then I got back to the US.
And there were people who really, really liked Edward. And who really liked Bella. And who really, really did not view the whole issue as vaguely funny, but were emotionally invested. And, even then! I was not annoyed by this. There are books on silly, silly topics that I am totally passionate about, and I can bore you with my strong opinion. But it was like the time in 6th grade, where I was reading Harry Potter and other kids in the school had read it. And wanted to talk to me about it. Which had never happened before in my entire. freaking. life. Suddenly, it was there, and having admitted to reading the books, it was assumed that I had a strong opinion about them. And that I would really like to discuss them. And that I was A Twilight Fan.
And that, gentle reader, is where I went off the rails. Because, here's the thing: I read what I want. I read juvenile fiction at age 23 because I like it and I think it's smart and that the stories can be intriguing and there need to be more powerful women in my fictional repertoire and because I give a damn. There are books I am willing to fight for. There are books that I am willing to go to the mattresses for, books I will acknowledge as silly and fluffy and light reading and I will still say that they are important and valuable because reading them brought me an ounce of pleasure and opened my mind by a hair's breadth or by a hundred yards, books that that ran to my heart as straight as a Roman road. I am not ashamed of the "trash" that I read.
I read Twilight because I wanted to. And if I read it again, it will be because I wanted to. But right now, with all the fuss and botheration, with all the foolish young women who want desperately for some perfect man to come and swoop them up at seventeen like I wanted some perfect man to swoop me up at seventeen, I have to say that I will not fight for Twilight. It's not good enough. It's not worth it to me. It's neither as bad as its worst enemies say nor as good as its proponents claim, but quite frankly, I just don't care. This book did not touch me enough for me to care. This book did not excite me enough for me to really care. And this book sure as hell did not make me think a new thought about my life, except "Dear God, I am so glad my head is not that screwed up." There is a reason that I viewed this book as a guilty pleasure, which is that it neither reflected life as I knew it nor painted a new life as I might wish it to be. It was a story. It was entertaining. I read it cause I wanted to. And now I don't want to anymore.
At best, Twilight was harmless. I want something better than that.
She rec'd Twilight to me while I was in Austria and needing fun books to read, and she told me that I would like the story and find the main character kind of whiney and annoying. And it was true- I find Bella kind of whiney, and sometimes annoying, but she has enough internal life that I was willing to keep reading. And, that was fine, actually. I was in it for the story, and while I was reading it, the story was actually quite engaging.
So, I kind of devoured the books in a lump one vacation, and I went back to Austria soon thereafter and that was that. There was no Twilight culture in Austria, and so I didn't get overwhelmed by it. It was, in a way, like my reaction to Americana while I was abroad- when it's not everywhere all the time, I like it. When there's too much, I rebel like a cat on a leash, but when there's just a little, I'm happy.
So I chatted with my friend about the books, and we both agreed that Edward was rather too perfect and that Meyer's attitude toward sex was antiquated at best, and then I found out that she was a Mormon and, to be frank, it explained a lot. I liked Jacob for his attitude towards the whole suddenly-a-werewolf thing, and Bella's stupid insistence on staying with Edward (who was portrayed as being too perfect for me to like him, and too pateralistic, and, frankly, aside from liking each other, they didn't seem to have any fun together- what's the point of being with someone if they can't make you squirt milk out your nose?), well, it just seemed kind of Juliet-ish.
And I don't mean that in any kind of a good way- it means she's throwing herself and her hopes away on a boy she met at seventeen. It means she does not seem like she values herself as anything more than what she is now- there's no room for change or progress or anything. At seventeen, she's who she wants to be? Really? Because at seventeen I wanted to get the hell out of my hometown and get a real life. Now, when I look back at my seventeen-year-old self, I'm kind of embarrassed. I've come a long damned way, and I frankly like myself a lot better now than I did at the time. I cannot imagine a person who, at seventeen, is exactly where she wants to be without thinking that person is monumentally short-sighted and just plain wrong.
So, I kind of had an opinion about Bella and her choices. I was pretty well on Team Jacob, but on the whole I thought the books were a little silly and that there was no real reason to be so entranced by the whole series. The story was decent, but there've been better, and there've been worse. I've read a lot
of vampire fiction (Vampire Diaries, Anne Rice, Sunshine, The Time of Feasting, Dracula, Fang, Vamped, the Silver Kiss, Salem's Lot, I am Legend, the Historian, and a selection of LJ Smith) and Twilight? was really just another take on the issue for me. Some new elements, but generally the pattern of a girl falling for a vampire was not a new plot to me, and vampires were something that came in a variety of shapes and colors, only one of them sparkly. And I had no problem with that- it was just one way of telling the story, and if Meyer wanted to tell it like that, fine by me.
And then I got back to the US.
And there were people who really, really liked Edward. And who really liked Bella. And who really, really did not view the whole issue as vaguely funny, but were emotionally invested. And, even then! I was not annoyed by this. There are books on silly, silly topics that I am totally passionate about, and I can bore you with my strong opinion. But it was like the time in 6th grade, where I was reading Harry Potter and other kids in the school had read it. And wanted to talk to me about it. Which had never happened before in my entire. freaking. life. Suddenly, it was there, and having admitted to reading the books, it was assumed that I had a strong opinion about them. And that I would really like to discuss them. And that I was A Twilight Fan.
And that, gentle reader, is where I went off the rails. Because, here's the thing: I read what I want. I read juvenile fiction at age 23 because I like it and I think it's smart and that the stories can be intriguing and there need to be more powerful women in my fictional repertoire and because I give a damn. There are books I am willing to fight for. There are books that I am willing to go to the mattresses for, books I will acknowledge as silly and fluffy and light reading and I will still say that they are important and valuable because reading them brought me an ounce of pleasure and opened my mind by a hair's breadth or by a hundred yards, books that that ran to my heart as straight as a Roman road. I am not ashamed of the "trash" that I read.
I read Twilight because I wanted to. And if I read it again, it will be because I wanted to. But right now, with all the fuss and botheration, with all the foolish young women who want desperately for some perfect man to come and swoop them up at seventeen like I wanted some perfect man to swoop me up at seventeen, I have to say that I will not fight for Twilight. It's not good enough. It's not worth it to me. It's neither as bad as its worst enemies say nor as good as its proponents claim, but quite frankly, I just don't care. This book did not touch me enough for me to care. This book did not excite me enough for me to really care. And this book sure as hell did not make me think a new thought about my life, except "Dear God, I am so glad my head is not that screwed up." There is a reason that I viewed this book as a guilty pleasure, which is that it neither reflected life as I knew it nor painted a new life as I might wish it to be. It was a story. It was entertaining. I read it cause I wanted to. And now I don't want to anymore.
At best, Twilight was harmless. I want something better than that.
