I’m Glad I’m Raising A Buffy And Not A Bella
Given the Twilight series rage I purchased the books for my preteen daughter. I mean, everyone was reading them. Everyone was raving. But…
My daughter doesn’t like Twilight. She likes the Vampire Diaries and the Vampire Academy, so it isn’t the genre… It’s Twilight specifically. Which I found perplexing, since the back covers all read pretty much the same to me. So, what was it about Twilight?
“Bella never drives her own car. Whatever guy she’s with sits behind the steering wheel of her car.”
That was my daughter’s first point.
“Bella is always being rescued. She never saves anyone.”
Second point.
The third point is a doozy.
Edward is drawn to Bella because of her blood (which he describes as his own personal heroin), not her personality or her brain.
And her fourth point makes me proud.
“Edward is a stalker. Bella is always waking up and finding him in her bedroom watching her. It’s creepy.”
It is creepy. And it seems my daughter is not alone in her thoughts. The video below is priceless.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM[/youtube]
There’s been some interesting feminist reviews of Twilight. I’ll have to see if I can find them. Most of them are the things your daughter pointed out: Edward is creepy and stalkerish, Bella defines herself through the men in her life, Bella is helpless. There was also an interesting feminist review of the Twilight werewolves from an abuse survivor – the werewold mates are always beaten up because that’s the werewolf’s nature – it sounded to her like the excuses abusers made. I can’t really comment because I haven’t read the books.
I didn’t read the books either, but I did see the movies. For the most part they’re completely harmless. Very Wuthering Heights. It was just my daughter’s take that caught my attention.
And, yeah, the werewolves in the second movie (which was horrible, btw. The first was at least entertaining) are pretty abusive… and all of them are male. Anyone know if Twilight adds female werewolves later? Anybody even care? 🙂
Ugh, Twilight. I don’t let my kids near that crap. I read the first book and everything about Bella’s character made the oldschool feminist in me want to scream.
How dare the author not allow Bella to really whore it up like she wants to! That bastard Edward and his wanting to wait! Doesnt he realize young girls these days are empowered, nay, it is their duty to be slutty, as long as it’s on their terms!
He’s waiting because he’s afraid he’ll get carried away and kill her during the act.
Love the slutty comment – very telling. BTW, the books my daughter loves are sex free. The only difference is the female characters have a brain.
Notice how anon1 didn’t even bother to read the post or to understand the criticism of the books. Hint: it had nothing to do with sex.
He’s a Conservative, UI, it’s always about sex.
The usual conservative complaints about “sluts” generally boil down to “Why aren’t they sleeping with me?”
I know the post had nothing to do with sex, it was a list of some feminist criticisms. I was adding one to the list.
Actually it was a list of a then 12 year old’s observations. Valid observations, btw.
Why doesn’t Bella ever drive her own car?
Why is she always helpless and in need of being saved?
Why doesn’t Edward ever compliment her on what she thinks?
Why is Edward sneaking into her bedroom and watching her okay?
The books were written for 46 year old divorced women or women in bland marriages. For all your daughters comments are the exact reason women of a certain age love the books…being taken care of, being lusted after, being purely desired.
Truth. Stephanie Meyer did not intend the books to be marketed as “Young Adult.”
You couldn’t just stick with “Nancy Drew” huh Pandora?
LOL, Joanne. No Nancy Drew here. Altho… she did just finish Treasure Island and Night, so there’s hope for her to move beyond vampire phase.