Twilight Review
I have been enjoying the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. They make a good, easy read. I would say I do like the books, but I can easily put them down for a week at a time. I’ve owned them all for months and still have not finished them. I find them very drawn out. I thought the movie followed the book quite well. My 15yo son kind of liked the movie, and then read the book, but was not impressed.
I am half-way through the third book, so I can only say what I think based on what I have read so far. I do like the pro-abstinence before marriage theme. I find Edward’s controlling ways to be getting hard to take. I think Edward is robbing the cradle. I think Bella’s parents are so selfish and preoccupied that they did nothing to prevent her from getting into these relationships that cause her to be so obsessive and stressed. Somebody needed to tell her that it wasn’t too late. I don’t see Bella’s relationships as healthy at all. She sure does sound like a child raised (or neglected) by divorced parents. Like many teenage girls, you could tell she was just ripe to be bitten. I’d like to have been there to be the only one to talk some sense into her, but she wouldn’t have listened. I wish Bella would dream bigger and better. The front cover of Twilight sums it up. I wish I could tell Bella, Eve, and Snow White to, “Leave that apple alone!”
I don’t see the excellence in writing or depth of symbolism that I found in the Harry Potter books, although Meyer is definitely creative. There seems to be an LDS influence.
All in all, I am a Twilight fan, and I will finish the books and see all the movies. I will be unlikely to stand in the midnight line like I did with my boys for Harry Potter, BUT my girl will be old enough before I turn around, so you never know. I do know that I want someone for my daughter that would be better for her than Edward or Jacob.
Turn Around
Harry Belafonte, Alan Greene, Malvina ReynoldsWhere are you going
My little one, little one
Where are you going
My baby, my own
Turn around and you’re two
Turn around and you’re four
Turn around and you’re a young girl
Going out of the doorTurn around, turn around
Turn around and you’re a young girl
Going out of the doorWhere are you going
My little one, little one
Little pigtails, petticoats
Where have they gone
Turn around and you’re tiny
Turn around and you’re grown
Turn around and you’re a young wife
With babes of your ownTurn around, turn around
Turn around and you’re a young wife
With babes of your ownWhere have they gone
My little ones, little ones
Where have they gone
My babies, my own
Turn around and they’re young
Turn around and they’re old
Turn around and they’re gone
And we’ve no one to holdTurn around, turn around
Turn around and they’re gone
And we’ve no one to holdWhere are you going
My baby, my own
About The Author
http://hogwartsprofessor.com/?p=618
I loved the Twilight books. I’ve read them twice already. However, I do think there are a lot of bad messages for teenage girls regarding relationships.
The obsession that teenage girls have with Edward, to me, seems to indicate their desire for the chivalrous guy, the one that opens doors for them and wants to wait for sex until marriage and does everything he can to ensure he doesn’t hurt her. I totally agree with you in your analysis of the third book — Edward does become controlling, and that of course isn’t healthy, and unfortunately that controlling behavior tends to be a staple of vampire romances. Vampire romance novels have always been popular, especially among young adults, so given the choice between authors like Anne Rice, Jennifer Armintrout, Patricia Waddell, and Stephenie Meyers, Meyers is definitely the way to go, lol. It’s encouraging that girls are interested in the guy that wants to treat them like ladies — if only guys realized that this is how girls want to be treated. There is of course the wrongful notion and potentially harmful message that a) you’ll set ideas upon a boy someday and just *know* that he’s your soulmate; b) it’s okay to lie to your parents in order to preserve the relationship, c) dangerous relationships are okay and desired, d) boyfriends are more important than friendships, e) romantic relationships in high school are life and death, etcetera etcetera. But as far as the qualities a girl is looking for in a boy? I’d much rather have the guy who opens doors for his girlfriend, is concerned with her safety, etcetera. And I think a lot of those negative qualities are a result of the fantasy world of vampires, and it’s not necessarily the case that a girl would read these books and think to look for these aspects of a relationship — I think the character of Edward is what girls are attracted to, rather than his vampire lifestyle.
You sound like you know what you are talking about.
One thought on this…
“if only guys realized that this is how girls want to be treated.”
Girls need to stand up and expect to be treated with respect. They have to stop putting up with anything less.
I do hope that “Edward” raises girls standards as to how they are to be treated.
I just hope that girls realize that the level of love and devotion (or rather obsession) that Edward has is simply un-human.
I’d be interested to hear what you think about both Somber & Dull’s questions on For the Parents of Young Girls as well as Beth’s review [MAJOR SPOILER] Vampires and Young Female Desire.
Sarah, as a mom of boys (no girls!) I like what you say. . . I do want them to be polite young gentleman and treat women with respect and chivalry!
I will reserve comment until I finish the series, because the second link is a major spoiler.
Thanks, Carol, for fixing my link and adding the spoiler alert! Didn’t even think about that! *blush*
About what you said here — “Girls need to stand up and expect to be treated with respect. They have to stop putting up with anything less.”
YES. It makes me so angry when women lower their standards for how men should treat them. I was watching American Idol this week (I know, I know, feel free to poke fun, lol), and this girl came parading into the audition room wearing a tiny tiny bikini. She actually had a decent voice too — but I can’t believe they actually put her through to the next round, not only is strutting around for an audition in a tiny little bikini completely unprofessional, it’s obvious that the bikini was one of the ways she wanted to influence her way into the next round. And it worked! The guys wanted to put her through, and the girls didn’t.
Even just the ways in which parents dress their little girls — with little lingerie outfits, mini skirts, and scanty swimsuits — is horrifying. Obviously parents think it’s cute, and it makes me sad, because not only is this girl going to grow up thinking that society wants her to dress and act like that, but her own parents are encouraging it.
Basically it just makes me want to live out in the country with no television, lol! If I ever have kids I’m sure I won’t have cable, probably just one TV with a few good movies. Who wants their kids to be subjected to that garbage every day? It makes me cringe thinking what our society has come to.