I wonder if I’d have disliked the Twilight books more if I hadn’t been fully prepared by a rather irate segment of the feminist blogosphere for them to be horrifically, offensively sexist.
If I’d just stumbled onto the books and read them, would I be reacting with revulsion instead of “It’s not that bad”?
What’s really starting to get on my nerves, though, is the constant refrain of “I haven’t read the books, but here’s my take on them.” I’m a critic by trade, a rather overeducated one, and so I’ll stand by anyone’s right to read and critique a text. If you read the Twilight books and hated ‘em, great. However, when you haven’t read the text, I think at some point you lose your right to be snotty about it.
Comic fans are quite used to others’ elitism. We get it all the time, the teasing cracks from our friends who aren’t comic folk, the people who look at you funny when you tell them you were at the comic convention or that the best book you read last year was a trade paperback (notice I didn’t use the term graphic novel).
We even get elitist with each other. I’ve been told several times that I’m not a true comic fan because I don’t really read superhero books. Others get told that they’re stupid for insisting that superhero books can be as good as indie graphic novels. We get called out for reading too much Marvel, too much DC, or too much indie.
(as usual, possible spoilers below)
I’ve got a huge contrarian streak that immensely dislikes this kind of elitism, even though I’m certainly capable of it. When I like something that I’m supposed to be too cool for, I flaunt it in everyone’s face. I don’t use the term guilty pleasures, because why the heck should I feel guilty about my pleasures? I despise pretentious namedropping far more than gleeful pleasure in silly things.
And so, I enjoyed the Twilight books. Yes, some of my enjoyment was giggling at the luridly overwritten bits. But truly, I like ‘em. I’m sitting here writing this instead of finishing Eclipse because I don’t want to finish all the books before I have a twelve-hour drive with no audiobook to keep me interested.
Part of the elitist reaction to Twilight, I think, is that the books are so unabashedly GIRLY. There’s a whole subset of feminism that seems to insist that women must shed everything feminine in order to gain equality with men.
I hate that argument. I like dresses and makeup and boys, and I’m still a feminist. I maintain that I can also be a romantic (when I’m not being a cynic) and be a feminist, too. What’s wrong with a feminist enjoying a love story? Must the love story have a twist to it, be something like Jeannette Winterson’s Written On The Body? (And is there a more romantic book than that one? I think not.)
Yes, Bella Swan in the Twilight books is obsessed with her man. But she also argues that she can’t stay human while he’s a vampire because he can’t keep saving her. She says, “I want to be Superman, too.” She insists on staying friends with her male best friend, despite him being a werewolf and the mortal enemy of the vampires. She runs off to Italy to save her vampire boyfriend, argues with him constantly, and presses for sex while he holds back.
This last part is one of my favorite things about the books. They’re all about female desire. Teenage female desire. Yes, there’s an underlying message that abstinence is the only safe way to handle sexuality–vampirism and werewolf-ism both being metaphors, mostly, in these books, for male sexuality–but Bella is the one who pushes for premarital sex, both literally and in the metaphoric sense, premarital vampirism.
So yes, the books are full of gushing descriptions of how perfect Edward Cullen is, and that can get annoying. But when I was a teenage girl obsessed with the dark side of things, all I had was Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and those are always told through the male voice. Wouldn’t I have loved a series of books that showed, for once, what it was like to be a teenage girl who wanted sex and danger?
(The connection between teenage girls, and vampires is a subject for another essay. But I’ve got theories.)
And why do we have this need to look down upon female-driven love stories? “Chick flicks” is a common derisive term that we’ve all heard and probably used. And (male and female) writers of female-driven comics know this problem all too well.
The ladies of BUST magazine (full disclosure: I also blog for them) discussed this problem with their Twilight movie review. (Read the comments, too.) And indeed, why can’t we have some entertainment squarely targeted at teen and preteen girls? Bonus points if it appeals to adult women, too (and most of us agree that RPattz certainly appeals to adult women as well). But really, being a teenage girl is weird and messy enough, what’s wrong with a book that reads like a note from your best friend when she has a crush?
After all, who hasn’t talked to a teenage girl with a crush? Or, for that matter, talked to me when I have a crush…
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 am
Well said. I know the difference between well written literature and, well, Twilight, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy it. In fact, I’ll say about the Twilight books what I’ve said many times about music – if it gives you some pleasure, even if you know that it isn’t meaningful, then doesn’t it have value? I know what a truly talented musician sounds like and how they operate, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love some really trashy, untalented musicians just because they’re fun.
And yes, Rpattz appeals to adult women. Very much.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I tried to read Twilight when I found out that Kristen Stewart was going to be in this movie I was seeing everybody get inexplicably excited for. I got through the Genesis quote and the first few lines about the girl talking about thinking about her death or something before I had to put it down… later I heard about Vampire Baseball from a poor unfortunate who had to sit through the film. I think it’s safe to say that this story just plain sucks, whether its because it is filled with tropes that make no sense except to latch on to more successful YA books or because it is misogynist makes little difference to me. I did catch Let The Right One In, and that movie was the perfect vampire/youth romance story so I’m even less inclined to care about Twilight now.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Oy. Look, I agree that it’s a tenet of feminism that women shouldn’t be dismissed or belittled for their interests, but that really goes both ways. Just because a woman doesn’t want to dress up all the time or read Twilight doesn’t make her an anti-female feminist who just wants to run with the boys. I’ll totally defend women-centric offerings that are good — and I count Bust as one of those — but shaming feminists into supporting Twilight is not a fight I’m interested in pursuing.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I guess you didn’t read my post, either, where I said that I was tired of people who hadn’t read the book ragging on it.
January 3rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I just don’t read it as feminism. It may deal with female desire, but that’s not inherently a feminist theme. And the novels dramatize mens’ attraction to Bella, since her attraction & fidelity is never really in question.
How about, “Twilight” is “Pamela” to Buffy’s “Wuthering Heights”. “Pamela” & “Twilight” are about relegating desire to its proper time & place, recognizing the differences in station (so to speak) & waiting for the victory of cultural approval & refined love over carnal desire. Bella is almost invariably a passive actor in her own books.
Whether Bella wears pink or plaid, she just ain’t a feminist icon.
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hey, I’ve not read the novels, haven’t seen the film, and really have no interest in doing so. But I am interested in one thing; I read one review that made a connection between that peculiar American celibacy pact crap, and the ‘romantic’ subject of the film. Is that for real? The reviewer mentioned the author being a Mormon?!.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Wow, you review is so similar to my own feelings about the film (right down to the “I don’t feel guilty about my pleasure”) that I checked the by line.
Last night I was even talking about the elitism surrounding this book/film and how it completely misses the point. People complain that it isn’t “real” literature and it’s “dumbed down” and basically infer that because it is so popular with teen girls that there must be something wrong with it and something wrong with these girls and how Bella is a horrible example, etc, etc.. I pointed out that through out the series Meyer mentions several “classic/al” writers: Shakespeare, The Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen. And the reply I got was about how she only talked about their most famous works and if Bella was really supposed to be so smart she’d been reading their more obscure stuff!
Argh. That’s some real hating for the sake the of it.
Anyway, great review.
Aaron: No on is implying that Bella is a feminist icon. It just that the things people most often seem to take issue with seem more parenteralistic and condescending than anything else.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I’ve read a number of reviews of the works and laughed at the snark, but your take attempted to answer why these books are so popular, so thank you.
It’s possible to be split about a work, to understand that you may not be the target market, that it may not be well-executed in ways that you like, but also to understand and show some empathy for WHY it works. There are loads of vampire books out there, and loads of books aimed for girls. Why did these make it? What are they saying that girls respond to? That’s what I wanted to know.
Well done.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
@Roxie, I understand what you mean, but I have to take some issue with the implication that because the main character makes reference to some “literary” authors that somehow that makes the series/main character “intelligent”. For a contrast, there’s Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” (which one of the most riveting and tragic books I’ve read in a long time) is just jam-packed with references to comics, sci-fi/fantasy, and RPing, and also happens to be a Pulitzer winner. I need a lot more than some English literary canon name-dropping to convince me that a work or a character is intelligent.
January 4th, 2009 at 1:28 am
Thanks so much for this honest review, Sarah! I really appreciate the fact that you explain why it appeals to people. I also appreciate that you try to show both sides of the argument and that you stated that people should read the books before offering an opinion on them. Also, I don’t feel like you were shaming feminists into reading Twilight, merely showing that it can be seen from many different angles.
I, for one, am a huge fan of the Twilight Saga and I have read the books several times. And yes, I am above the age of 18. But, just because these are the books that I am reading does not mean that I am not an intelligent person. This goes back to the “elitism” you were talking about. People think that for someone to be intelligent they have to read obscure literature written by authors full of angst, and I have to disagree with that statement. Just because I want to read a book that doesn’t require an in-depth analysis of what is going on between the lines of the story does not mean that I am any less intelligent. I am not a dense or unintelligent person, and I don’t feel that people should be thought less intelligent just because they read a book series. And, for that matter, Twilight can be turned into a deep, thought-provoking novel that you can infer plenty about; it all depends on how you approach the novel. I understand that each person is entitled to his/her own view, just don’t make others feel that they are any less intelligent because of their interests. So, please, don’t judge a book or its fans by the hype surrounding the series.
Again, Sarah, I thank you for the honest review. Keep up the good work!
January 4th, 2009 at 1:42 am
I think it’s funny that there are people (literally) twittering away that you’re kind of attacking all feminists when you say in the beginning that you’re talking about a “rather irate segment of the feminist blogosphere”. One rather irate segment doesn’t mean all feminists; you’d think that person would know that.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Sarah, thanks for a great review! I am an over 60 year old retired librarian/teacher of literature. I hold several degrees from respected universities. I always feel “obligated”, due to my former occupation, to read everything that generates “buzz” in the literary world. “Twilight” definitely fell into that category. I have been as entertained by the overly-analytical critical reaction to this series of young adult books as I was by the books themselves! And I did, really, enjoy the books!
It amazes me that critics would find it necessary to pick apart, in the most minute and negative way, books that MILLIONS of teenage girls actually ENJOY reading. (Did they have the same reaction to Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time”?) In this day and age, as difficult as it is to engage youngsters in reading, shouldn’t we just revel in the fact that they have found something they will read?
(As someone who was around during the actual birthing of the “femminist movement”, I have to agree with you, we never intended for women to sacrifice everything femmine in order to be male equals. That would seem to be the anthesis of our original goal, wouldn’t it?)
January 4th, 2009 at 5:30 am
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January 4th, 2009 at 6:43 am
This is a love story about the perfect man. He’s every woman’s dream man, plain and simple. It appeals to all ages because of it’s “prince charming” story. It’s not just about “teens in love”. It transcends that and is a story about all consuming love. Yes, it’s written for women by a woman, however, if more men read this book they would gain some true insight to what a woman really wants…a man who is totally and completely devoted to them. I have read all four books twice and plan to read them again, several times. They are well written and entertaining and I thought the movie was okay, too. I’m look forward to seeing how the new director handes New Moon. After watching the Golden Compass, I think he’ll do great with New Moon and Eclipse. By the way, I’m a Twilight Grandmother!!!
January 4th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Additional note: This is a story about a man who loves a woman so unconditionally that he wants her happiness above his own. He’s willing to sacrifice everything in order for her to be happy. Such a change from this world where men are taught (by their mothers) that if they can’t have the woman then no one should have her..in other words, selfish love. If there were more Edwards in the world there would be less violence from men against women. That my take on the appeal of this series of books.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:02 am
@Alexa: I am a huge fan of the saga, so I will give you a few examples of “a lot more than some English literary canon name-dropping.” In Phenoix Bella was in advanced biology, and she had read all the books on the required reading list for her English class prior to moving to Forks. I personally find it intelligent to be able to read classic British lit and understand and appreciate it; it is not an easy thing to do. Bella is smart enough to know what she wants and not get persuaded from it, and she’s non-judgemental towards others.
I think there is something greater then the literary merritt or idea of feminism in the Twilight Saga that people don’t seem to realize — the fact that the Twilight Saga has reminded a generation of kids of the joy of reading. I’ve heard many people say they didn’t like/hated reading because they were slow and/or poor readers, but because of the easy read and likeable characters in Twilight, they love to read now. A love of reading makes a huge impact on a person’s life.
@LD: I totally agree!
January 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am
everybody has their own opinion about book so…
my personal is that i really enjoy reading them and i become a huge fan of Twilight saga.
so dont be like eww that book suck and you didnt even try to read it. -.-
January 4th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I don’t know how anyone can read this as me shaming feminists into supporting something, or me attacking feminism. I’ve self-identified as a feminist many times, including in this post.
I guess I’ll just quote myself:
“I’m a critic by trade, a rather overeducated one, and so I’ll stand by anyone’s right to read and critique a text. If you read the Twilight books and hated ‘em, great. However, when you haven’t read the text, I think at some point you lose your right to be snotty about it.”
“I like dresses and makeup and boys, and I’m still a feminist. I maintain that I can also be a romantic (when I’m not being a cynic) and be a feminist, too.”
January 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Sarah — Here’s the thing, those feminist critiques of Twilight? They tend to be of the “this is the most unhealthy relationship I’ve ever seen” kind, a bit like the Superman Returns reviews a bit back. That’s fair game, whether you’ve seen the movie/read the book or not because the line between romantic and creepy is very, very blurry in our society. It’s not a knock on heterosexual relationships, on soft lighting, on the teenaged girl experience. The big problem has always been the nature of the relationship, not the existence of the relationship or that the plot was focused on it, but that it’s presenting a guy who sneaks into her room at night and watches her sleep as romantic. It’s discussing a worrisome and pervasive aspect of our society.
Twilight’s getting this critique most commonly because of all the squashy teen girl romances that support an unhealthy view of relationships, Twilight is the one that just got made into a big screen movie. Twilight is the popular one. Twilight is the most recognizable modern example of this.
I’ve SEEN the “It’s girly” and “It’s way too much romance, not enough throat-slashing” reviews. They aren’t on feminist blogs. They’re coming from the male-dominated hard sci-fi and action fan communities.
What you went and did with this post was took a behavior displayed by the critics of feminism and graphed it unfairly onto a subset of the feminist community that you disagree with. You’ve unfairly derided Twilight dislikers and those of us who eschew romance for hard sci-fi and pulp adventure as being against the feminine. That you identify repeated as a feminist while doing so is even more irritated. THAT is why a number of us are angry at you and twittering derisively about this post.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:33 am
@ Lisa Fortuner thank you! i was just going to mention that the problem with the books isn’t how it’s trivial literature, or how the story is full of superficial love, but how the main relationship is so unhealthy and that young women, who’s ideas of healthy relationship are just being formed, are the target audience for these books.
like you Sarah, i’ve read all the series and i’ll admit i mostly enjoyed them because of the trashy aspects and i’m not ashamed to say so). also like you i cite myself as a feminist who can enjoy being feminine. but that has nothing to do with the main problem presented by this series. these books are a huge phenomenon targeted at a segment of the population that i feel can be pretty vulnerable. the relationship that all these young women are swooning over is problematic and borderline abusive. i definitely don’t think that it’s a positive thing that so many young adults are sighing and imagining themselves as one of the books main characters. i would really urge people who haven’t read twilight and the rest of the series to check these books out of the library, borrow, or buy them used from someone and read for themselves what is wrong with these people and characters. especially if they have young women in their lives. i don’t mean to get so preachy here, but i feel it’s a real disservice to let your daughters, sisters, cousins, nieces, or young friends read this without knowing what is going on within the pages so that you can explain to them how this is the fantasy of the author, and not a good example of positive attitudes about relationships.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Way t ogo Sarah! Now if you could only stop the hackers from hacking the Twilight sites.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great article! Elitism, Feminism and Romanticism were the topics discussed in this essay, not just feminism. Any one who is getting angry over this is just plain over reacting. It’s fine to have a negative oponion of these books, to think they are less than worthy to read, or to skip them all together, but to suggest that those who do read and enjoy them are less enlightened or anti-femminist is wrong. There are some elements in these books that border creepy or bend the comfort levels of the readers (stalking, being in love with infants, obsession, etc…) but the characters motivations behind these actions are not evil. Characters can do strange things, but that does not make them bad people. I guess I don’t see the appeal in trashing something others enjoy because it’s not how you would have done it.
@katyP “As someone who was around during the actual birthing of the “femminist movement”, I have to agree with you, we never intended for women to sacrifice everything femmine in order to be male equals. That would seem to be the anthesis of our original goal, wouldn’t it?”
Well said *applause*
January 4th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Great review! I’m really tired of having to justify myself for loving these books. You gave me some ammunition, girl!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I am a thirty-year old teenager who also fell in love with the Twilight Series. I have to say that when I went to the bookstore looking for it I didn’t expect to be lead into the teen reads. Still, as an English teacher I have read books for kids of all ages. We never really grow up do we? I love how unbelievably girly the Twilight series is, and that is why I devoured every sentence of all four books. I cannot say that I enjoyed the movie though. The books being so girly give our teenagers a sort of strength that sometimes goes missing. Yes! These same teenage girls are gushing over Edward but that’s what happens when you are a teen, you gush over a different guy every week. Still Bella is strong and demands sex, and independence (via becoming a vampire). The girl knows what she wants and goes for it. I hope teenage girls do the same (perhaps not about sex) but about everything. Mainly I hope teenage girls do not allow boys to tell them how to feel. Go Bella, and go Edward for being such a gentleman!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Colleen Doran liked the books and had some interesting commentary here:
http://adistantsoil.com/blog/2008/12/05/twilight-the-sparkledammerung/
“I agree that the emotional appeal of Twilight to many young girls is very real, and some of my friends are in a state of denial about it. They think whoever reads it and enjoys it must have been brainwashed from birth or something. Not all women and girls want the same things, and no amount of girl power chick lit will make some girls want anything except the miracle mystery man who is dark, haunted, hunky, and totally obsessed with her.
It is all very nice on paper, but in real life, it’s pretty stalker-ish, in my experience. If your stalker is anything like Edward Cullen, you are one lucky honey, but mine have all been weirdos who look like they crawled out from under a rock, and I don’t mean a gravestone.”
There’s also some funny links.
January 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I wholeheartedly agree. It was a strange experience for me to have only discovered Twilight about 3 weeks before the movie was due out. Strange because I am both an avid reader and stories about Vamipires, Werewolves and the like tend to be right up my alley. (My only defence, I suppose is that there are a LOT of books out there in that genre, so its easy to miss them. That, and my TV became a vehicle for DVDs, Video Games and The Food Network long ago, so I tend to miss all those shows that have its finger on the pulse of Teenage Girlmerica.) But, after having read them (before I saw the movie, even), two things leapt immediately to mind. The first was that although they weren’t the most well-written books, they were fantastic STORIES (and there is a distinction to be made there). The second thing was that this was the first book of this genre that I read that was really panned out to be something of an examination of female desire, sexual or otherwise. The feminine nature was given a voice. An occasionally whiny, shrill, and petulant voice, but, hey, sometimes our desires are whiney, shrill and petulant.
I think that the feminists that might have objected strenuously to the book did what most people who object strenuosly to anything do – looked at things on the surface. And, yes, on the surface, Bella was the kind of girl that would set any feminist’s teeth on edge. But, I really think that this has less to do with sexism and more to do with Stephenie Meyer’s Mormon upbringing. (Which, there are some very sexist elements of the Mormon religion.)
However, looking a little deeper, Bella was far from subservient or submissive (contrary and manipulative on some occasions), she was very strong, (to the point of stubbornness), had no problem taking matters into her own hands (even when they might have been best left in the hands of others), and was really very clearly a modern American Teenage Girl – she had her strengths, her insecurities, her moments of being a very good person, her moments of being a very bad one, her moments of wisdom beyond her years and of complete immaturity, she had some very romantic ideas of love and some very skewed ideas about committment. Despite the fact that there were some things about her that annoyed the crap out of me…I have to say that I agree that she is probably one of the fairest and most accurate representations of a girl-in-transit-to-womanhood in modern literature. Her view of Edward might have been romantic, but she, as a character was not romanticized. I think that that is something to give props to, because it’s not something you find every day.
Harlequinn Bell
Comic/RPG/Magic/Anime Girl Geek Goddess Savant
January 4th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
@Lisa
“What you went and did with this post was took a behavior displayed by the critics of feminism and graphed it unfairly onto a subset of the feminist community that you disagree with. You’ve unfairly derided Twilight dislikers and those of us who eschew romance for hard sci-fi and pulp adventure as being against the feminine. That you identify repeated as a feminist while doing so is even more irritated. THAT is why a number of us are angry at you and twittering derisively about this post.”
No, I derided people who haven’t read the book but yet criticize it. There are plenty of criticisms of the book from a feminist standpoint that are totally valid, and I urge everyone to make them. I didn’t make them here, because they’ve been made, and because as I said, I’d read them first before reading the books, and my reaction was much more “Wow, it’s not nearly as bad as I expected.”
I don’t really care if you twitter derisively about me, honestly. I’ll respond to any valid critiques of my writing and my points of view, but I am not going to get into a blogwar. I enjoy responses to my points of view, debate and discussion. I don’t enjoy being slagged off as a person for my points of view. I keep it about the text.
One of my points of interest in my personal work, academic and on my own blog, is the way femininity is performed and created. I see critiques leveled at super-frilly-femmey-girlstuff coming from certain types of feminism as well as from macho men, and I find this interesting.
I didn’t say that everyone who dislikes Twilight is opposed to femininity, and I don’t think that Twilight is by any stretch of the imagination a feminist text. However, I felt the need to pull out the bits that aren’t so negative, and write a bit of a defense of it, as well as try to get inside the heads of those of us who unabashedly love the books.
January 4th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Sarah – I can only applaud people who speak their mind both freely and intelligently, regardless of whether or not I agree with their opinion (though I do, in this case). That is, after all, the nature of opinions.
I too have read the books, starting back with the initial release of Twilight and New Moon. I have not always been satisfied with the direction of the series took. However, I can still give credit where credit is due – regardless of sales, movies, etc. I recommended the books to friends several years ago, before popularity made them a household name.
For two days, I locked myself in my apartment and submerged myself into the world of Bella and Edward. Do I find flaws in both of their characters? Absolutely. However, I believe therein lies the draw.
Bella is impulsive, whiny and often misguided. She falls head over heels for the unobtainably ‘perfect boy’. (Read ‘Midnight Sun’ to see that this perfection is a matter of perception – here is where you will really see the most ‘literary’ of Meyer’s works come to life). Every teenage girl I know has demonstrated these attributes at some point in their life or another. I speak not only for myself but for the hundreds of students I have witnessed over my past three years of teaching.
Edward is mysterious, handsome, unavailable, tortured and wounded. A classic trope in romantic literature and life (and the reason why Meyer draws comparison the well known classics throughout the novel – not as a means of proving Bella’s intelligence). There is a reason why we have the culture phenomena of the ‘Bad Boy.’ Film, Television and Literature have spent years fleshing out the misgivings of the Bad Boy and the girl who wishes to save him. It’s an undeniably captivating design.
None of these literary devices are revolutionary. What is society-altering, however, is the impact these books have had (along with Harry Potter, Maximum Ride, Uglies, A Great and Terrible Beauty, etc) on the concept of reading amongst today’s youth. I second the notions expressed by Katy P and Alicia, we should be rejoicing at the ‘cool’ factor ‘Twilight’ has brought to reading and trust that the many teenagers (and adults) who have read these books will now be urged along in the pursuit of greater reading endeavors in the future.
Twilight has made their hunger insatiable and over time they will find themselves exposed to literature of all levels, ideologies and genres all because they first learned to love reading through a little series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire.
January 4th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Sarah — I’m not trying to get into a blogwar with this, god knows I’ve been in your position here. But I’m trying to let you know why a few of us are ruffled over this, and if comes across that I’m angry its simply because I am. Sorry if you didn’t mean to say anything that made me angry, but that’s what came across.
You’re right, this can only be about the text. And what we see written here is what we get about you. I’m only basing my conclusions on the text of this post. Disclaimers and all, you’re still putting words into the mouths of reviewers without linking examples. And there’s still two things that hurt your disclaimer: 1) I’ve yet to see these elitist feminists who rag on Twilight because it’s a goofy romance and so are getting snotty about it, and 2) The bulk of your post wasn’t complaining about people who trash something without trying it, but people who turn their noses up at things for being overly feminine.
What are we, as Twilight dislikers, supposed to conclude that you’re saying?
January 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I totally agree with everything u said, why can’t i be a feminist, romantic and girly at the same time!!!
January 4th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
@Alexa: my point was not about Bella’s intelligence. That was the point he respondent answered with. MY point was that by mentioning those names, fans of the book are going to be more inclined to read those authors. When the respondent chose to make her point about how if Bella where truly intelligent she’d be reading more obscure works, that’s when I really reached my point with all the elitism I find in some of the criticism.
@Lisa Fortuner: If you’d like some links to some feminist discussion about Twilight, here’s the search results from feministing.com
http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=4&search=twilight
I take issue with the fact that a lot of discussion about Twilight (on feminist blogs and other places) seem to have very little faith in the capable intelligence of younger fans to be critical, analytical, and able to separate fantasy from reality. I get tired of all the remarks on how it’s not “real” literature, which, to me, misses the point entirely.
January 4th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I think there’s potentially a double standard at work in that some people I’ve talked to have acted like enjoying Twilight reflects poorly on women or something along those lines, while these people don’t feel the same way about men enjoying a movie like Die Hard. I mean, Twilight is wish fulfillment for teenage girls in exactly the same way that many action movies are just wish fulfillment for boys. But if that analogy is accurate, then we do also have to point out that Twilight is kind of trashy and lacking in artistic value, much in the same way that no one would ever suggest that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good actor. I understand why many women enjoy Twilight so much and I don’t fault them for it, but let’s stop pretending like there’s an ounce of difference between Twilight and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Sarah, have you considered making a presentation at “Summer School in Forks: A Twilight Symposium” next summer? Please check out the website I listed in the box. I’m sure your ideas would be well-received by the attendees.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I completely agree with you. Your post was a refreshing breath of air when fifty percent of the world is looking at you like you are crazy because you read Twilight. I don’t understand why people can’t just read a book and not overanalyze and just enjoy it for what it is, or hate it, put it down and find something more to their liking. Like you said, if you haven’t read it there is no room for critisizing it.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:46 am
This is an article I wrote for the local paper in defense of twilight. I thought it might apply (beware spoilers):
There’s been a lot of hand wringing over the supposed misogyny in the twilight series. Apparently, twilight can be summed up like this: damsel in distress meets hot vampire who stalks, abuses and controls her every move until she forsakes her family, friends, career and most importantly, her life for him. Readers have been getting worked up about the message this sends to young impressionable girls and given its popularity I can understand some critics misgivings. But I think these readers are missing some subtleties in the series (not that Meyer is known for her subtleties) and it makes me think these readers skipped over most of the dialogue (perhaps they were dwelling on the naughty make-out bits)
Firstly, Bella is a clumsy, self-conscious and awkward slip of a girl. But what she lacks in physical prowess or spunk is made up in her selflessness. In every book she is willing to sacrifice herself for others; her mother, her boyfriend, her friends and finally her daughter. The whole point of her outside ordinariness is that she has hidden inner strength. She may not be able to walk down the street without bringing down an apocalypse but if there’s a way for her to trade her life for the greater good, she’ll find it. Some may argue that martyrdom is not a feminist quality. But the defining quality of a hero is always self-sacrifice. Buffy did it. Sure, she could kick arse too but her main strength was being able to shoulder the burden of protecting others. And at the showdown in every book, that is what Bella does.
Secondly, the co-dependant obsessive relationship with Edward is mutual. He is a slave for her too. And far from cowing to his overprotective demands, she openly defies his concerns for her safety, even if she has to make the trip to see her werewolf best friend, Jacob, on a wobbly motorbike in the rain. And in the end it’s her unwavering determination to make her own choices that determines her fate. She may do it for love, but it’s on her own terms.
Thirdly, there has been a lot of noise about how Bella and Edward fall in love without so much as a conversation. Obviously their love is a meeting of hormones rather than minds. But I would bet my lunch money that Bella and Edward exchanged more words than Romeo and Juliet did. Besides, if a depiction of normal relationships sold books to teenagers, Edward would spend more time trying to give Bella a Dutch oven than whisking her off her feet.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:17 am
wow, ive just spent an hour trying to come up with an intelligent sounding comment, rewritten it at least four times and come up with something like this:
Im a 19 year old, male, from australia, asian ethnicity, i love playing games, photovoltaics energy engineer and hip hop dancing, im straight, have a girlfriend, im probably socialist and im open minded when it comes to religion, sexuality and what not, im not crazy about books, so im not quite sure what category i belong to but i definately love twilight.
every once in a while i stumble across something that touches me, and effects me in a way that is quite undescribable. Twilight, did that for me. Edward and bella’s love is so strong, and yet so real despite the supernatural setting. The quirks of ordinary relationships interwined and woven into the fantastical love story between vampire and human is so… real. And i think thats really the most important part of the book.
and as a side note feminists really need to rethink their values if they’re going to call this book anti feminist, a woman shouldn’t lose femininity or sexuality in order to be feminist, equality between males and females shouldnt be about physical or emotional similarities (because if that was the case then wed be aiming for female to become men) its in the attitudes and opinions they take about themselves that matter.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:20 am
btw that was a good post, comments too… they all got me thinking
January 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I wanted to point out something I found rather amusing in all this discussion of misogyny. It may have something to do with something or nothing to do with nothing, because i don’t have the book here to reference exact details. However, I seem to remember Bella writing an english essay at one point which was to discuss whether or not Shakespeare was misogynistic in his writings. I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine that Ms. Meyer would write a misogynistic book, only to point it out via one of her characters…. or would she? Maybe that was the idea? Either way, it makes me chuckle and it gave me something to think about.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am
MELANIE: You’re absolutely correct! I totally forgot about that, but yes, that’s right.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
“…a woman shouldn’t lose femininity or sexuality in order to be feminist”
Women “should” be feminine, masculine, or whatever they want. That’s one of the main points of feminism.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:14 am
well lemme relate this to you folks…I went to see the movie with friends and as we came out of it they asked how I liked it. i said ‘meh!’ it didn’t do anything for me. Immediately I was called a hater and how could I hate it??? After all I am the ‘Sci-Fi’ guy…
I explained my position this way a) I had just seen a kickass vampire movie in 30 Days of Night which lived up to most Vampire mythos and was action filled and scary. b) Sorry, I a long way from my teen angst days (granted I only 32 but..) and many of the probs I have with Harry Potter are also within Twilight. The movie appeals to teens and women much more than it’ll appeal to me.
At this point the ladies getting into my face about was obviously not listening to me so to end the convo I pointed her to the poster of Let The Right One In (much better indie vamp movie IMO) and told her to look up Christopher Golden’s Shadow Saga Vamp Novels to see alternate vampire books I like.
Long story short,some people will only see their own point of view about a subject no matter what it is or how ‘enlightened’ they are.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:39 am
[...] Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Twilight, Elitism, Feminism and … [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 1:22 am
[...] Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Twilight, Elitism, Feminism and … Written by Kashif in: Entertainment | Tags: bella, cullen, edward, Entertainment, kristin, New, pattinson, robert, stewart, swann, Tonight, trailer, twilight [...]
January 17th, 2009 at 5:21 am
[...] Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Twilight, Elitism, Feminism and … [...]
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 am
[...] Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Twilight, Elitism, Feminism and … Written by Kashif in: Entertainment | Tags: bella, cullen, edward, full, HD, HQ, kristen, movie, part, pattinson, robert, stewart, Swan, twilight [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Why can’t the people that enjoy these books enjoy them in peace? Why does it have to be about feminism, why do the books have to be written off as young adult, childish or stupid. I did not get into this saga when everyone else did, I didn’t really have an interest, but I didn’t mock or say anything malicious about the people that did. And I certainly did not spend my time on blogs about a book that I knew nothing about. I am now a fan, yes maybe that makes me stupid or weak, but those books made me happy made me look at the love of my life and feel so lucky that I had a love like Bella and Edward had, vampireless but life altering all the same. So please leave us twilight fans alone, the books did something for us, why do we need to explain that to you?
February 15th, 2009 at 2:44 am
only two words….Very Fantastic….
February 28th, 2009 at 1:05 am
I had not heard of Twilight until the movie buzz started and then I found out that Robert Pattinson was in the movie (who I have an old lady crush on). Read the first book and thought it was pretty good. Read the second, okay. Read the third, okay can almost see the finish line. Now I’m in the fourth book and I’m glad this saga is almost over. As I get close to the finish line, I do feel like an elistist. I will soon be a member of a special group of people who survived through many hours of Bella/Edward whining. I’ve met others who also feel my pain. Strangers on the train, another person at Target buying one of the books, a stranger in the hall at work watching me carry a familiar book down the hall. We stop for a brief moment and bond. It’s a strange and great feeling to find an unexpected kindred spirit.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
[...] defense of Twilight argues people who haven’t read the book should judge and that current feminist criticism is [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I think you are missing some of the feminists points. Twilight also romanticizes violent sex, romanticizes the violent way Edward thirsts after Bella, and makes all of that rough physical attraction and attention seem DESIRED. Notice: SHE has to CHANGE to be a vampire in order to be accepted. Again, underlying message that intrinsically, she is not good enough for Edward as she is. As long as it’s for love, it’s okay for a woman to completely alter her life and change everything about her future??? I don’t think so.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:29 am
I feel that both some of the ‘lovers’ (or at least, Poppy Bourne, seen above) and some of the feminist critquers, have valid points, though I would caution against EVER assuming that a very young person can automatically comprehend things on the level an adult can… sure, the forty-somethings who read this book can understand the “it’s fucked up, but they’re happy together” aspect, but not every 12-year-old girl will necessarily comprehend just how “fantasy” this series really is in terms of relationships. Remember High School Musical, with that blatantly selfish, narcissistic bitch, Sharpay? I’m in the midst of reading a book called “The Narcissism Epidemic” (very interesting, highly recommend it), and it mentions a very young girl actually NOT assuming Sharpay was a bad person “because she’s pretty”. Hmm. Ring any bells? That’s often the way slightly older girls (teens) react to “bad boys” IN REAL LIFE, so, yeah. Careful what you *assume* about what young girls really think, as they haven’t had nearly as much time to mature and grow to understand relationships as the over-25 set has.
Any case, speaking as someone who TRIED to read the books, here’s my, according to this reviewer, perfectly legitimate critique:
It sucked.
It’s also proof of why First Person is a very, very difficult thing to pull off well. I was told that even though a lot of the book would end up “gushing about Edward” in a less than perfect narrative voice, it was still emotionally compelling, really drawing you in to the girl’s head and emotions, you know? And before you accuse me of not giving it a fair shake or having weird expectations, much of my expectations were actually built off having read her OTHER book, “The Host”, (which has plot holes the size of Antarctica, and arguably a few deus ex machinas and Mary Sues, but nonetheless is a real nail-biter; I finished it in two days flat and hated so much as having to put it down for five minutes until I had finished it) and off reading a small snippet of “Midnight Sun” (the first book from Edward’s perspective, which is far more interesting).
But… sorry to say, Bella’s narrative voice IS HORRIBLE! She’s one of THE worst narrators I’ve ever tried to suffer through. I made it not even a full 19 pages before I wanted to throw the book across the room, as she spends the ENTIRETY of those pages basically being a passive-aggressive whiner. Waaaah the weather’s too wet! Waaaah I get a free car but it’s not going to be new (and then it turns out she likes it anyway, because it’s from the ’50s and therefore “cute”. *headdesk*)! Waaah I’m the Sheriff’s daughter and my dad is ridiculously easygoing and permissive and generous! Waaaah I’ll have to be the new girl at school! Waaaah everything is TOO GREEN (yes, she seriously complains that the environment in Forks is “too green”!). The kicker was when she decides not to turn down the old but FREE DID I MENTION FREE car, with:
“Never look a free truck in the mouth – or engine.”
I’m sorry… I can take either terribly, terribly awkward OR whiny as hell prose. But not both at the same time.
Bella Swan gets described here as “selfless”. But from the descriptions, the “selfless” acts were mostly just for close friends, family, or her boyfriend… and I find it hard to reconcile the implication that it would extend *beyond* this circle much with the fact for the first 19 pages she’s a self-imporant, passive-aggressive, whiny, entitled BITCH who needs to seriously get the fuck over herself.
I liked “The Host” enough that I could recommend it as a library read for most people who like a good thriller so long as they can’t care if they plot makes sense. And “Midnight Sun” had promise from a “psychologically interesting” standpoint.
But the actual, regular Twilight books from Bella’s POV?
No, sorry, PASS.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] heart, I’m a populist, and the Twilight books are nothing if not populist. The sneering and self-congratulating from the crowd who thinks they’ve accomplished something by not having bought into the [...]
January 1st, 2010 at 1:17 pm
So, I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about, so I read these horrible books. So, OK — they are not anywhere nearly great — I have now read all the books in this series and throughout the entire series, I kept thinking there was something terriby wrong — even sick — about them. And I knew it had nothing to do with blood and vampires and werewolves. Then I got to the last book and realized: I’M SICK TO DEATH OF BELLA! It’s ALL ABOUT Bella! Poor Bella — she fell down and scraped her knee. At first the author wants us to believe that she’s an independent young woman who’s a bit on the social fringe and bookish — on her way to Dartmouth and genuine independence. Then she turns her into something else entirely… the ultimate BRIDEZILLA-IN-THE-MAKING! A young woman who lives for nothing but to be worshiped.
It’s four full books of: Everyone worries about Bella AD NAUSEUM. Everyone LOVES Bella. She lives in a constant state of drama and danger. Everyone wants Bella. Hunky guys fight over Bella. (And of course, her parents worry about her constantly.) When she finally marries and has a monster baby, I’M SICK to DEATH of her! I couldn’t even finish the last book because I could care LESS. Definitely the most narcissitic heroine in all of English literature. If you want to call it literature … which it definitely is NOT!!
A sad commentary on an entire generation of unrealistically self-absorbed young women who live to be worshiped.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I’ve been defending Twilight for a while. The books are far from perfect, but I enjoyed them too. I’ll forgive some of the alarming things to spend a few thousand pages with a smart, sarcastic protagonist whose on a quest for good sex and superpowers. I finally got around to writing down my rant (http://overbear.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/unapologetic-twilight-love-ok-maybe-a-little-apologetic/), and I found your blog while looking around in the wilds of the interwebs for some support. Awesome review. Amen, sister.
January 16th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
“I haven’t read the books, but here’s my take on take on them.”
You hadn’t even finished Eclipse yet, but you wrote this article… Well, I have read them all, and while I can admit that they are compelling, that they have an extraordinary appeal to women, these factors make this book all the more dangerous! We all know how poorly the book was written, that all of the characters are essentially Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus, so I won’t even touch on that.
Obviously you didn’t notice the abusive behavior that Edward displays throughout the entire series (seeing as you hadn’t finished it). He’s a controlling, manipulative, creepy, stalker boyfriend! And yet he’s viewed by so many young women as “the perfect boyfriend”. Bella even admits to being scared of him when she wants to go visit Jacob but he won’t let her. Protective? No, he breaks her effing truck so she won’t do it!
The gender stereotypes that are reinforced throughout the series are nauseating. Is there a single woman character who doesn’t fit into the typical female role? Girls, even when you’re a kickass vampire, your job is to be the sweet, beautiful, housewife. The protagonist is a weak, simpering teenage girl who turns into a zombie without her man. Twilight teaches young girls that these things are normal!
I’m not saying that you’re stupid if you like Twilight. I’m just saying that you should accept that it’s not good for our young women. That book should come with a warning label. And maybe you should regard it as a guilty pleasure.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:03 am
This topic was very informative and well written. I plan to do some more research on this. Thanks for sharing this timely information. We need more like this.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:04 am
helpful Post. thank for information.
November 9th, 2010 at 3:10 am
Look, no one’s saying that you’re stupid if you’ve read the Twilight Saga in its entirety and liked it- just that you have bad taste in things. And that you’re kind of stupid.
November 15th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
yet another great article. very easy to stuff like this looking at I have a presentation, and trying to find such.
December 28th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
@Salsa: You said the following:
“This is a love story about the perfect man. He’s every woman’s dream man, plain and simple. It appeals to all ages because of it’s “prince charming” story. It’s not just about “teens in love”. It transcends that and is a story about all consuming love. Yes, it’s written for women by a woman, however, if more men read this book they would gain some true insight to what a woman really wants…a man who is totally and completely devoted to them. I have read all four books twice and plan to read them again, several times. They are well written and entertaining and I thought the movie was okay, too.”
As a victim of abuse, your words almost made me throw up. Reading “Twilight” (and yes, I have) makes me want to throw up. My problem with it is not that it’s romantic, girly, emotional, and sensitive. On the contrary– I LIKE romantic stories! I’m a sucker for them. But “Twilight” glorifies an abusive relationship to teenage girls, to CHILDREN… and I cannot in good conscience support that.
So I’m sorry if you like the books because they’re about “every woman’s dream man,” but EDWARD CULLEN IS NOT MY DREAM MAN. He is a textbook abuser, and it sickens me that someone would actually refer to him as a prince charming and the ridiculous generalization as “every woman’s dream man.” Saying that to women who have been abused by men JUST LIKE EDWARD CULLEN is disrespectful and offensive.
Sorry. I get very worked up about this.
January 17th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
This was a really awesome post. In theory Id like to create like this also – taking time and true effort for making a great piece of writing but what can I say I procrastinate alot and never seem to get some thing accomplished.
January 17th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Very interesting blog post. Keep up the good work!
March 27th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
“I’m sitting here writing this instead of finishing Eclipse because I don’t want to finish all the books before I have a twelve-hour drive with no audiobook to keep me interested.”
“What’s really starting to get on my nerves, though, is the constant refrain of “I haven’t read the books, but here’s my take on them.” I’m a critic by trade, a rather overeducated one, and so I’ll stand by anyone’s right to read and critique a text. If you read the Twilight books and hated ‘em, great. However, when you haven’t read the text, I think at some point you lose your right to be snotty about it”
Please, follow your own advice! You had no right to publish an article on Twilight, whether for or against the series, before finishing all of the novels. In regards to your views on feminism: as poster Lisa Fortuner pointed out above, it’s the nature of the relationship that is disconcerting in these novels.
On another note, I suppose you could call me feminist: I advocate womens rights and equality. However, I don’t think that my feminist views have any effect on my take on Twilight. The novels were poorly written and even for a fictional novel, unrealistic. That might sounds contradicting, but it makes sense in the long run. There are facets of the novels which are simply ridiculous and bring the quality of the story down for me. Keyword: for me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so why don’t we just leave it at that?
March 29th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Regarding the first two books, I agree with you entirely. However, as I read the third one, I remember becoming more and more annoyed by what I saw as an abusive relationship being idolized. I think that it is wonderful to have a book that focuses on female sexual and romantic desire, but when this same book idolizes a young girl who has become entirely dependent upon a man in every way and her entire life revolves around him, I take offense. However, I tend to think that the majority of disdain of the Twilight series is more our society’s revulsion of focusing on women’s fantasies, rather than disagreement with the sexist undertones.
June 3rd, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Great post and right to the point. I dont know if this is truly the best place to ask but do you people have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thank you
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