So, I’m really usually not the type to read young adult romance novels. Don’t get me wrong, if that’s your thing then that’s great, but it’s not generally mine. Also, at 23 I’m slightly stretching the definition of “young adult”. But we all need holiday reading and last weekend when I was readying myself to lie on a beach for a couple of days I picked up Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the series (which hit #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list and is soon to be made into a movie), it’s about a 17 year-old girl who moves to a small town and falls in love with a vampire. Right from the beginning, it began ringing alarm bells in my feminist consciousness.
At first, I thought I was being over-sensitive. It’s really about a woman who’s submissive, and that’s not necessarily disempowering. But my list of complaints with it are stacking up, so it’s time for a rant.
Almost the first thing Edward the vampire boy does is save our protagonist Bella’s life, which would be all well and good except that he then saves her from distress every few pages throughout the first book. For reasons that have yet to be explained, Bella is so clumsy that she goes wide-eyed with fear at the prospect of running, walking or anything that requires basic motor skills. Her car is this bitchin’ pickup truck, which would be totally awesome except that once she and Edward start dating he jumps in the driver’s seat every time they go anywhere together and refuses to let her drive.
In fact, Bella is so helpless she can’t even figure out how to buckle her seatbelt in Edward’s jeep and he has to help her (after he helps her get in by lifting her bodily into her seat), all the while chuckling condescendingly at her.
And so far, everything Edward does to show his love for Bella is completely creepy. After a while, he reveals that he’s been watching her sleep from outside her room every night since they met. Her reaction? Embarassment that she’s been saying his name in her sleep. Not for a second does she chew him out for invading her privacy.
The really supremely icky thing about the book though is the root of Edward’s desire. From the second he first sees her, he’s consumed by lust for her blood. At first he can’t even get close to her because he’s so overcome by fear that he won’t be able to control himself. Instead he finally settles for telling Bella repeatedly, “I’m really dangerous. Really, I could totally kill you and you wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. You should stay away from me.” Instead of backing the hell off and getting as far away from him as possible, Bella quietly decides that if she dies, she dies - at least she’ll get to be with this boy. Argh.
Give me Buffy the Vampire Slayer with its powerful female characters, sharp dialogue and singing demons any day.
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15 comments
Well, I'm not going to be reading it...
Posted by Thene
August 25, 2008, 2:05 PM
I agree! I read the books because I heard from a few people that they were "so good" but found myself wondering why, exactly, people loved them so much.
The way the story was written drove me crazy. The prose had me constantly rewriting entire paragraphs. I found myself rereading sentences, shuffling them around in my head, and laying them back out onto the page before moving on to the next sentence.
I had serious qualms about Bella, too. She is a very dependent girl, always needing to be saved, over and over again, by the two main men in her life. I just wanted to hit my head on my desk and tell her to save herself because waiting for someone to save you is so completely ridiculous.
Their relationship seemed so unhealthy, abusive, and controlling to me. I mean, yes, it is about all-encompassing love but so much of her life is about Edward, Edward, and Edward. Where are her interests? Yes, she cooks and cleans for her father but what else?
She ignores Edward’s controlling issues and throws her own safety out of the window in favour of love, common to abusive relationships. Also, her boyfriend is always right and is better at her in everything – what kind of message is that? First of all, it’s annoying. I’d take beautiful flaws any day over perfection.
Sidenote: I just looked up Team Bella and found this: a shirt saying "Team Bella: So clumsy she's almost disabled". It's not an official product, thank god, but still! I was hoping I'd find a Team Bella website - one that was all about Bella finding her own strength and confidence and blossoming into a beautiful, capable young woman who can save herself.
I’d be interested in reading more of your comments, especially on the third and fourth books. I don’t want to give too much away, but I would love to discuss them if you continue reading. I read the rest because I had to know what happened – yeah, I’m one of those readers – and I liked the idea of vampires having powers other than the more traditional ones.
Seriously, though: long live Buffy! Joss Whedon is amazing. Witty banter and positive messages are love.
Posted by Jax
August 25, 2008, 3:01 PM
Although I agree with some of these comments (her being saved in the first book being slightly problematic due to the amount of times it happens) I find it irritating that this whole blog is based on huge generalizations of the FIRST book and are overlooking a lot of good in the series itself. What I found empowering was that Bella was an average girl - she wasn't blonde and beautiful and coordinated (ie: BUFFY) - she likes reading, is very smart and doesn't have to be the stereotypical blonde to be attractive.
*spoilers*
First, I find it odd that you say "it’s about a 17 year-old girl who moves to a small town and falls in love with a vampire. Right from the beginning, it began ringing alarm bells in my feminist consciousness." What about a girl falling for a vampire should ring your feminist consciousness? For me, you stating that is ringing MY feminist consciousness bells but for you! especially because this is what happens in buffy - which you praise without question!
And because I'm so angry about this I want to pick apart your generalizations:
The reason why Edward drives isn't because he's this patriarchal character who doesn't think women driving is acceptable - which is the picture you paint. The reason she can't do up the seatbelt is also complicated because it's a complicated seatbelt in a weird car and she's running for her life (I'd be scrambling too).
Her interests are reading and listening to music, hanging out with friends and school. I don't know how many times the book says that she's doing homework, worrying about her friends/mother or is reading a book. Another huge generalization on your part. I don't think that thinking about someone who you like a lot is obsessive in a negative way - when you like someone you will obviously be thinking about them a lot!
Posted by B
August 25, 2008, 6:30 PM
I think it's also unfair/biased to say that Edward it controlling - Bella is a strong woman - she knows where she is and she knows who she likes and I never once doubted her strong character in relation to 'giving in' to a controlling person (which Edward is not). There is a boy in the 1st book who goes after her and she is firm with him in what she wants and says it to him. I think that's pretty empowering. She also was raised by a single parent (her mother) and in general is a smart, nice and strong person. She even moves away for her mother's benefit which illustrates positive traits about herself - she puts others first and cares a lot about people which is transferred to many people in her life (including Edward whom she puts first in other situations - not because he's a 'boy argh' but because that's her character and she does it for everyone). I also enjoy that she isn't cocky about herself and her positive attributes (smartness, etc) - she's humble, and just because she thinks that Edward is great at everything (who doesn't think that when they're head over heels with someone else?) doesn't mean she's a weak character or a poor female role model.
re: the blood thing - another huge generalization on your part. Yes, it might be creepy for a person to want to kill someone because of their blood but he is a VAMPIRE. also the room thing - I agree it is slightly problematic but not as exaggerated as you paint it. It's not like he is some random person and he never did anything in the past for her to question him so why would she question him now?
The books illustrates positive portrayals of compromise and communication in relationships and tackles issues such as polygamy, issues with monogamy and marriage.
As a queer woman (yes, I'm throwing that out here, because I don't want to be painted as the 'hetero who just likes edward') I thoroughly enjoyed this book on a number of levels. yes, I can be critical of certain things from a feminist perspective, as with everything, but overall I think that Bella is a strong character with obvious flaws that are very refreshing. Instead of being the stereotypical character who is concerned with fashion and popularity etc, we have a strong, intelligent woman who has her own struggles and own flaws that are unique. In later books she blossoms into an even stronger character (in the 4th book Bella proves to be a very empowered and powerful person - with the help of other women not Edward). I am happy to say that as a queer feminist I love the Twilight series and am extremely disappointed/angry in your generalized blog!
Posted by B
August 25, 2008, 6:31 PM
I think B makes some good points.
As a fan of the series, I'm not just a fan because it's a popular book, however. I strongly disliked how drawn out New Moon was. But the writing isn't the issue here, even if that was mentioned in the post. It's the way that Bella depends on Edward so much.
I don't like the way some parts were, but I'm sure people (in this community at least) probably wouldn't be saying this much if it were two women. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Love is love, no matter what. Straight people and queer people can love each other to the same extent, sometimes to the point of attachment. This means that really, there's nothing TOO wrong with her loving him so much. Not being afraid of Edward isn't an issue at all, it really is personal choice.
I honestly don't see anything non-feminist in this book--it's really neutral.
(/opinion.)
Posted by Brianne
August 25, 2008, 7:55 PM
I think the original post was just that - a generalized rant. The author was just starting the series.
I found the changes in Bella's character quite interesting as the story progressed and, you're right, she does have many other interests than Edward. I guess it is one of those books that just needs to be enjoyed - it is, after all, a surreal love story in an environment very different from ours today. It's interesting how things change between Bella and Edward in the last book.
Posted by Jax
August 25, 2008, 7:57 PM
Jax: Yes, you are right - it was meant as a rant but I guess I really can't stand generalization/exploiting the bad and not looking at the good.
I think another thing that would be great to discuss that I haven't seen discussed yet is Jacob and the Aboriginal community of La Push. I think this is one of the first 'main stream' books that I felt wasn't tokenizing in its portrayal of racialization in general. Thoughts?
Posted by B
August 25, 2008, 10:16 PM
meanwhile, i'll stick to re-watching buffy. to be fair, the 1st & 2nd seasons of buffy were not exactly fantastic (although i still love them).
Posted by fireeyedgirl
August 26, 2008, 10:37 AM
While I agree there are ups and downs to this series there are two things I'd like to point out..
1) for someone, these books will get them reading and no matter what I think that's always a good thing to have in life - the enjoyment of reading that is(not saying that it's imperative for everyone to enjoy reading and to enjoy the same types of reading out there but it can lead to quite a lot of pleasure in one's life...heck Animorphs and Goosebumps got me reading and they certainly weren't great books...but they did lead to many others...)
2) I'd also like to point that in Twilight, when Bella was about to be assaulted by four men, she was not panicking but instead remembering the steps to self defense and getting ready to defend herself...Edward even pointed out later that she did not look scared...sounds pretty kickass to me!
Posted by Charlie
August 26, 2008, 1:56 PM
I started reading it because I heard it was good, trashy fun, but the sexual politics were so off-putting, and the writing so atrocious, that I stopped somewhere around the time she goes on the run. At first, I thought the author was writing Edward and Bella as a parody of various bodice-rippers (I just didn't think she could be SERIOUS about someone falling for a condescending, domineering stalker). But then I realized she was serious. And then Bella said something about not wanting to get Edward worked up because it wasn't fair to HIM to provoke him into attacking her, which is when the alarm bells started going off. I tried to stick with it, but life's too short.
Posted by Shannon
August 27, 2008, 7:52 PM
The books are painfully awful in every way. I love a good escape as much as the next person; I read crappy thrillers all the time.
Bella really doesn't have a life outside of vampires. At the start she whines about how no one liked her in Phoenix, then everyone adores her in Forks and she doesn't like any of them. She sort of hangs out with some "friends" for a while, but dumps them all in favour of Edward and vampires.
She says that her mother "is her best friend" but at the close of the "saga" she's pretty well dumped her too.
And oh lord, don't read all the way through to New Moon, it'll horrify you. As Stephenie Meyer might say it: "What more could possibly be wrong with these books? Could the writing be worse? Could the characters be worse? Why are half of these books written in rhetorical questions?"
Posted by Maggie
August 28, 2008, 12:47 PM
Ew, now I am depressed. My little sister and her friend, who are both in high school, are obsessed with this book.
My sister says she can't put it down and loves it, but it makes her feel lonely......
Posted by Jenna
August 30, 2008, 8:49 PM
So far i've read everything i can on the flaws of this novel, i hate to love it and theres my response.Everything you've said is bang on and i cant disagree as a buffy fan of 12yrs i understand now how much Stephanie Meyor made Bella look like a pathetic dumbass who can do nothing without Edward.
However I love Edward Cullen because the bad boy thing is something i enjoy but we get it HE'S DANGEROUS, plus it helped when i seen the advert fot the twilight film to realise that i dont actually love Edward Cullen i love robert pattinson :)
Posted by Emma
October 22, 2008, 9:04 AM
Hi - I know sort of don't belong here because I'm a Dad but I came looking for some insight into Twilight (my older daughter loves the series) and now I really want to weigh in...I am loathe to criticize the series to my daughter (so I don't) but I too find the writing simply awful and Bella a pathetic role model. But I can see why so many young women and girls love this stuff. Bella just seems so one-dimensional however,(or one and a half on a good page) and Edward is the proto-type for so many real-life creeps. Why couldn't Stephanie Meyer have rounded things out a bit? Oh well...like the web site...I'll pick up the mag for my daughters.
Posted by Paul
October 24, 2008, 3:23 PM
Hi Paul! It's cool that you are actually engaged in what your daughter is reading. We're glad to meet Dads who encourage Shameless-ness. Thanks for stopping by.
Posted by Erin E.
October 25, 2008, 8:51 AM
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