9/11

From Edna St. Vincent Millay: Dirge Without Music I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind. Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned with lilies and with laurel the go; but I am not resigned. Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, A formula, a phrase remains,--but the best is lost. The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love.-- They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom, I know. But I do not approve. More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world. Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. We remember you.

The Problem with Twilight.

As my friends and I were talking about The Hunger Games last weekend, it got me to thinking about that other "hot" series, the Twilight books. And on my way home, I found myself analyzing and finally summarizing my opinion on why Twilight is so disparaged while The Hunger Games are nearly universally loved. So, here it is, my opinion on what the problem with twilight is: The writing is terrible!! The end. Ok, no, but seriously. Yes, the writing is terrible. But, at the risk of sounding like an overprotective mom, the real problem with the series is in the message it sends to its readers. I should start by admitting that I love romance novels. LOVE them. I love them so much that I wrote my college senior thesis about them. I argued in that paper that your standard romance novel is no more or less than a fairy tale for grown-ups (specifically, female grown-ups), a way to face your worst fears (the death of a parent for a child in a fairy tale, the lack of or loss of love for the adult in a romance novel), and work through them to a happy ending. These sorts of stories are a centuries-old coping mechanism in which the terror of the process of reaching happiness is made safe by it occurring within the written word. Unlike real life, a book or story has a preset end, an already determined finale and a finite number of pages in which terrible things can happen, making it easier to venture into the woods as the unknown is controlled. To justify writing this thesis as a religion major, I linked the classic romance novel narrative to a traditional Christian redemption narrative, in which the protagonist faces despair and seeming abandonment from God, only to be redeemed by faith and delivered into earthly happiness and eternal reward. It was a kickass thesis, if I do say so myself, I only hope it still exists in one of the multiple piles of papers and books still sitting in my parents' house (sigh). Anyway, I still firmly believe the world needs fairy tales. The "realistic" books and movies that mimic the horrors and uncertainties and chaos of modern existence certainly have their place and deserve their acclaim and shiny awards. But even so, and especially when life is as grim as it is for so many people, we still need our chances to have everything wrapped up in a pretty bow. We still need our (artificial?) happy endings, so we still need our fairy tales and romance novels. So the problem with Twilight is not that it is kind of a romance novel. The problem with Twilight is that it is a BAD romance novel--it is a romance novel that sends the wrong message. First of all, there is a serious age problem with the characters. Yes, I know "back in the day" 18 year olds got married all the time, and even today it is not crazy uncommon. However, generally speaking we are in a weird cultural moment in which we both hyper-mature adolescents and keep them swaddled at the same time. Again, I'm going to sound like a mom, but why are we surprised when teenagers who've never worked steady jobs or had to pay bills or even been allowed to hear a negative reinforcement from peers or authority figures can't make mature and responsible decisions about sex, relationships, and their futures? I know we are repeatedly told that Bella is old beyond her years and all that, but she still isn't out of high school. It is a rare high schooler that we would trust to make decisions as permanent about the rest of their lives as she does. Especially when you consider that she is making these decisions for/with a guy who is significantly older guy (and yes, the fact that he has a young body only makes him MORE creepy, not less). It's just a terrifying message to send our young romance readers...yes, you should be willing to die (even if only physically and temporarily) for the guy you love your junior year of high school. Really?? Even if you think you're mature when you're 17, when you're 27 you realize how wrong you were then. Your body, your opinions, everything WILL change, and should change, and permanent choices about things like giving up your life probably aren't the best ideas. Second of all, romance novels have a reputation for sending the message that, in order to be happy and "complete," a woman must abandon herself and exist only as a part of the man who will be her husband. While of course there are romance novels with this message, they are frequently the more poorly written and less popular ones, and they are NOT the norm. The true romance novel is in fact a celebration of a woman's self-discovery and empowerment. I know how it sounds, but stick with me. In a successful romance novel, the hero is the man who see the woman for WHO SHE TRULY IS. In order to be together, the couple has to overcome multiple barriers that often include the defense mechanisms and barriers each lover has created through existing in the cruel modern world. Neither of them so much "change" as they "rediscoveR" who they are underneath their turtle shells of past disappointments and tragedies. And the happy ending part is that once the've discovered who they actually are, they've found the person that loves them, just as they are (Mark Darcy reference intended). Yay, happy endings!!! And isn't that a dream we can all get behind? The problem with Twilight, then, is that Bella actually changes. Like, WHOA, does she change. In the first few chapters, she is sarcastic, independent, and self-contained. By the end of the story, she is earnest, dependent (co-dependent if you want to be slightly more kind), and unconcerned with anything but her "nuclear" family. Throughout the novels, she doesn't want to get married, but she does, because Edward insists. She doesn't want kids but then is willing to die for a pregnancy. And, oh right, she CHANGES INTO A VAMPIRE! Kind of a permanent change, right? Bella's arc is a sacrifice of self, in every sense, and while that may be intentional if you buy the argument that Stephanie Meyer is writing a religious allegory, it's kind of unacceptable when you realize the heroine is actually performing the hated cliche of abandoning her self and life for a man. Of course, Meyer tries to make this message easier to swallow. Edward says repeatedly that he loves Bella as she is, pre-change. Even my cynical self gets a bit gooey when when he says he's so attuned to the sound of her heartbeat he can pick it out in a crowded room. Creepy, but pretty sweet. He tries his best to not get her to change. There is also all that talk about how Bella was "born to be a vampire." All of this is clearly attempting to make her story more of a journey of self-discovery rather than a tale of self-rejection. The problem, though, is that that argument is bullshit. Bella herself worries that she is giving up herself; the fear of not being herself after the change is what drives her to accept Edward's marriage proposal so that he will have sex with her while "she is still her" (and no, don't even get me started on the fact that the 1 human experience she refuses to give up on is having sex with Edward. Good God, people.) The fact of the matter is, Edward does his best to convince Bella to stay who she is, so it is in fact Bella who insists on giving up herself to be with him. Becoming a vampire is basically an act of self-hatred of her human self, or, at the very best, a statement that who she is is less than who he is, and needs to be changed. Is this what we want girls to hear? Another argument against Bella's change as self-affirmation is Jacob. If you'll recall in the 3rd book, Bella realizes that if she stays human, Jacob would be her soul mate. He can and would "stop being a wolf" (yes, writing that feels as ridiculous as this plot is), they can be human together, and live a completely normal life. But while Bella admits she loves him and could be happy on that path, the one her heart "calls her to" is the one where SHE has to change. Even with a less costly happiness available (and, oh right, the chance to live independently with neither guy, but why would that be an option? Hmph), she chooses, or feels she has to take, the one that necessitates total sacrifice of her own life. Again, I say bullshit. Also, a note. The book has a happy ending (spoiler alert!) Through luck, fate, and convenience, Bella gets to have her man and yet also have a baby and keep both her father and Jacob in her life--her past is not totally left behind. That's not redeeming of the sacrifice tho--it's all a surprise. When she chooses vampire-hood (?), she does so thinking she is giving all of that up. The fact that she still gets them doesn't make her decision less serious, and in fact, makes the message worse. Go ahead, pick the option to give up everything, you won't really have to! Again, really??? Anyway, if Twilight was a real romance novel, Bella would choose Jacob. Or, Edward would turn back into a human. And yes, if a teenaged werewolf can instantaneously be "meant for" and in love with a half-vampire/half-human infant without it being too illogical for you (or, you know, sinister), I would think Edward could have somehow become human without fans freaking out too much. That would have not only been super romantic--giving up immortality to reconnect with his true human self and the "woman" who loves him--but also a true romance novel. But that's not what happens, and the resulting message is insulting and borderline dangerous to every female who wants to trade places with Bella. You might argue that I'm taking this too seriously or that I'm overthinking a very silly set of books. You're probably right. But they're so popular and pervasive culturally that it's hard not to wonder and worry about what they're saying. Even my romance novel loving self balks a bit at the message that it will take a man or romantic love to help you complete yourself, so when the message is not only that but you will have to virtually die to be "worthy" of him is really repulsive. So, by all means, continue to read and love Twilight. But for the love of Pete, pelase realize what it is telling you, and refuse to listen. Team Get a life, Bella!!

New Beginnings

Hi all... 3rd blog's the charm? Thanks to all who read the blog that came before. I have been so terrible about writing recently, having been both positively and negatively busy for a while, and I need to get back into the saddle with this outlet. I wanted to come back to the web but I'm in a pretty different place now than I was last time I blogged, so a new blog seemed necessary. This new blog will be less personal and more about my views on the world around myself. Less navel gazing is a good move, I think :) I hope you enjoy it. Much love!