Why I Am Not a Fan of Twilight

Before I begin railing against the series, I have to admit something: I was... really into it while I was reading. Yes, I will admit that Meyer's writing style is enticing, and she has a great ability to narrate, but it pretty much ends there.

There are, in my humble opinion, many problems with the Twilight series, including (but not limited to) shallow character development, unrealistic interactions and relationships, overused clichés and tropes, underlying misogynistic themes, and probably the worst ending of any series I have ever encountered.

The biggest thing that turned me off about this series was the ending. No, ALL the endings. I feel like I never got a proper ending from any of them. She shot 0 for 4. I kept thinking, "Ok, this one wasn't that great, but the last book will probably have something good"... I couldn't be more WRONG. She sets up an epic battle with the world’s most dangerous vampires and werewolves in a secluded forest clearing, and after about 40 pages of cheesy dialogue, the bad guys exit stage left, and they all repugnantly live happily ever after… in just 7 pages.

It was the equivalent of Harry Potter politely asking Voldemort to put down his wand, Frodo telling Sauron to stop looking at him and leave him alone, Luke Skywalker inviting Darth Vader to play hopscotch… and they do. It was the most anticlimactic ending for any story I have ever read. I sped through 4 books, adding up to 2,379 pages for NOTHING? What a climax killer! (There’s a crass metaphor I could insert here, but I’ll leave that up to you and your imagination to figure out.)

The vampires came from all around the world and had incredible super powers; I was so excited to see them put to use, but instead, they all walk away without lifting a finger. What a gyp! Even a battle where all the good guys survive is preferable to a nonexistent battle.

As for the character development, I understand that Bella was purposefully drafted to be a “hollow placeholder” so she can be a kind of “every[wo]man” for readers to project their own personalities onto, but that just further proves that Twilight is merely a pulp fiction series, and has minimal literary merit. People are fascinated with these books because they want to be Bella. They want to find their Edward Cullen. It just tickles people’s ears and throws in suspense to keep them reading, and this is precisely why I strongly disagree with those who say that Twilight is on par with Harry Potter. (For those who say it’s better, well, I think they are completely delusional and lack the ability to provide any intelligent literary judgment.)

J.K. Rowling wove together a brilliantly intricate plot with incredibly complex characters (eg. Severus Snape), created an entire wizarding culture down to the minutest detail, and implemented countless classical allusions to mythologies from all kinds of historical cultures. Also, she had the BALLS to kill some of her characters.

Stephenie Meyer’s story is filled with textbook clichés: new girl goes to school and feels like an outsider, but is so pretty that every girl wants to be her and every guy wants to be insi... Well, you get the point. As for Edward, he is the most gorgeous guy in the universe who hates everyone but falls in love with her instantly, and in spite of his douche-baggery, she falls in love with him too… Seriously? Not to mention the progress of their relationship is just as unrealistically perfect and cheesy, which gives young readers the WRONG impression of what true love really is.

Speaking of impression, the underlying message of this story is misogynistic and misleading. Once the two characters fall in love, nothing else matters. Bella forgets about school, forgoes all ambitions to do anything productive with her life, and becomes unhealthily obsessed and sickeningly reliant on Edward. She even becomes borderline suicidal when he leaves her, and latches onto another guy, falsely leading him on in the process.I could go on forever discussing how this story can be potentially damaging to the psyches of its young, impressionable readers, but my post is already long, and this video says it all much more eloquently than I ever can:



One other criticism I have about Meyer is her attempt to rewrite the story from Edward's perspective in her unfinished novel Midnight Sun. I read all of the script that is available, and although I think she drafts a more interesting Edward, I find it extremely inconsistent with the Edward in Twilight. In her first series, Edward is portrayed as a moral, chivalrous vampire who would never hurt a fly on his own accord. In Midnight Sun, he is selfish and violent, only holding back as to not upset Carlisle, the vampire leading his coven (or family)...

Unless... maybe Meyer was trying to show her readers how incredibly delusional Bella had become, and how enfatuation causes you to create false, unrealistic images of people in your mind? Hmm, now there's an idea!

Anyway, as much as I would love to continue ragging on Twilight, I’m not so sure that anyone has enough interest or a wide enough attention span to get this far into the entry. For those who HAVE gotten this far I extend a big thank you/congratulations. I hope this was somewhat enlightening and informational. I am open to and encourage dialogue and discussion about the book and/or my criticism. (I’m an English major, this is what I do)

Alright, Alright, I'm Back

It's been a long while since I've posted anything, mainly because A. I have been ridiculously busy with school, work and life, and B. because nobody really reads this thing, anyway. But I'll (hopefully) be posting more frequently. Why? No reason in particular. Just a whim.

Anyway, I just finished reading O Pioneers! (1913) by Willa Cather for my American Literature 2 class, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it (no spoilers, I promise). Her writing style is eloquent and clever, but never over the top and always entertaining. This is one of the very few assigned books that I ended up liking. No, loving.

She creates beautiful images that don't run on unnecessarily, and implements literary allusions for the educated mind to pick up on. (Had it not been for my professor, I never would have picked up on any of them.) Her characters are well-developed, yet still maintain an element of mystery that leaves you with questions to theorize on. Also, the plot was pretty amazing.

I'm also reading Thomas Mann's Nobel Prize-winning novel The Magic Mountain (1924). It's so bad, I think I'm going to leave that rant for a whole other post. I had to stop reading Rob Bell's Sex God because of school, and I'm starting Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926) this weekend.

And I promise to write that Twilight bash post!