Fearful of the future? If you wish to be I'd advise you to read Twilight, or any of Stephanie Meyers unfathomably popular preteen masturbatory aids. Meyers has created two eternal characters in this series. I'm using the term 'character' liberally as to pretend that Edward Cullen and Bella Swan have a dimension between them.
These books have engulfed the young teenage population in white hot flame. While the grand appeal looks promising on the outside ("THE KIDS ARE READING! PRAISE THE LORD!"), any greater magnification of this situation brings a host of problems. While I could endlessly prattle on and on about the flaws in this publication, I will instead STUDY the afflictions it has placed upon young WOMEN.
Bella is a young high school aged girl who just moved to a small dreary town with her father. Bella has no friends at her new high school and is not really interested in making any. Shes a quiet girl with nothing to say, until she meets Edward Cullen; her new obsession. Her obsessive thinking is idealized, even before they interact for the first time. When they do interact it is brief and inconsistent for months, however it is the only thought that Meyers indicates she has. Dedicating her mind entirely to him though he has no real presence in her life yet.
Throughout the book Bella makes a few shallow friendships which serve as literary speed bumps to slow the courting further. When Edward and Bella do spend time together it is fast, and dangerous. Being a vampire Edward has strength he expends great effort trying to control, and has a supernaturally natural yearn for blood. However he yearns the deepest for Bellas blood. This increase in danger is meant to instill an equal increase in passion. This is the biggest problem.
Meyers frequently and directly correlates danger and love. Though we have seen in the book every interaction Bella and Edward have he never once asks her what her favorite band is, what the last book she read was, what her mom does for work, or anything one would want to know about their "soulmate". The connection is unspoken, a 'love at first site'. Meyers approaches love unrealistically, and tells readers through the character of Bella that if you love a monster long enough and steadfastly enough, eventually he will become your prince (or in this case he will suck the life from your neck and make you immortal). Meyers glorifies dangerous and nearly abusive relationships, while at the same time glorifying women who are seen and not heard, and women who format their life around a man.
The only thing I can hope is that these books will inspire further reading in the lives of young people, they'll need to educate themselves out of the ditch Meyers dug for them anyway.
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well said!
ReplyDeletei havent gotten into the twilight boods but i would definatly agree that most vampire books tend to idolize the beauty and the beast problem for young women.
media literacy SHOULD be taught right along side literacy in general. we need to be prepared for the bombardment which is going to occur.
i agree with you 100%