%

Amen, Rainnose!

And in a side comment: Twilight = The most horrible piece of literature. Ever. I'd rather read David Copperfield a thousand times, and that's saying something. I understand it depends on opinion and all, but me and Gabi are committed to wearing anti-twilight shirts the day the next movie comes out.

Seriously though, has anyone ever read Michael Crichton? You know, Jurassic Park and other such sci-fi?

Twilight isn't that bad. The only reason people hate it is because of the hype surrounding it; once something becomes popular, for some reason it seems people have a tendency to bombard it with criticism that appears much of the time to be easily as half-brained as the work's adamant defenders. I remember when the book first came out and no one knew about it and I was one of the only people reading it in my school: I remember when I was INTRODUCING people to it. Stephenie Meyer utilizes some pretty funny word play and has lots of nice, quirky characters as accompaniment to the thrill of the whole "forbidden love" device.

That being said, the Twilight saga is total crap. Starting with the second half of New Moon, the entire Twilight series went down the drain. The movies are even more egregious, since they brought in a whole new swathing, gaping, mindless cult of zombie-drone twelve-year-old girls to ruin the story, as if the movie itself didn't do that well enough.

But in all truth, I find most Twilight haters are just as bad as the Twi-nazis who bother trying to defend the series. Why would you even spend that much time hating something? There are lots of books and artists I don't like, but I wouldn't parade my resentment around as if anybody cares. As far as I'm concerned, that's just as pathetic as the people of a fandom that consider all non-fans inferior. If people want to read and enjoy the Twilight series, I'm fine with that. If they want to watch the movies, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole, but I'm not going to stop them or try to make them feel ashamed of it. I'll express my purely preferential disagreement over the quality of the work they choose to partake in and move on. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

I absolutely despise Harry Potter, but I'm not going to go around with an anti-Harry Potter t-shirt on the day the next movie comes out. :/

Love & Life,
Rain/Eli ♥

P.S. Unfortunately I've only seen the movie versions of Crichton's work. My brother read Jurassic Park at one point, but he said it differed a lot from the movie, which discourages me from reading it since I loved the movie a lot but hate inconsistent adaptions. I'm afraid reading the book would create a paradox of preferences in my mind leading my head to combust in a magnificent flurry of flames and fireworks. O:

Me and Gabi just have fun being Twilight haters, honestly. XD Though I truly do find that the series has aspects to hate. The reason I find most people like it is because Bella is so- What's the word? Perfect, but without many traits of her own?- that people can insert themselves into the dream world that is twilight. Honestly, what girl wouldn't want to be adored by a perfectly handsome vampire that has sworn love to you? By giving Bella no significant personality to speak of, people can put themselves in her place in the books while reading. And because Bella gets her way (in everything) without doing much work and by leaning on the people around her (who absolutely adore her, by the way) people love the books.

And why is that so bad, you ask? It murders feminism in the minds of our youth! DX You don't get anywhere letting prince charming fight all your battles! Fight girls, fight!

....


That's my view on it.

I actually enjoyed the book version a lot more. Crichton is a great writer of adult level fiction, mixing science in with fact and making almost anything seem possible. If you don't want to read Jurassic park, I would most certainly recommend his other books. I finished Timeline a while ago and really loved.

Well, while I won't argue that the book is definitely sexist, don't be so quick to jump to assumptions: when I read it I placed myself in Bella's shoes as well. I wanted an Edward of my own so bad. I think it's a natural human desire, male or female, to want to feel protected and sheltered. Bella is actually a fairly strong, if bland, female lead: in Twilight she sneaks out to rescue her mom and face the person she KNOWS is going to kill her by herself in order to prevent anyone else from getting hurt, and in Eclipse she's prepared to cut her wrist with a rock and possibly die in order to distract the other person who's trying to kill her long enough for the vampires to take the bad guy down. Her weakness mainly stems from the fact that she's human, not her gender: there are plenty of female vampires who kick BEEP in the Twilight saga. I think Bella's lack of character (aside from her feelings of awkwardness and lonely demeanor, both of which pretty much any teenager can relate to) is Meyers's way of allowing the reader to live vicariously through Bella and follow the story as if they were her. That's one of the reasons it didn't translate into a movie very well.

That being said, I think the Twilight saga is much more sexist against men. Whereas Bella is ready and willing to do what it takes to be a strong person, it's always expected that the "perfect man" (i.e. Edward, Jacob) has to be willing to give their all for the woman they love and never question them in the process. Basically, it places the weight of defending and taking care of women on the man's shoulders. I always hear people complaining about how Bella is always being protected by Edward- well, for heaven's sake, why does no one question that Edward is ALWAYS ready to take care of her and bathe her in his love? Or how Jacob is just waiting to "imprint" so that he can be emotionally bound in unquestioning servitude to this one woman for the rest of his life? Aren't men more to women than dogs to be yanked on a chain wherever they please? It's when I came to the realization that this is the person Edward is made out to be that I fell out of love with him and the series. Same with Jacob, except he's LITERALLY Bella's dog. Ugh.

Just ticks me off that no one ever considers how males may be being objectified in the mass media. Like, what, Taylor Lautner had to put on how many pounds of muscle before he could be considered "hot" by wooing teenage girls? How would people react if Kristen Stewart was expected to lose twenty pounds before she could come back for the role of Bella? As far as I'm concerned, feminists shot themselves in the foot a long time ago when they decided that the rules of chivalry are to be maintained while the woman is meant to find independence through liberation. But that's another argument.

Anyway, this is why I said Twilight isn't that bad. I have no interest in trying to defend it as a masterpiece of literature. I know who Stephenie Meyer panders to and I have no delusions about the types of people who read her books. But back when I was a twelve-year-old boy in the throes of affirming my sexuality, Edward sounded like a pretty nice ideal, so I can't get it into my heart to blame the girls who make him their hero. My hope is that they'll grow out of it; if not, they'll find a rude awakening lying next to their first.

La Bam~!
Rain/Eli ♥

P.S. Really? We can't say A-S-S? What if we're talking about a donkey? O:

What?... Ha... That reminds me of Midsummer Night's Dream... We're reading it right now, and we're at the part where Robin gives Bottom an BEEP's head. XD And then Titania falls in love with him because of the magical flower...

Point. ;]