Bronze-level articleStephenie Meyer

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''One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.''|}}
 
''One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.''|}}
  
Carrying an unplanned teenage pregnancy or a high-risk pregnancy to term are both valid choices within the pro-choice viewpoint (that is, after all, the very ''definition'' of choice). However, ''Breaking Dawn'' does not feature an average unplanned teenage pregnancy or an average high-risk pregnancy, and it is this portrayal that can be considered problematic. The ''extreme'' life-or-death nature of Bella's pregnancy arguably places she and her decision not to have an abortion on a high moral pedestal. Thus, she may not be depicted as simply exercising her right to choose, but as making a heroic sacrifice and doing something ''righteous'', with the implicit message therein being, "no matter how hard it gets, abortion is ''never'' the solution." However, whether this really is pro-life rhetoric in pro-choice clothing is pretty much personal opinion. At least it isn't ''the'' most objectionable part of the book.
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Carrying an unplanned teenage pregnancy or a high-risk pregnancy to term are both valid choices within the pro-choice viewpoint (that is, after all, the very ''definition'' of choice). However, ''Breaking Dawn'' does not feature an average unplanned teenage pregnancy or an average high-risk pregnancy, and it is this portrayal that can be considered problematic. The ''extreme'' life-or-death nature of Bella's pregnancy arguably places her and her decision not to have an abortion on a high moral pedestal. Thus, she may not be depicted as simply exercising her right to choose, but as making a heroic sacrifice and doing something ''righteous'', with the implicit message therein being, "no matter how hard it gets, abortion is ''never'' the solution." However, whether this really is pro-life rhetoric in pro-choice clothing is pretty much personal opinion. At least it isn't ''the'' most objectionable part of the book.
  
 
The birth scene in ''Part 1''  of the two-part ''Breaking Dawn'' film adaptation is reported to have caused several viewers to suffer seizures due to its flashing lights.<ref>Will Oremus, "[http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2011/11/twilight_breaking_dawn_seizures_whose_fault_are_they_.html Shaking in Your Seat]", Slate Magazine</ref>
 
The birth scene in ''Part 1''  of the two-part ''Breaking Dawn'' film adaptation is reported to have caused several viewers to suffer seizures due to its flashing lights.<ref>Will Oremus, "[http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2011/11/twilight_breaking_dawn_seizures_whose_fault_are_they_.html Shaking in Your Seat]", Slate Magazine</ref>

Revision as of 14:06, 6 June 2012

Be warned: There are no great stories, characters, or profound life lessons to be had in Twilight.
George Takei

Stephenie[1] Meyer is an American author best (i.e., only) known for the vampire romance novel series The Twilight Saga. The books, which have sold millions of copies and been adapted into equally "popular" films, tell the tale of sparkly, stone-skinned, befanged stalker Edward Cullen and klutzy doormat/authorial stand-in Isabella "Bella" Swan.

Contents

Pro something-or-other

The taming of the Sue

Critics have accused the Twilight series of sending an anti-feminist message. Bella has been perceived as being a weak, Mary Sue-ish character whose only defined personality traits are her extreme clumsiness (except when she's being "very graceful") and high level of maturity (except when she speaks, or acts),[2] whose hobbies, interests, and goals mainly revolve around the males in her life: cooking and cleaning for her father and pining after the impossibly perfect Edward Cullen.[3][4]

Edward's relationship with Bella has been seen as having abusive overtones.[3] He exhibits creepy, stalker-ish behavior like sneaking into Bella's room to watch her sleep without her permission and possessive, controlling behavior like disabling her car so she can't go see any of her friends (namely his rival Jacob).

Save the undead unborn

Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight series, could be described as a 750-page — SPOILERS!pro-life, pro-abstinence-until-marriage allegory, with 18-year-old Bella unintentionally getting pregnant on her honeymoon, then declining to have an abortion even though the mutant vampire-human fetus comes to full term in a matter of weeks and almost kills her with its rib-shattering kicks[5] (how that's scientifically possible, for Christ sakes we will never know).

Meyer responded to the charge that Bella is an "anti-feminist heroine" with arguments that at face value seem pro-choice:[6]

When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. […]

In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. […]

One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.

Carrying an unplanned teenage pregnancy or a high-risk pregnancy to term are both valid choices within the pro-choice viewpoint (that is, after all, the very definition of choice). However, Breaking Dawn does not feature an average unplanned teenage pregnancy or an average high-risk pregnancy, and it is this portrayal that can be considered problematic. The extreme life-or-death nature of Bella's pregnancy arguably places her and her decision not to have an abortion on a high moral pedestal. Thus, she may not be depicted as simply exercising her right to choose, but as making a heroic sacrifice and doing something righteous, with the implicit message therein being, "no matter how hard it gets, abortion is never the solution." However, whether this really is pro-life rhetoric in pro-choice clothing is pretty much personal opinion. At least it isn't the most objectionable part of the book.

The birth scene in Part 1 of the two-part Breaking Dawn film adaptation is reported to have caused several viewers to suffer seizures due to its flashing lights.[7]

Book of a Mormon

Meyer is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). This has lead to the perception of some Mormon elements and themes within the Twilight series:

  • Bella's description of her relationship with Edward as "forever" has been linked to the Mormon practice of sealing.[8] Furthermore, the Cullen coven's existence as an immortal family unit has been compared to the Mormon concept of the eternal family,[9] which holds that sealed couples and their sealed children will dwell together for eternity in heaven.
  • Immortal Edward's physical appearance is described as stunningly gorgeous and perfect (and sparkling, as everyone well knows), which has been linked to Mormons' belief that after death their spirits will be reunited with their "perfected physical bod[ies], which will never die again."[10]
  • Bella avoids alcohol and tobacco,[8] which isn't all that remarkable, especially for a teenager. However, she also avoids both coffee and tea,[8] which is unusual. The "Word of Wisdom", a section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a part of the scriptural canon used by churches in the Latter Day Saints movement, prohibits the ingestion of alcohol, tobacco, and "hot drinks" (interpreted to mean coffee and tea by the LDS Church).
  • Bella and Edward — SPOILERS! — saddle their darling little chestburster with the name Renesmee, an unwieldy amalgamation of the names of her grandmothers, Renee and Esme (her middle name, Carlie, comes from the names of her grandfathers, Carlisle and Charlie).[11] Mormons are reported to have a tradition of creating new names by "combining parents' or grandparents' first names."[12]

Meyer has said she is a "huge fan" of Orson Scott Card.[13] It is perhaps telling that, of all the sci-fi and fantasy writers, she singled out one of the only other Mormons in the room.

Moral relativism or moral absolutism

Meyer seems to believe that there are situations where relativism applies and others where absolutism applies. For example, premarital sex and abortion are always evil but people should be free to choose whether or not to commit murder. Indeed, Carlisle, a vampire presented as compassionate and saintly, repeatedly stresses that he respects the freedom of other vampires to kill and eat humans. After all, he believes in free choice. Edward, the obnoxious stalker who used to captain the Hufflepuff Quidditch team (a big step downward from his beginnings), states that Benjamin, a being who goes out to kill and eat humans every weekend, has "always had a good moral compass."

Fan wank

The Twilight series is, quite literally, Meyer's masturbation fantasies set down on paper. Yes, really, it all came to her in a dream.[14] This most certainly isn't helped by the writing style in the Twilight series which is written first-person from Bella's point of view and with little description given of her character - ostensibly to help a reader "become" the character and relate to them regardless of who they are, but this applies equally to those writing the damn thing. Even actor Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward in the movies, realizes this fact:[15]

When you read the book, it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything.
When I read it ... I was convinced that Stephenie was convinced that she was Bella, and ... it was like it was a book that wasn't supposed to be published, like reading her — her sort of sexual fantasy about some — especially when she says that it was based on a dream, and it's like, "Oh, then I had a dream about this really sexy guy" and she just writes this book about it, and there's some things about Edward that are just so specific that ... I was just convinced that this woman is mad, she's completely mad, and she's in love with her own fictional creation. And I sometimes ... feel uncomfortable reading this thing, and I think a lot of people feel the same way, that it's kind of voyeuristic ... It creates this sick pleasure in a lot of ways.[16]

To up the weirdness factor by a trillion, Meyer has stated that she loved her vampire-ravaged Mary Sue heroine "like a daughter," and that this love inspired her to call the character Isabella, a name she had been "saving for [her] daughter, who had never shown up and was unlikely to put in an appearance" (Meyer has three sons, it must suck to be them).[14]

External links

Footnotes

  1. Yes, that's how her parents spelled it
  2. Reasoning With Vampires - Bella's maturity See also: TV Tropes - Informed attribute
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kaila Hale-Stern, "Twilight's Hidden Morality Plays", i09.com
  4. Carmen D. Siering, "Talking Back to Twilight", Ms. magazine (quoted on Jezebel.com)
  5. Anna North, "Breaking Dawn: What To Expect When You're Expecting… A Vampire", Jezebel.com
  6. "Frequently Asked Questions: Breaking Dawn", StephenieMeyer.com
  7. Will Oremus, "Shaking in Your Seat", Slate Magazine
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Angela Aleiss, "Mormon influence, imagery run deep through Twilight", Houston Chronicle
  9. Anthony Petro & Samira K. Mehta, "Big Vampire Love: What's So Mormon about Twilight", Religious Dispatches
  10. Hannah Priest, "What’s Wrong With Sparkly Vampires?", The Gothic Connection
  11. Laura Wattenberg, "Name of the Year, 2009: pt. 3, The Winner," The Baby Name Wizard
  12. Jeanine Cox, The Perfect Name: A Step-by-Step Guide to Naming Your Baby
  13. Stephenie Meyer interview, Hachette Book Group
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Twilight", StephenieMeyer.com
  15. Nivair H. Gabriel, "Twilight Makes for the Best Fanwank Ever," i09.com
  16. Which brings us to the question - Why the fuck hasn't he considered leaving the cast yet?
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