I'll restart this topic with the announcement from Jezebel.com that Twilight has finally fallen off the NYT Bestseller list.

Yay or nay, folks?

I say yay!

God I say Yay.

It's about dang time.

There was an interesting discussion about Meyer and her saga in a discussion forum a while back. Meyer has stated that she loves tragic romances like Wurthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet. One person stated that Meyer takes those elements of a tragedy and turns it around to make it a positive story. Like she ignores that it's not healthy in some of these books how devoted the two characters are to each other (I'm looking at you Heathcliff and Cathy). It's called tragedies because it does not end well.

I totally see it. How Meyer writes Bella should be a cautionary tale to girls on how not to act, but I doubt Meyer sees it that way.

It's not healthy to be obsessed with death.

It's not healthy to sit in a bedroom and mope for months after a breakup.

It's not healthy to define girls by their love lives.

:twocents:

:lol: Okay, that's classic. No wonder the story is so warped.

And you're totally right about the unhealthy nature of the "romances" in Twilight -- especially for the girls in the target audience. :nervous:

:giggle:

After watching the movies - I can't bring myself to read past the first ten or so pages no matter how hard I tried - I have to agree with you. If young women are taking away a message from these stories, I'd be worried. If you listen to the words of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream she pretty much puts the Twilight/Bella - I want to spend forever with you Edward as a teenager - self-involvement into one song. Sort of makes me sad that young woman live and breathe this story. I hope parents are out there paying attention and talking with their kids about what's wrong with Bella's choices.

Here's a short video of her explaining why she named her new album/song that:
Katy Perry responds to album name

It's not just Twilight. Almost all of those teen romance movies have the message of hey, you are going to be with that guy you met in high school forever. They also include that bull crap that you will fall in love in a couple weeks (ex: Dear John).

Yes, media has an effect on the minds of teens, but also the values taught at home and by peers. One book series isn't going to make most of the masses think that what happens is okay. It's another one of those the responsibility falls on the parents scenarios.

The biggest problem I found with Twilight is the whole imprinting concept, especially a werewolf imprinting on a two-year-old.

:sign_yeahthat: B-)

I second, third and fourth that !!! It's about freakin' time. Maybe now everywhere I go, I won't be inundated with Twlight stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_XfUxXDldY

So. I do have to add something here. In the course of reading the books I've had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of 14-15 year old girls who loved the book. Each of them have stated that they don't actually like Bella very much. They thing she is everything we have been saying--mopey, a little too obsessed with Edward or Jacob etc.

I ask them why they like the story and most of them said it was Edward and Jacob that they were more interested in--and the idea of perfection in a partner was something to aspire to. I'm not sure if that's much better than the loving Bella part, or loving the wierdly manipulative relationship B&E or B&J have but I was proud that they indicated that they did not want to be Bella in the relationship, that they wouldn't get depressed over a boy, and that they would hope to be stronger....

(Actually some fo the girls were younger than 14, I talked to one or two that were 10/11 or 12/13.)

As long as 'perfection' doesn't mean somebody who is unhealthily obsessed over you. . . :p I wouldn't exactly hold Jacob or Edward up as examples of good mate potential.

The idea that girls would go around looking for boys like Edward or Jacob bothers me too..... if they hold up a standard that their boyfriend is supposed to be obsessed with them like the "romances" in Twlight they are constantly going to be disappointed. First of all, your average teenage boy doesn't tend to be that sympathatic, empathatic, self-sacrificing, or verbal. And no offense to the men here, they tend to have one thing one at the forefront of their minds, unlike Edward (or even Jacob.) Having high standards and goals from their potential partners is a good thing for teens of both sexes, but being out of touch with reality can lead to a lot of trouble & hurt IMO.

I agree. (Shinar and Tahiri) however, I would say that to some extent I feel like that part of the story is not all that different from what we've been fed in other medium's--doesn't make it right, but just not that inventive. The part of Twilight that bugs me the most is how Bella has been set up as an icon of the way girl's should behave in regards to True Love etc. So for me the fact that none of them saw here behavior as a role model felt like a good thing.

Jade, thanks for that insight. I thought about it a bit and think I've come up with what really is the lightning in a bottle so to speak. I don't know why I'm fascinated but the phenomenon is so inscrutable that I feel like I need to understand it.

The readers want to identify with having someone who cares about them as much as Edward and Jacob. The trouble is that all three main characters are unhealthy caricatures. Men like Edward - not controlled by passion yet passionately in love with a women - are as rare as vampires. In other words they don't exist. I'd argue if they did exist they wouldn't be healthy for the woman they loved. Same with Jacob's animalistic attraction - he's just like our dogs who don't care that we've been gone only that we're back and paying attention at that moment. He's as real as a werewolf.

The sad thing is I don't know if the comments at the bottom of this article are serious or not. They scare me either way.

http://www.celebuzz.com/2011-03-31/the-twi...crets-revealed/

The comments on that article were strange....

:befuddled: