Bewsh!
Teeny Tiny Rant about Twilight and decline of Literature…
The Twilight Saga…
I have read all of the books and have watched all of the films so far.
As an English Literature graduate I can safely say that the books are not written in the best way; the syntax and synonyms are minimalist and simple and the characters and general storylines are not that impressive. The character of Bella in particular is deliberately bland as a literary technique used more as a reflection than anything else. If the leading lady that the desirably written males fall in love with has no discernable features or qualities then it is a lot easier for the women/girls/guys/whoever reading it to put themselves in her position. Suddenly it’s not about “Bella” and the men in love with her, it’s about the reader and why these men are in love with them. I grant you that Meyer is no literary wizard, but she’s by no means stupid either. She has written 2 male leads that are both desirable for different reasons. Edward is perceived as the aloof, caring but misunderstood character, not completely unrelated to Bronte’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Whereas Jacob is the younger male, darker skinned, alluring and unknown, representing the “Other” character; Other here meaning other-worldly/foreign, detailing the same appeal of Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra. They both have desirable qualities and she goes into great detail about their physical descriptions. The likelihood that with today’s shallow and conceited perception of beauty, either of these over-hyped males would be attracted to the unbranded wheat cereal biscuit that is the heroine of the Twilight Saga is minimal, if not completely non-existent.
As a woman, I, due to my willingness to do so, substituted myself as the character of Bella (an undoubtedly deliberate device of Meyer) and revelled in the idea of 2 FICTIONAL and therefore UNREAL men feeling for me the way they are described as feeling for Bella.
The Twilight Saga touches on the ideas and notions surrounding some of the first great supernatural and Gothic fictional works from the 18th century onwards, ranging from the unsurpassable genius that is Stoker’s Dracula and Le Fanu’s Carmilla, right up to and including “modern” tales of vampirism from writers such as Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite. The only issue with the Twilight Saga, from an objective literary perspective, is that it fails to reach the levels that these novels reached in terms of the writings themselves or the intricate detail put into every aspect of the stories. The Twilight Saga is a simplified amalgamation of these earlier novels and it is merely due to the target audience. If you gave a teenage girl a copy of Twilight and a copy of Carmilla, even though Carmilla is a lot shorter, she would get more pleasure and find it easier to read Twilight. This of course may simply be down to the time these novels/novellas were written, but as an adult I much prefer the style of writing of the earlier novels to the Twilight Saga, but indulge in the latter when I want a cheap thrill.
As far as the concept of rape, abuse and abortions go regarding Breaking Dawn, they are topics that have been used in novels and writings for centuries without such adversity. The issue with Twilight is that they are not handled or presented in the same way as the Saga’s predecessors. Richardson’s Clarissa features the elopement and eventual rape of the heroine, but does so in an unobvious and therefore less intrusive manner. It shocks the reader of course, but just enough to make them continue reading, rather than forcing them to burn the book immediately to rid themselves of the scenes within.
As aforementioned, by making Bella so playdough-esque, making female readers put themselves in her shoes and emulate her throughout her endeavours, then having her appear so accepting of what can be construed as domestic violence, the female readers in question are subconsciously enduring the same situation but from a seemingly objective standpoint. No one wants to read about themselves getting bruised and battered whilst trying to make love to their husband on their honeymoon, so it suddenly becomes a rape/domestic violence issue. If Bella was a more rounded and independent character, one that didn’t require the reader to basically fill in the gaps, then the reader would be less inclined to feel that the things that happen to Bella, happen to them.
The Twilight Saga is what I would describe as easy reading, or holiday novels, ones that require little to no thought and stories that can be easily enough absorbed without much attention needing to be paid. I enjoy the books as much as a person can enjoy a conglomeration of genres and ill-written narratives, and the films, from a simply aesthetic perspective, have gotten progressively better each time.
My biggest fear with the Twilight Saga is that teens/tweens/young adults think this is the standard for vampire/paranormal romance/gothic literature without so much as stepping outside the ill-forged safety net of Meyer’s sloppy penmanship. I am pleased they are reading; I’d be more pleased if they were reading something that they could at least learn from in terms of what good writing looks and reads like.
:)
