With part 1 of the fourth and final Twilight series movie, Breaking Dawn, coming out on November 18th, only 2 weeks away, the buzz and excitement is elevating. Every time we see the trailer play, goose bumps rise to our skin, and a wave of anticipation ripples through us. All of this building hype got me wondering why is it that so many of us are CRAZY about Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, Jacob and their respective clans? So I decided to do some research.
I found an article by Steven D. Greydanus titled "Twilight Appeal: The cult of Edward Cullen and Vampire Love" in which he argues that Meyer’s vampires are “high school’s aristocracy, the coolest kids on campus, the clique that everyone wants to get into.” He sees Twilight as “the 21st century’s version of the humble governess who captures the heart of the lord of the manor,” catering to the “traditional feminine fantasy of being delivered from obscurity by a dazzling, powerful man." Well based on this statement it seems to me that Twilight is just our grown up version of the Disney Princess stories.
However I feel that unlike the princess stories from our childhood Twilight resonates rather conservative values. In today's technology obsessed world it is important that there are still book series around like Harry Potter and Twilight that keep middle school and high school students reading for pleasure. So no wonder we are all obsessed with the Twilight books, and ya know what, that is alright.
I think its interesting that the article said how its catering to our "traditional feminine fantasy of being delivered from obscurity by a dazzling, powerful man". After all this talk about the secret education we've been getting through Disney movies and television shows and books we're exposed to as children its not surprising that these books and movies are prying off our weakness.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I was anti-Twilight for as long as possible. I saw so many people of all ages and a bunch of my friends get so hooked and obsessed that I wanted nothing more than to stay away from it all together. I finally succumbed when my friends were going to see the movie and I'm a sucker for a good movie. After I saw it, I absolutely fell in love. I would not say that I am a crazy fan by any means and I am staying away from the books because I heard if you read those then the movies are awful, but this series sure suckered me in. They definitely play on the feminine fantasy and I also think a cool part of these is that Bella was not a popular girl or the prettiest girl but he still picked her out of the crowd. Although it still portrays the classic man figure as bringing an end to the girl's problems, I think it is a cool feature to have her not be miss popular. And, only 17 more days until the story continues :)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Caroline and Tess. I was also anti-Twilight when all of my peers started reading it. Some how I became hooked to it and I absolutely love it. I also find it interesting that the article stated how Twilight caters to the “traditional feminine fantasy of being delivered from obscurity by a dazzling, powerful man." I never really thought about it like that or compared it to any Disney movies. Twilight was just something I was interested in and I was curious to find out who Bella would choose, but now that I think about it Twilight really does cater to the feminine fantasy.
ReplyDeleteOf course it caters to the feminine fantasy - it's for females! No girl would want to read a romance book where the female doesn't get the guy. So Bella gets TWO (amazingly attractive) men to fight over her. I love the books and the movies. I think that, even though it perpetuates the male/female stereotypes, it has plenty of morals for teens to learn from. First and foremost is the ever-present idea of abstinence. This is played out in a very humorous manner throughout the entire series and I respect Stephanie Meyer for her bravery in writing about this issue.
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