Twilight, You Frustrate Me
I’m a pop culture junkie, so I figured I should probably read Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. I’ve finished Twilight and New Moon and look forward to reading the final two books.
I have relished speeding through these stories. My friend once referred to them as “crack in book form:” you know it’s bad (hey, this ain’t Shakespeare), but you just cannot stop. Totally true. And I’m on the #rpattz bandwagon. (He’s no longer just thatoneguyfromharrypotter.)
But Bella Swan is quite possibly the worst female character—and role model—I have recently encountered. How many times in the books does she say something like “it doesn’t matter what happens to me, as long as Edward is okay”? Occasionally she substitutes her father’s/mother’s/Jacob’s name for Edward’s, but never is Bella’s life or happiness privileged over that of others (unless, I suppose, you count that one kid in school who had a crush on her).
Where is her self-confidence and self-worth? We all care deeply about our loved ones and may want to protect them at our own expense, but Bella’s total lack of self-love goes far beyond that. She is literally reduced to nothing by Edward’s absence—for page after page in the second book, there is no text, no story: just the passage of time marked by the names of months written on otherwise blank pages.
These books are to be read for fun, and I don’t have a major objection to them, but I think Bella presents a frightening vision of personhood, particularly for women. Meyer seems to make Bella into the self-effacing doormat women were long expected—and forced—to be. I wanted so much for Bella to be the interesting, colorful badass I thought she would be, but the only reason she rides a motorcycle is (you guessed it) for Edward.
I’m only halfway through the series, but I was getting fed up with Bella. I’ll post more thoughts when I’ve seen the whole picture. I will say that I’ve heard this problem doesn’t improve.
