I think I’m different from a lot of people in that I don’t believe in stories (film or books) being entertainment for entertainment’s sake. I can’t accept something that is mere fluff. I need to have meaning, and I need it to be deep meaning. If I’m going spend time engaging with a story, I need it be something I can take seriously and it needs to be something that has meaning to it. It can be entertaining to a certain degree. I can appreciate humor, but even humor needs to be something I can take seriously too, in that the humor or the “entertainment” means something.
I think this is why I can’t completely accept Twilight. Twilight is merely fluff to me and it doesn’t have much meaning. I can’t take it seriously and therefore it’s not worth paying much attention to. When I first read the books, (and I did read all of them), I actually found them fascinating. I was absorbed into them and I read them all rather quickly.
But that’s about as far as it went. Ultimately, the ending was never satisfying to me. The whole thing was so ridiculous, and so anti-climatic. (If you are going to set up that much tension in a story, and then not have a big fat battle over it, where people actually die, than you shouldn’t have raise the stakes that high in the first place.)
I knew that Twilight wasn’t going to work for me when I tried re-reading the first book again. When I did that, it annoyed me so much, I couldn’t stand it. I felt that way when I watched the first movie for the second time. If, after the first time I engage with a story, I don’t feel that I want to see it again or read it again, then it’s probably not working for me. It’s the stories that I want to re-read or re-watch the minute I’ve finished it the first time that I know are going to stick to me; the ones that are going to last in my heart for a long time.
Maybe Twilight isn’t supposed to be taken that seriously. Maybe some people that get into it, do it for the mere ridiculous fun of it, and maybe it’s not that big a deal to them.
But if I can’t take it seriously, then I can’t accept it. And I think the thing that annoys me is that some people do take it very seriously.
I can accept Harry Potter and The Hunger Games as legitimate because they both have tons of meaning in them. They are worth making a big deal of, because they can be taken seriously.
So maybe I shouldn’t take things so seriously all the time? Yeah, you are probably right. When it comes to other parts of my life, I have learned to lighten up a little. But I can’t help this when it comes to stories and storytelling. Is it so wrong that I question, analyze, ask why, and insist that in a shallow, meaningless (without God) world, my stories need to mean something?
Stories are a deeply human way of understanding the world and our place in it The best stories always teach us something. Whether we know it or not, whether we think about it, the greatest stories will affect us in some way, and they should be things that change us somehow. If you engage with a story, walk away from it, forget about it, and it doesn’t affect you at all, I would consider it a waste of time.
Maybe some people do find meaning in Twilight. I don’t know. (I really didn’t.) But I do know, that if I can’t find significance in my stories, and if I can’t take them seriously, then I’m unlikely to accept them that easily.
I agree that Twilight is ridiculous, but I can’t really hold it against the 13-year-old girls who are obsessed, because I was a teenage girl once who was obsessed with Titanic (which won 11 Oscars, mind you) and Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync (maybe not as high-quality…). But really, if you look at just the plot … it’s horrible! It just really sucks. But it does have this weird addictive quality to it, I think because of the characters … It’s got pretty good characterization. But anyway, I digress…
I actually think that there is something of value in the series, if you at least just look at the Cullen family. Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, and has said on her website that that is something that comes into play in her writing, because it’s part of who she is. I feel like the Cullen family’s way of life could be kind of a metaphor for the Christian life. I mean, they do not accept the rules of their culture, but seek to follow a better way of life. They live lives of restraint in which they are constantly fighting their own desires to be obedient to their code of ethics. And their way of life and the love they share with each other always surprises and sometimes impresses other vampires. Remember the part at the end of the fourth book where the wanderer Garrett speaks up to witness for the Cullens:
“I have witnessed the bonds within this family…. These strange golden-eyed ones deny their very natures. But in return they have found something worth even more, perhaps, than mere gratification of desires? … It seems to me that intrinsic to this intense family binding — that which makes them possible at all — is the peaceful character of this life of sacrifice. There is no aggression here … . There is no thought for domination.”
I don’t know, maybe I’m stretching, but it’s something I felt as I was reading in other parts of the book, too, that I can’t remember anymore.
There could be arguments made, too, I suppose, about messages like the importance of fighting a corrupt and totalitarian government (Volturi) or even a pro-life message. One person told me that she felt the fourth book went against all her feminist feelings because of its anti-abortion message. I thought, “I didn’t really get an anti-abortion feeling from it, but I suppose the argument could be made for it, and if so, great!” That’s a good thing in my book. =0)
I don’t know, maybe I’ve thought too much about this! Haha
In my world there is no such thing as thinking too much. I will admit I do like/love the Cullen family. Actually, they were probably the most interesting thing about the books, and they were actually great characters. (I’m sorry, but both Bella and Edward kind of suck as characters.)
I particularly love Carlisle and Alice. If I were to pick favorites those two would be it. And if it were more about them, I probably would have liked it better. (I LOVE Carlisle’s story. It was probably the best pat out of the whole series for me.)
There just wasn’t enough in there for me to feel it strongly or to be profoundly impacted by the story as a whole.
And I know what its like to be an obsessed teenager, believe me. But for me it was The Lord of the Rings, and that was exceptionally full of meaning.
I get why girls get into Twilight, but even then, I still don’t see that there is much worth in it, and I do remember enough about what it means to obsess as a teenager to know how deeply some girls could get into this…and in this case, I see that as dangerous. If a girl thinks that she wants an Edward Cullen in her life, she’s never going to find him. And it would also be sad if a girl felt like she had to act like Bella in order to attract a guy. In the immaturity of the teenage mind, I wouldn’t trust the ability to see past the empty fluff of it all.
If you can find see the value of those things in the story, I glad for you. I guess I don’t necessarily see a lot that was intrinsically felt in the fabric of the story. There is an overwhelming theme of love yes, and the members of Cullen family are good characters in their own way, but that is overshadowed by the crappy storytelling.
I’ve heard it said that Twilight is about “getting a boyfriend.” Unfortunately, when I look at the story as a whole, that’s what I see. If Stephanie wanted this story to be more than that, she should have written it that way. I don’t think she did a very good job.
And, in the long run, will Twilight last? I think the best stories do last…and I’m not sure Twilight will. I think Harry Potter will, because Rowling wrote it with meaning.
I don’t mind if you find value in Twilight, its not that big a deal if you do. I guess, I’m not sure I’ll ever be convinced that Twilight was ever worth all the hullabaloo it got.
Oh, I definitely don’t think Twilight was worth all the hullaballoo it got! And I get angry at people who try to compare it to Harry Potter, because they are so different in every way (especially quality) that I feel like it’s an insult to the Harry Potter series to compare them. I was just trying to point out that I think there are moments along the way that do offer at least a little SOMETHING of value, even though the story as a whole doesn’t necessarily do so. Of course, I imagine that’s true of just about anything. =0)
I will say that I really liked Bella as a character in the first book. She was funny and kind of sarcastic and interesting. In the second book, she became a pathetic blob, and it kind of stuck, unfortunately. That was quite a disappointment. But I do believe its the characters of that book that made people keep reading. It HAD to be, because the plot lines were SO thin, and I often thought that Stephenie had to have been writing along and suddenly thought, “Oh crap, I need to have a plot. Let’s see … what can I throw in, now that we’re 20 chapters in?”
I’m less worried about girls wanting an Edward (since I think most girls spend time wishing for some kind of fictional character that doesn’t exist anywhere in the real world, whether its from a book or a chick flick), and more worried about girls trying to be like Bella. The way she reacts to Edward leaving made me so angry if for no other reason than I felt it was making girls think it was okay to be that way. You should not stop living because a boy leaves you. Where are all the feminists when you need them?! A woman should be strong, not pathetic, and her whole life should not depend on whether or not she’s got her man. Argh!
So, ultimately, it’s probably true that the crap outweighs the good in those books, and yet somehow, we kept wanting to read each new one that came out.
In ten years, though, everyone will be looking back and laughing at the Twilight craze, while they’re putting the Harry Potter series on lists of the classics. =0)
Haha….I agree. My definition of classic is something that lasts and stands the test of time. I definitely see Harry Potter becoming that in Youth literature.
Twilight however, not so much.
Oh, and thanks for the discussion. I love talking about this type of stuff.
And, I hope I never came across overly negative towards you or anything. Sometimes, I can be passionately writing out something, and may not edit it as well as I liked, or write something that could be interpreted wrongly.
But its been good.
Thank YOU for the discussion. It’s fun! And don’t worry, I don’t take offense. I understand how writing comments can sometimes come across differently than if we were to say it in person. So I just imagine the person saying it with a grin. Haha