Originally posted on April 15, 2010 at 6:09 PM
*spoiler alert*
I am quite astounded by the current hoopla over Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Apparently, parents are outraged. They have recently complained so much as to merit the books a number 5 rank on the “challenged books” list. I must say, these parents are clueless.
I personally have read all four books in the Twilight series. I have said before, and I will say again, that I think what Stephanie Meyer did here was incredibly smart, intended or not. Essentially what she’s created is the ultimate female fantasy. Edward is a handsome, mysterious guy who becomes instantly, passionately, and entirely devoted to Bella—the every-girl. Not only that, but their love has the true potential of forever. He is her protector, her supporter, her dream man. He is incredibly cool and suave… the guy every sane high school boy is now trying to be.
And even though he’s over seventy years old, he’s still a virgin, in spite of the fact that he’s eternally good-looking and sexy. And he insists that the sexually-charged Bella marry him before they have sex. They do not have sexual contact until book four, after they’re legally, properly married. And it’s scarcely described. Parents, are you insane? What more do you want?
Mrs. Meyer has created the coolest, most desirable role model in the world right now for teenagers. And she’s given him an extremely high set of morals. (I mean, he’s a freakin’ vampire and he refuses to drink human blood. All the other vamps are rolling their eyes.) This is perfect. Stop your bitching! I mean, this is almost as good as if Jesus were incredibly cool and current, walking around in the very-now flannel shirt and making teenage girls swoon so boys want to be like him. Saving yourself for marriage is cool! That’s the banner. Seriously, read the books. They’re Lilly-white.
In spite of the target age, I enjoyed the series. I thought they were a fairly nice fast, easy read for fun entertainment. But I also felt like they were an extremely watered-down version of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. Agenda-pushing, the wait-until-marriage aspect was so strong. Almost nauseating, when I thought about how many teenage girls were going to eat this up, clueless as to what the message was, but absorbing it anyway. (This is good for the complaining parents.) There is less sex in this series than in the Bible. So a little message to the outraged ‘rents: take a deep breath, read the books, and be thankful your kids aren’t reading about the much cooler, adult, ass-kicking Anita Blake. It could be much, much worse.
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