Yes, more on Twilight

[ivyfic]

I've been seeing lots of commentary on Breaking Dawn, particularly how poor a role model Bella is. Without being spoilery, there are some specific plot points of that book that are obviously the source of the objection.

As I pointed out in the last post, I think Bella's thinking and view of herself are extremely warped. But they're warped in a very specific way. Let's look at her relationship with Edward, shall we?

-She falls madly for him at first sight
-She very quickly defines herself exclusively in relation to him
-She loses all interest in anything that does not involve him
-(In later books) she repeatedly says she will die without him

Sounds stalkery, yeah? Then add this:

-Everyone, even Edward, tells her that he's dangerous
-She acknowledges that he's dangerous
-Whenever someone tells her that he's dangerous, she responds by pushing them away because they "don't understand"
-Her obsession with Edward is costing her her other relationships—both with friends and with family
-When people try to rehabilitate those relationships, she again distances them because they're distracting her from Edward
-Edward repeatedly spurns her with no explanation, then apologizes profusely and says it won't happen again
-Bella absolutely accepts his apology because she knows that Edward's "not really like that"
-She willingly accepts her own death as a fair price for this epic love

You see? The psychological framework is there, all you'd need is a tiny push for Bella to be a battered girlfriend. She is immediately and completely dependent on him for her emotional life; she passively (and actively) allows him to supercede every other relationship in her life until she is soon ignoring her own support system entirely in favor of his "family"; she romanticizes the dangerous aspects of him and places herself in the middle of an epic saga where he is THE ONE and people try to keep them apart because he's MISUNDERSTOOD and any actual physical threat he poses to her is because they are STAR-CROSSED LOVERS and they must have a cross to bear.

If you read the subtext of this, if you remove the supernatural element, she's just a boring whitebread girl who is in an abusive relationship. Yes, of course, this is a vampire romance epic, so she is in the middle of an epic romance, but this is our heroine?

By contrast, I was reading another YA fantasy series this afternoon and came across this line: "A lot of kids have this fantasy that secretly they're really the princess of a foreign country. Turns out that pretty much sucks."

If that line had appeared in Twilight, I'm pretty sure it would have gone: "A lot of kids have this fantasy that secretly they're really the princess of a foreign country. Turns out that I am and it's totally awesome. Nobody appreciated me at home anyway. Serves them right."

ETA: P.S. I am totally overwhelmed with a number of things right now and so am, of course, using my precious, precious time to obsess over this book that I hated. Go time management skills!

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Ah, that helps explain some of the hate. I mean, I didn't think it was a good book, and everything you're saying is correct, but I didn't even bother giving it this much thought. But if you're obsessing as an avoidance tactic... :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd probably obsess even if I wasn't busy, just because the book is so popular and so bad. It's not just that it's bad--it's that this portrayal of love is pathological. And no one in the book resembles a real person. Plus, no plot for 400 pages and, as another reader pointed out, Meyer takes you through ever minute detail of Bella's life, 24 hours a day, and she's the least interesting part of the story.

It just pings my injustice meter--not because it's a bestseller, but because Bella is a spoiled brat who treats people like shit and the book seems to think that makes her a good person.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Also--at first, I found her instant permanent love of Edward perfectly expected. He's a vampire. She's in his thrall. She keeps talking about how being around him makes her faint, lightheaded, overcome. I kept expecting the book to dive into how sinister that is, to have your will overrun by someone else, to lose control over yourself so entirely that you don't even realize it's happening. But Bella acknowledges the supernatural origin of his charisma...and thinks it's true love anyway. Wha...?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Well, of course having the cutest guy on the football team - I mean vampire baseball team - is the best thing evar and why wouldn't you love him always?!

[dotfic.livejournal.com]

The more I hear about this series, the more disturbing it sounds. I'm going to read just to see if it lives up to its rep.