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I...
I...
OK, I kind of really liked it. Now, I'm not saying that it's written well, or that Bella is a terrific character or anything--but it was better than I'd expected, and Bella was much less annoying than she was hyped to be. Better than Harry Potter at 15, for darn sure. And it's not a great work of literature, but it's brilliantly done for the audience it's targeting. No wonder preteen girls are wetting their pants over this. Had these books been out when I was 12, I would have wet my pants for sure. I think Meyer captures really well that feeling of being a teenager, in love for the first time, and desperate to spend all your time touching your sweetie. And I think that, in the same way that Buffy-as-vampire-slayer is a brilliant metaphor for the high school experience (her mom just didn't understand!), Bella and Edward's relationship could be seen as a metaphor for how dangerous it can be for kids to be sexually active these days (if they get funky, she could die).
Don't get me wrong, though, this is definitely a guilty-pleasure book. I would really love to see the adult version, in which Bella invests in some heavy duty steel chains so she can tie that boy down and ravage him. Alas, that probably won't get written (except in fanfic--if you've seen that story somewhere, please forward the link?). I plan to see the movie (once the majority of female preteen Pennsylvania has seen it two or three times already and it won't be too crowded) and read the rest of the books.
I...
OK, I kind of really liked it. Now, I'm not saying that it's written well, or that Bella is a terrific character or anything--but it was better than I'd expected, and Bella was much less annoying than she was hyped to be. Better than Harry Potter at 15, for darn sure. And it's not a great work of literature, but it's brilliantly done for the audience it's targeting. No wonder preteen girls are wetting their pants over this. Had these books been out when I was 12, I would have wet my pants for sure. I think Meyer captures really well that feeling of being a teenager, in love for the first time, and desperate to spend all your time touching your sweetie. And I think that, in the same way that Buffy-as-vampire-slayer is a brilliant metaphor for the high school experience (her mom just didn't understand!), Bella and Edward's relationship could be seen as a metaphor for how dangerous it can be for kids to be sexually active these days (if they get funky, she could die).
Don't get me wrong, though, this is definitely a guilty-pleasure book. I would really love to see the adult version, in which Bella invests in some heavy duty steel chains so she can tie that boy down and ravage him. Alas, that probably won't get written (except in fanfic--if you've seen that story somewhere, please forward the link?). I plan to see the movie (once the majority of female preteen Pennsylvania has seen it two or three times already and it won't be too crowded) and read the rest of the books.
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Do I DAZZLE you?
Date: 2008-11-26 11:20 pm (UTC)From:They crack my shit up. So I totally get what you're saying. It's hard to explain why they are enjoyable. I mean, there are some major, MAJOR problems, and as a feminist, the relationship really bothers me (esp. in the later books). But at the same time ... sparkly vampires! BASEBALL!
I think Cleolinda described it best:
Yes. JUST LIKE THAT. (You should read her summaries, by the way, because she is so freakin' funny.)