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A funny quote, from the Wee Free Men Wikipedia page:
Miss Tick sniffed. "You could say this advice is priceless," she said. "Are you listening?"
"Yes," said Tiffany.
"Good. Now...if you trust in yourself..."
"Yes?"
"...and believe in your dreams..."
"Yes?"
"...and follow your star..." Miss Tick went on.
"Yes?"
"...you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Good-bye."
out!
http://woolly-knit-bits.blogspot.com/2008/08/pr...
Now, being a teenager myself, it also made me chuckle when you said we're a "tough bunch." It's true, we are, but don't be so quick to think that we're so naive and so impressionable. We can be quite thick-headed and stubborn. I always say that an adult will never understand a teenager, even though they used to be one because once matured, the mind has a completely different way of processing information and such. It's science. But that's not at all what this is about.
I agree, Meyer did a very poor job as developing Bella as a character. I think this is mostly because Bella was mainly developed in Twilight, and being Meyer's first book she wasn't as experienced or as learned in her writing as in the other books. I'm like you, when I read fiction I just read. I don't look for real deeper meaning, I read to enjoy the story line. In this case, an epic romance. I didn't get a good look at Bella until I read Meyer's rough, unfinished draft of Midnight Sun (which is Twilight, except from Edward's point of view). After reading Twilight for the second time, I began to see what Meyer was subtly trying to tell us about Bella. Everything that Edward simply told us about her in Midnight Sun.
This is where I start to disagree with you. Bella Swan is a completely selfless person. This is true waayy before she becomes a mother herself. Look at her relationship with her mother, it's as if the two have switched roles, Bella is mom and her mother is daughter. Even tho he is a grown man, she hates leaving Charlie (her Dad) to find dinner for himself. She puts everyone before herself and from a feminist's point of view, I can see how this would be looked down upon but I don't think this is a bad trait for anyone to have. Then, Bella is particularly courageous. If you found out there was a coven of vampires living in your town, wouldn't you be a little scared? (I think everyone wants to say no because who wouldn't want Edward Cullen to fall in love with them=]?) Yes, it would be terrifying. She never seems to feel fear at the right moments and sometimes she makes herself look stupid and reckless but mostly it makes her look strong.
I'm going to try to wrap this up and still say everything that I want to get in...consequently, I don't think Bella is confused, weak or a bad character to have as a role model. She is in love and most everyone would do anything for the one that they love. She's not confused, she knows exactly what she wants throughout the whole entire saga, Edward, and she fought for him from day one. I found Bella to be a particularly strong individual; I just had to dig a little deeper to find it.
And then back to us darn teenage girls. All we really need is someone to give us that silly little look, remind us that the book is about VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES and that it's never gonna happen no matter how often we fantasize about Jacob Black or Edward Cullen.
At the end of the day, I adore the Twilight saga because I love to read about the love.
I did definitely see those traits in Bella throughout the books
(unfortunately, as you point out, those were some of the *only* traits Bella
displays, since she just wasn't developed very well). You're right, I take
issue with Bella putting everyone ahead of herself all the time.
Selflessness is certainly an admirable trait, but you could also take the
perspective that she gave her life, too, and that's just extreme beyond
reason. (I don't really read it that way, though. [Except for a little.] But
I do read her decisions to have been hasty and in some cases blindly
irresponsible. I'm a romantic, so I don't think it's cynicism that makes me
have the adult perspective that teen love is *first* love—which means that
other, different, often better loves can come later. Loves that make room
for other things, like interests outside of the object of that love. It
might be a very non-adolescent view of things. :) Also, my romanticism is
far more satisfied when teens are passionate about themselves than when
they're passionate about someone else.)
But like I said in the end, we must all give teens more credit than we might
be inclined to give at first. You prove that point, eh? If I'd read these
books as a teenager, I likely would have felt the same way. I would have
loved the story, and Edward and Jacob, and I would have dreamed about them.
And I likely would have simply replaced Bella with myself in those dreams.
Which means she would have been a green-eyed, poorly dressed,
ultra-stubborn, headstrong kid who likely would have forced Edward to wait
till she was thirty.
The no-sex-until marriage rule leading to marriage-so-we-can-have-sex seemed to be a popular plotline on 7th Heaven (which I've seen sporadically and and yet most of the episodes I saw were along this theme). I mean, that whole show was really about how you should wait until you are married to have sex and then showcases all the various ways in which you will have a lousy marriage if you marry to have sex. I'm not exactly sure what the moral of that show was supposed to be but it was all kinds of messed up.
(hello Disqus comment system - dazzle me!)
I think I smirked too when Edward puts his foot down about sex before marriage.
in regards to terry pratchett, i liked his books for adults even better. my favorite is Going Postal. the great thing about the series is you can read it in almost any order at all, then go back and read it again. it's nonlinear and therefore you gain something new every time you reread the series.
There were a few things i didnt like about the books but not as much as i didnt like about this article.
I think Bella's a great role model and represents a teenage girl perfectly in her decisions and her personality.
Stephenie Meyer did a great job on the series and i cant wait for her future work.
And as a teenage girl myself i think we know that theres no one out in the world as perfect as Edward Cullen, hes a fictional character.
If you want to read really fantastic teetn vampire fiction, read this (which in my view twilight doesn't hold a candle too and would have made a far better movie).
http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Diaries-Awakening...
In fact it's funny there is a review on the page titled:
What Twilight Wishes it Could Be, September 6, 2008
haha
If you want you can get them even cheaper by finding the older printed versions. I've had to re-buy them on amazon about once every 4 or 5 years because I loose or damage them from re-reading.
There is a amazon preview and you can read some of the book first too.
For me the neatest part about twilight was the concept of vampires that don't kill, try to live amungst people (try to be human) and that sort of fight.. I liked that. I could have done with out everything else.
need some teen vampire fic. Which I'm sure will be pretty soon. :)
We learn through literature. Young impressional minds learn through vampire sagas, I guess.
That's why I felt deeply disappointed when Meyer made Bella into a vampire. I realize, it was the only outcome that offered a happy ending, as far as her invented world is concerned; however, it sends the message that the truly beautiful are young-looking forever. And that's just not REAL. I mean, why is it so bad to grow old? To let one's body (and one's looks) take the natural course that god/nature intended? What ever happened to the days when grey hair had a beauty of its own, since grey hair = wisdom?
I'd much rather befriend Grandma Mazur (Janet Evanovich) than Alice Cullen, whether she wants to suck my blood or not. I mean honestly. A closet full of fancy clothes from France? Get real. Take me to WalMart with Grandma Mazur, and I'm good.
certainly bothered by perfect-body crap, and I'm very sensitive to the
issues teens (and adults) struggle with when it comes to body image. But it
flew under my radar when reading these books.
Don't get me wrong, I totally see it now that you mention it. I suppose I
was too distracted by the multitude of other things that angered me as I
read.
That said, there were some serious other issues. Not that it's bad in any way for someone to desire motherhood, but the focus on it irritates me. As a young woman, my decision to have permanent surgical birth control was met with widespread horror amongst women that simply couldn't understand not wanting children. And to the reviewer that implied motherhood is the same as femininity, please take note of the fact that my bedroom is a "french boudoir" and I spend most of my time at home in silky pyjamas and pom-pom mules. I do not have to give up my feminism to be feminine, I do not have give birth to be feminine, and I do *NOT* have to have children, a spouse, or my virginity to have value.
My apologies, that did turn into a feminist rant. Meyer should've stopped at Twilight, in my opinion, and the movie franchise didn't help the reputation.
book portrayed a teen boy pressuring a teen girl to have sex; indeed, the
openness with which Bella and Edward talk about sex, and during which she
indicates her desire to have sex with him, is totally refreshing in a YA
book.
It's all the other stuff that made me nuts.