Some thoughts on Romance in _Twilight_

Mizwrite posted today about the altered standards of romance because of Twilight. As an adult reading the novel (cause I've only read Twilight so far), I approached it with open eyes for the roller coaster of romance but I wonder how much young girls really understand about the story. I mean, if Feminists have problems with Prince Charming, they should have huge problems with Edward Cullen. Personally, I don't see a problem with fairy tales because young children begin to understand the difference between fantasy and reality pretty quickly and fortunatly fairy tales have plenty of inter-personal reactions that are unrealistic this makes the "happily ever after" romance seem more unrealistic as well. Believe me, I completely understand that there are still problems with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, including problems that continue to plague women and men through adulthood, and many first marriages.

In the comments to the post, the issue of domestic violence was brought up and I completely agree. Both Edward and Bella are obsessed with one another and the fact that Edward must fight against his nature to suck Bella's blood is problematic. I also agree that Edward's fight against his nature is more a fight against addiction than the desire to hurt Bella. There is none of the usual literary reference to domestic violence - I specify literary because reality and literature are two very different mediums. Although the key phrases used in literature that reference domestic violence (i.e. "if I can't have her/him no one can" and others) frequently appear in real life, there are many other clues in real life that are not stressed in literature.

For me, the bigger problem is the mutual obsession that Edward and Bella have for one another. This type of obsession is frequently waved off as unimportant. But, as the Prince says in the final speech of Romeo and Juliet: "For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." Although most of the story centers around the prejudice of the two families, I also believe there is a strong message advocating waiting and growing before committing oneself to a partner for the rest of her/his life. Meyers does acknowledge this point, but overall I am left with a dangerous impression of the nature of romance.

Spring Fever

I should not be posting. I should be writing a 6 page essay on Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, and Sigmund Freud. But for some unfathomable reason, I cannot focus on Poe, Faulkner, & Freud. However, I don't really care what Freud would say about my lack of attention.

I'm back in classes today after (an extremely short) Spring Break. I really needed the break to relax and refocus and now I need some time to get work done. I pretty much frittered away the first half of the week and the second half was spent with a close friend I don't see enough. This means that I got to take a road trip in Hank (yes, I named my car). I had a really good weekend. It wasn't packed full of stuff which made it relaxing but M. & I got to hang out and have some girl time.

Ok, time to force myself to do homework.

What am I thinking??

I'm not exactly sure why I started a blog. At this point, I really have no idea what sort of blog it will be. Hopefully I'll dabble with a bit of this, and a dash of that (mostly stuff I'm interested in, of course). Maybe I'll settle on something specific (ie: I Got UGGs! only not that at all) or hopefully I'll keep it nice and diverse, much more like me.