Horror Story

[The Hitman]

I brought up the topic of Twilight in one of my english classes when I first heard about it and good lord I did not hear the end of it from the angry women screaming about how it was only written to promote oppression of women (ok, they cited some fair examples in the books there) and anti-abortion stances (fine, fair points there) but it's just a damn book! And a tweeny book, too! Yeesh...

Most of our culture is in the form of books, movies, television and numerous other forms of media. These have a real influence on the way people behave, so when a book promotes a particular set of values, especially if it's a wildly popular book, this can contribute to the way people view the world in a very serious way.

I mean, ideology has to come from somewhere. Our cultural norms didn't just invent themselves.

[Tim]

What's so wrong with someone writing a book that promotes an anti-abortion view? Last I heard, a lot of people are against abortion. Are they not allowed to creatively express themselves?

[korri]

yeah its a pretty bad book in terms of influencing young girls.. well actually the second book is the worst.. if you read it you know, if not, i won't post spoilers because maybe possibly someone out there on the internet might come across this and actually want to read the book...

but I still say that I enjoyed the books, mostly because i'm a hopeless romantic and all that stuff

[Shandi]

I'm hoping, Tim, that they were criticizing the practice of using a book as flimsy excuse for propaganda and characters as voices for the author's views(as opposed to just a good story following it's course, propelled by real characters), and not simply criticizing the opinions expressed.


Also, I don't think I've seen any of Boll's films, but I recently watched I Know Who Killed Me, so I'm sure he had a run for worst movie before Twilight.

[JohnyMcmuffin]

I personally find it interesting that people feel that the book promotes oppression of women, because the guy is a vampire. The standard vampire/human relationship is usually along the lines of predator/prey or herder/herd, so even with sparkly vampires I'm not surprised the is inequity in the relationship. Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I read the books, so I'm not sure exactly how these issues are handled or portrayed.

[Evil Jim]

The chessboard book is "Twilight"?? Whoah, damn. I saw that *everywhere* for a while & kept thinking WTF. I was drawn to it because I like chess but when I heard it was about vampires I immediately lost interest. The only vampire book I like was written over 100 years ago.

[Telaril]

The book was horribly alluring. I don't know if it sparkled in the sunlight, but it might as well have.

If it had been a copy of Dracula I would have invited it in immediately. Or a collection of esoteric vampire stories. I was rather hoping it'd be some dark, weird, bizarre re-imagining of Snow White... because, you see, the apple.

I don't have anything against vampires, on principal. In high school I was once the kind of girl who read books about vampires and angst and cheered and sighed with the rest of them. If you're a girl in your mid 20s, there's a decent chance you read LJ Smith's Nightworld series. They were vampire/werewolf/ghost/changeling romances, a little silly-seeming now, but fun enough if you were 14 and nerdy and didn't know any better. I can respect a series about vampire soulmates and girl witches and destiny and makeouts as fun pulp.

The thing is, girls and guys were monsters equally, and the dialogue was well-written (for the genre), the angst was interspersed with fun... they were good books.

From the accounts of all my fantasy-loving girl contemporaries... Twilight has nothing on LJ Smith. It doesn't even have anything on Anne Rice or Laurel K. Hamilton. It's just cheesily written girl-suppression emo abstinence pron.

I think the reason that many of my friends are so offended is that, even for what it is, it's bad. If girls wanted to go insane over some vampire romances, they could have at least had taste.

Then there's my friend Dan, who thinks that the romantic vampire concept needs to be retired, and we need a bit more of the "horrible monster who will eat you and won't care." kind of vampire again. After this, I think he may be right.

.

[DmitriW]

What's so wrong with someone writing a book that promotes an anti-abortion view? Last I heard, a lot of people are against abortion. Are they not allowed to creatively express themselves?

It depends on how vehemently the view is presented, in my opinion. I hate abortion, but I'm still pro-choice. It isn't my place, as a man, to make that call.

In my opinion.

I'm hoping, Tim, that they were criticizing the practice of using a book as flimsy excuse for propaganda and characters as voices for the author's views (as opposed to just a good story following it's course, propelled by real characters), and not simply criticizing the opinions expressed.

This, too.

[arallyn]

What's so wrong with someone writing a book that promotes an anti-abortion view? Last I heard, a lot of people are against abortion. Are they not allowed to creatively express themselves?

I don't see anything wrong with it. That's their right. And I also really do see that if a ton of people read a book, especially at an age where they're forming a LOT of opinions, it will influence them pretty heavily.

Lurking around here for a long time should probably have taught me to not bring up anything possibly political, but it was the ferocity with which I was attacked for simply asking about a book. I had no idea what it was about at the time, just that I'd seen a few of the kids in the ag school reading it, and we were talking about how books influence youth. I asked if anyone thought that it would be the next new thing, and got attacked for even bringing it up, both by my professor and a couple students.

[Elomin Sha]

I wonder how Matt would have reacted if he had been in your shoes.