shipperx | Yeah, Fandom caught this ages ago... (Reply)

Funny how long it took people outside fandom to notice. Excerpt from Ms. Magazine:

In Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, a wildly popular four-book series of young adult novels, the protagonist Bella Swan—by all accounts a very average human girl—has two suitors. One is the unimaginably beautiful vampire, Edward, the other a loyal and devoted werewolf, Jacob. Fans of the books, and now a movie version, often break into “teams,” aligning themselves with the swain they hope Bella will choose in the end: Team Edward or Team Jacob.

But few young readers ask, “Why not Team Bella?” perhaps because the answer is quite clear: There can be no Team Bella. Even though Bella is ostensibly a hero, in truth she is merely an object in the Twilight world.

On the surface, the Twilight saga seems to have something to please everyone. Moms are reading the books and swooning over Edward right alongside their teen and tween daughters. Librarians and teachers are delighted to see students with their heads tucked into books, and since Twilight’s romantic sensuality is wrapped up in an abstinence message, all the kissing and groping appear to be harmless.

But while Twilight is ostensibly a love story, scratch the surface and you will find an allegorical tale about the dangers of unregulated female sexuality. From the very first kiss between Edward and Bella, she is fighting to control her awakening sexuality. Edward must restrain her, sometimes physically, to keep her from ravishing him. There are those who might applaud the depiction of a young man showing such self-restraint, but shouldn’t the decision about when a couple is ready to move forward sexually be one they make together?

Meyer insists that she sees Bella as a feminist character, since the foundation of feminism is being able to choose. What Meyer fails to acknowledge is that all of the choices Bella makes are Meyer’s choices—choices based on her own patriarchal Mormon background. In Breaking Dawn, the latest book in the series, Meyer finally allows Bella’s subordination to end as she takes her proper place: in the patriarchal structure. When Bella becomes a wife and mother, Meyer allows her to receive her heart’s desire—to live forever by Edward’s side, to be preternaturally beautiful and graceful, to be strong and be able to defend herself.

Paging

cleolinda and

stoney321 who pegged this ages ago!

Oh and HuffPost:

After initially resisting the movies, the sheer intensity and permeation of Twilight compelled me to finally rent the DVDs and see what the hype is about. Beyond disappointed, I'm completely stupefied to realize the popularity of a narrative that reinforces such retrograde notions that a woman should set aside her own goals and interests to be with a man and that she is a victim in need of rescuing.[...] Worse, the second movie, New Moon, goes even further to promote Bella's self-destructive and reckless behavior when she will go to any length - going on a joyride with a strange man she meets in a dark alley, gunning a motorcycle, jumping off a cliff - to make Edward reappear in her life to save her. [...]

I don't think it's too much to ask for a heroine with more spunk and strength, who is willing to exercise her own agency and protect herself. Someone who won't whither away for months on end when her loved one leaves her, as Bella does in New Moon.