Anti-Nothing?

I get that as students, especially students in the honors program, we are taught to think critically and analyze pretty much everything. I understand that doing these things is important, however, I often find myself wondering if we overanalyze and search for some deep analytic meaning in things so much that we miss what the true intentions actually are. Why is taking something just for what it is not enough?

In the case of Twilight, why can’t it just be a book that involves a forbidden love story with some supernatural stuff thrown in? Why can’t it just be a book that people found entertaining? Why does it have to turn into a book that is potentially anti feminist or anti catholic or anti (insert whatever other thing people try to argue it is)?

Okay so yes, I do think that there are some parts of the book that portray anti-feminist ideals, like how Bella seems like the only person who cooks and cleans in her home, but I also think that there are some parts that support feminist ideals, like how Bella doesn’t listen to everyone who tells her to not see Edward, like her own father. Even so, I do not think that the true intentions of Stephanie Meyer were to create a book that was either anti feminist or feminist.  I think she just had a crazy dream and decided to write it down.  Yes, I think that the book clearly is influenced by her religion, but if any of us were to write a novel, I’m sure some of our own biases would end up in the book as well.  Thus, I think Twilight is just what it is.  It is a love story with vampires and werewolves, and maybe there are some parts that can be analyzed and taken to mean something grand, but that doesn’t mean that we have to go there. In fact, I think that when you tear something apart, you are simply setting it up for disaster. When tearing something apart, you are going to find something to pick at, whether it is there or not. You are going to find a way to make an argument by twisting the words of the novel because they are just words, and interpreting the meaning of words is basically up to the reader. Thus, Twilight could mean a variety of different things and none of those things are necessary right or wrong. The truth is that despite being “dumb”, Twilight was still popular. Why was it popular? Because it’s simply a love story with vampires and werewolves that young readers could relate to, and probably mostly because it was marketed effectively to that group of readers.

I know I might get some flack for this, and I welcome it! I just think that sometimes we get so caught up in being critical and making things complex that we forget what it is like to think simplistically.