I’d like to start out by saying that if you are a part of
the Twilight fandom, you are wrong and you’ve obviously never read Harry
Potter…or any book with a plot line thicker than an unoriginal love story. With
that being said, I will get to the point…
When I think of the main themes of this book, vampires and
love first come to mind. However, after reading this book for the second time
since 6th grade, I noticed a different theme that seemed to be all
too important. Beauty.
When Bella first sees the collection of vampires, the only
thing that held Bella’s interest was their beauty. “Their faces…were all
devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful,” writes Meyer on page 19 when describing
Bella’s initial reaction. The paragraphs prior to this statement were spent
describing every detail of the vampires from their hair to their skin. She only
noticed them, because they were beautiful, however, she does note how they are
strange-not eating and what not. BUT she wouldn’t have noticed that if she
weren’t staring at them for their beauty.
Bella has no shortage of men. I mean Eric, Mike, Jacob, and
Edward?! This girl is awkward, skinny, deathly pale, and is majorly lacking in
the spunk department! Yet every boy that crosses her path is instantly charmed
and wildly in love. What?! So obviously Bella’s own thoughts on her looks (as
narrated through Meyer’s writing) must be somewhat inaccurate-or so I’m led to
believe. In other words she’s beautiful…at least she is to the four of the
five/six main male characters.
What if Edward were ugly? What if Bella were ugly? What if
Bella had no other suitors? Would there even be a story? I don’t think so. The
fact that the most desirable boy in Forks High School got with the awkward
(though equally desired) new girl made the love story so popular. Throwing in
the vampire aspect just made it a bit more unique…although I could list
numerous other TV shows and fantasy novels were this idea came first-like Buffy the Vampire Slayer which came just
two short years prior to the publishing of Twilight.
Anyway the crappy love story is, what I believe, makes the novel so popular.
Without every main character being absolutely “inhumanly” beautiful, the love
story wouldn't have existed. Which leads me to ask why love and beauty are such
popular topics among adolescents? Are beauty and love really more desirable
than adventure and personal, intellectual growth to a fourteen year old girl?
I thought your views on beauty as the book's theme were interesting, but I will say I have an issue with your first sentence. I don't think judging people based on what novels they read or what fandoms the follow is right. Who's to say what's "right" or "wrong" when it comes to these things? Books like Twilight and other forms of popular culture usually represent an ideal, what we would like reality to be, not what it is. Why judge people for preferring certain ideals over others? Different strokes!
ReplyDeleteI think that for the most part, love and beauty are incredibly important aspects of life to a fourteen year old girl. This is a time in their lives that their body is awkward (like Bella), and they want to feel beautiful and loved. I think this novel is almost a way to live vicariously for young girls, both through the themes you highlighted and the inherent danger and forbidden relationships presented throughout the novels..
ReplyDeleteThe themes of adventure and intellectual growth, while hard to see now as older readers of Twilight, are probably seen to a young girl reading it. While Twilight is not as adventurous as Harry Potter, there is some adventure in the novel (maybe not intellectual growth). As Mason said in the comment above, the forbidden love theme is where the adventure in Twilight is, and while the love story is the main plot line, there are battles between the werewolves and vampires in the later books. You ask why beauty and love are important to young girls, but I'm wondering if that's such a bad thing. Adolescence is a time of discovering personality and reading books, participating in popular culture, whether it be Twilight or Harry Potter, is often how we do it.
ReplyDeleteI agree in that I think that is what makes the books so popular among young women. Girls in middle and high school feel awkward and unpretty, and look for sources of culture to help them how to feel beautiful and confident (as we discussed with lesbian novels). Twilight seems to give all girls a little hope that they will meet that one exciting, handsome guy that will sweep her off her feet. My only concern is if this gives women a false idea of how romance works.
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