Our Bella, Ourselves | The Hairpin – Excellent essay reclaiming the Twilight books into the feminist canon. Oh sure, they’re poorly written and some of the plot turns are incredibly cheesy. But they also address adolescence in a way that many women find more honest than Buffy and Katniss. They also tap into very real fears about pregnancy, gestation, and birth, ones that I’ll admit I share. So yeah, it annoys me a little when people (who haven’t even read them) slag them off as literary trash. They wouldn’t be so popular if they didn’t speak some truths, even if they’re ones we don’t like to hear.
2 responses
it drives me crazy how many people have opinions about these books when they havent read them. i’ll admit, theyre not going to make it into the literary canon, and breaking dawn in particular is poorly written, but just because bella is from the 21st century doesnt mean she has to be some ball breaking kick ass feminist hero. she does speak to many of our fears, and i think people who dont like her havent been in that dark place of obsession and abandonment. or else they have and dont want to look in the mirror. but mostly i just hate the way some people hate on anything thats popular, as tho that makes it instantly bad. elitist, much?
I read the first one, but I honestly couldn’t read any more.