Some of you have asked after my thoughts on Twilight. Well, here y'are--in four parts . . .
• INTELLECTUAL TWILIGHT •
The Twilight books are like skinny jeans. They enjoy a whole lot more popularity than they merit. Around 2% of the population have the right body for skinny jeans, but, despite their improper shape, so many an apple and pear have wiggled their gams into the snug duds. The Twilight books are naught more than light recreation--juvenile entertainment--but there they are breaking sales records.One of life's little enigmas.
At least Harry Potter is a decent piece of writing.
The same cannot be said for Sister Meyer's* sullen saga. The writing, while not altogether pathetic, is absolutely not parallel to the hype the books have experienced.
I take no issue with scads of people delving into young adult literature; it has the capacity to be some sweet stuff. But if, as an adult, you're going to dive head-long into a series--wearing t-shirts proclaiming your love for the main character(s), putting buttons on your blog praising the same, and attending opening night parties for both the books and the movies--please, oh please, make the books you're swooning over legitimate literature. Make the object of your obsession be something you can be proud of. Something from which you left changed. Please don't let it be a sappy rag that offered you nothing more than forgettable distraction.
Books have the capacity to be entertaining--some even the obligation, and that's what Twilight and its subsequent installments provided the masses: mindless entertainment. How those books grew legs and strutted into the spotlight as something more than vacuous amusement is a mystery.
For the books aren't good enough for the status they achieved. Their popularity is a sad sign of the state of our society's intellect, for if we'll elevate a saga such as Twilight to a blockbuster state while books that do more for the mind than mere divergence wither on dusty shelves, we ought to be ashamed of our selves.
Sister Meyer's thousands of pages are light entertainment. They don't induce thought. They don't encourage morals. They don't give perspective. They don't introduce theories. They don't teach a valuable lesson. They don't school on structure. They don't demonstrate intellectualism of any kind. They are the exacerbation of a hollow story worthy only of empty amusement, not the cult status incomprehensibly attained.
•••
* Rookie gets the credit for the genius of first calling Steph "Sister Meyer," Mormon mommy that she is.
24 comments:
hip hip! yay! hooray! wahooooooo! skip, twirl, do a little dance. i LOVE your skinny jeans analogy.
Um, I just think the books are fun.
Like ice cream. It's not gourmet or high society, just tastes good and is fun.
Isn't that okay?
That's exactly what I said--let them be entertainment, not an social obsession.
wow!
I totally agree..
Huzzah.
I completely agree as well. There is nothing for discussion in the books but they can entertain. I read a couple of them and sure, I wondered what would happen next but in the end I realized it didn't change anything in my thinking which is what makes me love books the most. So I just couldn't bring myself to finish the series. It really doesn't deserve the level of hype that it has.
I've heard people say that they haven't read a book since high school until they read these books and I just think, really?! Of all the many books out there - you had to read THIS book. I guess if that's all your brain can take then good for you for reading any book.
I'm not saying anything bad about the brains of everyone who have read these books. (I read some of them.) Just about people who don't read but then come out of not reading to read the Twilight series.
Amen.
I do own skinny jeans (but I look cute in them), and I have read Twilight. I agree that the books are entertaining, but not literature.
Not literature by any stretch of the imagination.
(my word verification includes "jess". funny)
I will be camping out in 40 degree weather, waiting for your next installment. :) and if you had a sparks t-shirt, I would buy & wear it.
I read 1/3 of the first book & don't care if I ever pick it up again. I hate feeling like I'm being talked down to while I'm reading. the writing is terribly juvenile. and trying to go back & relate to a high school girl.....uh....no thanks.
however, give me a grisham....and I'm up all night reading it, thinking about it before I fall asleep. and annoying other people telling them about the impact it had on me. I remember the 1st time I read a time to kill.....and the food it gave my brain for a week to chew on. that's the kind of book I like.
Twilight is like reading a reality show.
And ditto on [Morgan]'s comment and Tricia's first paragraph...
Bless you for giving credit where credit is due. My genius is often stolen and uncredited by my husband. My own husband. Rude.
This post brings me joy because you are explaining your disdain. For as many people as I know that like the books, I know just as many that don't. I appreciate you being able to organize your thoughts the way you have.
For me, the books disappointed because it was a whole lot of reading without any pay off. I mean if I am going to have to read about that much sexual tension, there had better be some raunchy sex scene at the end of it all to reward me for sticking with it that long.
I'm just sayin'...
And my sister in-law and I were talking about the level of sexual tension written in the book. The books are geared toward teenage girls. But the way the physical scenes are written is pretty inappropriate for little Mia Maids and Laurels of whom we are trying to preserve and protect their innocence. And these books are even sold in church bookstores. Is it too much sex without intercourse or am I just old fashioned?
Yes yes yes, but Twilight - in FOUR PARTS? You can come up with FOUR PARTS of things to say about it?
Here's what I got on Twilight, in four parts:
You know better than to like it
Which makes liking it all that much more fun
The movies suck
Which makes liking it all that much more fun
People get REALLY into it
Which makes liking it all that much more fun
Your husband will let you read all four books OUT LOUD to him, with voices!, and then will later say "You sounded so much like Edward just then"
Which makes liking it all that much more fun.
Rookie, these books are sold in church bookstores?!? Please, oh please, tell me you're joking.
All the more reason not to live in Utah. No church bookstores in LA.
Way to steal tomorrow's thunder, Rookie. I knew that'd be the danger in my writing four parts.
You also reminded me to be clear: I don't feel disdain for the books; I'm totally neutral. Disdain involves a whole lot more energy than I think this whole issue merits.
Jessica, your closest Deseret Book is in San Diego--not too far. I think you can make it if you're jonesing.
My dislike for Deseret Book is up there with Michael's craft store and Costco. Just the thought of it makes me anxious and annoyed.
But, good to know if I want to be anxious and annoyed it's only about 3 hours away.
Amen.
Yes, totally delivered. Love the skinny jeans reference.
I'm only a little jealous that Sister Meyer totally banked on here mediocre writing successes. Lucky gal there, if you ask me.
I like Twilight. Bubble-gum for the brain my dad would say.
But it was pretty irritating when it was my turn to host our book club meeting and EVERYONE conveniently "forgot" to read, or got too busy to read, Kite Runner (my pick) and suggested we discuss Breaking Dawn instead.
I'm a little baffled by the cult following of these books...
My drive to read them was some combination of wanting to feel dialed in (not the best use of time) and attempting to find a single redeeming quality in the protagonist (a downright waste of time).
Trend is strange stuff, indeed.
My feelings for the great and spacious bookstore are further solidified by the fact that it carries these tomes...I had no idea. Capitalizing on the culture of a religion? Just a little despicable, I think.
This was fantastmic. (Fantastic and orgasmic at the same time.) I love your metaphors. Love 'em. Can I say that I love your metaphors again? And not just these ones? I love your metaphors. Someone should write a saga about us.
Deseret Book no longer carries the Twilight saga. I know 'cause one of my running buddies is a big cheese for the Chosen Book Store. Hangs with Cheri Dew.
Incidentally, the time in which the Twilight books were pulled made for some excellent running conversations.
I could reply said conversations if you like.
I'm with Rookie on the sex stuff. Seriously. Totally anti-climactic (pun!) especially when they're married. But see that's the problem. They've wormed their way in between genres.
My advice to Sister Meyer (because she so obviously wants it and needs it to be successful): Pick your target audience and stay there.
I have also discovered another interesting point that would be fun to blog about: How mediocrity wins big. Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake (until he became funny), the clap-on clap off mechanism, the abnomonizer (or other abdominal anomaly), Tom Cruise.
I might be back with more mediocrity made megastar megalomaniacs with money. (Did you notice all them Ms in that sentence. I should have a prize for that one.)
Weird how I miss you, by the way. We don't live by each other and yet I miss you because we're worlds apart. Maybe it's the time difference? I asleep when your posts are actualized?
Because they are privilege and not a right (much like bikinis and tank tops), I don't own a pair of skinny jeans. Listen to the name people! SKINNY jeans! If you aren't skinny, don't wear them.
And Rabid, does that mean you miss me too? How sweet.
I do miss you Rookie. Badly. I want you to come here and taste the sauces then recreate them at home. I wouldn't be able to recreate on my own...
Or is it procreate...
Post a Comment