Twilight: An unlikely obsession

okay, okay... I finally gave in and now I am pathetically hooked!

I have never been the one to fall victim to many book saga-movie hysteria's. I enjoyed the Harry Potter movies, but never read the books, and as it stands now I really have no idea how many movies there are (it feels like there's about 10 and the actors have to be like 25 by now.) I admit to getting into Lord of the Rings however, nothing compares to the entertainment that I am now getting from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga.

I had never heard of the books when the movie craze began, so naturally I refused to follow the trend and figured it was just another one of those passing fads that would soon die down. Months later, there is still buzz around the topic of Twilight.

I just got too curious and had to find out for myself. I began the first book of the series last Monday. Half way through the first book (the first night I cracked it open) I realized that it was going much too fast. I Quickly went online and ordered the next two in the series. Now a little more than a week later I've finished three out of the four books and I am anxiously awaiting finals to be over before I dare run out and by the last: Breaking Dawn, for fear that I'll end up reading the dang book instead of studying for my very important tests.

After the first book I started to wonder: what is it about Twilight that's so addicting? A large part of me was resisting the characters and especially the story line. The literary style is not exactly a fine piece of literature. The feminist in me was enraged by the very cliche love affair and characteristics of the poor damsel in distress, "Bella Swan," and then there's EDWARD.



Seriously! Meyers pulled out all the tricks that makes girls swoon and packed them into this one character which honestly doesn't really have much depth until the third book. It seemed however, the harder I tried to resist the more I fell in love with this tall, dark (or technically pale), mysterious, compliment giving, handsome, perfect being of a vampire?

I just couldn't help but get girlish giggles as Bella's relationship with Edward progressed and the innocent moments they shared trying to resist their undeniable physical attraction.

The scenes that Meyers depicts key into those girly fantasies that make all ages jump to those nostalgic moments of high school crushes. There was this part in the first book where Bella and Edward are sitting next to each other in Biology class. There love was is so young at this point, so undiscovered, so new and electrifying. It's that moment in new love when everything is exciting and fresh and butterflies all over. The teacher turns off the lights to watch a movie and Bella has this moment where all of Edward's being is completely clogging her mind and all her senses. Even though they never touch or so much as look at each other, the few inches that separate them fill the room with electricity and Bella expresses her longing to reach out and touch his arm in the darkness.

It was the many moments like this that I think is the appeal. At least it was for me. It makes sense that every tween girl was completely obsessed and lined up in front of theaters for hours. The formula in these books are simple yet I can't seem to stop.

Especially when she further develped the character Jacob in the second book New Moon. A half-boy-half-werewolf that also falls in love with Bella by the end of the third book. Face it: in our society, what girl doesn't dream of having two hunky amazingly strong and unique characters fighting over her?

Stephanie Meyers created a key to young girls' hearts with Edward. And no matter how sheepishly and annoyingly weak Bella is or how appallingly male dominating Edward's character continues to be. I surrender for entertainment and I have to admit it turns me to mush and its against all my better judgement.

I am now obssessed and can't wait to finish the saga.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

sour dough starter.

Heatwaves in our little 400ish sq ft dwelling were the worst. It was nearly impossible to keep it cool. The window AC unit and fans worked overtime and that just barely kept it bearable. The goal was just to make it through the hottest parts of the day - until the sun broke and started to set, there would be a slight late afternoon breeze - the cool, stillness of the night would be on it's way soon. Relief...  I loved our little 400ish sq ft dwelling more than humanly possible. And even though there were bees living in the wall and heatwaves felt like a literal sauna, I loved it. What I didn't like about it was cooking at any capacity when the weather was too hot. Because of it's size, the thought of turning on the stove or oven would have been literal torture. Pre-heating the tiny oven would immediately increase the inside temperature by a factual 1,000 degrees...  Summer of 2020. We were experiencing a global pandemic and a heatwave. Temps were well over 100 and quarantin...
Read more

LA, a love letter.

There are 3 views of the city that are my absolute favorite.  The first is on a corner across from LA Historic Park off of Spring Street. It also happens to be outside of our favorite place to drink beer on Friday nights. But the view of the Gold Line stop and the cityscape in the background is the best. It's just far enough away from DTLA to hear the slight hum of the city but close enough to feel the energy of late night commuters coming and going.  The second view is in the neighborhood behind Kenneth Hahn State Park. It's a view I didn't know existed until a few years ago but even when it's a little hazy, it never disappoints. On a clear day you can see the entirety of all the neighborhoods I love, you can see the lights from Dodger Stadium all the way to fireworks after events at the Rosebowl. You can hear the echo of children playing and softer booms from fireworks... The third view is a specific part of the 10 freeway. When you are driving east on the 10 through ...
Read more

Separation

Image
 After you send in a letter of resignation to a place of work, the word separation gets used a lot.  A separation of you and the place of business.   I guess to appropriately sum it up, that is the best way to describe it. I tried to figure out a more fitting word but couldn't seem to find one. In my particular scenario, it feels like an amicable break-up. A divorce of some sort because you both realize that your relationship was no longer serving you. You've grown, they've grown, and unfortunately that growth was apart from one another.  I think if we've all experienced anything over the last few years, one thing that a lot of people have done is a reprioritization of life things. The time we spend and who that time with spent is more important. If I've learned anything about myself recently, it's that I definitely did not have things prioritized in a way that was healthiest for me.  So, that's what I'm doing. Reprioritizing.  Reprioritizing and choos...
Read more