Twilight- The Debate Continues

I have become a person who has long been unashamed to let people know what I think, or in this case, what I love. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, LOTR (both books and movies), X-Men, Batman, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Bones, Wicked, Sweeney Todd, literally, the list goes on and on.
But, I have another love, and this one is more controversial than the the others, especially when I'm with some of my friends...most of whom haven't read the books or seen the movies. Argh, more on that point later.

I have said this before, and I'll say it again, I am a huge, loving, and squeeling girl- fan of the Twilight Saga. I own evey book, in first edition, have read each a couple of times. And guess what? Breaking Dawn is my favorite out of the four! A close, close second is Eclipse.

Now I defend Twilight viciously for several reasons.

First and least important is because these books taught me to love reading again. I have said this before so I won't recount the whole thing again. After five years of assigned and depressing readings, and text books, I had lost my way as far as personal reading goes. And these books reminded me of why I once read at least five books a month.

Second, when I argue with people, most of these people have never taken the time to read any of the books, or watch the movies beyond the trailers. And they take it at face value. Maybe this is just something I do, but before I put myself out there to stand on one side or not, I want to know what I'm defending. I'm not going to heave myself over to one side and come out looking like a fool if I got something wrong. And it pisses me off when people do that! Come on, don't you want to win your argument? It's like when I had an argument with someone who found The Hunger Games too violent and was appalled at the story line. "Hello," I said, "The front flap cover distinctly tells you it's about children and war. What were you expecting?" To me, it looks like someone just bought the book based on what others had said, and didn't even take the time to see if they would actually like it! My goodness! Those books were 16$ for a hardcover! That's an expensive experiment.

Third and most important to me, is these feminists who think we young ones will read these books and grow up thinking this is what life has waiting for us. Our meal ticket out of work, rich vampires to pay for everything, we'll live forever, beautiful and perfect. First of all, give us some credit. We're smart enough to know it's only a fantasy. Seriously, you're a feminist and you don't even believe your own gender is smart enough to tell the difference between fantasy and actuality? Major LOL. You've got a lot of work ahead of you then.

Part two to my third point. Bella is a bad example for us girls. She gives up college to get married, and retains a dangerous-life-threatening pregnancy. Well, if you had READ the books, you would have seen that she had changed her mind and wanted to go to school before changing into a vampire. It was the pregnancy that threw those plans out the window. Don't you love it when people take things out of context? I certainly do. Said with much sarcasm. So, about the pregnancy, there are things in this world that need to be fought for. And this has nothing to do with pro-choice. This has everything to do with protecting something you love. And not being bullied by those around you to influence your choices. I see the baby as a metaphor to Bella's becoming a grown up and fighting for what she believes is right. She also finally sees that Edward isn't all perfect, and learns to work with him and not let him bully her. That's what I always liked about Bella...another thing taken out of context-she's completely infatuated and doesn't think for herself. Read the books and see the ways she defies him at every opportunity. She knows how to handle herself around him.

And guess what? I could still go on and on. But I'll let someone with an actual degree in writing talk about that instead. The Huffington Post has a three part article on "What Women Want" and its connection to Twilight. It's eloquent and only gets a little judegy with it comes to "Dragon Tattoo," which I agreed with every point there anyway. So, you can stop here, or continue reading. Each article is about as long-winded as my blog post is here. LOL
Part one
Part two
Part three

So, this may or may not be my last post on Twilight, probably not, I might have one more in me after I see the final movie. But this is definitely, maybe, LOL the last time I will get on the podium to defend it. Really, it's amazing how much guys get away with in their fantasies...argh here I go again. Just read the articles, and you'll see. LOL