To think that if you like the Twilight books...

[SolidGoldBrass]

You should read this? And if you have a DD who loves the books you should definitely show it to her.

[Tortington]

my daughter and i have read all four books

we both reckon bella is a dizzy bitch - but we still enjoyed the books

although now we are both hypnotised by the subtext and let men beat us up

[TheMysticMasseuse]

you know what, on the one hand i think it's an interesting way to interpret the books. but then otoh, in this vein lots of the "epic" love stories are all about abuse... think about lovely Mr ROchester, crazy Heatchliffe, etc etc.

on balance i think YAB a little U. or at the very least overly cynical.

[Tortington]

heathcliff was deffo an abuser

[Tortington]

beauty and the beast
rpincess and the frog

why is is ok for women to like ugly blokes

theres no 'prince and the trout' is there?

thats why we all marry ugly blokes

WE IZ INDOCTRINATED

[SolidGoldBrass]

Mind you, this gets the same message across in a much more fun way.

[SolidGoldBrass]

TMM: but the point is that abuse is not lovely and romantic. And 'classic' novels may have slightly more of an excuse for peddling this crap given the less-than-human position of women at the time, but there is something a bit iffy about a contemporary writer selling the same old he-hit-me-an-it-felt-like-a-kiss bullshit.

[Tortington]

its not like that - have you read them?

[teamcullen]

I take it shes on Team Jacob then .

My DD is 13 and totally obsessed with anything Twilight. Because its escapism, she loves Edward and Jacob who are both as bad as each other. But shes not soft, one is a vampire and one is a werewolf so they have an excuse for being protective (not abusive) because in the mad world where they live, everybody is out to get her.

Would DD let a mere human boy treat her like that. Not a chance, where would a boy get off thinking he could control her, she would eat them alive.

As for us mums, we live in the real world and know that no man is that good, so to swoon over the perfect edward who would do anything for us, whats wrong with that. If we lived with him in real life we would tell him he is getting on our tits and give us some space. But being so perfect, Edward would give us anything we wanted.

And tell me a man who wouldnt choose abortion over the certain death of his wife!

[Tortington]

how very dare you

jacob is mine

[Tortington]

apart from the fact edward desertd her

[teamcullen]

yes he did desert her, and look where that got us... half a book where we had to put up with wolf boy and moping Bella.

[serenity]

I have to say I find the reaction to the Twilight books really intriguing. I enjoyed them (not in an abusive relationship) as did my sister (ditto) and my Mum (ditto now, but once was), but I don't take them seriously, I don't know anyone that does. They're fluffy fiction, with hot vampires and not quite so hot weres () They're NOT REAL, it's not a real relationship. I know noone who feels the urge to model their real relationship on the fictional relationship of a fictional vampire and his fictional swooning teen girlfriend.

I'm starting to get a tad peeved with the implication that if I liked them, I'm some naive delicate flower who's immediately going to go out hunting for some twunt of a man to oppress me. I'm also getting pissed off with feeling like I should be ashamed of liking them, and that I should be immediately handing in all my feminist credentials. It's a book, and a fairly innocuous one compared to some of the stuff I read.

Sorry, SGB, rant is not actually entirely due to your OP, but culmination of many many months of not so subtle dripfeeding of the idea that Twilight will bring about the fall of womenkind.

(And yes, I'm probably being far too overly defensive. Definite PMT, sorry)

[MillyR]

I tried to read the first one, but gave up half way through. I found the idea of a girl liking a boy whose sexual interest in her is linked to him wanting to kill her to be repulsive.

I think the books do appeal to people with certain sexual interests (there was a thread on this ages ago). I think if you are aware that you have masochistic type interests then obviously you would want to read those books. Just because someone has masochistic sexual interests it doesn't mean that they are interested in being oppressed in every day life.

[cory]

I don't for a moment suppose that Emily Bronte meant to present Heathcliffe's and Catherine's relationship as in any way a healthy or happy one.

[Morloth]

I got about halfway through as well. Got bored. Not enough (or any) sex and teen angst dull dull dull. What on earth is the point of vampires if not sex? hmm?

Give me Kelley Armstrong's werewolves any day.

[Ninks]

I've seen stuff arguing that Leo in Titanic was predatory. He was a bit but it's "romantic" innit?

[sfxmum]

love the Buffy thing thanks for posting

but still think all twisted thing is fun

[Sunfleurs]

Well I love them.

I read them about a year ago around the time that I dumped sh*t head exh once and for all. He was abusive and at no time did I find myself willing to put up with this abusive behaviour because of any similarities to Edward. In fact the books and movie were a bit of a bright light in the misery that was my life back then.

You should try reading them, they are great escapism.

[MrFlibble]

SolidGold that buffy link has made my day.
Thank you!!

[MaMight]

That buffy link is brilliant!

[TheFoosa]

oh please, he's a vampire, that's why he can't shag her, not because he is abusive or that Bella is subservient

My mother & aunt were in abusive relationships for years and it's nothing like the portrayal of a supposedly controlling spouse in the Twilight books

I don't mind Bella actually, but I have yet to meet an impressionable teenage girl who holds her up as a role-model

[Sunfleurs]

Also he has been around a bit and knows how fragile humans are so is desperate to protect her because of that. I don't see much controlling behaviour going on once she has turned vampire.

[ArizonaBarker]

Does the age-gap not seem a bit dodgy to anyone?

She's a teenager and he's over a hundred?

Keeeereeepy.

[HopeForTheBestExpectTheWorst]

blah blah blah
Oh please

[TheFoosa]

he isn't really over a hundred, he has the body of a very fit 18 year old