Spartan Youth Radio
We're All Kinds of Different
Does Twilight Suck or Rock?
Does the whole movie/book/clothing/vampire franchise suck or is it eternally awesome? Let us know what you think.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Spartan Youth Radio on
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Entry received by email. Espanola student Gwen Stata wrote:
When it comes to Twilight, I find it to be overrated. I don't think it's a good series at all. I mean, look at the main characters; you have this girl Bella who just sits around being all "Edward will save me" and then goes on and on about how he's this perfect otherworldly creature, when in reality, Edward is a stalking boyfriend who spends the entire four books making all the decisions, telling Bella who she can and can't be friends with, threatening her with suicide if she breaks up with him, all the while saying, "I could kill you, Bella." And then for some reason, people everywhere think he's the most perfect boyfriend in the world, when in the real world, any girl with sense would break up with him and call the cops. Did I mention that during all of this, Bella's dad is the Chief of Police?
Also, Bella has the same mental state all the way through the series. There's no character development at all. It's always, "Edward is so pretty and I'm so plain," or, "Make me into a vampire, so we can be together forever!" She never stood up for herself throughout the entire series, except during the last book when Edward wanted and just about schedualed for her to get an abortion because he thought that Bella's unborn fetus would kill her. Other than that it was, "I don't think there's anything wrong with what I'm doing, but I'll stop doing it anyway because you said so." Enough to make you tear your hair out. And the only real change to her was at the very end when she finally got what she was whining for since book one, which apparently makes for the story need of "the hero must change by the end of the book." And having a baby is NOT mental change. It's physical change. And she's always had that, "Protect my baby" thing going on, there wasn't any sign of it suddenly dawning on her.
Also, the logic is way off. I mean, Mr. Cullen is a doctor, but how is he still practicing medicine when he went to college somewheres in the 1800s and there's no talk about whether or not he ever went back to university like the rest of the vampires/sparklepires/what-have-yous went back to high school? Did he just sort of pick the new practices and stuff up as he went along? And how can male vampires have babies with a human, while female vampires can't? If you just think about the facts of reproductive science for a moment, you can see that this doesn't make sense at all in any way, shape, or form. And if your time zone is 4 hours ahead of another time zone, you CANNOT time travel backwards, because time is ALWAYS moving FORWARDS.
There's a lot more I can say about this, but I think I've said enough for now. And if the Twilight series is good for anything, it's proving that even if a book is over 300 pages long, won an award, inspired by a dream, and known throughout the world, it doesn't change the fact that it's always been a poor story.
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Received by email. Bethany R. Purdon, a Rainbow District School Board student, wrote:
"Well the twilight series of books are just awesome same with the movies. Clothing is ok but kind of extreme, all together it's pretty cool."
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Permalink Reply by Kaitlyn on
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I'm along the same lines as Gwen here. Allow me to elaborate.
If, and ONLY if, Twilight had been written in the way that Edward was a stalking, psycho, killer boyfriend who in every means of the word assaulted Miss Lack-Of-Personality Bella, and the books detailed her escape from this nasty boy, it probably would have been fantastic. It would probably have inspired women in abusive relationships to figure a way out and come to grips with their reality.
Twilight scares me, because it makes Edward into a saint.
I'm not only saying that the writing is on par with a middle school aged fanfiction writer and that the characters are so lacking in originality that they act like cookie cut outs.. But this is SCARY.
People think this is romantic. 12 year old girls think this is ROMANTIC. 40 year old grown women think this is ROMANTIC.
.. I shake my head in shame, because really, when did I world get so bad?!
I'll take this moment to quote vampirely.wordpress.com Where Rachel reads the books for us and makes us understand that this is just abusive dribble.
"Abusers use the following tactics to remain in control of their victims:
Dominance. Abusive individuals (for example, Edward Cullen) need to exert control over their partners. By say, making their decisions for them (”Bella, please just do this my way, just this once.” Or, the “memory tampering” in chapter 17 of Twilight. Or dragging her to the prom in the epilogue), and expecting to obey without question (the whole of chapter 18 when Bella attempts to argue with Edward). Further example of this can be found in the fact that Edward refuses to let Bella drive, and their carefully constructed “rules” on what physical conduct is acceptable and unacceptable, rules which often come to Bella’s detriment.
Humiliation. An abuser will do whatever they can to make you feel bad about yourself, or “defective” in some way (i.e. Edward’s conversations with Bella through much of Twilight revolving around the fact that she is an idiot for being with him, she can’t survive without him, etc.) The idea is that you are the crazy one, and if you believe you’re worthless and can’t find someone else, you won’t ever leave. Bella makes comments in Twilight and early on in New Moon to the effect of “I am too plain and boring for Edward, I don’t deserve him.” This is the product of naturally low self-esteem, and, in realistic characters, the fact that her lover calls her an idiot whenever he can.
Isolation. The abuser needs their victim to be dependent on them, and will often try to do this by cutting you off from the outside world. Edward seems to perpetuate this less on his own, as Bella readily throws herself into it. She has no actual friends in the series beyond Edward and his sister, Alice. Her only social activity is working at the local sports store, if you can call that social. She is willing to isolate herself from her parents as well, if it would mean getting to spend eternity with her abuser. You could argue that Edward is manipulating her into this (I mean, really, there’s nothing bad about being a vampire).
Threats. Abusers will threaten violence on their victims in order to exert further control. In the Twilight series, this is a little more subtle and insidious. Edward warns Bella that he could hurt her, that he could lose control at any moment. In chapter 8 of Twilight, he admits to having murderous thoughts regarding the ruffians Bella was accosted by, to further illustrate how dangerous he is. Even more shocking, he tells Bella later that he wanted to kill her when they first met. Every chance he gets, he “warns” her that he could murder her at a moment’s notice. Worse, his attempts at “saving” her often end in physical harm coming to her anyway, such as the James “conflict” and Bella’s birthday party in New Moon. Bella learns to make excuses and quick stories for the bruises, cuts, and broken bones she sustains, in a rather unsettling mirror of an abuse victim’s behavior. That’s not to mention Edward’s vague suicidal threats, should anything happen to Bella.
Intimidation. Abusers will often try to scare their victims into submission. Edward in chapter 13 of Twilight, jumping around, smashing trees, showing off how fast and strong he is, in an attempt to make Bella frightened of him. Do I really need to say more?
Denial and blame. Abusers are very good at making their own excuses for their actions, and shifting the blame. Again, this is a little more subtle in the Twilight series. Edward blames his behavior on being a vampire, on having to resist human blood, and on having buried his humanity for so long. In a supernatural setting, it’s hard to say that these excuses are not justified, but they are still excuses. Bella, again, readily assumes the blame for anything bad that happens to her as a result of Edward’s actions. Edward will occasionally make the token effort to convince her this isn’t the case, but there are a few times where she shoulders the blame unhindered. Edward has also told Bella that if she gets hurt, he’s going to blame it all on her. He also seems to think that if she kisses him too hard and he eats her, that’s going to be her fault as well."
Read that, and take everything into consideration. It freaks me out, that people are growing up thinking that this is acceptable.
What did Bella say at the end of Twilight? Something about her falling down the stairs to explain all of her broken bones she'd gotten in that James incident?(”I fell down the stairs and into a window”) MY GOD.
"Abuse, whether it’s physical, emotional, or sexual, is a real issue. It can be insidious, as the abusers are often very good at hiding their behavior from others, or even convincing others that they should be excused from what they do, due to everything from a bad childhood to a bad day. Emotional abuse is unfortunately the most ignored, as it leaves no obvious bruises or scars. Victims will assume that since their partner has not put them in the hospital, there is no abuse occurring at all. Seeing it occur so blatantly in Twilight, a book that is shoved down the throats of young girls as a model romance, honestly makes me scared. Watching others defend the story with the same reasons and excuses abusers and their victims would use doesn’t just make me scared. It makes me sick.
But it’s just a kid’s novel about vampires. It’s not that big a deal."
If you think, "Oh, it's just a story" then consider the millions of children who grow up with stories and live in their worlds. I happen to read Dragonlance books and find that Raistlin is the most sexiest thing ever. Does it occur to me that he's bitter, hateful, untrusting, willing to kill whoever bothers him and a terrible human? Naw. He's a cool mage.
Think about that.
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Permalink Reply by Emily S Kay on -
i think i that the books were awsome but the movie and clothing line didnt catch my interest and well they kinda sucked but the books dont suck and they will never suck
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THE CONTEST IS NOW OVER. Congratulations to GWEN STATA for winning this month's TWILIGHT contest. All names were put in a hat and drawn at the Spartan Youth Radio studios. You win two CDs of your choice from Ikbar's Bazaar at Espanola High School. In order to claim your prize, you need to call our Megaphone at (705) 869-1590 ext 6264 and read your comment so that we can use it in a Speaker's Corner show.
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