Twilight Overdose?

Snarkier than though at Twitarted posted today about being an “Unapologetic TwiPusher.”

There has been much writing about Twilight as a drug and/or religion with many of the big sites even building upon these connotations in their blog names  (i.e. Confessions of a Twi Crack Addict).

What I find particularly interesting about Snarkier’s post is that it links the drug addiction metaphor to the religious one. Noting that she “pushes” Twilight on others like a drug dealer or proselytizer, she writes, “Being a Twitard is like being a member of one of those religious groups where you are compelled to go out and convert the unholy masses.”

Interesting that she refers to the non-Twilight initiated as the “unholy masses.” Like the great unwashed, those not on the “Twi-Side” are, she argues, “in need of a friendly little push to get them on board.”

Thinking about this missionary zeal to convert the masses into Twilight-worshippers, I am reminded of Marx’s famous dictum “religion is the opiate of the masses.”

While I don’t think religion (or Twilight) always function as opiates, the decreased mental reactions they can bring, along with their ability to cause feelings of euphoria and lead to physical dependence, should serve as a warning: Just as we should not too blindly follow religious dictums that encourage non-thinking worship, neither should we become so enraptured in our Twi-following that we deify all things Twilight.

That being said, recreational use of Twilight can be quite the kick. Just be careful you don’t overdose or you could wake up one morning to find a life-size Edward cut-out watching you as you sleep beneath your purple-n-black bedspread with a wolf-trinket attached to a dream catcher dangling from your headboard…

Twi Kids Trio Wish You a Merry Xmas!

The trio sing you Edward the Vampire (to the tune of Frosty the Snowman), Jacob the Muscly-Wolf boy (to the tune of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and We Wish You a Twilight Xmas…

Happy Holidaze!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIF19eogv2E

For those Twilight characters on your list…

For Edward – a guitar

From Twitarded

He could use a more mobile music-maker than a piano… Singing ballads while strumming a guitar in the flower-filled meadow? It’s Edward but with an Across the Universe vibe! Maybe this one.

For Bella – a book on raising your emotional IQ

Come on, you know she needs it. And, maybe a companion book to help her up the self-esteem factor.

For Jacob – a were-wolf friendly clothes carrier bag

They must have something suitable at one of those organizer stores… I know many like to see the boy naked, but I worry about him catching a chill in that La Push weather.

For Renesmee – a subscription to New Moon Girls Magazine

With her less than empowered mother and grandmothers, she could use some of the you-go-girl messages from this magazine!

For Charlie – Where’s Mom Now That I Need Her?: Surviving Away from Home

Bella has moved out and the man still needs to eat. Rather than running into the arms of Sue Clearwater so as not to starve, perhaps he could pick up a spatula! This book is a classic with many recipes even the cooking-challenged can master.

For Renee -Saving Beauty from the Beast: How to Protect Your Daughter From an Unhealthy Relationship

This book might be of use for her and her daughter!

For Carlisle – season 1 Nurse Jackie

It’s set in a hospital and he would likely dig the doctor character. Plus, he could pontificate about all of Jackie’s moral transgressions…

For Esmee – The Maternal is Political

With all that vampire brood, she needs to think about politicizing her children rather than just decorating Snow-White style cottages for them!

For Rosalie – The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

She’s  a bright female – I trust she can get over that mirror worship with a little help from Naomi Wolf.

For Emmett – True Blood, Season 1

With his sense of humor and libido, I think he would quite like this series.

For Alice – A year subscription to O, The Oprah Magazine

I think she would especially enjoy the O List shopping section and the vibe of the magazine somehow seems Alice-esque. Like Oprah, she cares.

For Sam – The Anger Workbook: A 13-Step Interactive Plan to Help You…  and Alpha Male Syndrome

Nuff said.

For Emily – The book How to Deal with Emotionally Explosive People

The same author wrote Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry – is he writing a whole oeuvre for Twilight characters or what???

And, for fans…

Try here or here

Will Twi-seduction rub off on Bronte, Shakespeare, and Austen?

Dowaditty of What the Forks reported she saw a new Twilight-esque cover of Wuthering Heights at Borders. She reports: “On the cover… it says, ‘Bella and Edward’s favorite book!’”

I have yet to see this cover, but I am wondering if the attempt to “cash in” on Twilight will pay off.  The classic books referred to intertextually in the series may drive more people to buy them in the current Twi-frenzy, but will they actually read them? If so, will they enjoy them? Romeo and Juliet is quite a different read to New Moon!

The literature scholar in me wants to believe that Twilight will encourage more reading of these classics, but the realist in me doubts there is any “Team Jane” on the horizon.

Though Bella and Jane, Juliet, Catherine, Elizabeth share certain similarities as female characters, the content of these earlier books is radically different – mainly in that they involve a lot more societal critique than Twilight.
I do think Twilight has certain elements of social critique, but this is not what inspires readers’ devotion. And, social critique is certainly not at the core of the saga. Sorry, but Meyer is no Austen.

Will Twilight stand the test of time like the predecessors that are now being re-packaged in hopes they can win the hearts of young readers? I doubt it. I am not so sure Twilight is weighty enough to be around 100 years plus from its debut.

Will people in the 22^nd century still be reading it? What do you think?

Females as the Second Sex in Twilight, or, Vampires are Made, Not Born

As contemporary females, we still experience the deleterious effects of being constructed as what Simone de Beauvoir calls the “second sex.”

Creatures of survival that we are, we often turn to stories that romanticize our second class status so as to render is exciting and fulfilling.  Such a “fantasy resolution,” as Janice Radway calls it, can supply us with the happily-ever-after that real life often does not (Reading the Romance, 14).

Twilight offers a happily-vampire-ever-after, allowing female readers escape from a world that labels them sluts, hoes, bitches, etc.

The fact Bella sees herself as ordinary and average in the Twilight series also appeals to us as females – we can identify with feeling awkward and clumsy in a society designed for men. Yet, the wish fulfillment narrative ultimately serves to uphold the message that females are, by their very nature, less capable.

Through the vampire/human dichotomy, it echoes the gender binary dominating our world, which constructs men (or vampires) as superior and women (or humans) as the Other (or second sex). Bella internalizes messages of her inferiority and Otherness, referring to herself as “a curiosity, a freak.” (T)

As the following quote reveals, she chastises herself for not fitting into the norms of femininity:

“physically, I’d never fit in anywhere. I should be tan, sporty, blond — a volleyball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps — all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun. Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn’t have the necessary hand-eye coordination to play sports without humiliating myself” (T)

She then goes on to relate that she does not fit in anywhere, ending with the suggestion she is crazy:

“…if I couldn’t find a niche in a school with three thousand people, what were my chances here? I didn’t relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I didn’t relate well to people, period. Even my mother, who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain. (T)

A surface analysis of these quotes reveals Bella as a self-effacing female. However, further consideration of the constant references Bella makes throughout the series about not being capable, about her feelings of estrangement, and of her sense of inferiority can be read as her internalization of the negative messages patriarchal culture offers to women. Her only outlet in such a culture, as the series reveals, is to ally herself with a more perfect, more powerful specimen, a male.

Yet, while the books seem to indicate self-effacement is a necessary and normal component of being a ‘good’ female, one can also argue the texts represent such norms in order to condemn them. The fact that male characters are shown to require no such self-deprecation to be perceived as likeable furthers this claim. Edward’s self-assurance, Jacob’s cocky confidence, and Emmett’s jocular ultra-masculinity are not presented as overtly problematic, but as appealing. In contrast, assertive females, such as Rosalie, Leah, and Lauren, are all demonized. While such characterizations have been used as proof of the series’ anti-feminism, I suggest that they can also be read as representations of the gender binaries that bind. While the texts celebrate these bindings in ways, they also can be said to represent them as problematically compulsory.

In fact, Bella’s accordance with many of the traditional attributes of romantic heroines can be read in light of arguments put forth by critics such as Janice Radway and Tania Modleski. As their works suggests, romance heroines offer women ways to resist patriarchal conceptions of gender in a ‘safe’ way. Bella, in accordance with this read, is a good daughter who follows the patriarchal path to marriage and motherhood. Yet, she is also an intellectual, a rule-breaker, and a thrill-seeker who acts on her desires, sexual and otherwise.

However, as the series representation of man as hunter and woman as prey reveals, Bell must capitulate to patriarchal rules or she will be destroyed. In terms of the narrative, this destruction is threatened through the various male ‘hunters’ that keep her in her good girl place: Edward, Jacob, James, Laurent, Charlie, etc. Reading this same meme in relation to the role of the author, we can surmise that the rebellious Meyer, writing vampire stories when she should be tending to her children or teaching bible study, is similarly ‘hunted’ by the male codes of her religion and kept in her place by the strictures of patriarchy.

The representations the texts offer of Bella as prey substantiate this reading, suggesting that females have no choice but to be preyed upon by males. They must accept this role, as Bella does at the very beginning of the series, as “a good way to die.” (T) Given what the texts suggest is the inevitability of this paradigm, Bella, and Meyer by extension, might as will make the best of their status as prey. Thus, as in the first reference to herself as prey, Bella depicts the hunter as looking at her “pleasantly”, noting he “smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.” (T). Later, when a different hunter tells her “I bet you’d taste good,” she thanks him (NM).Here and elsewhere, there is no sense that Bella is insulted by being viewed as prey, rather, she seems to quite like it, referring to herself as “helpless and delicious” (E).

The fact Bella is represented as a pawn or prize for various males –not only Edward and Jacob, but also Mike, James, Tyler, Laurent, and Eric suggests she is indeed the hunted. This status is particularly apparent when she sits between two ‘hunters’ at the movie theater, noting their hands are “Like steel bear traps, open and ready.” (NM). When Jacob later shares that she is “a classic martyr….She should have lived back when she could have gotten herself fed to some lions for a good cause,” the predator/prey symbol is furthered (BD).  As she seems to have no choice but to be treated like a conquest, she acquiesces to it, and particularly with her most handsome hunter, Edward.

Yet, might we see her reaction as making the best of a bad situation? Might we read Meyer’s depiction as suggesting (even if unconsciously) that patriarchy cannot result in equal relationships between men and women (or vampires and humans), that, instead, it results in a society of the hunter and the hunted? Patriarchy, according to this read, is inescapable — the only way females have any chance at equality is via becoming vampires. They are born into their status as the 2^nd sex, but can be made into vampires – a switch that allows them access to all the privileges maleness brings.

**Please note, as I have a Kindle, (and the damn thing doesn’t have page numbers!!!) I have only cited which book the quotes are from, designated as T, NM, E, and BD.

20 Twilight Lessons Worth Learning…

Last week I posted 20 unfortunate lessons and promised a list of fortunate lessons would follow.

Here it is:

1. Books are cool
2. Native American people exist
3. Not everyone is wealthy
4. Not all females like to shop
5. Dads are people too
6. Education and intellectual pursuits are worthwhile
7. Diversity is good – all beings are equal, white, non-white, vampire, werewolf…
8. Females can be super-heroes too
9. Females have (sexual) desires (and they don’t need vampire policing!)
10. There are other options besides monogamy/marriage (although, admittedly, the series ultimately capitulates to the marriage as happy ending norm)
11. Friend and family bonds are important
12. Taking risks, standing up for what you believe in, and speaking your mind are important
13. The world is a big, diverse, dangerous, wonderful place and we would do well to embrace difference rather than ignore it
14. Violence against women is a real problem – whether perpetuated by vampires, werewolves, or humans
15. Women must live their lives according to a “rape schedule” and will likely be raped by someone they know (as with Rosalie)
16. We live in bodies — disability, disfigurement, illness exist (though apparently fatness does not)
17. Austen, Bronte, Shakespeare, etc are worth reading
18. The beauty myth damages all women just as the codes of masculinity damage men
19. There are more important things in life than buying the next gadget or attending prom
20. The “good girl” paradigm needs to have a wooden stake driven through its perfect, skinny heart

Unfortunate Twilight Lessons

The other day, I posted a response to Wired’s list of unfortunate twilight lessons. I took issue with that list not so much because their points weren’t partially valid, but because the list dripped with misogyny, framing women as insipid and stupid. I find this particularly ironic as this IS one of the unfortunate lessons of the series, that females are less able, capable, etc than males and that they NEED a male to complete them. While Bella triumphs in the end, and while there are many strong, intriguing female characters, one resounding message is that good women are paired with strong men – and that their goal in such pairings should be to have a family. The fandom certainly responds to this message — lusting after the male characters and actors as if their life depends on it. While such lusting can be freeing and certainly has its positive aspects, I don’t think our main endeavor in life should be to spend hours Edward-obsessing or ogling Robert Pattinson photographs.

Here is my list of some of the unfortunate Twilight lessons. A list of fortunate ones will be posted soon! I look forward to your ideas regarding unfortunate lessons in comments!

1. Girl = clumsy and non-athletic
2. Whiteness is next to godliness
3. Native American = savage
4. Someday your (vampire) prince will come
5. Wealth = happiness
6. If your female but can’t have a baby, you’re a “genetic dead-end”
7. If your female you never have to save yourself — leave that to male vampires and werewolves
8. Abstinence before marriage is ideal
9. Abusive relationships are romantic (as is stalking, breaking and entering, sexual assault…)
10. Rape myths are true (the series perpetuates the number one lie about rape in the Port Angeles scene – that women are raped by strangers when in fact the vast majority of rapes are perpetuated by someone the female knows – as in Rosalie’s case)
11. Weighing 110 is ideal
12. Moms come in two types – perfect or scatterbrained
13. College can always wait
14. Clothes and make up make the girl (as with Alice’s perpetual makeovers and fashion focus)
15. If a girl desires sex or sexual activity, she should either get married or else have a virgin (vampire) boyfriend who will police her sexuality for her
16. Belief in God is necessary for a moral universe and one most believe in the Judeo-Christian concept of a soul in order to be saved
17. Looks are very important and aging is icky and horrible – especially for women
18. Heterosexual is the only way to be
19. It’s ok to use your looks/sexuality as a weapon
20. There’s nothing that says love more than an abused woman gazing into the eyes of her abuser (Sam and Emily)

On the unfortunate lessons of Twilight according to Wired…

I don’t follow this blog, but a friend sent me the recent post, Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Girls Learn From Twilight.

The author starts with this:“From a male point of view, the only redeeming feature of the Twilight books and movies is the ammunition they provide against female claims of innate moral superiority over men.”

Wow, misogyny much?

The author then slams the series and its fans as mindless worshippers of insipid drivel:

“Whenever a woman criticizes a man’s lust, aggression, shallowness or any other lesser angel of his personality, the quick-witted fellow can point to the millions of women addicted to the base, insipid, bad-boy-worshiping, misogynist syrup so many female viewers of all ages knelt to this past weekend…”

I too find some of Twilight’s message lean toward bowing down to patriarchal messages -  but isn’t attacking misogyny vie a misogynistic representation of females as stupid addicts a bit hypercritical?

The post goes on to list 20 “unfortunate lessons girls learn from Twilight” noting, in keeping with the general female-hatery of the post, that “The list operates under the principle that any grownup female who embraces Twilight’s junior-high dreck temporarily sacrifices her “woman card.”

Yeah, because when a woman likes something or when a fandom is largely female, it’s dumb and syrupy.

Parts of the post are humorous, to be sure. And, many of the unfortunate lessons ring true. But, I think the post assumes girls are stupid, Twilight is stupid, and, in general, women are stupid. Perhaps the site, which my friend tells me is a “male tech zone” functions on this assumption. I, in all my femaleness, beg to differ.

Here are my responses to these 20 lessons the series supposedly teaches girls:

1.“If a boy is aloof, stand-offish, ignores you or is just plain rude, it is because he is secretly in love with you — and you are the point of his existence.”

Hmmm, could it be that said boy is this way due to codes of masculinity? Gender boxes? Any chance the vamp/werewolf plot can be read as highlighting some of the problems with hyper-masculinity?

2.“Secrets are good — especially life-threatening ones.”

I would counter the series suggests secrets are sometimes necessary and privacy is important – this seems a lesson that girls, whose bodies and actions are always on display, could use…

3.“It’s OK for a potential romantic interest to be dimwitted, violent and vengeful — as long as he has great abs.”

How about putting that shoe on the other foot? Hasn’t it been ‘ok’ for males to lust after women as long as they look good??? That beauty imperative is pretty constraining when males have to wear it, huh? As I’ve noted elsewhere, I am not calling for equal opportunity objectification. Rather, all people should be able to enjoy the visual/aesthetic pleasures of being human if they so choose. Objectifying some groups (women, people of color) to serve as eye-candy or meat for privileged white males has been the historical norm. Funny how this is never mentioned in all the focus on the abs-n-six packs of Twilight…

4.“If a boy tells you to stay away from him because he is dangerous and may even kill you, he must be the love of your life. You should stay with him since he will keep you safe forever.”

Well, sadly, the truly dangerous boys/men don’t usually announce they are dangerous – rather, they act like your boyfriend, your best buddy, your soul mate right up until they rape you! Most rapes and sexual assault is committed by friends/boyfriends. With friends like these, the danger that Jacob and Edward pose seems a welcome relief! I agree though that the books problematically romanticize violence, as does most mainstream media.

5.“If a boy leaves you, especially suddenly (while telling you he will never see you again), it is because he loves you so much he will suffer just to keep you safe.”

No, if a boy leaves you, it might be because his ass-hat friends are making fun of him for being “pussy whipped” or the like. Twilight, to the contrary, shows that boys have feelings too, that they make mistakes, that they are more human(e) than much mainstream images of masculinity would lead us to believe.

6.“When a boy leaves you, going into shock, losing all your friends and enduring night terrors are completely acceptable occurrences — as long as you keep your grades up.”

I don’t think the series frames these things as acceptable. Rather, it emphasizes that the course of true love doesn’t run smooth, that, in other words, relationships are not EASY. Unlike, say, American Pie and other guy-centered flicks that focus on woman AS pussy…

7.“It is extremely romantic to put yourself in dangerous situations in order to see your ex-boyfriend again. It’s even more romantic to remember the sound of his voice when he yelled at you.”

Gotta admit, this one is really funny. But, again, I don’t think the series frames this as romantic so much so as desperate/crazy/lovesick. Many fans note that Bella needs to ovary the f*** up in this area…

8.“Boys who leave you always come back.”

Cuz one boy comes back that means that all boys well? Wow, talk about logical fallacy…

9.“Because they come back, you should hold out, waiting for them for months, even when completely acceptable and less-abusive alternative males present themselves.”

Hmmm, a guy who forces you to kiss him multiple times and then laughs when you try to resist (Jacob) is the less-abusive alternative? Huh. Also, this “lesson” insinuates that females NEED a male, that being single or onely is unacceptable. Talk about a bad lesson!

10.“Even though you have no intention of dating an alternative male who expresses interest in you, it is fine to string the young man along for months. Also, you should use him to fix things for you. Maybe he’ll even buy you something.”

I don’t see Bella as stringing Jacob along. If you’ve read the books (doubtful), you would understand this. I do have a problem that he is framed as hot mechanic and she is the helpless sidekick. But, SHE does the buying – with her college fund (now there’s something you FAIL to criticize! What’s that about?)

11. “You should use said male to fix things because girls are incapable of anything mechanical or technical.”

Not Rosalie. She is an ace mechanic.

12.“Lying to your parents is fine. Lying to your parents while you run away to save your suicidal boyfriend is an extremely good idea that shows your strength and maturity. Also, it is what you must do.”

Come on, what child has NOT lied to their parents? They may not be running off to battle vultures in Italy, but I’d wager (OMG I just used a Sarah Palin word, ick) that you’d be hard pressed to find a t(w)een that has not stretched the truth to breaking point in order to get to go to a movie, a party, etc.

13.“Car theft in the service of love is acceptable.”

Well, it was a matter of life and un-death!

14.“If the boy you are in love with causes you (even indirectly) to be so badly beaten you end up in the hospital, you should tell the doctors and your family that you “fell down the steps” because you are such a silly, clumsy girl. That false explanation always works well for abused women.”

I agree that the messages about abusive relationships are very problematic. This is one of my biggest beefs with the series.

15.“Men can be changed for the better if you sacrifice everything you are and devote yourself to their need for change.”

I think the series shows humans, vampires, werewolves as all capable of changing. Plus, it’s no Beauty and the Beast with Bella transforming a beastly Edward into a nice husband. Rather, Bella’s foray into the masculinized world of power allows her to gain power in her own right – sort of a giving into the patriarchy theme that reveals that women, in order to gain power, have to “play like the boys.”

16.“Young women should make no effort to improve their social skills or emotional state. Instead, they should seek out potential mates that share their morose deficiencies and emotional illnesses.”

Oh, so social skills are the most important thing for women? Wow, what a novel idea!

17.“Girls shouldn’t always read a book series just because everyone else has.”

And boys shouldn’t assume book series that girls like are “insipid” just because girls like them!!!

18. “When writing a book series, it’s acceptable to lift seminal source material and bastardize it with tired, overwrought teenage angst.”

I agree the series has what seems like too many references to Stoker and other vampire lore for an author who claims she’s never read Dracula or watched vampire movies!

19. “When making or watching a major feature film, you should gleefully embrace the 20 minutes of plot it provides in between extended segments of vacant-eyed silence and self-indulgent, moaning banter.”

But if you like horror porn or the like, it’s just dandy, where non-existent plots give way to glossy images of extreme violence against women.

20. “Vampires — once among the great villains of literature and motion pictures — are no longer scary. In fact, they’re every bit as whiny, self-absorbed and impotent as any human being.”

Vampires were never really great villains – they have functioned to explore our fascinations with immortality, otherness, sexuality – they have been used as metaphors for imperialism, capitalism, AIDs, etc. And, yes, they share many a human weakness, perhaps that is why we are so fascinated by them.

I do think readers are given some unfortunate lessons in the saga, especially in relation to sexuality, abstinence, abusive relationships, and marriage/motherhood as THE happy ending for females. However, it gives lots of good lessons as well – it is, for example, far more critical of gender boxes and other societal norms than it is given credit for. It may not be Star Trek, but then again, it was written by a woman – a creature this post frames as foolish, addicted, and dull. Perhaps if those of us interested in the Twilight phenomenon can take one lesson from the above post it is this – never underestimate the power of the patriarchal machine to take anything females like and twist it into something to be used against them.

What do vampires tell us about who we are?

“More than our heroes or pundits, our Draculas tell us who we were.” Nina Auerbach, Our Vampires, Ourselves, p. 112

If our vampires indeed tell us a great deal about who we are, and I think they do, what is the current vampire craze telling us about ourselves and our culture? From Twilight to True Blood to Vampire Diaries, as well as to the forthcoming films Daybreakers and Transylmania, vampires (and the people who love them) are everywhere.

Some of our fascinations are obvious. Many date back to before Count Dracula: the vampire as symbol of immortality, otherness, power, horror, sexuality, and the forbidden.

The vampire is ultimately more like us than other monsters – more human and thus more enmeshed with our own fantasies and fears about the human condition.

Contemporary vampires reveal our enduring fascination with romance, sexuality, and desire. Yet, our feelings about these arenas have changed with certain cracks in the fissures of monogamous heteronormativity. Even Twilight, the most chaste of the works mentioned above, toys with the idea that we can (and should) love more than one person (and love sex). This suggestion seems rather radical for one written by a Mormon and even more so when we acknowledge that it is the female character who is the central desiring subject – it is her wants that shape the narrative. In a flip of real world polygamy practiced by some branches of Mormonism, Bella, the female protagonist, desires multiple partners. The imprinting strand of the narrative (as well as the chaste Edward) reverses this subversive idea though – safely re-assuring the ‘normal’ one woman/one man paradigm.

True Blood more radically toys with the idea of non-monogamous, non-heterosexual desire. Yet, it too places a female as the key desiring subject. Like Twilight, it also chips away at various gendered norms – suggesting that Buffy was not an anomaly but that women too are strong, smart, desiring heroes. Each of these vampire tales also trouble masculine norms – breaking open the macho gender box to reveal that men have feelings, fears, vulnerabilities, and insecurities.

And, while the beauty imperative forced on women’s shoulders is not deconstructed in these contemporary vampire texts, the male gaze is at least partially undercut. The female gaze is acknowledged with male vampires serving as quasi-dream men, their bodies as closely surveyed and as on display as has been the norm for female bodies for centuries. While equal opportunity objectification is not the goal, the recognition and acceptance of female visual/aesthetic pleasure makes a nice change.

Further, visual pleasure is queered to a certain extent in some modern stories of the undead. Though there are no openly gay characters in Twilight, True Blood’s inclusion of non-heteronormative characters as well as its allusions to vampires as a minority that share oppressions with homosexuals revives the queer roots of vampire lore. Carmilla and Count Dracula were not hyper-monogamous heterosexuals like the Cullens – rather, they revealed that desire is not gendered – we only make it so.

Modern vampires also tell us a great deal about our love/hate relationship with wealth, capitalism, imperialism, and religion. They thwart power at the same time as they wield and desire it. Twilight’s vampires live an opulent life complete with mansions, fast cars, and designer clothes. Most of the vampires in True Blood and The Vampire Diaries are not short on wealth either. The fantasy life where money is no object is certainly appealing during these unstable economic times. Yet, these texts ultimate explorations of the haves and have-nots, of us/them, of self/other also suggest that such hierarchical dichotomies mean there will always be an uncomfortable outside. Being working class is no fun in the vampire world, nor is the lack of white privilege. While on the one hand these narratives render privilege very desirable, on the other hand, they reveal that privileged classes (vampires) disempower and oppress other groups – literally sucking the life blood out of those who don’t have such privilege.

Another area of contemporary concern these texts tap into is pandemics and the fear that surrounds the idea of infection. While vampire stories of the 80s and 90s often more obviously referenced AIDS, our current vampire tales tread more lightly through their exploration of illness and dis-ease.  More often they explore addiction, hinting that a culture based on consumption (whether the human consumption of products or the vampire consumption of blood) leads to a life of imprisonment – a life of being beholden to what one is addicted to consuming. Though Twilight romanticizes Edward’s addiction to Bella’s blood, we can also read this addiction as harmful – not only to the characters themselves, but to the fans who become Twilight zombies, lurching towards the next Edward/Jacob fix. In True Blood, the exploration of drug dependency takes on a more complex form, revealing the links between addiction, dehumanization, dependency, and violence. The Vampire Diaries explores addiction as well. Like the other texts though, it shows being addicted to love (while dangerous) is ultimately ok. As such, all of these texts ultimately reinforce the idea that as long as you find your true (vampire) love, all will be well in the end. True Blood most radically troubles this fairy tale meme, but even it suggests that Sookie needs her Bill.

The real life spin off of this focus on the happily ever after of the white, heterosexual, monogamous couple spills into the real world via the ongoing fascination over allegations that Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are really lovers. And, in a fictional spill into reality, Anna Paquin (Sookie) and Stephen Moyer (Bill) are engaged.

Thus, while our current vampire fascination reveals we are more open to non-normative notions of sexuality, desire, gender, visual pleasure and privilege, it also confirms we are still hopelessly devoted to romantic, sexual love. Is this the irreducible difference that scholars have explored so long – that all of us, at our core, really just want ‘the one’? I think not. Rather, the obsessive focus on true love as what brings us ultimate happiness constructs us as beings who are addicted to love – and, to a notion of love that is utterly impossible – one that is eternal, immortal, and sparkly.

Why love, though? Why create a world of people seeking their Edward/Bill/Eric/Jacob/Stefan or Sookie/Bella/Elena? Well, love is rather safe when you think about it – encouraging the masses to desire desire will keep the wheels running as they are – if the masses were instead encouraged to desire social change, wealth equality, racial equality, sexual equality, etc, well, the world would have to change quite a bit. Keep ‘em in love with love and you’ve got a captive audience of consumers who will buy your stories, your products, your fictions so that you can keep on keepin’ on with your global militaristic imperialism. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer at the end of this post, but methinks we need some politicized vampires to balance out all those hot, hard, muscular ones…

1st thoughts on New Moon movie…

Yesterday, my 13-year-old son and I headed to our local movie spot to see New Moon. He enjoyed the film, but he thought Bella’s rejection of Jacob was cruel. “Why couldn’t she choose both?” he asked. Well, because we fixate on monogamy in our world. Obviously she loves both, but given our religious culture and our deification of the one man/one woman paradigm, Bella has to choose.  Seems to me an open relationship with all three could work very well. But, no such queering of relationships is possible according to the ultimate happy ending (?) the series is heading towards.

As for myself, I am more than ever Team Bella and am saddened by the fact so many fans only route for the male characters (and only shower their love on the male actors). I think Kristen Stewart makes an excellent Bella – and even more so in New Moon than Twilight. I get that readers identify with her, feel like they are her, but I don’t get why more don’t step outside this fantasy identification and recognize how dissing Bella (and Stewart) is like slapping themselves and their gender in the face. We females our are own worst enemies, and the contempt for Bella/Stewart is a key example of this.

My feminist side was bothered that Bella was so age-obsessed (though I get this is due to her vampire aspirations). I also felt like she could use a hearty sandwich or two and wished she would have been a co-mechanic with Jacob rather than once again a provider of food (as when she tosses Jacob the pizza slice).

I liked the humorous relief –the references to the movie Facepunch, the classroom scene watching Romeo and Juliet, Jessica’s ranting about zombie films and consumerism, Bella flying on VIRGIN air to Italy. I particularly liked Mike in this film – he took masculinity outside the box, noting he doesn’t like horror films and showing himself to be far less arrogant, confident, or seething than either of Bella’s intendeds. Loved his reaction to Jacob’s unfounded rage in the movie theatre – such a nice nod to the problematics of hyper-masculine rage and macho-ness (which Jacob embodies all too well in his wolf transition).

In the Laurent scene the first thing I thought was “why no shirt?” The general shirtlessness of the non-white characters seemed gratuitous—a painstakingly obvious attempt to provide “wolfy eye candy.” Then again, when Edward removed his shirt in Italy I was not attracted to his paleness – sorry Bells, we disagree on that one – the whiteness is not magnificent to me…

I loved Jacob in this movie and thought Lautner did a great job – though I couldn’t help being slightly disturbed by that much muscle on a 16/17 year-old-boy. Think of the hours that took – yes, that is dedication, but is packing on 30 pounds of muscle really what we want males to do in order to prove their worth? Muscle is attractive, sure, but it goes hand in hand with the violent masculinity we as females should be intent on deconstructing…

As for the audience where I saw the movie, it was diverse – almost as many males and females and ages across the spectrum. However, the handful of 5 to 7 year olds scattered amongst the seats threw me. Surely they must have been bored – or else so indoctrinated into the idea THEY MUST LOVE TWILIGHT that they forced themselves to be interested. Does the 7-year-old girl wearing the “I love boys who sparkle t-shirt” really love the series, or has she been cajoled into this love by older siblings, friends, family? And why does a 7 year old need to be fixating on such a romantic tale – how about focusing on friends and frivolous fun until, say, I don’t know, at least 10 or 11???

Now onto reading reviews/reactions from others and forming some 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th thoughts…