Critic vs. Regular Person

As a critic, you have one persona; as a regular person, you have another one.

As a regular person you may love or hate these books. As people you’re welcome to these opinions, but Twilight, like any other text we study is a cultural artifact.

When we put on our critic hat, we step back and ask different questions—serious questions about how this book works.

Once you make this point about how this book works, then ask yourself—What does this book do? What was Meyer’s goal to do? How does that work?

Twilight Goals

As you read this text, I’d like for you to be thinking about several things

1st—How exactly does Meyer do what she does? One of the things she does is express desire. Find passages of longing and desire

Twilight Goals

2nd—Think about what Trites says in chapter 4 about libido. What is adolescent lit supposed to be doing about that? How is that expressed in Twilight?

Twilight Goals

3rd—Think about Bella’s behavior. How does she react to people? To events? What sort of generalizations can you make about

her as a character? Ultimately—What is her goal in the novel? Does

she achieve it? What do Bella’s goals and desires say about Meyer’s goal for intended audience?

I expect you to be able to provide thoughtful critical analysis during our class discussions about Twilight, not as simply a Regular Person.

For your first journal, I will leave the prompt open as to what you will write about. BUT—how you will write about what you write you choose has already been determined. You will be approaching your journals from the perspective of an analytical critic.

Cleolinda’s Thoughts on Twilight

“So... I finally read an e-book of Twilight last night, and... I kind of love it like cake. With rainbow sparkles sprinkles. Carried in by ponies. Pink ponies.”

“A lot of people are really passionate about these books. Some of them love and defend them passionately”

Which category are you?

3 Theories Why It’s Popular

1) "Vampire" is a metaphor for "teenage boy"

What does she mean by this?

“Edward is everything that is confusing about the opposite sex writ large”

“Consider, also, that young girls tend to gravitate towards "safe," often semi-androgynous celebrities at this age (cough*Hanson*cough) because they're less threatening to a girl's developing sexuality.

Sex is possible, and a forbidden thrill to contemplate, but it's not a danger: you're safe with Edward, because he loves you just that much, and he's never going to pressure you because he wants to protect you from himself.”

2) Girls like bad boys

What’s her point here?

“So, the theory in regards to Twilight: Edward spends at least half the book struggling rather violently with himself not to ravage Bella, "his brand of heroin." And the harder he has to struggle, the more attractive he is to the reader, because that's just how much he loves Bella.”

3) Wish fulfillment

What was this one about?

So with Twilight, Bella leaves her flaky, remarried mother to move to a new town and a new school with her silent-type small-town police chief father. She immediately takes up several pages telling us how she doesn't fit in anywhere and she's not like other people and no one understands her (which is actually pretty standard for a teenage girl. I for one started having strong whiny flashbacks to age fourteen. Reader proxy ahoy!).

“"Omg why does he hate me? Why does he not hate me now? Why does he hate me again? Does he like me? Does he not like me? Does he like me again? Omg I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him he loves me!! And he sparkles!“”

Some Drawbacks

“And then--well, let's count some, some of the problems that I have:”

Which ones of these resonated more with you?

4) It's totes okay for a guy to stalk you and watch you while you sleep so long as he's hot.

6) Omg, the nerve of these teenage boys to actually like me and show me around on my first day and try to ask me out. GAH.

8) How many times is Edward described as being "angelic" or "godlike"?

I want to beat Edward Cullen with a stick.

“I'm not going to go into the disturbing way Bella and Edward's obsessive relationship is portrayed as true love, or how borderline abusive it is, with Bella's complete lack of self outside Edward and Edward's controlling, emotionally unstable behavior.”

What would your response be to this statement?

References to Edward's Beauty: 165

Face: 24  (Favorite adjectives: glorious, heavenly, seraphic)Voice: 20  (The voice of an archangel, donchaknow.)Eyes: 17Movement: 11Smile: 10Teeth: 8Muscles: 7

Skin: 7  (Note: This only contains accounts of Edward's skin being beautiful. I didn't count references to it as "pale," "cold," or "white." If I had, this number would be about ten times larger.)Iron Strength or Limbs: 5Breath: 4  (EVEN HIS BREATH IS AMAZING.)Scent: 4Laughter: 3Handwriting: 2Chest: 2Driving Skills: 1

Bella Is Clumsy or Makes a Reference to Her Clumsiness: 26Bella Sneers at Forks or Its Inhabitants: 22Bella is "Dazzled" or Rendered Speechless by Edward's Beauty or Touch: 17Edward Tells Bella to Stay Away from Him While Completely Contradicting Himself with His Behavior: 16Bella is Utterly Desolate at Edward's Absence: 12Edward and Bella Kiss: 8

Bella's Hormones Get the Better of Her and She Attacks Edward, Almost Causing Him to Eat Her: 2 (She's not even allowed to kiss him back! Where's the fun in that?)

Edward's Kiss Makes Bella Faint: 1 Edward's Kiss Makes Bella's Heart Literally Stop: 1

Bella Thinks She Isn't Good Enough for Edward: 6Edward Is Referred to As Godlike: 5  (Note: This number might be off, as I didn't start counting until three or four mentions in.)Edward Tells Bella She's Unnatural: 5Edward Sparkles: 3Bella is in Mortal Danger: 3

Edward Saves Bella from Mortal Danger: 3

Edward Stalks Bella, For Real: 2  (Note: One of these instances involves watching her sleep every night for, like, months.)Bella says "Holy Crow!": 2Bella and Edward Argue About Who Loves the Other Most: 1Edward's Inability to Read Bella's Mind is Explained: 0

He’s in High School Forever

“And, because I am going to laugh at Edward Cullen for the rest of my life - because why, if you are immortal and so gorgeous that women faint at the sight of you, would you enroll in high school? wouldn't you have better things to do with your time?”

http://avadriel.livejournal.com/81802.html#cutid1

“While we have very little clear idea what Bella looks like, we get to hear about Eddiken's gorgeous, transcendental face and body over and over and over again. He's impossibly frustrating because he's been crammed with so many character traits, depending entirely on what the author wants him to be like at the time. He's wicked and teasing on his better occasions, but then swings violently to anger or despair or whathaveyou depending on what someone said to him the second before.”

“And for some reason, he doesn't mind taking high school over and over again - which some would describe as a kind of hell.”

“The romance, to put it frankly, is a little disturbing in how it borders on the obsessive, especially on Bella's side.

He spends days questioning her about every little thing she likes and dislikes (which is a TOTAL female fantasy that will never happen whether the boy is undead or alive).

She asks him about being a vampire. And the rest is all surface-based. Because he's just so, so, so beautiful! I have a feeling that if they just had a shag, the infatuation would be O-V-E-R.”

I want you to begin thinking of the connections between Twilight and How I Live Now Especially with Forbidden Love Trauma