Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Lost post from 2011 - Twilight film review

A moan about movies, gender stereotypes ad such...

 'New Moon' the sequel to the Twilight film based on the four Twilight Saga series by Stephanie Meyer.

Yes, a woman wrote this 'romantic' hero, who doesn't allow his girlfriend (the main character Bella Swan) any real personal autonomy, she is completely spellbound and a rejection from him turns her catatonic and eventually self destructive. He becomes the only focus of her life and No choice she makes after meeting him is her own, she only makes independent decisions when he is not around and even then, it is usually just to disobey a completely ott injunction he places her under, instead of saying 'screw you Edward, you can't order me around' she takes it, getting him to back off becomes an negotiation device rather than her actually telling him that she is an independent person and he can't order her around. Do I want my daughter to ever be a Bella Swan? Do I heck!

Now, I am not going to insult the woman's religious background at all, but that does seem to have a great deal to do with the theme metaphorically, namely denial of the flesh, but it is her representation of the novels hero Edward Cullen, that gets my goat up.

And it seems I am not alone, Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays the character even dislikes him, than why is this overbearing, obsessive domineering male character now the focus of millions of teenage affections? His shortcomings are especially apparent when contrasted to the more laid back and egalitarian admirer of the heroine, Jacob Black.
I tried to explain to my daughter how messed up Edward was but all she could say is 'but she (Bella)  LOVES him'!!! And that is just it isn't it? It is this insane belief that a man can get away with almost any type of disrespectful behaviour because 'he loves' that almost anything can be excused because he is only being that way to protect her...but Edward might be protecting Bella from werewolves and other scary beasts but lets see what this is saying to our daughters, what about a human man protecting a woman from human monsters?

Does the following strike you as healthy:

'I know your friend needs you and you promised to see him, but I have taken your keys and locked the door because you know, there are gangs in this city and they might hurt you, you would be better off here, with me where you can be safe'.

Is this love? Is it abusive dominance?



Now  how does this compare to what people are saying now about 50 Shades?

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