My Twilight Soap Box

I've contemplated this blog post forever. I've shied away from it for forever too. I finally decided to stop since Twilight is on my brain this week, and I feel it's time to get this off my chest.....

I'M A HUGE FAN!

I've been frustrated by the presupposed judgements made on the Twilight books as well as the premise that Vampire books are ungodly. I've read reviews by some who have read the Internet synopsis and based their assumptions on that alone, and I've read some who have based their thoughts on the first book alone. One went so far as to say that we should not read Twilight because we should only focus on the love story between Christ and ourselves (this person will have to highly limit their reading and movie choices as well as rip out the Song of Songs from their Bible I'm afraid) as it is the only real love story in our lives. Oooooo, this will be like tip -toeing on glass to get through, and I'm not even sure exactly what my reasoning is way back there in my head, but I'll just hope what is there will somehow make it's way out well. There are also many aspects to this discussion that I don't know how on earth to hit them all. I'm really just going to give what's on the top of my head.

First, let's just talk about the writing and who it's geared for. It is very important to state, and I firmly concur, that Stephanie Meyer DID NOT INTEND for this to be teen literature. The books gain adult momentum as you reach the third one, and some may feel their teens can handle the subject matter as it is presented inside the context of marriage, but let it just be said here that they were not written for teens. The easy style of reading was what got them categorized as such. The writing style is good, but not complicated or challenging in the literary sense. I have to say, for me as a busy mom, that was one of the things I liked about it.

Second, let's just get into the issue of Vampires shall we? I myself have never been interested in this genre of literature. I'm your typical Bronte/Austen girl all the way. I don't enjoy any kind of horror stories except some good Edgar Alan Poe. Even some of his work creeps me out. I don't think there is anything wrong with Vampire stories however, just as I don't have a problem with Alien stories, or Big Foot, though I'm also not into them. Further still however is the fact that Twilight is not even a typical Vampire story. Yes, there are Vampires in it, but never before have we seen such a take on them. These Vampires don't want to be evil and they recognize killing humans as evil, so they do the only thing they can and feed on animal blood. Let it be said too that this element of the books is only mentioned in fact as one might say "I went out for dinner" and never described in detail or played out dramatically. You cannot even get a gross-me-out from them being "Vegetarians", as they call it. Meyer has created the new, noble Vampire, so to speak, that quite frankly may bore and even frustrate die hard Vampire literature fans! More on Vampires in a little while.

Thirdly, one of the criticisms of Twilight seems to be the frowning upon such an intense romance and romantic character. Some have said that Bella idolizes Edward and would go against anything to have him and be with him. Well, I hate to remind people that that is one element that makes a great story-intensity. Dare I remind anyone of the traditional Romeo and Juliet plot? Do parents of High Schoolers debate whether to have their kids read this play in fear that they may hide a romance, or worse yet, commit suicide because of it? I don't understand then why they would think that an intelligent young woman would deduce that losing all reason or the approval of her parents in a relationship of her choice would be okay because Bella did it! I would hope we could pour more into our kids than to bear concerns like that at ever turn of their fiction absorption. If they did, I would say they were not at the proper maturity level for the reading. Furthermore, I have to say, there are many similarities throughout the story of other traditional novels as Meyer will say herself. You will even find trace reflections of , now wait for it....Austen. Meyer herself was read classic novels by her father growing up and was exposed to them before being exposed to some popular children's works, but I digress.

Intensity of passion and love without sense and rationality are common literary themes. It is true that Twilight shows this in a light never before seen but if we take another look, we will find that it's just a storyline with different clothes on. That is not to say that it is not original, it absolutely is, but the story of love itself and the intensity we experience with it is not. Add to that the supernatural element of supernatural characters and you are concocting a recipe for one supernatural love story. That's all it is though, something unreachable, unattainable, and therefore A REALLY GREAT STORY because it stretches our imaginations. Many times we have heard: "Boy meets girl, they fell in love, got married, bought a house with a white picket fence, had ten children and lived happily ever after" and though it has it's sweet simplicity, it's nothing new for the mental pallet.

Good love story literature always involves passion with a problem. Elizabeth had to get over her pride to learn who Mr. Darcy really was and discover his love for her. Jane had to wait and work out the moral dilemma that Mr. Rodchester had an insane living wife. Juliet fought against the prejudice of her family against the man she loved. Here the problem, though I make it trite, is that he loves her and wants to eat her all at the same time! Stephanie has kicked it up a notch by adding supernatural elements as well in the appeal Edward has physically in his perfect form and, oh dear...dare I mention, sparkle. His battle against killing her is not as realistic to be sure, but it's still a fictitious problem keeping them from their love for one another.

I think what this really comes down to on point number three is this: Many authors write about love in the human world, the reality we know. Many write about it in the supernatural world or the fairy tale world (technically still supernatural) but Stephanie Meyer has done something that some of us are not willing to accept quite yet. She has brought the two worlds together. THAT is why it is unsettling to some,; it's real enough and yet not real enough. I can see why some are not comfortable with their realist toes being stepped on. Here is where I can only lead into what I shall make my final point.

WE HAVE TO GIVE FICTION IT'S PLACE. Frankly, I think this is one of the biggest problems with human psyche. I get so frustrated with Christians especially who are intimidated and appalled by supernatural literature be it Fairies or Vampires. I ask myself...what are you intimidated by? THEY DON'T EXIST. They act as if they were real living characters capable and certainly taking on good and evil characteristics and therefore try to see them through gospel judgements. YOU CAN'T JUDGE THEM WITH THEOLOGY BECAUSE THEY DON'T REALLY EXIST. You cannot say that Vampires are evil, because Vampires don't exist. They are evil in stories (until now...ha,ha,ha!) but they are not evil in reality because they do not exist in reality. I cannot scream this enough. These characters were created by fiction and have traditionally taken on evil characteristics, so therefore we commonly say "Vampires are evil" or "Werewolves are evil". We say this because fiction has defined them as such. Fiction defines it's own characters, and it has the freedom to REDEFINE them by way of the imagination of anyone at anytime in literary history. This is how you can have a good witch or a friendly ghost or ...a noble Vampire. Fiction has the freedom to say that there are good wizards and bad wizards, but in reality if someone is a practicing magic and calling themselves a witch or wizard, they are, according to scripture, evil. This is why we can love Tolkien's stories and not feel ashamed for loving Gandalf. If we put Gandal in reality (which frankly would just ruin my day entirely), we would have to sit down with him and have a good theology and repentance session. Yet, why do we not criticize him in our affections? Well, it has to be because fiction is the one place we can explore our imagination outside the bounds of reality. YET! We still admire or abhor some reflected qualities we see in fiction as they parallel our convictions in reality. This is where I say this post could go on, and on, and on. This is subject matter for a book, and one in which I am completely inadequate to write. Fiction has shadows of truth but does not play by the rules of truth. It is not required to line up notch by notch with what is theologically or rationally true. If it did, guess what, it would cease to be fiction. Christians need to stop trying to glean theology from fiction (or find their theology threatened by it) ,and un-believers need to get the Word of God off their mental fiction shelf! Both would be highly profitable. I personally have an intense passion for people recognizing the life-impacting difference between fiction and fact. To the point that we tell our children from the get-go that Santa is not real, he is fiction and that in reality he was a man who lived a long time ago and died a natural human death. I decided 12 years ago that anything I told my children about the world they knew would be the truth so they would NEVER, EVER slip on the slippery slope of doubting the Words of God or putting any of his biblical revelation on the fiction shelf of their minds. At the same time, I strongly defend the rights and privileges of fiction and what the imagination can explore there through it.

I said that was my final point but I feel there is one more much more awkward point to end with. If reading this saga, or any other romance story, caused one to lust and live in a fictitious world of fantasy about the opposite sex, then I would not read it. I would not recommend that my 11 year old daughter read Song of Songs at this stage of her maturity. I also won't let her read the last two books of Twilight. I do think it's funny though that Christians are so uncomfortable with the romantic marital content in the books , but there is far more marital sexuality in the bible itself. Where are the people lining up to cheer that Twilight actually presents two virgins getting married? When in our day and age do you see that anymore? Yes, there is the intensity of fighting with that desire and holding it off until marriage. We even have a male character taking the lead in the relationship to keep it that way! Shocking for our times. There is nothing more alluring about Edward than there is about Mr. Darcy or Mr. Rochester or any other manly figure of romantic interest in renowned literature. The supernatural element only makes him more appealing but so is Batman and Superman, and many other well known yet less criticized male sex symbols. Edward has the appeal that is not new to the female imagination. He is strong, protective and mysterious, but he is not the first. You could get way too wrapped up with any of them. If that is a weakness, I think it's good to be honest about it and stay away from things that feed your lust. I personally, though I admire Edward's manly qualities and do identify them as attractive, do not spend my reality moments pondering and wishing he existed and would walk into my room at night. If you do, then I'd suggest backing off. Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre was my first adult male crush and I'm sure I thought about him a lot after reading the book when I was 15. Young girls are more apt to do this fantasizing in their growing-up years as they dream of the man they will someday love. I think parents should be really careful to only allow what their maturity can handle and not overfeed the already natural flow of their romantic imaginations. It all comes back to balance and knowing what escapes are a weakness for you. Escape itself is not a sinful thing. We escape in many ways. Men go fishing, women quilt or scrapbook. We watch movies and "veg-out" now and then; we even spend money on vacations, hobbies, and get-aways. We read fairy stories to our children and tales of lands and peoples that don't exist. We are not misguided to enjoy these escapes unless they cross over into influencing our function in reality or our perception of reality. The world is a tough place many times and I think our imagination and interests are a gift from God to have respite now and then. Enjoying them all the time or letting them cripple us in anyway practically or spiritually would be a problem. Essentially, if you stay in escape mode you become either an addict or obsessed. We have to take it back to the age old problem of what the Enemy tries to do, take something good and make it bad. That's why anything can be overdone just as it can be underdone and what is over and what is under is different for each of us according to our strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes reading a good love story or listening to a great love song can benefit your marriage because it reawakens that part of yourself that mundane life smothers out. You remember that you felt that passion for the one you love in your twitterpated years and should take a few sweet and strident passages back to that place now and then.

So, that is my Twilight soap box.