I know you all cannot wait to hear what I have to say about Breaking Dawn Part One after my last Twilight review. I feel as though I am a truth teller when it comes to this franchise- cutting through the fluff and hype and keeping them honest. The Anderson Cooper of teen lit. if you will.
So the most recent installment center around the marriage of undead Edward (Rob Pattonson) and the freaky mortal girl Bella (played ironically by the pulseless Kristin Stewart) who can't understand the importance of dating a living human. Still the heart wants what it wants so the pair marry and as soon as their honeymoon is over, Eddie-baby will turn her.
Willing to die for the man she loves, yes, but not willing to die a virgin- I can respect that. And as a good Christian girl as I assume Bella is as well (except for the whole no murdering thing and the fact that vampires go against everything Jesus preached) I applaud waiting until marriage view point. Important lesson to teach young girls so I will even spare you my rant about murdering you wife not being a message to send to young people because what the viewer/reader is supposed to take out of it is the promise of eternal love and devotion. My issue with this particular piece of the saga comes from what happens after the "I dos."
No, not the fact that there is no sex scene, only 20 minutes of lead up (teases!) After their sole encounter Bella is preggers, which she explains she didn't know could happen. Can't get pregnant the first time? Sounds like an afternoon special to me. Clearly they are advocating less than safe sex. And I get that the Mormon author would argue that it is okay because of the advocating to wait for marriage but teenagers are smart enough to realize that Bella and Edward might have waited but Rob and Kristin aren't. Why would you chance no playing safe when Human men can give you a disease but you don't even know what can come shooting out of a vampire. Ick.
So baby is on the way and Edward and most of his family want to kill it because they don't know what is to come out but Bella refuses. This is clearly an allegory for abortion. I'm not actually in favor of aborting a baby because it is not perfect but let's not pretend this isn't a pro-life argument. Even when it becomes clear that Bella will die if she goes through with it, she stands strong that baby lives. The baby above all else- sounds exactly like the extreme right wing view point on abortion and I, for one don't think that that should always be the case. It isn't black and white and hammering into the minds of young girls is not okay because most eighteen year old girls don't have the last minute turn to vampirecy option.
Anyway, that is the end of Breaking Dawn until next fall's part two and I don't know the whole story so i can't be sure what i will be sounding off about then but i feel like wearwolf Jacob's being a pedophile could be a big part.
****Warning there is going to be a lot of snark and bitching in this post****
This week, Lauren and I did our usual Tuesday night movie night ritual (future post about that), going to see THE TWILIGHT SAGE: ECLIPSE. This is the third installment of the 4 book/ 5 movie TWILIGHT franchise, marking the third time I’ve come out of these movies wondering how these films/ books are a worldwide phenomena.
In the past I have tried and failed with the world wide phenomena book turned movie franchises. There was the wildly successful LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy which I found too boring and complicated for my barely teenage brain to want to follow. This was followed by HARRY POTTER AND THE MORE THAN A DECADE IT TAKES TO COMPLETE SEVEN YEARS OF SCHOOL, which was never really for me either. I understood the premise of these and, having friends who read and/ or watch both sagas, sometimes was interested in stories of them I just preferred not to take part in the mass hysteria because of the boring parts. But TWILIGHT is different, TWILIGHT intrigues me.
The basic premise of the saga, in case you live in Narnia or on the moon, is there is a girl caught in a love triangle between a vampire and a werewolf. I like love triangles and, being a fan of TRUE BLOOD, figured that the mythical elements of the story might be allegorical for some very real form of teenage angst. After three films I realize it is not. But this isn’t my issue either, I like mythical stuff. My problems with these stories (including the parts that haven’t been released thanks to Lauren telling me the plot of BREAKING DAWN) break down to three main issues: breaking pre-established rules, plagiarism, and total lack of any foundation in life.
Breaking the Rules:
Vampires don’t sparkle. Tales about the damned have existed for centuries and yet the Cullens (and later the rest of the vampires in the series) are the only ones to glow like fairy princesses every time the sun shines on their pale skin. Which brings us to my next point, vampires can’t go out until the sun goes down. Not because their skin get’s a bit of a shimmer to it but because they are so purely evil and so beyond the salvation of God that when light shines on them they burn up from the inside out.
Plagiarism:
Whatever author Stephanie Meyer didn’t completely make up in her head, she lifted off of other stories. The similarities to TRUE BLOOD alone are uncanny. Both have a love triangle. Bella must choose between Vampire Edward and Shape-shifter Jacob. TB’s Sookie Stackhouse spend most of season one deciding between Vampire Bill and Shape-shifter Sam. And by the way, before Charlene Harris wrote the TRUE BLOOD books there was no such thing as a shape-shifter, there was only werewolves*. The latest thievery occurred when Ms. Meyer wrote a novella, THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER, which tells the story of the (after) life and love of a teenage girl turned vampire which is the exact plot line of TB’s Jessica.
Lack of Foundation in Life:
If there is one thing that I cannot stand is a movie that breaks pre-established rules. I understand that these movies are a fantasy; however, these people are supposedly living in our world so our rules apply. Bella’s mom got married in the first part, sending her to live with her Police Chief father. So far so good. Almost immediately, and throughout the franchise, weird things start to happen like animal attacks and teenagers disappearing. Nobody knows that these things happen more than the police yet Bella is allowed to run around at all hours of the day and night, hang out in the woods, and even goes away for days without her father giving her a can of mace. Yet we are supposed to believe that her father is a good and loving father because he gets angry when Edward breaks his little girls heart?
And while it is true he shoots the sparkly one a few cold glances; he never tells Bella she can’t date him. He never tries to stop it, even when she repeatedly comes home with horrible injuries she has sustained from being a bystander to the Good Vampire v. Bad Vampire war. If we are to believe that Chief Head up His Booty has no idea that mythical creatures exist, than clearly Edward is an abusive boyfriend.
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that Bella’s post-college plans aren’t questioned, but it still does. She will be turned into a vampire but says that she is going to go to college in Alaska (because who wouldn’t want to do that) and will never be able to visit again. Shouldn’t this be a red flag for dear old dad? I mean shouldn’t this be the point when he goes to her supposedly best friend Jacob (who is never questioned about his lack of ever wearing a shirt) and ask if he’s noticed any odd behavior from Bella?
And while I’m on the topic of Jacob, he says that he will try to protect Bella until her heart stops beating but then, why doesn’t he do everything in his power to stop? Apparently there is some sort of code of silence among mythical not to talk about being mythical (you know like Fight Club?) so he can’t just say, “Sir I don’t think Edward and Bella are right for each other because he’s a vampire and if we don’t do something to stop this, she’s going to be one to.” I’m fine with that because I personally don’t think anyone would believe that but what about, “Edward is trying to kill Bella and if you don’t stop him, she’ll let him because she’s blinded by love.”?
I’d love to complain about how no girl would choose to drink blood and never experience adult life over growing old in the arms of the more attractive (and alive) boy, the hear wants what it wants so it’s not technically a lack of reality based foundation.
Now will I see Breaking Dawn? Absolutely! I’ve seen more than half of the saga so it seems stupid to quit now. Also, I am not a quitter and, besides, maybe I’ll find a deeper meaning to the senselessness and if not, at least more to be baffled about.
*The difference: Werewolves turn due to stages of the moon after being bitten by another werewolf whereas shape-shifters have a genetic thing that enables a change that they can control.
