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"TWILIGHT: is bella an anti-feminist heroine??" by BrokenAngel

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-i did not write this. but i thought it was a good arguement for those ppl who were so horrified and disgusted when they found out i actually LOVE Twilight. im sorry you feel that way... i personally think its a good book... whether or not you like vampires or bella or her choices. you have to admit that stephenie meyer is an amazing writer.
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Is Bella an anti-feminist heroine?

    When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist
character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else's real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it's a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I
am. Also, she's in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don't think so.

    In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this:
being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. "You can't be an astronaut, because you're a woman. You can't be president because you're a woman. You can't run a company because you're a woman." All of those oppressive "can't"s.

    One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.

    Do I think eighteen is a good age at which to get married?
Personally—as in, for the person I was at eighteen—no. However, Bella is constrained by fantastic circumstances that I never had to deal with. The person she loves is physically seventeen, and he's not going to change. If she and he are going to be on a healthy relationship footing, she can't age too far beyond him. Also, marriage is really an insignificant commitment compared to giving up your mortality, so it's funny to me that some people are hung up on one and not the other. Is eighteen too young to
give up your mortality? For me, any age is too young for that. For Bella, it was what she really wanted for her life, and it wasn't a phase she was going to grow out of. So I don't have issues with her choice. She's a strong person who goes after what she wants with persistence and determination.



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On Wednesday September 24th, 2008, Ainsof (1860) writes:
Interesting... feminism is a fractured movement with various tenets and schools of thought. I think there is merit to the claim that freedom of choice should be the criterion upon which feminist characters or proponents' arguments are judged, but I don't think the claim that the fantasy genre is reason to exclude a character from being interpreted in terms of some feminist ideology. If that were the case, then all fiction would be excluded from a prominent critical lens. The question would probably best be pursued as to what are the motives of her choices; is she marrying out of a misguided, overly romanticized idealization of love or marriage? Is she motivated out of insecurities or by cultural influence or by pregnancy? Does she make the decision based upon an informed and disillusioned understanding of marriage? The question of the character's motivation for acting in ways that are noticeably similar to 'real-life' actions would probably be more important for arguing that she does or does not champion freedom of choice (for choices made from concerns, even coercion, that stem not from her own strength, determination, and individualism suggest that the character does not support freedom of choice, but rather supports choices based on


On Wednesday September 24th, 2008, Ainsof (1860) writes:
social expectations or other influences that are external to the individual.) Of course, character motives are the source of much debate in literary studies regardless of critical theories being employed. Or, at least, that's what a little bird once whispered in my ear.


On Monday September 22nd, 2008, BrokenAngel (64) writes:
i think there are different kinds of writers... ppl who write to please and ppl who write to be philosophers on life and theorists. and btw... HOST was good and not "just a dream"


On Monday September 22nd, 2008, Alanarchy (1697) writes:
???


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Anna Helianthus (1123) writes:
though this is an interesting point of view, I completely disagree about "you have to admit that stephenie meyer is an amazing writer." I don't have to admit that, because she is not a good writer at all. Her plot holes, inconsistencies, repetitive use of language ("dazzled", "perfect" and "growled" are used so many times it's ridiculous.) A good writer is someone who writes important books, and twilight isn't important, it's fodder for little girls. Read someone important and then tell me that she's a good writer.


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Anna Helianthus (1123) writes:
And fyi, Stephanie Meyer isn't a writer. She had a dream and wrote it down, and it panders to the simple-minded. Like I said, why don't you read some Kerouac or Nabokov? Then maybe you'll understand what a real writer is.


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Mars (516) writes:
you know i've read the whole series. and i too, beyong LOVE Twilight. Bella isn't my favorite character but i don't go on making accusations about her. Stephanie Meyer just made Bella be the opposite of her, the opposite of most of us. *heart*-mars


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Alanarchy (1697) writes:
About Meyer, I have to agree with Zen. The vampire love story will always get alot of reads. Although, she may stand out among SOME writers of that genre, she'll never be a Rice. And Rice will never be, say, a Twain. She just shoots at her demographic. Nothing too groundbreaking.


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Zen (605) writes:
i don't think she's an amazing writer. she's adequate in the sense that she gets millions of people to read her books but she's not amazing. amazing would be hemingway, orwell, or wilde. anyway though, if you think she's awesome then rock on and read on. these are just my opinions of course. :)


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Please Press Reset (194) writes:
I'm not so sure she's an amazing writer, she's okay.. a little too simple for my taste, but I'm only a single voice. My opinions are lightly weighed.


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, BrokenAngel (64) writes:
thanx i had to repost this twice for it to work! lol


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Alanarchy (1697) writes:
Hard to read. You should allign this to the left.


On Thursday September 18th, 2008, Alanarchy (1697) writes:
:)



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