Twilight: Promoting abusive relationships and female submission

Dude! OMG UR RIGHT! HOLY CRAP! no wonder I was angry through the whole movie!

This is news? I figured this out after reading the first book (still trying to figure out an appropriate way to kill myself for doing so).

OK. OK. I am not in any way shape OR form saying that Twilight is a great series. I am however, saying that go back in literary history... Go way back... To the first story of vampires that you can remember. What comes to mind? Bram Stoker maybe? Its the same control scenario- Meyer isn't an original writer. It has ALL been done before. I have gotten into many an argument with the teenie boppers who think Twilight is the best thing since sliced bread, most of them have never read any of the other, MUCH better vampire series. I can see the fear factor for all the parents whose young daughters are reading Meyer's books, but come on... My mother trusted me enough to make my own judgments and had faith in how she raised me, that she wasn't overly concerned with what I read having any sort of profound effect on me. Hell, I read The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror at 14! It didn't screw me up or give me nightmares. Have a little faith in your children and yourselves that you taught them properly. I am far from a submissive female and even I found myself in a very abusive relationship once. Thankfully, I am smart, was careful, made a plan, and got myself out. And the relationship was NOT a result of my choices of reading material. Crap happens in life... You meet someone, you're attracted to him, he is sweet... He turns out to be a creep... Learn, grow, move on.

I totally relate to what you are saying, i haven´t seen new moon but i watch the first one and i hated it sooo much.
Bella is just so blank, is like the only thing that define her is her relationship with edward, i wouldn´t be so angry with this hole thing if the target audience weren´t teenage girls.

it is a book and any book worth any thing has to have conflict and irony that along with several other things make it a good read.it is a classic tale that needed a huge twist so that it could fit into todays world

Twilight is garbage but hey look on the bright side, people are reading again! We can work on what and what not to read next. babysteps.

To all these people saying the movie is not abusive!!1!! or the book is not so bad!! or it's just a movie/book!!!1!!!!

Really? Teens aren't influenced by the latest fads?

I've watched Twilight (a yearly ritual amongst my friends and I to see the worst possible movie we can at least once per year, and this was a roaring success) and I've read all 4 books.

I've read the critiques and the support, and Meyer's own opinions of both.

When you reduce it to what actually happens, you can see the abusiveness of Edward's treatment of Bella (let's not even talk about Bella's treatment of Jacob).

Edward:
- literally DESIRES to kill Bella. He fantasizes about it. He even plans it out. (You'd have to read Midnight Sun to get that part)
- controls Bella's relationships with other people (read: the werewolves)
- makes ALL the decisions in their relationship.
- leaves Bella in the middle of the forest once he decides to abandon her forever

Bella:
- puts herself into life threatening situations for the sole purpose of hearing Edward's voice in her head. (Not even actually HIS voice, just a voice in her head that sounds like Edward)
- Three whole months after Edward's leaving, pages of the book are blank. Basically, she has no life outside of Edward. Her life is so unimportant that NOTHINGNESS is what she feels.

And that's just SOME of the things that happen in the series (and just some of the things that happen in the first 2 books).

Would you want to be in this relationship?

EDIT: Edward doesn't die, he just leaves

hahahaha i love this!

more scary secret messages to our kids

Bella is the perfect example for a girl who is way over her head in love with a boyfriend who dictates her life, and shows many signs of a abusive relationship. Shes weak and believes that Edward is the only guy she will ever love.

I think it depends at how you percieve the movie, but it does somewhat promote domestic violence in relationships and is making it look like thats the "cool" thing to do and be a part of.

And by the way, I agree she is useless. She pisses me off because she is an idiot. I don't blame him for making the decisions.

Haha well I think find this hilarious, considering I have been driven away from Twilight because of the obsessing mega-fans. But I think this story is under special circumstances... And I don't find it abusive. And if the story wasn't so bizarre and written the way it is, it would be boring and no one would want to read it.

Robert Pattinson wouldn't be shit without Harry Potter. HP4LYF.

Vampire 'consorts',....ARE,....by the definition,....BY the 'DEFINITION' of the "job description",... "VICTIMS".----------not that theres anything wrong with that...............

OMG this is absolutely great.

I heart Nettle! HATS OFF~~~~ unt flung to the wind~~~~~~~(and) down,....flat,....way down,... "twilight hats",....so flung.
[ thats a boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ]

i' ve read the books watched the 2 movies .i am well read .and they are not abusive .some activist some where is bored to write this.

Quote: group-- "I can't read her thoughts." "That's because there AREN'T ANY!"

Priceless.

That is pretty much how the US looks at teenagers today (not reality): braindead.

Notion of what is romance is also pretty much salad tossed.

i wonder the age and gender of the author that identified this coincidence.

Luv it. I agree

The way I've described twilight since seeing it.

"A whole bunch of really attractive people running around not doing a whole lot"

Well, this is a good point. And kinda sickening, to really see this. But, trying to tell anyone that's a fan of this horrid film series, is pointless.

I've never read nor watched Twilight. Just prefacing my comment with that information...

Anywho, I have mixed feelings on all of this kind of stuff. First of all, the girl/monster/ beauty and the beast type of story has been around FOREVER - the Twilight series seems to have repackaged it as an allegory for sex marketed to preteens and desperate women. (But who am I to talk? I'm obsessed with True Blood!) Vampires are indeed sexy for some reason...the rest of this will be a general rant about relationships.

I can't speak for all women but I personally want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be strong, opinionated and independent, but I want a guy who can stand up to me and more importantly, stand up to others and protect me. I want to have equal rights but I want a guy to carry heavy things without asking, open my door and fix stuff around the house. I want to be dominant in the relationship yet submissive in the bedroom. I want a guy to give me my space yet be so in love with me he can't imagine life without me. I want the freedom to travel outside of gender roles yet adhere to them in certain cases. Yes, it's asking a lot, but perhaps most women feel this way (?)...and we should make no apologies for it. People are complex and our desires go beyond vampire movies and relationship hotline tests.

good point(s)

Oh yes I also want to add that this vampire is a total pedifile...
I must admit I never bothered to read the books or watch the movies, I feel as though it's just vampires for tweens and its lame... lame lame lame. I have a good reason for not reading the books or watching the movies.. It has a lame premise.
It's not fair to say that you're not the right age for the book, I know people from the ages of 12 to 50 that absolutely adore this series. Though I totally disagree.

Agreed, thank you for sharing this with the world.

These kinds of articles are awesome and so much more entertaining than the actual twilight series.

this is so silly and it sort of pisses me off. Every example is taken out of context of the book and "spun" to make it fit the criteria. That and geez-Edward is a vampire- he's a fictional character and so are Bella and Jacob for that matter.

Seriously by this logic--Star Wars is essentially a long drawn out commentary on how to grow up to be a bad/abusive father to your child--AH-Hah! that explains Levi Johnston--he is secretly Darth Vader :P (but seriously the same could be said for just about every male celebrity (and politician) under 40 except Mel Gibson the outlier--who has abandoned his children and their mother to "find himself" or admit that his soul mate actually lives in Argentina)

Oh and Stephanie Meyers writes about as well and on the same level as Sarah Palin's ghostwriter so really there's no point in this discussion because first off you are light years beyond the target audience and (therefore) second you obviously read way way way too much into the books/movie.

And if you really want to bitch about how the media is negatively affecting kids and giving young girls a negative message--call the FCC and tell them that Adam Lambert's performance at the AMA's sucked and if Janet Jackson's star covered breast being exposed for like 3 seconds is obscene-not appropriate for kids to see--and cost CBS millions and millions of dollars--and Janet was forced to apologize (but Justin Timberlake--who was the one who tore off her shirt was not) then how is Adam allowed to justify any of his behavior or claim what he did was appropriate for network TV or that he did not deliberately do this just to stir up crap and thumb his nose at his predominately teenage fans?

It's also promoting faggy looking douches.

Just thought I'd add that in there.

OMFG Are You Guys Serious?? Its A Bloody Movie For Christs Sake! What? Does This Mean Romeo And Juliet Glamorized Suicide?? Jeez Can't You people Find Something Else To Whine About?

its abstinence porn

And what have you learned? Don't Get Friendly with Vampires, Werewolfs or any of such sort.,

hahaha!
I knew Twilight was evil!
I'm gonna send this to everyone I know!

"alot of women are suckers for abusive guys, unfortunately."

and books and ideas like this help maintain that status quo. another generation of dumb girls. the solution: sit back with a bottle of wine. spark up. and listen to some john mayer - 'daughters'

I dont watch/read/support twilight. but I knew that it was obviously a novel geared towards teenaged emo girls with low self esteem who want someone to understand/love them. aside from the emo bit, isn't that what abusive men also look for?

Alot of women are suckers for abusive guys, unfortunately.

Funny, but ultimately it sounds a ibt all over the top. It just takes a person with common sense to figure out these aren't really on about domestic violence, the checks on the list seem to have made a bit of a mockery of those who really are in one. I mean, these are werewolves and vampires...it's not real. And kids aren't that stupid, give them credit.

The sad thing is these books, while targeted at teens, are being completely absorbed by college women who by the very fact they are in higher education should be smarter. The books are trash and the movies aren't much better.

What a bunch of crock...

I'll tell you what, I will paraphrase the twilight series, just for you!

Bella: OMG that guy is SOOO hot!
Cullen: I WANT TO EAT YOUR FACE!!!
Bella: Omg, but y? Like, I don't understand???
Cullen: I WANT TO EAT YOUR FACE!!
Bella: I love you too! lolz!

End of book one

Well, I guess the reason many girls like books promoting ancient gender rolls is because the feminist movement put a lot of pressure on young women, including the expectation to take care of themselves. Intelligent women have no problems doing so, but especially these rather simple-minded teenage girls like the idea of a strong handsome man whose shoulder they can lean on. As long as they know these books are just a fairy tale, it's ok, but as soon as it leads into some anti-feminist backlash that takes away women's autonomy (and I'm feeling like we have this right now), it is a problem. And just like evtezcan said, these are all teenage girls who maybe see this book as a guide on how to behave in a relationship. Doesn't Bella even have a baby at the end of the last book? At the age of 18?

But then again, many chick flicks have these anti-feminist undertones. A woman is nothing without a man at her side etc.

"...and I don't care how much you say she started it, you don't hit your girlfriend. EVER..."

I'm all for equal opportunities, a girl hits me and I'll hit her back (regardless of relationship status) to make her stop and end the fight, you won't find me hitting anyone else first though (regardless of gender) unless I'm doing it to protect someone else.

Abusive relationships suck, but then again so do male hating feminists who want the upper hand over men because they've been stood on for centuries (you can thank the religious right wing for that ladies). Feminism by it's very name is not for gender equality.

Cheers,
Rab

PS. I haven't bothered with either of the Twilight movies, I'm not interested in Transylvania 90210, it makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer look like the uncut version of Zombie Flesh Eaters.

HAHAHAHAHA, ohh man. I can't wait till all these fan girls come of age. It's going to be like shooting fish in a barrel.

all my ex's have done somthing on that list. how odd. ;P

So you're saying I shouldn't live my life and follow everything I see in a movie?

Fuck.

This has nothing to do with political correctness, and is a laudable idea, actually, being critical of what we consume. What are the messages?

I totally agree. I think the Twilight movies are glamorizing an abusive relationship. Well that it the series is just terrible.

So, whenever some1 prepares to write a book or make a movie they should pull out a checklist to verify that it is PC enough. *rolls eyes*

Chris Brown ! need i say more ?

Put the abusive relationship factors in the movie to the side - correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this story about a vampire that is in love with a human and is trying to keep himself from killing her?

I understand that it's art and all, but the majority of the audience is made up of young teens!

What's next, a movie about a serial killer and his love for the girl he wants to kill? It wouldn't shock me.

Good stuff. cc'd to my daughter

Well, he IS a vampire...