i agree that #3 was poorly demonstrated in the movie. it was very much I LOVE EDWARD we don't hunt for humans because it's immoral I LOVE EDWARD I LOVE EDWARD.
#4/a) the looks issue is purely subjective. imo, bella of the movie, while not stunning, was a beautiful girl. you can also read it the opposite way. bella is pretty but she's not gorgeous and yet edward feels very drawn to her [this is pushing it, of course]. in the book, he does think she's beautiful but it's made clear that it's not the only reason he feels a pull toward her. continuing with that, i agree that the vampire aspect is very much underdeveloped. there's no arguing that the movie fails miserably as a coherent whole and i think the producers relied heavily on a. the stupidity of their audience [this bothers me far more than anything said/implied in the movie and b. that the audience will have background knowledge of the book to rely on. the book is poorly written but it is better than the movie.
as for points b. and d. i disagree that bella was portrayed as a vapid, choiceless female. she is a female who is in love, fairytale style, and yes, she is willing to do anything for edward but that feeling is reciprocated by him, and thus, equal. asking her to wait before she decided to become a vampire does not adequately demonstrate to me that edward is not respectful of her decisions.
i remember reading a comment meyers made after constant accusations of being anti-feminist: "I am all about girl power—look at Alice and Jane if you doubt that. I am not anti-female, I am anti-human. I wrote this story from the perspective of a female human because that came most naturally, as you might imagine. But if the narrator had been a male human, it would not have changed the events. When a human being is totally surrounded by creatures with supernatural strength, speed, senses, and various other uncanny powers, he or she is not going to be able to hold his or her own. Sorry. That’s just the way it is. We can’t all be slayers. Bella does pretty well I think, all things considered. She saves Edward, after all."
she's a HORRIBLE writer and i wish she's address that accusation ; anti-feminist however, imo it's a stretch.
there are far worse movies out there in terms of advocating damaging gender relations. i did my undergrad senior thesis on gender in cinema, particularly "she's all that" and "barbarella" -- what a goldmine those two movies are! and while "barberella" is a strange older movie, movies like "she's all that" continue to come out of hollywood every week. it's nauseating to see what young women are being exposed to in mainstream cinema and "twilight" doesn't come even remotely close to the worst of it.
Go ahead and like it all you want, it's still terrible. i will. the magical against-all-odds love aspect of it appeals to the thoughtless 17 year old in me. :D
to play devil's advocate.
#4/a) the looks issue is purely subjective. imo, bella of the movie, while not stunning, was a beautiful girl. you can also read it the opposite way. bella is pretty but she's not gorgeous and yet edward feels very drawn to her [this is pushing it, of course]. in the book, he does think she's beautiful but it's made clear that it's not the only reason he feels a pull toward her. continuing with that, i agree that the vampire aspect is very much underdeveloped. there's no arguing that the movie fails miserably as a coherent whole and i think the producers relied heavily on a. the stupidity of their audience [this bothers me far more than anything said/implied in the movie and b. that the audience will have background knowledge of the book to rely on. the book is poorly written but it is better than the movie.
as for points b. and d. i disagree that bella was portrayed as a vapid, choiceless female. she is a female who is in love, fairytale style, and yes, she is willing to do anything for edward but that feeling is reciprocated by him, and thus, equal. asking her to wait before she decided to become a vampire does not adequately demonstrate to me that edward is not respectful of her decisions.
i remember reading a comment meyers made after constant accusations of being anti-feminist:
"I am all about girl power—look at Alice and Jane if you doubt that. I am not anti-female, I am anti-human. I wrote this story from the perspective of a female human because that came most naturally, as you might imagine. But if the narrator had been a male human, it would not have changed the events. When a human being is totally surrounded by creatures with supernatural strength, speed, senses, and various other uncanny powers, he or she is not going to be able to hold his or her own. Sorry. That’s just the way it is. We can’t all be slayers. Bella does pretty well I think, all things considered. She saves Edward, after all."
she's a HORRIBLE writer and i wish she's address that accusation ; anti-feminist however, imo it's a stretch.
there are far worse movies out there in terms of advocating damaging gender relations. i did my undergrad senior thesis on gender in cinema, particularly "she's all that" and "barbarella" -- what a goldmine those two movies are! and while "barberella" is a strange older movie, movies like "she's all that" continue to come out of hollywood every week. it's nauseating to see what young women are being exposed to in mainstream cinema and "twilight" doesn't come even remotely close to the worst of it.
Go ahead and like it all you want, it's still terrible. i will. the magical against-all-odds love aspect of it appeals to the thoughtless 17 year old in me. :D