Thursday, January 7, 2010

Officially--of course--I'm offended...

to be portrayed as a frumpy, grumpy middle age woman...I am so not frumpy!

Moderately Confused

20 comments:

Julia said...

AMEN! So glad to know I'm not the only woman in the civilized world who has not read those books. :)

Dori said...

Nope, you're still the only one. :) I read the first before it was all hyped but I'm not in the least bit interested in the movies. But give me back dark movie vampires!!

Meadowlark said...

There's two of us. I almost watched the movie once. Thought better of it. :)

Natalie said...

HAH! I, unfortunately, have loved Twilight because I love reading and see how many non-readers it's created into readers.

I can also understand see the blaachh-attitude it also brings to the other half of population.

I just take it all in and enjoy the opposing sides!

Soozcat said...

Not to mention that the cartoonist got it wrong. When I was her age, "Twilight" was Lestat, thank you very much.

Dori said...

I read somewhere something about Anne Rice slamming Twilight! It was hilarious. Yes, Mr. Lugosi was technically before my time, but he's still my favorite vampire!

I'm all about books grabbing the attention and getting non-readers to read--but just don't take over the fantasy shelves with glittering vampires and heaving bosoms!

Meadowlark said...

PS... even though I'm a chick, I totally love the "heaving bosom". As they say in the military "Flash 'em if you got 'em". Wait, maybe that was SMOKE 'em. I get confused. ;)

MrsMonicaLB said...

nope I havent read those books either and I do know who Bela Lugosi was,and Abbott n Costello too!
my girls on the other hand are crazy fanatics over this Twilight stuff!

Meadowlark said...

I'm so darn redundant... but JUST saw this diatribe on twilight and wanted to share. and then I promise to never comment on this thread again.

no. seriously.

http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/nikkigassley/2009/8/13/Feminism-Doesnt-Sparkle-What-Twilight-Teaches-Young-Girls

Dori said...

ML, I'm going to have to send that link on to my niece...just to reinforce the knowledge that this is a WORK OF FICTION and not a HOW TO book on being a teenager female! Wow...and the author is 19?! There was no way I could have formed such coherent thoughts at that age--maybe because I was a theater major...

And you know you're allowed to take over my comment section anytime!

Anonymous said...

Cool link, Meadowlark.

I refuse to read these books.
Stephen King said-
“Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

I'll take his word for it and read the newest Ad Hudler instead.

Granted, not vampires, but he's always funny!

Dori said...

As much as I enjoy and admire Mr. King...he can be pompous ass at times.

I'm a book slut--I'll read anything.

Anita said...

Hi Dori, I enjoyed your visit to my blog and the fact that you know where the butterfly bench is. :)

Happy New Year!

Do you have followers?

Dori said...

Thanks, Anita! Yes, that bench just happens to be right around the corner from me...and by that you can probably deduce what badge adorns my husband's uniform...

I do have followers...oddly enough...but I don't have a follower gadget. I have issues with the term "follower"...makes me feel like I should be offering people koolaid...or something. So I've never installed the gadget. Maybe if google would rename it...I use google reader to keep all of the blogs I would otherwise "follow" organized. Um, if you stick around you'll notice that I have a number of these "issues". :)

Meadowlark said...

She has "Stalkers", not followers. We're different that way. :)

And Dori, I'm like you... the "following" thing was messing up my organization, so I moved all my 'followed' ones into Google reader and it works so much better.

I'd prefer gin over koolaid, btw.

Soozcat said...

For what it's worth: I am a "Mormon housewife" and I barely made it through the first book of the Twilight series--I won't read any others, because the writing and the story runs the gamut from mindless pap to disturbing stalker behavior.

Oh, not to mention that when Edward takes Bella wayyyy out into the woods to show her what he truly is, it's pretty obvious his initial thought is that it'll be a nice out-of-the-way place to kill her, drink her delicious-smelling blood and hide the body where it's unlikely to be found. Yeah, that's romantic. *eyeroll*

Julia said...

Ok, I've been following all the comments on this post and just can't leave it alone. :) You know, as one of Dori's stalkers. As a former Mormon (and I left them, they didn't kick me out), I honestly find way too much of the prevailing Mormon attitudes of misogynism and patriarchy in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books to ever be comfortable reading them. I started reading a copy of Twilight that a pushy friend kept insisting I MUST read and it smacked so much of the male attitudes towards women that I grew up with that I couldn't finish it and have been completely put off by the whole series. Bella and Edward definitely aren't equal partners in a healthy, mature relationship.

And I'm not saying all books need to represent that ideal - but, really? Really?

Obviously, I have some issues, too. :)

Enough girl power for me today.

Dori said...

Where were all of you in my media classes?! I could have so used the back up. For what it's worth, here's what I think about WHY these books are so darn popular...especially with the teen crowd.

First...the way it's written--there's not a whole lot of character development which makes it so easy for a teen girl to put herself in that place...sort of an Everygirl theory. I think that's the main reason I couldn't make it through the movie--it constantly reminded me that they were teenagers, whereas the books did not. Second, there's got to be something to this whole "woman waiting to be rescued, I just need to find a big strong man...thing". How else to explain the overloaded romance section of ANY bookstore?! My god. Our favorite used bookstore has an entire WING devoted to them. They also have an entire wing devoted to children's books so we let them get away with it.

Dori said...

Oh...but if anyone is looking for book recommendations...new authors and all that...go check out Kate's (yes, that Kate...the one up there) website and book. Strong and intelligent female protagonist...something we could most certainly use more of!

Anonymous said...

Well hey-- thanks for the recommendation! :)