YES.

[kezbat]

I found this article via speednik on Twitter, and I'm posting the entire text here because a) I do believe it needs to be read and b) it says exactly what I tried and failed to articulate. Also c) because I was a hardcore Buffy fan, and this whole one-step-back approach to the vampire genre fucks me off beyond reason.

Original article by Lucy Mangan

Comments

[louenn]

[kezbat]

I think the point is if you want vampire-and-werewolf-based entertainment that *doesn't* portray women as sycophants who cannot live without a man and who must Do As They Are Told and have no personality and thoughts of their own, Buffy is the way to go.

It may only be a book, but it's sold directly at the most impressionable people on earth - teenage girls, specifically the younger ones. And it boggles my mind that something with that kind of message is allowed to be published!

[louenn]

[kezbat]

It's so anti-feminist it baffles me. I can understand it's all about overpowering desire and all that, but what's the message? Never mind the danger you're putting yourself in, never mind that the guy says he could kill you if he wanted to, just so long as you get to be with someone?

It doesn't sit well with me. It never has. From my point of view, it's anti-feminist and worrying.

I don't like Harry Potter either, but at least it didn't have an underlying theme of women knowing their place.

Edited to add: all I basically think about Twilight is in the article; I'm just not as articulate and intelligent as Lucy Mangan! So... I just refer you back to that. :)

[louenn]

[kezbat]

I rather doubt it was written any other way. And just because the teenage girls aren't aware of the subtext, doesn't mean it's not there.

Whether or not Stephanie Meyer intended anyone to base a belief system on the books, the fact is there's a dangerous underlying message in there. Stand By Your Man was released in 1968, also, when things were very different, and incidentally, I loathe that song, country music classic or not. I can recognise it's very popular, but I don't have to agree with it or the message behind it.

Just as I can recognise that Twilight is very popular, but I don't agree with the message behind it. Nor should I have to defend my choice to disagree with it to a complete stranger.

[louenn]

[kezbat]

Discussions are one thing, but I already said that my point of view was put across perfectly in the above article. Anything else I have to say is basically repeating myself!

And yes, I know you from Las's journal, I have seen your comments, but that's all I know about you, that you're Las's friend. I don't know you personally, or what makes you tick, or anything about you as a person...

I welcome discussion, I honestly do, but not when I've already exhausted my side of the argument. I have nothing more to say than what's already been said!