The Sparklepire Adventures (part 2 of ?)
In the next few chapters of New Moon (initially had the wrong title last time) things somehow managed to be terribly boring, despite having a theme that was actually fairly interesting. I mean, a “normal” person who experiences the supernatural remains “normal,” and then finds it impossible to relate to or connect with “normal” people is actually a fairly fascinating idea, but while the disconnect itself is interestingly done here, the focus is on how Bella’s life is dead and empty without Edward. Who she never thinks of by name, despite regularly hallucinating she hears his *insert sparkly and prosy euphemism here* voice ordering her around giving her advice. I’m actually curious about whether her depression and social difficulties are a new development in an Edward-less world, or if she already had these problems before. Not curious enough to actually read it on my own time, though. Also, I find it odd that, after exposure to the Supernatural Other makes her unable to connect with people “like her,” the one person she’s able to be comfortable with is the Racial Other, though I suspect that’s meant more to refer to Jacob being a Supernatural Other, but neither knows it yet.
So, here are Jacob and Bella:
BELLA: Jacob! I see that you have grown taller in the many months I only socialized with vampires and then was a walking zombie!
JACOB: Hey, Bella! I totally won’t mention you ignoring me for months and only looking me up when you needed something! Notice how I also developed muscles. Also, hormones.
BELLA: They are nice muscles, too. Sadly, I only notice hormones in the context of my desire to ravish He Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered.
JACOB: Oh look, it’s my Random Ethnic Friends!
RANDOM ETHNIC FRIENDS: Girl! Cute odd girl!
JACOB: Bella, my friends like you.
BELLA: Oh good. Most don’t these days. Oh, wait, I need to hallucinate lovely voices that I crave again.
JACOB: No, I mean really likes you.
BELLA: Don’t be silly! He’s too young for me.
JACOB: Not that young. Like, uhm, my age…
BELLA: Oh! Even I am not dense and distracted enough to miss that one! I’ll get you off of that by flirting with you.
JACOB: I…I am rather confused by this but I think I get the message. OMG HUGGING! Hormones, Bella! Hormones!
BELLA: Why can’t He Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered have the same hormone problems as you?
JACOB: I think I’m beginning to see that bleak, grey, empty world you tend to internally monologue about. Maybe if I strip?
BELLA: Now, Jacob, I am 18 and you are 16 and there are words for that. The kind of words that would land me in jail.
JACOB: *pout*
STEPHANIE MEYER: MUWAHAHAHA!!!!!
Well, so far, Jacob is certainly more palatable than Edward, but the werewolf stuff haven’t started yet.
Anyway, I can’t help but notice that Meyer seems to be doing a similar thing as the old Nancy Drew books in that Bella’s vehicles (her truck and the motorcycles she gets here, which are what start to pull her out of the grey world of empty nothingness where she blends in with the concrete) are used to represent her independence? Except that, well, the Stratemeyers and their ghostwriters did it better 80 years ago. And while Bella seems to use driving herself around as a way to declare her independence, it’s also something that someone else is always controlling. She can’t use the motorcycles until Jacob fixes them for her, and then she crashes as soon as she’s given control, whereas Jacob is already an expert, and I understand that he also made her truck drivable. This results in Jacob taking over for the Cullens in, at least temporarily, taking over her ability to transport herself. In the first few chapters, I found the “cute” bit where the Cullens install a radio in her truck without her permission so that she couldn’t refuse it to be creepy, but I couldn’t pinpoint why? It was easier to figure out why it was creepy that they apparently didn’t want her to go anywhere or do anything without one of them along, but now that I’ve latched onto the transportation thing, I think I was reading the radio as another attempt to control her even then. Unfortunately, like the acknowledgements of Edward’s controlling behavior, Bella is aware, to some degree, of the symbolic importance she places on her ability to control her transportation, but puts up little protest when it’s taken from her. Which pretty much reinforces my belief that the lack of agency that’s often mentioned is actually agency that isn’t applied, but is usually left stagnant instead.
(I may have cheered a bit internally when we learned that she had ripped the radio out.)
But, uhm, you know, this book itself is actually kind of dull? Like, really dull. There are plenty of things going on at a metanarrative level that can engage my brain, but it’s like nothing is happening. People need to start turning into werewolves and having testerone fests or something.
I have no idea how often I’ll do these posts. Probably when I notice new things, “WTF?” things happen, or I start analyzing something new. Or if I decide whether or not Meyer is deliberately isolating Bella from other women here, or if it’s a typical “dudes dudes dudes” approach to writing with an interesting accidental correlation.
So, here are Jacob and Bella:
BELLA: Jacob! I see that you have grown taller in the many months I only socialized with vampires and then was a walking zombie!
JACOB: Hey, Bella! I totally won’t mention you ignoring me for months and only looking me up when you needed something! Notice how I also developed muscles. Also, hormones.
BELLA: They are nice muscles, too. Sadly, I only notice hormones in the context of my desire to ravish He Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered.
JACOB: Oh look, it’s my Random Ethnic Friends!
RANDOM ETHNIC FRIENDS: Girl! Cute odd girl!
JACOB: Bella, my friends like you.
BELLA: Oh good. Most don’t these days. Oh, wait, I need to hallucinate lovely voices that I crave again.
JACOB: No, I mean really likes you.
BELLA: Don’t be silly! He’s too young for me.
JACOB: Not that young. Like, uhm, my age…
BELLA: Oh! Even I am not dense and distracted enough to miss that one! I’ll get you off of that by flirting with you.
JACOB: I…I am rather confused by this but I think I get the message. OMG HUGGING! Hormones, Bella! Hormones!
BELLA: Why can’t He Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered have the same hormone problems as you?
JACOB: I think I’m beginning to see that bleak, grey, empty world you tend to internally monologue about. Maybe if I strip?
BELLA: Now, Jacob, I am 18 and you are 16 and there are words for that. The kind of words that would land me in jail.
JACOB: *pout*
STEPHANIE MEYER: MUWAHAHAHA!!!!!
Well, so far, Jacob is certainly more palatable than Edward, but the werewolf stuff haven’t started yet.
Anyway, I can’t help but notice that Meyer seems to be doing a similar thing as the old Nancy Drew books in that Bella’s vehicles (her truck and the motorcycles she gets here, which are what start to pull her out of the grey world of empty nothingness where she blends in with the concrete) are used to represent her independence? Except that, well, the Stratemeyers and their ghostwriters did it better 80 years ago. And while Bella seems to use driving herself around as a way to declare her independence, it’s also something that someone else is always controlling. She can’t use the motorcycles until Jacob fixes them for her, and then she crashes as soon as she’s given control, whereas Jacob is already an expert, and I understand that he also made her truck drivable. This results in Jacob taking over for the Cullens in, at least temporarily, taking over her ability to transport herself. In the first few chapters, I found the “cute” bit where the Cullens install a radio in her truck without her permission so that she couldn’t refuse it to be creepy, but I couldn’t pinpoint why? It was easier to figure out why it was creepy that they apparently didn’t want her to go anywhere or do anything without one of them along, but now that I’ve latched onto the transportation thing, I think I was reading the radio as another attempt to control her even then. Unfortunately, like the acknowledgements of Edward’s controlling behavior, Bella is aware, to some degree, of the symbolic importance she places on her ability to control her transportation, but puts up little protest when it’s taken from her. Which pretty much reinforces my belief that the lack of agency that’s often mentioned is actually agency that isn’t applied, but is usually left stagnant instead.
(I may have cheered a bit internally when we learned that she had ripped the radio out.)
But, uhm, you know, this book itself is actually kind of dull? Like, really dull. There are plenty of things going on at a metanarrative level that can engage my brain, but it’s like nothing is happening. People need to start turning into werewolves and having testerone fests or something.
I have no idea how often I’ll do these posts. Probably when I notice new things, “WTF?” things happen, or I start analyzing something new. Or if I decide whether or not Meyer is deliberately isolating Bella from other women here, or if it’s a typical “dudes dudes dudes” approach to writing with an interesting accidental correlation.