I suppose I'll break out the Sparklepire Adventures tag for this

[meganbmoore]

Rants about Rants about YA and girl cooties

I suppose it says something about the people talking about YA who I actually notice that I don't think I'd heard of John Green until I read this yesterday.  Looking him up on wikipedia, his books don't sound like my thing, based on the brief mentions in his profile.  They don't sound bad, mind you, just

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[rose_griffes]

I only knew John Green as that guy who makes those history videos, so...

But no one ever seems interested in talking about how, accidentally or otherwise, Bella is one of the more honest and accurate portrayals of a teen girl in recent years

YES. Thank you. I read them (I teach HS, so I knew that they were becoming a Big Deal), and that was the main impression that stuck with me.

And it reminded me of those Harlequin romances that I used to read on the sly when I was that age. Which is why I was so hilarified at the idea that somehow Stephenie Meyer had invented the problematic aspects in her novels out of nowhere.

[meganbmoore]

Yup. I read a lot of old school Harlequins as a teen and thought they were awesome, and am now horrified by a lot of that as an adult.

I mean, do I think the books have bad messages for teens? Yes. I also think there are good messages buried underneath them (very buried) and that most teens will grow out of it. Not to mention that equally bad or worse messages in plenty of other, often more socially acceptable things.

[moonspinner]

I grew up reading Mills & Boon and my mom's old Barbara Cartland novels (see a pattern?). I grew up. Never once did I think that my ideal man would be any colour-hair version of the controlling, domineering, "seduce her until she admits she likes it" tall, dark (or dark blond) and handsome Romeos that starred in those novels. The idea that Twilight needs to be roundly condemned because... "think of the poor, innocent, vulnerable little girl-children!" ... always, without fail, makes me want to blow a blood vessel.

And for all the talk about Bella being in an abusive relationship with a controlling dude, it seems to escape everyone's attention that Bella always gets what she wants. Always. From wanting to be Superman, instead of Lois Lane (actual quote) to having her disgustingly sweet and perfect Dhampir baby*.

*Also why is it weird and silly for Meyer to write a half-human/half-vampire character into her story but when Angel and Darla have Super-man Connor, it's the highest form of the creative and imaginative experience?

[meganbmoore]

Because Joss Whedon can do no wrong. (IMO, it's also the only reason anyone considers Dollhouse or Cabin in the Woods to be good. A bit harsh there, but...)

[meganbmoore]

I mean, I watched a fair bit of Dollhouse and freely admit that I wouldn't have stuck with it as long as I did if it weren't for the fact that I had enjoyed a lot of his previous stuff and was assuming that he'd eventually do something good (and there was the potential to do something interesting with it, but...) but I bailed after Sierra/Priya's backstory.