1,000 Words on Love, Fate, Cultural Fallacies, and, Yes, Twilight

[toshichan]

I have gone on at length about the terrible ideals that I feel are being propagated by Twilight. For the sake of clarity, I am going to reiterate: I think that Twilight is teaching an entire generation false, misleading, and unhealthy concepts about what it means to be in love, what love really is, and how one should view and react within

Comments

You're right

[janiaskywalker]

Substitute the words "Fate" with "Church" and you have the formula for what set me on a similar path that you walked. While some churches teach that you have to be a complete single person to be a complete couple- so many teach young children that

"Jesus created just one person to be with you for the rest of your life"

It makes you feel special thinking that someone out there was made to compliment you in every way. And that finding him/her would be the culmination of greatness. It made me think that Jesus believed in "happily ever after" too.

So it is Disney's fault, Meyer's, Shakespear's, my Pastor's? Probably. But it's also my fault, for wanting to put concrete belief in something that's fantasy. Growing up is painful, and seeing the man behind the curtain may be the most difficult part of it all.

[where_is_mel]

Boy, you got agreement here. I literally froth at the mouth about the Twilight series (especially the 2nd book) for this very reason. And I agree that the ideas aren't new.

My primary objection is that these books are specifically aimed at particularly vulnerable audience that is in desperate need of realistic and healthy examples of relationships and love, rather than hyperbolic tripe that reinforces their already irrational conceptions. And while I recognize that your experiences may have rendered you even less stable than "normal", young women of that age tend to be universally immature and idealistic. It's just a function of innocence and inexperience being unable to overcome all of the other source examples you mentioned.

You know, the thing about reality checks is this: If you are open to the completeness of the experience, you often find that reality is just as wonderful and satisfying as the fantasy. Go figure.

[kellamaste]

I've thought of this a lot, because I've spent much of my adult life single in a very couple oriented world. I remember going to my cousin's wedding (she was 19 and marrying her high school sweetheart, yes, they are still married) and the minister said that if we are not with someone we are not complete people. Considering I had barely made it to the wedding because I was feeling lonely and like I would never find anyone ever (at only 24 years old), it made me want to be sick...not because I was alone, but because I knew I could be complete without someone else

[sugardown]

Things want to continue the race. This means making babies. Having a person that is so much a part of you that they can't leave, makes them a valuable asset to making babies, since they're always around for more.

I prefer this idea to the 'make babies with everyone' but mneh.

Also a part of it is laziness, you're right. If you have the one person to 'complete' you, you don't have to go about doing it yourself.

I am very much completely in love with Dominick, and have been, but I've also proven that I can live without him and still be happy. I just prefer to share my happiness with him and share in his happiness. We make a pretty good team also.

I am me, he is he, together we are him and me together, not we.