Dear readers, I must give my lavish thanks to annejumps for pointing me to this 4 part series of posts by a recovering Mormon who has read all four “Twilight” books to show their relationship to the tawdry, reactionary politics of the Mormon faith from which the author springs. They are hilarious, even though it’s disturbing to realize these books are even more disgusting and anti-feminist that you could have ever imagined. (Even to the point where the heroine forbears under getting all bruised up during sex, because suffering for love is her fate.) Also, the vampires in them don’t sound like vampires at all. Author Stephenie Meyers is a complete coward, it appears, and unwilling to ever really deal with the fact that vampires are, you know, vampires.
There’s also a whole ‘nother level of wish fulfillment for teenage girls going on besides the “bad boy who is really good” and “obsessive love is great!” aspects. The main character is supposedly awkward, clumsy, unattractive, and unpopular. But somehow, despite all this, she gets the perfect amazing vampire boy to love and coddle her, and a back-up werewolf boy so that she gets to have boys fighting over her. If I’d read such blatant nerd porn in high school—-how dreamy, there’s boys who can become obsessed with me without me learning how to comb my hair!—-I would have died from the obviousness of it all. Or, if not, my friends would have teased me until I had the proper amount of shame over it. And thank goodness. It’s your moral duty not to allow your friends to cultivate ridiculous illusions. Because there’s a very real danger that the awkward, unattractive girls of the world will be vulnerable to abusive motherfuckers who take advantage of these romantic fantasies, and convince them that controlling, stalker-ish behavior is an expression of a love so pure that those ordinary fools can’t see it.
Hell, it’s not just teenage girls. Grown women are easily sucked in by the same fantasy (which is why this book is selling like hotcakes), and it’s a fantasy the has the same dangers no matter what age you are.