First, I'll tell you where I stand. I loved the books. I mean, REALLY loved them; though I have to say the baby stuff was a stretch. Breaking Dawn was my least favorite book for a bunch of reasons, but that is fodder for another post. I'm not talking about the literary quality of any of them, I'm talking about pure entertaining value. I'm no scholar up on my tower, but a reader who wants to be transported to another world while I read. There's no secret recipe that will ensure that a certain book and a reader will click; it either happens or it doesn't. It happened for me with these books in a way I hadn't experience for a long time.
How about the movies, you wonder? Well, I hate them. I'm sorry guys, but the actors are painful to watch! And I like Robert Pattinson, he seems like quite a personable guy. Taylor Lautner is even more charismatic, and the only one who has the slightest idea of what an acting range is; however, I don't think they portray adequately the characters that I grew to love in the books. That and the fact that Kristen Stuart portrays Bella like such a lackluster girl with chronic constipation. Augh.
But I do understand how millions of young, impressionable teenagers were swept away by the fantasy of an all-powerful hero who falls head over heels for a simple, normal girl, just like them. That's the kind of romanticism that comes with the territory. I also know they'll grow out of it and will remember the characters as a precious memento of their youth.
Now, with that said; all that people talking about how the books and movies promote getting married, or getting pregnant, too young are driving me crazy. Seriously? You might as well just say they promote marrying vampires and condemning your soul.
Get real, people. There are books written as a mean to exert people to do or change certain things, they're called "Inspirational books" and most certainly do not involve either werewolves or vampires in any state of undress. Sparkly or not.
Fiction has never had the goal of inspire or influence the actions of the readers, simply entertain them. Harry Potter isn't advocating for any form of wizardry, as Romeo and Juliet isn't a vehicle to entice young lovers to suicide, so just stop the bulls**t.
If you hate the movie, own it. Say it's stupid, unrealistic, antifeminist, that destroys the horror value of the vampire; or say that the books are poorly written, that they have no character evolution nor believable characters, that they have no ultimate message or meaning. Don't get on top of your soap box and turn it into a moral issue. And even if all those things above are true, that's the beauty of art; even crappy art is personal. Just because you and I don't think the movies are worth a hoot doesn't mean there has to be any kind of message in them. They're but movies, don't go on a hate binge merely 'cause they're popular.
