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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Twilight Popularity


As I've written before, I'm in love with a book series. It started innocently enough, I was intrigued by the cover of the book (two hands, holding a red apple, signifying eating of the forbidden fruit) and decided to give it a shot. I brought it home and a love affair began.

I've read Twilight at least 7-8 times now, New Moon (my least favorite) 3-4 and Eclipse 7-8 times as well. There is something about the characters that pull you in and make you care about them so much so you simply cannot stop thinking about them, even when you've closed the book.

So I was speaking to my husband about a few controversies with the books.

The first being the Mom's who say they refuse to allow their daughter's to read them because it portrays girls as worthless unless they have the love of a beautiful boy - valid I suppose. And they claim it is a negative example that Bella is willing to forsake everything, her life, her family, her mortality, all for the sake of this boy she loves - also valid.

Which brings me to the other thing Jimbo asked - why are these books so insanely popular??

I really thought about that. Why is it "I" love the books so much. Basically the story is a romance novel about Bella and Edward.

Then it hit me.

I think the reason so many people relate to this story, especially girls and women, is because Edward isn't around anymore. We live in a society today where men teach their boys to be "manly". Where it's acceptable to call girls and women "bitches and ho's" and to ask a girl out by saying "hey baby, can I dip those digits?"

Gone is the guy who holds opens the door, brings you flowers on the first date or tells you how amazingly beautiful you are in his eyes. The romance has faded and in it's place are men who think we're lucky they will give us the time of day and there are girls convinced enough to buy it.

I'm fortunate that my husband was raised by a woman who taught him early on how to treat a woman like a lady - with respect and kindness. The sad thing is that most women wouldn't want a man like mine because he didn't fit the description girls are brought up believing will make them happy. A huge 6' plus guy with bulging abs and a temper.

1 comments:

Erin said...

My dream was to have a man treat me exactly what you described...so the total opposite of my dad and any other men in my life. They are so few and far between these days, it's really sad. If I ever have a little boy, I'm going to try to raise him right...which will be a chore since his father would most likely be my husband. And we all know how lovely he is LOL I have wanted to read these books for some time now, I have them on my "To Read" list on facebook...as soon as I finish the few books I have now I'm going to start this series. I have a soft spot for anything vampirish, I think that's what drew me to the series.