SDG here with a brief note that my latest, on the Twilight phenomenon (Stephenie Meyer's gothic-romance vampire novels, as well as the hit film), is up at Decent Films.
32 thoughts on “A Catholic take on Twilight”
Comments are closed.
SDG here with a brief note that my latest, on the Twilight phenomenon (Stephenie Meyer's gothic-romance vampire novels, as well as the hit film), is up at Decent Films.
Comments are closed.
Great review. My 12 yr old daughter was asked to go see the movie with a group of Catholic girls. One mother read the book and defended it as pro-chastity. In the reviews, I kept getting the basic picture of a teen romance that had a strong undercurrent of forbidden sexuality, which, even if unconsummated, should not serve as the centerpiece for a story aimed at adolescent girls. I didn’t allow my daughter to go; and even though she happily stayed home for family movie night, I am thankful for the great review which makes me feel vindicated.
There is nothing wrong with this movie there is no sex or anything like it. There is one little kiss scene and that is it. It is a great movie and everyone should have a chance to go and see it.
I also think there is nothing wrong with these books or movies. IF you allow your child to read any fiction/fantasy/sci-fi Twilight fits in with it.
If your teen daughter (around 15 or older) understands TRUTH from fiction, you should not fear anything bad from these books.
Amber: FWIW, my job as a critic is not to tell people what to “fear” or not fear. My job, among other things, is to offer insight into what I think a given story has to say, what it offers its fans, what the attraction or the appeal is. “Understanding truth from fiction” is not the whole story. What does this particular fiction offer readers? That’s the larger question.
Incidentally, anonymous, a movie doesn’t have to have any sex at all to be problematic.
Jimmy, can you learn to chill out a bit on the radio? Your berating attitude to callers who don’t immediately play your catechetical Q&A format is rather offensive. Kindness of tone surely matters as much as a vast reservoir of your own personal genius, ney?
“If your teen daughter (around 15 or older) understands TRUTH from fiction, you should not fear anything bad from these books.”
I believe that knowing the truth does not preclude the inherent danger of being exposed to falsehood, whether in life or fiction. Just my $0.02.
A. Jimmy isn’t involved in this thread.
B. I think most CA Live listeners can attest to Jimmy’s kindness of tone.
C. Physician, heal thyself.
Jimmy isn’t involved in this thread
Jimmy isn’t involved in much of anything on this blog these days.
BTW, I enjoyed the review, thanks.
Hey SDG
This new profile thing to which you link on your previous comment doesn’t seem to show up.
…half of my name field was erased…
Among Typepad novelties, apparently now there’s a character limit on the Name field.
Matheus: I don’t know where the “profile thing” link is coming from. I’m entering my decentfilms.com link, like always. TypePad is doing it automatically, apparently based on a session cookie. More TypePad breakage of stuff when they should be fixing the stuff they’ve already broken.
SDG here… just testing.
Curious, my long handle doesn’t seem to be getting cut off. I wonder what’s happening to yours, Matheus?
Hey SDG, Thanks for the review. I’m a Catholic 16 year-old guy. I went to see the movie with my girlfriend (Christian). Neither of us is really interested in the series.
As other people have faith have, I could sense somewhat of an underlying message of chastity/the right treatment of women- in the movie at least. I have not read the book. Your review notes some serious exclusions from the movie which might’ve changed my opinion of the story. I am thankful for your probing the story further than others. It’s very helpful information to know as a Catholic teen guy striving to be Christlike among many Twilight-reading teenage girls. Good insight.
Thanks again.
-Cj
Just a dumb question? Why do people have to keep framing these sorts of things using vampires? Is this to pander to the Goth crowd?
It seems to me, based on absolutely nothing (since I won’t waste my time on such drivel as this), that this movie is about power dressed up as romance.
From the sound of it, it seems like Dark Shadows meets My So-called Life.
This movie is not about chastity, since chastity is self-restraint in the service of God and neighbor. Try making that case with a vampire in the movie. Once again, bad spirituality masquerading as something innocent. Talk about the seduction of the innocent.
The Chicken
Based on SDG’s previous comment, both problems apparently got solved by themselves.
I am a devout Catholic, and a huge fan of these books. SDG I understand your analysis, and that this is your job, but you have to understand that not everyone reads things so deeply. Yes, I am one of those crazy moms all caught up by the chastity message. My daughter is 13 and we read the books together discussing everything as we read it. The good and the bad. The thing is a lot of teens will not have an introduction to chastity issues period. This books is making girls think maybe I deserve more. So what if it is fantasy or unrealistic? What you said about husbands being more Christlike is really good though. It is true, maybe he wouldn’t be as a appealing. Maybe mothers wouldn’t be as excited about the books. I doubt it though, they are just fun books, clean… I don’t agree with the abuse part either, I was a victim advocate for 10 years so I really don’t appreciate anyone asserting I am not aware of those things. Maybe I a blessed because I can discuss everything with my daughter, maybe these other parents did too, my daughter and I talked about everything in the book. What Edward shouldn’t do, and what was good about Edward too. I hope that these other teens realize he was not perfect, but swoon over the things that were. All and all, I still love the books despite the criticisms. I think Stephenie Meyer did a good job, and took a chance on writing a book as pure as she could. I don’t feel the need to be a guilty Catholic for reading them or liking the movie. BTW, Stephenie Meyer had a definite opinion on the movie getting too steamy and asked for things to be re-edited because of that. What a gal!
I used to try to keep up with this type of thing, since I help to run a Catholic Youth Group. In fact, I read all of the Harry Potter books simply to be knowledgeable enough to talk about it.
I can’t bring myself to read these, despite the incredible devotion it seems to have among young girls.
From what I have gathered, (for good or bad) it seems like Twilight is for teenage girls what the Star wars Trilogies were for teenage boys.
I say we should also ban young people from reading the ‘Song of Solomon/Songs’ and Ezekiel 23:20 because both contain sexual descriptions. I think this is further evidence of SDG ‘falling off his rocker’, especially since he considers Quantum of Solace less morally offensive than Madagascar 2.
And the implicit premise here would be…? (Left as an exercise to the reader.)
You are free to draw such conclusions as you see fit. I do consider a subversive kiddie film more problematic than a mature action thriller about a morally flawed protagonist who is explicitly described as “damaged goods.”
The irony of your two sentences side by side is amusing.
I am an eighteen-year-old student and fan of the Twilight series. I understand SDG’s interpretation, but cannot agree with it. These novels are about obsession, I will not deny. However, the novels do not pretend that Bella and Edward’s relationship is ever benign, often comparing their involvement to the doomed, abusive, and overall idiotic literary romances between Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and the titular characters of Romeo and Juliet.
I have noticed on other anti-Twilight blogs that parents are recommending their children read the classics, believing them to be harmless compared to the monstrous new Twilight series. These people are sadly uneducated and mistaken. Take Romeo and Juliet. Some people’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic play is that of true, undying love. But what message are we sending to the children? Just kill yourself if you cannot be with the one you love? (Note: Romeo commits suicide once during the play, but contemplates it over another girl who is not Juliet before meeting his true love that night. Is Edward Cullen really as unstable and immature as Romeo?) Also, in the popular fairy tale “Cinderella,” a man known as Prince Charming obsessively tries to find a woman he spent one evening with, and when he does, decides to wed her. Other literary figures are not raked over the coals, and yet Edward is. Perhaps this is because we take literature far too literally today. In an attempt to “save” our youth, we are sterilizing our culture.
I am also a Catholic, and I fail to see how reading these books is a sin or even a slight problem. I recommend them to anyone. Clearly, men would not enjoy Twilight because they would rather see some gratuitous violence and/or idealize women for their bodies. Instead of whining about the creation of a modern “Prince Charming,” (here is where I agree with SDG) men should look at themselves and wonder why women prefer an imaginary character to themselves.
ps: maybe taking situations out of context and using them as examples to hold up a preconceived notion is a bad idea in the future.
amm,
Excellent post! I personally agree that many of Shakespeare and Chaucer writings are filled with bawdy tales..
amm, please consider: How many young women do you know who moon at length over Romeo on blogs and web pages? How many wives and mothers are you aware of who are so preoccupied with Heathcliff that they struggle to stay engaged in their day-to-day lives?
How many T-shirts have you seen proclaiming dueling loyalties to Team Montague or Team Earnshaw? Any “Obsessive Prince Charming Syndrome” personality tests or coping mechanisms you’re aware of?
The notion that Twilight or its author is somehow critical of Edward Cullen in the way that Shakespeare and Bronte are critical of their romantic heroes is just not psychologically or literarily tenable. Meyer regards Edward as the ideal lover. It’s all over her website as well as the text of the book, which absolutely swoons over him for page after page.
Heck, just look how the three pairs of lovers wind up. Twilight is patently fantasy and wish fulfillment. Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights have erotic elements but are clearly something quite different from fantasy and wish fulfillment.
Gender-baiting doesn’t help your case. Note that the critical essays I cited, both of which were more critical than I am, are both by women. Another Catholic woman’s critique.
Going out on a limb, there, eh, friend? 🙂
No daughter of Eve or Mary should slobber over any man, even literarily, the way Stephanie Meyer makes her heroine do. Proceeding to pretend that she disapproves of such behavior, while constantly rewarding it literarily, is ridiculous. Promoting her books as pro-chastity and pro-Christianity is disgusting hypocrisy on her part, and sad gullibility on the part of her fans at any age.
Also, Meyer should be prosecuted for misuse of adjectives and have her poetic license taken away.
Oh, well. At least it’s not Shannara.
Great review. I’ve read the novels and seen the film (more than once), and I agree that while there are a lot of worse things teenagers could read/see, Twilight is hardly great literature or memorable film-making. However, there’s been an intense amount of backlash against them by (well-meaning, I’m sure) Catholic/Christian parents. This sort of reminds me of the people who thought Harry Potter would encourage kids to become Wiccans. Come on. That sort of parental concern is understandable, but misplaced. In fact, if teens are reading the books, parents ought to read them too- they’re written at a very easy reading level and may provide a decent number of “teachable moments” about what love is, what a healthy relationship ought to look like, chastity, etc.
The novels/movies aren’t “bad” for Catholics, I think, but nor are they worthy of the obsessive fan devotion gathered around them. In my work with teenagers I’ve certainly noticed how entranced young girls are by these books, and I really think it has very little to do with the vampirism (which is just a plot device and not really the point of the story). Rather, they’re enthralled by Edward, the seemingly perfect-but-oh-so-tortured hero. It’s disturbing that Bella (and by extension, readers, since the books are in first person) place Edward on a pedestal; Bella even admits that “since I came to Forks, it seemed like my life was about him [Edward].” Similarly, the way she melts down when Edward leaves her in New Moon sends a very bad, bad, bad message to girls about their abililty to carry on with life if a boyfriend disappears. I’m certain, too, that this Edward-fascination is just a misplaced desire for God… so a fictional character has replaced their image of the perfect Man, mabye because they don’t really know too much about Jesus. That’s sad.
As long as they’re taken with a huge chunk of salt, though, they’re not terrible, theme-wise. As far as the writing goes— Maureen, I agree- Stephenie Meyer knows perhaps two adjectives and adds far too many desriptive adverbs. ie, “He said slowly; She gushed enthusiastically, They glanced warily,” etc. But again, there are far worse things kids could be reading/watching.
Dear Maggie,
I do not read children’s literature, partially because when I last looked in (many years ago – the Judy Blume era), the literature made me sick. I remember the “old” days (heaven forgive us for nostalgia) when Scholastic books had good, solid mysteries, science fiction, and classics. What happened to change all of this? The sexual revolution, the rise of feminism, the loss of guilt, the rise of the profit motive? Does anyone out there have any clues? I am really interested in sociological developments in culture (even bad trends can be illustrative), but I am not, “on the ground,” enough to have contact with the reasons for the changing culture. It seems to me that Scholastic books, as they existed in the late sixties and early seventies could very well have functioned in the nineteen-thirties without much problem. The sort of literature they and other youth seller push, today, however, would have gotten them tared and feathered and run out of town sixty years ago.
The Chicken
“However, the novels do not pretend that Bella and Edward’s relationship is ever benign, often comparing their involvement to the doomed, abusive, and overall idiotic literary romances between Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and the titular characters of Romeo and Juliet.”
Anybody who describes a great work of fiction like Wuthering Heights as ‘idiotic’ is really not mean to be taken seriously when describing the Twilight series. And I mean it honestly.
Whether you like Wuthering Heights or not, the fact is that Bronte’s work is a masterpiece while Twilight is simply mediocre fiction and nothing else.
Here’s a part of my Amazon review of the third book of the Twilight series “Eclipse” (though this applies to the series in general):
———
First of all, I have lost all the respect I initially had for Bella as a character. Her obsession for Edward has really gone overboard, to the point of becoming downright annoying, even unhealthy. She worships the ground he walks on, and is all too ready to dump her parents and friends just so she can spend more time with him without growing old. She doesn’t seem be that much concerned with the idea of making her parents worry over her, or the thought of never see them again… she’s willing to stomp over anything that isn’t Edward, even things that can enrich her life. She’s like a satellite, her boring life revolving solely around him. She has no self-worth, and spends a good deal of the book whining, complaining and sighing over every little thing, I really wanted to shake her hard and tell her to GET A LIFE!
I also find it deeply disturbing that Bella is so attracted to the idea of being a vampire and not more repulsed by the idea of blood lust. How could she even accept the thought that she will want to kill people (even her own family)?
Second, Edward has gone from ‘charming’ to BORING. There is such a thing as being “too perfect” (read: dull), and Edward exactly fits the mold. I mean honestly, how perfect can he be before it simply becomes ridiculous? For all his many “perfections”, I found him more than a little stupid at times. His obsession over Bella borders on pathological too.
Most of the book is spent on Bella and Ed fawning over each other and Bella saying over and over and over again how sexy and dreamy he is. Writing tip for Stephenie Meyer: You don’t need to tell us countless times that your main character is wonderful. Actions speak for themselves. Jane Austen didn’t need to remind us several times that Mr. Darcy was perfect… he simply was.
I initially liked the books because the author made the whole vampire/werewolf thing so credible, but now, with armies of vampires raging through Washington and killing countless people, credibility has gone out the window. Also, the scenes between Edward and Bella went from ‘merely kissing’ to ‘almost racy’. I wonder if Meyer ever wondered on how close Bella and Edward could get to having sex without actually having to take off their clothes.
And something I haven’t heard mentioned anywhere: How can the prospect of an 18 year old girl becoming immortal in order to be with her boyfriend NOT be disturbing? What about going to Heaven? What about the eternal salvation of your soul? Oh nevermind… “true love” indeed!
Thanks for the review on Decent FIlms (boy is that site useful to our family!)
I am wondering why Twilight isn’t showing a morality, quality etc rating on the right sidebar. Will that come soon?
There’s a reason, actually. My Twilight piece isn’t really a review of the film, but an essay on the Twilight phenomenon. I spend almost no time critiquing the movie as such. Therefore, it’s not really the place for ratings.
There are a few other instances where I’ve written essays on movies rather than reviews as such: Constantine’s Sword, The Passion of the Christ, The Magdalene Sisters, The Last Temptation of Christ and Luther among them.
FWIW, like most critics I don’t really like ratings and actually enjoy the chance to write about movies without assigning them. It forces people to pay attention to what I say instead of just doing the numbers! 🙂
I am a Catholic homeschooling mother of six children. Fortunately, none of my children was interested in these books; however, being a mother AND a reader, I decided to investigate for myself. I am currently halfway through the fourth book, and I can honestly say that I am GLAD my daughter has NO interest in them. She is just 10.5 years old, and I wouldn’t have let her read them at her age. We have a lot of fun reading fantasy stories, LOTR, Harry Potter, etc. — but I would NOT allow these books. I am astounded that people believe there is a real chastity message here. The only reason Edward does not push Bella is that he’s afraid he’ll hurt her. It isn’t some sense of morality. The fourth book has been the most graphic (and disgusting) of them all; I am having difficulty finishing it. I want to recommend Regina Doman’s books for those interested in wholesome fiction for young girls! Not only are the “Twilight” books unwholesome; they are just plain weird. Bella continually lies to her father, leads on another male character, and is just not a good role model for girls at all. Best wishes to those who are trying to discern. I will be returning to better books ASAP!
Veronica, I do not think “Wuthering Heights” is idiotic, I was illustrating my point that fanatical relationships comparable to Edward and Bella’s were found in classics that I have been encouraged to read instead of “Twilight.”
SDG, I see your point, but yes, I would say that for centuries, Romeo was nearly as idealized as Edward is today. Countless adaptations of his story, from play to ballet, to opera, to more modern works like “West Side Story” and Taylor Swift’s song “Love Story” ensure that he is never forgotten. I just don’t see the difference.
I do think that a widespread Catholic banning of the books is an overreaction. I have been given countless excuses from those I respect in my Catholic community, from “unhealthy relationships” to “crossbreeding.” (FYI, I do not believe in vampires or werewolves, and am not looking for my own personal Edward Cullen. That would also be an overreaction.) In the end, these are only excuses. If someone has to “struggle to stay engaged in their day-to-day lives” after reading a book, maybe they are too immature to be reading the story.