The Twilight Series has sold over 25 million copies and has been a best-seller, winning many awards. It also has become quite the topic of controversy these days. The four books follow the adventures of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington and becomes involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, incredibly handsome boy, Edward Cullen, who turns out to be a vampire. Edward and Bella… oh you guessed it… fall passionately in love.
The author, Stephenie Meyer, is actually LDS and a BYU graduate. She admits her works are influenced by her religion. A huge underlying theme of the series is choice and free agency, a gospel principle. Other religious themes are good vs. evil, sex after marriage, eternal families, and the fourth book especially takes a pro-life stance on the issue of abortion. Although these seem like wholesome ideas that should be taught to teen girls, certain Christian churches are forbidding the reading of these books. Some of my information came from an article in Brio Magazine, one of the most popular Christian magazines for girls (link below).
Good vs. Evil: A book has to have conflict, but these churches are saying the books communicate that even though Edward is technically an evil being—he is, after all, a vampire—he just tries to be good by not killing humans for food. The Bible says, “Woe unto them that call evil good…” (Isaish 5:20)
Premarital Sex: In the first 3 books Edward won’t sleep with Bella until they are married and he will hurt her because he’s a vampire. The fourth book comes and they get married. There are no explicit scenes of sex, but the aftermath is detailed with the Bella inte
nsely bruised and the house completely torn apart. The Christian churches argue that this type of portrayal is not good for young girls.These churches say Edward and Bella’s relationship shows many signs of abuse and the books are overly sexist. Edward is incredibly over-possessive, controlling and always conveniently ‘there’ to save Bella from any potentially harmful situation. Healthy relationships are nothing like this. Christian churches warn the young girls that God should guide them in their lives and He is who they should count on, not a guy. They also say that Bella’s relationship with her parents shows “unbiblical attitudes toward authority” because she lies to them and the books make them come across as clueless to her life.
Now confession... I’ve read the first 3 books of the series (don’t judge me) and I can see how these ideas have been pulled out. I agree mostly with the fact that the Twilight Series give a warped impression about relationships. No guy will ever be like Edward, but many girls seem to think he’s out there. I know of some relationships that have struggled because girls read these books and expected their lives to be like Bella’s. Obviously the books have a following (you’ve seen the “Team Edward/Team Jacob” shirts and other vampire propaganda), so I ask these questions:
Are the Christian churches right in their warning to young girls about reading the books? Of the girls that do read Twilight, are they taking it too seriously? Should religious ideas be extracted from fiction novels or should they just be read as strictly fiction?
http://www.briomag.com/briomagazine/entertainment/a0007866.html
Uhh, Come On, people! It's so absurd to me that parents want their kids to never face any conflict, not even in their fiction entertainment. As though kids are supposed to forever avoid subjects like relationships, evil, the supernatural, or violence. You know what might be a good idea? Here, take note, parents. You can TALK TO YOU KIDS ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE READING OR WATCHING. I know, it sounds crazy, but honest, I think theres something to it.
ReplyDeleteSERIOUSLY, PEOPLE! For crying out loud, this kind of thing drives me insane. When will people learn that censorship will only drive people to the censored material? IT NEVER WORKS.
ReplyDeleteTwilight is pornography. There I said it. Well, now I get to explain it. According to the true to the faith manual, Pornography is anything that excites one to inappropriate lust. That makes pornography different for every person. The basic premise of pornography is the sexual fantasy. You put yourself in the role you desire to play. Girls put themselves in the role of Bella. She has a perfect, superhuman man that is absolutely nuts for her and the have amazing sexual chemistry. It is the same thing as men watching videos with the women they would like to be with. Not everyone does this, but for some a books like those in the Twilight series can be pornography. Why do you think no one reads The Host?
ReplyDeleteI think the warning is pretty grounded, but I kind of don't feel like this is a religion issue as much as it is a society issue. I think that if religions want to get involved, they should do so through encouraging families to get involved. If there seems to be an issue with young girls having warped perceptions of relationships, that issue should be addressed through their already-existing relationships.
ReplyDeleteI love these books. They are fiction, so I do not see a problem with them. They are not religious books unless you want to read into them that way. I do not think these books should be banned because basically it is just a love story.
ReplyDeleteI must admit...I have read the first three books in the series. I think these books can be very damaging to young girls. There are girls who become so obsessed with these books that the story line in the books begins to replace a real social life. I think this is unhealthy. I do think it places weird ideas in young girl's heads about what a relationship is. I think whoever reads these books should just make sure that they know WHY they are reading them. For me, they are fun, interesting, and let's face it, I do love a good love story. But it is not real life and that is that. As far as them being pornography....eh. I see your point...but I think there are a lot bigger things to fight about in this world.
ReplyDeleteAs far as religion being in fiction, I think it is great! I think authors produce better stories when it is about something they are passionate about. If they are passionate about religion, I think it is great to have that aspect in their writing. Readers can take what they want from it.
I haven't read the Twilight books yet, but nothing I've heard about them would keep me from doing so. I think some religious folks become fearful when a novel gets wildly popular, and they can't help but butt in. Personally I think they are making a bug fuss over nothing. They should try and steer our youth away from pornography, and overt violence, but they need to leave micro-managing to the parents.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think it's great to extract religious themes from the media. It makes life more interesting, and gives individuals a chance for discussion.