Spring Break
Give the readers more credit
Lara Oliver
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: Opinion
Since 2005, one supernatural book series has been charming women ages 14 to 44. It doesn't have the bed knobs and broomstick flair of Harry Potter, but it could turn very similar profits.
Young adult fiction has taken the spotlight away from the likes of classics like Judy Blume and put it on breakout novelist Stephanie Meyers. Meyers is the author of the "Twilight" series, an Anne Rice-meets-The CW drama centered around a plain girl that moves to a small town, only to have her life take a turn for the weird. Unfortunately for Meyers, along with the praise has been a good deal criticism for the message young girls might pull away from her books.
For those who aren't familiar with the series, the book centers on the life of Bella Swan who moves to the cold Northwest away from her Phoenix home to live with her father. In town she meets a group of attractive young people who fascinate her, especially one named Edward Cullen. As Bella grows to love Edward he violently pushes her away, accusing himself of being too violent for her -but then pulls toward her just as quickly in an effort to "protect" the young girl.
Sounds kind of creepy, right?
Among some of Meyers' more negative critics, you'll hear the terms "wife beater," "psycho" and "sadist" tossed around to describe Edward. Bella later drops out of school with plans to have a baby and marry Edward -only after their first night together. Parents who had previously encouraged their kids to read the books, just for the sake of reading, are having second thoughts.
Those criticizing Meyers point out that she has a tendency to season the book with her Mormon beliefs. They feel that young women reading the books will develop the idea that a man who controls a woman is a man who loves. They also feel the book suggests that getting older than 18 will make a woman completely hideous in the eyes of men (Bella spends a good portion of the books complaining that she will get old and "ugly" while Edward can stay a teenager forever).
Young adult fiction has taken the spotlight away from the likes of classics like Judy Blume and put it on breakout novelist Stephanie Meyers. Meyers is the author of the "Twilight" series, an Anne Rice-meets-The CW drama centered around a plain girl that moves to a small town, only to have her life take a turn for the weird. Unfortunately for Meyers, along with the praise has been a good deal criticism for the message young girls might pull away from her books.
For those who aren't familiar with the series, the book centers on the life of Bella Swan who moves to the cold Northwest away from her Phoenix home to live with her father. In town she meets a group of attractive young people who fascinate her, especially one named Edward Cullen. As Bella grows to love Edward he violently pushes her away, accusing himself of being too violent for her -but then pulls toward her just as quickly in an effort to "protect" the young girl.
Sounds kind of creepy, right?
Among some of Meyers' more negative critics, you'll hear the terms "wife beater," "psycho" and "sadist" tossed around to describe Edward. Bella later drops out of school with plans to have a baby and marry Edward -only after their first night together. Parents who had previously encouraged their kids to read the books, just for the sake of reading, are having second thoughts.
Those criticizing Meyers point out that she has a tendency to season the book with her Mormon beliefs. They feel that young women reading the books will develop the idea that a man who controls a woman is a man who loves. They also feel the book suggests that getting older than 18 will make a woman completely hideous in the eyes of men (Bella spends a good portion of the books complaining that she will get old and "ugly" while Edward can stay a teenager forever).
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