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lliiraI've seen a lot of people defend Twilight as just another crappy book, so what excuse do people have for picking it apart? I used to think pretty much the same thing. Obviously there is a lot of sexist criticism of Twilight out there, as in "let's rip on a woman for writing down her sexual fantasies and getting rich from them! Also, let's rip on girls for being stupid for liking a romance novel with a sparkly vampire!" That kind of stuff is at least as bad as the Twilight books themselves.
Other people say we wouldn't criticize the book if it weren't so popular. Which, yeah? What would be the point of criticizing it if it weren't a phenomenon?
But there is a third defense that I think is not terribly valid: lots of crappy books are popular, so what's the big deal?
1) It bothers me that any crappy books are popular. That other things are bad does not make Twilight less bad.
2) I'm dissecting Twilight because it's directed at teenage girls who like fantasy and romance, and I was once a teenage girl who liked fantasy and romance. I still like to read YA fantasy novels. I wouldn't be as qualified to dissect crappy books directed at men, or crappy romance novels that were pure romance with no fantastical elements. And honestly, I don't think I'd be interested enough to get through them. As I've said, there's a story buried deep in Twilight that intrigues me.
3) There are other badly-written bestselling novels. But I have never read anything published that's as badly-written as Twilight, nor have I ever seen excerpts from anything published that are as badly-written as Twilight, and I read plenty of brain candy books. Even the excerpts I've seen from 50 Shades of Grey have a certain goofy charm in the writing style, as bad as it is (and a couple of the excerpts are genuinely hot). The only writing I can think of that's as bad as or worse than Twilight is the very worst fanfiction I've seen. The kind of fanfic that looks like it was written while the person was abusing multiple hard drugs, and literally makes no sense.
4) I went into this with the intention of defending Twilight, because I thought much of the criticism leveled at it was unjust. Then the ice storm of impossibility happened, and I finally gave up. I still point out when I think Meyer did something well or when any of the characters are at all sympathetic. I do not point out every single instance of terrible writing or -isms. I'd have to quote nearly every sentence for that.
5) We women and girls deserve better in our romantic fantasies. We do not deserve heroines who hate everything and heroes who are abusers. We do not have to put up with sexism, racism, lookism, classism, and all the other "isms" in Twilight. We deserve continuity, intelligible grammar, and a writing style that does not treat the reader like she has no attention span. I don't expect every novel to be written brilliantly. I do expect every writer to give a damn.
So I don't know if all the Twilight hate is justified. I think much of it is not, because much of it is based on unjust principles. But much of the hate is justified, and certainly I think my hate is justified. The book gives me headaches, after all.
Other people say we wouldn't criticize the book if it weren't so popular. Which, yeah? What would be the point of criticizing it if it weren't a phenomenon?
But there is a third defense that I think is not terribly valid: lots of crappy books are popular, so what's the big deal?
1) It bothers me that any crappy books are popular. That other things are bad does not make Twilight less bad.
2) I'm dissecting Twilight because it's directed at teenage girls who like fantasy and romance, and I was once a teenage girl who liked fantasy and romance. I still like to read YA fantasy novels. I wouldn't be as qualified to dissect crappy books directed at men, or crappy romance novels that were pure romance with no fantastical elements. And honestly, I don't think I'd be interested enough to get through them. As I've said, there's a story buried deep in Twilight that intrigues me.
3) There are other badly-written bestselling novels. But I have never read anything published that's as badly-written as Twilight, nor have I ever seen excerpts from anything published that are as badly-written as Twilight, and I read plenty of brain candy books. Even the excerpts I've seen from 50 Shades of Grey have a certain goofy charm in the writing style, as bad as it is (and a couple of the excerpts are genuinely hot). The only writing I can think of that's as bad as or worse than Twilight is the very worst fanfiction I've seen. The kind of fanfic that looks like it was written while the person was abusing multiple hard drugs, and literally makes no sense.
4) I went into this with the intention of defending Twilight, because I thought much of the criticism leveled at it was unjust. Then the ice storm of impossibility happened, and I finally gave up. I still point out when I think Meyer did something well or when any of the characters are at all sympathetic. I do not point out every single instance of terrible writing or -isms. I'd have to quote nearly every sentence for that.
5) We women and girls deserve better in our romantic fantasies. We do not deserve heroines who hate everything and heroes who are abusers. We do not have to put up with sexism, racism, lookism, classism, and all the other "isms" in Twilight. We deserve continuity, intelligible grammar, and a writing style that does not treat the reader like she has no attention span. I don't expect every novel to be written brilliantly. I do expect every writer to give a damn.
So I don't know if all the Twilight hate is justified. I think much of it is not, because much of it is based on unjust principles. But much of the hate is justified, and certainly I think my hate is justified. The book gives me headaches, after all.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 09:43 pm (UTC)I have to admit, this has given me a quiet chuckle now and then. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-07-10 03:36 am (UTC)