We Don't Need Another Hero

I watched the movie Twilight last night. I've never read the books, so perhaps they are different than the movie. All I have to say though is that this movie presents a strange code of behavior to teenage girls. Not that it's a problem to fall in love with a vampire. Not that it's a problem to have a torrid affair with hot mysterious guys, I mean, don't knock it till you've tried it. (Although girls, I'll give you a heads up, the "mysterious" guys are usually just boring.) The problem for me was in presenting a character, Bella, who is stalked by Edward (to the point of his crawling in her window and watching her sleep), then when she tries to reach out to Edward he is a total jerk to her, then professes that his inability to control her has made him fall in love with her, then he further confesses that even though he is in love with her...he's afraid he might violently attack her to the point of killing her.

Bella's response: "That's ok."

I might just be hyper sensitive...but have any of you listened to the comments teenage girls have had about super star Rhianna getting beat up by her boyfriend Chris Brown? Many of them have said, "I heard she deserved it".
Am I comparing Rhianna to Bella? Kinda. What exactly are we teaching girls these days? Edward continually saves clumsy Bella from car accidents, near gang rape (which by the way...I didn't understand why an enormous group of guys from small town Forks Washington suddenly wanted to gang rape the Sheriffs daughter in the middle of a public area, but so be it.) As well as from other hungry vampires, including his own family. Thus far, and maybe I need to wait (on pins and needles) for the sequel...Bella has really been quite the damsel in distress. Which isn't a problem I guess, but this whole "She owes him her life" and "It's ok that he's a jerk to her, he saved her life" thing is a little questionable.

There seems to be a nice young boy named Jacob from a nearby reservation who likes Bella. He's polite and cute and seems to genuinely like her as a person, not just because she smells yummy. I have a thing for native Americans (and Canadians) so maybe I'm a little biased, but he seems to be a fine young gentleman. However, she would rather be with her brooding vampire boyfriend. I mean, what is wrong with her? ...Wait, scratch that, someone just told me Jacob is a Werewolf. God damn it.

I got to thinking about this blog post and how all heroines should be more like Elizabeth Bennett. She takes that asshat Darcy and makes him into a respectable man, she won't even consider him until he shows her the respect that she's entitled to. (Um, did anyone notice what just happened there? That was not intentional. Wow. Can you imagine...ELIZABETH: "Why can't you give me the RESPECT that I'm entitled to?" DARCY: "Because I am NOT one of your FAAAAAAAAAANS!")

But you know what? Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice is an exception among Austen heroines, most of them are melly-mouthed wimps to some degree. (Melly mouthed as in "Melly" from Gone With the Wind. The ultimate wimp. She's so insecure she barely exists. I loathe Melly. I love Scarlett. Scarlett was originally supposed to be named Pansy you know. You guys, I'm turning into a middle aged gay man.) Look at Fanny Price from Mansfield Park...people don't even notice her when she's in the same room with them and she is so self loathing she doesn't even think she's good enough for her own first cousin. (Melly also married her first cousin. Wern't people worried about two headed babies back then? Ashley only married her though because of tradition, and he was too scared of Scarlett. Those Wilkes! I detest them! Rhett was so super sexy! Although Clark Gable couldn't dance, he had to stand on a turntable that danced for him...plus I heard he was gay and had a tiny dong.) So maybe this Bella Swan thing is nothing new. Maybe I'm just bitter because I'm pushing 30 and there's been no Darcy or Edward Cullen or Rhett Butler or any other twisted version of Prince Charming yet. I need to take a moment and think about something that makes me happy...
Yeah...you get in that pond Mr. Darcy. There. I feel much better now.

I think I'm getting a little wrapped up in the negative messages this story is giving to young women. Sigh, maybe I just need to chillax and let the teens have their fun. Let's be honest, when I was a self hating Tori Amos loving 15 year old I would have been all over this Twilight business.

But I still would have gone for Jacob, werewolf or not.