Twilight syndrome

Right, so I was just googling a quick image of the Twilight posters (don't even pretend not to know what I'm talking about!) for a CD label, when I came accross this blog.

Now, I'm all for discussions about all things movie and book and anything else related, but I had NO IDEA there was a second Twilight phenomenon : the parents of the Twilight teen-girls! :) How exciting!

Of course I couldn't contain myself and ended up reading through the posts. I think the scary bits were the mother worried her daughter would be inspired to go evil from all the satanic paralells, and the slightly over-boardy Jesus craze, just to make sure no one confused him with Edward. All in all, though, it was a very interesting read.

Funny how the whole world must change when you have children. Other little lives that depend on you for learning and guidance about life. Every little minute detail becomes a huge deal, and you watch everything and everyone with wary assessing eyes. Hell, I do that for my little brothers (6 & 9), so I can't imagine how annoyed my kid (if ever I have one, don't even start Camilla!) will be with my over-protective streaks by the time he/she/they hit their teens... Oh well, tomorrow's worries.

Back to the Twilight discussion. It seems the main concerns were the extreem obsessive streaks this had provoked in teen girls all over. Unlike Harry Potter this was purely a romantical entanglement; girl meets vamp, falls head over heels for his swooning perfection and gentle nature (man, I read the books, and that boy really is perfect, very much un-real, but perfect!), and decides she wants to die and go vampy herself... You know, to spend all eternity with her high school sweetie.

Awh-factor, sweet, fluffy to the point of yuck, but all in all it looks harmless. But! The mom's on those blogs have very valid points. The one that struck me the most was - "...what does this tell young girls? That they should sacrifice everything for a boy that sends their hormones into a rage? Love in all it's glory, but Bella becomes a quivering mess without Edward, can't live without him. She's seventeen." It's a fair point actually, especially having lived the last year through a bit of an eye opener of exactly how a lot of girls and women are viewed by themselves and men/boys around em.

Anyways, it's interesting. Read and make up your own mind. Honest opinion? If I had a daughter I'd never ban her from seeing it, nor it seems would most of these moms. I think the idea of watching it/reading the books alongside her is very smart. Opens up for discussion, and gives room to pitch any concerns while you both get a proper insight in what the heck the phenomenon is all abt.

Personally I think Harry Potter kicks Stephanie Meyer's Twilight zone far far far away. But that's in terms of entangling and intriguing writing. There's a sense of angst, heartache, fluff, and that feeling we used to have as teens, where the whole world could revolve around something even if just for an hour or a month. Not necessarily a boy, but the feeling was suffocating, end of the world style. She captures that, which is interesting in itself...

Damn it, this was supposed to be a short post! Oh well :)

xo xo

Peaches

PS. Home is where the heart is <3