"Beautiful, dirty dirty rich rich dirty dirty" -Lady GaGa*spoiler warning*
In some ways I think Stephenie Meyer has been irresponsible in creating this teenager-and-vampire world. I have alluded to some of these aspects in previous posts; such as the focus/obsession with outward appearance and idolization of beauty, and the Cullens living a fabulous, richly bankrolled lifestyle where they never want for anything material. Of course, the saga's "conscience" (if you can call it that) through the voice of Bella has tried to "deal with" or sublimate from these apparent problems through a conversation in New Moon:
“Is that what it comes down to?” His voice was abruptly sharper. “Good looks?”I think this is a very superficial way of reconciling the concerns. Here is why. To quote Shakespeare, two loves I have of comfort and despair.
“Don’t be stupid, Jacob.”
“Is it the money, then?” he persisted.
“That’s nice,” I muttered, getting up from the tree. “I’m flattered that you think so much of me.” I turned my back on him and paced away.
“Aw, don’t get mad.” He was right behind me; he caught my wrist and spun me around. “I’m serious! I’m trying to understand here, and I’m coming up blank.”
His eyebrows pushed together angrily, and his eyes were black in their deep shadow.
“I love him. Not because he’s beautiful or because he’s rich!” I spat the word at Jacob. “I’d much rather he weren’t either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit — because he’d still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I’ve ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand?”
Comfort: It's true that all the important characters are beautiful and rich and have perfect bodies; and most of the villains are at least very good-looking or rich or talented. So it would seem that those aspects are most prized. But in fact, Bella is most attracted to Edward because of his essential character, and to the other Cullens because of their kindness and virtuous nature, not their money. She is just impressed by their money and talents, and she gets over it eventually when she becomes part of their family. Plus, she feels embarrassed about Edward's extravagant gifts! So you see, the moral of the story is that virtuosity is primary, and the fast cars, plasma TV's, huge diamonds, etc. are just icing on the cake.
Despair: To hell with Bella being most attracted to Edward because of his "character"; the bulk of her narration is taken up by trite descriptions of his beauty!
One of her first thoughts after being turned is how beautiful she is now and how she looks like she can stand next to Edward without looking like she doesn't belong.
She constantly has low self-esteem from feeling inferior standing next to the Cullens, showing that her primary concern is outward appearance.
At the beginning of New Moon, when she puts the pictures of her and Edward into the scrapbook, she beats herself up mentally for how plain she looks; S.Meyer really beat this horse to death, augh!
Her first thought when she sees Edward in Voltera for the first time is "OMG he is so much more beautiful in real life than I remembered, I'm so fugs!!!"; not "OMG I have to run fast and be a strong heroine to save him and not let him go into the sunlight and be all sparkly!"
In Eclipse, when Edward shows her the motorcycle that he got, Bella's first thought is, "Oh no his motorcycle is much better-looking than mine, and this is like an analogy for what we must look like"; not "Oh, I'm annoyed that he had to go and buy something that I shared with my non-vampire friend, which was distinctly mine."
Of course Edward is perfect and realizes this on his own... but still. On top of this: yes, you can say that her realization/verbalization that he's "even more amazing behind the face" shows that the saga is above superficiality; YET, at the same time, part of what makes him a perfect boyfriend is his ability to give her all the material trappings a girl would ever want; part of what makes Alice the perfect gal pal is her highly developed fashion sense and unfallible purchasing of all kinds of stuff for Bella. Much of Edward and Alice's charm comes from their gorgeous faces and bodies, and their graceful physical movement. Part of their characterization depends on their financial largess, and both of them DO act elitist about their possessions and say elitist things. Cars aren't good enough for them to drive unless they are luxury European imports that most people have never even seen; clothes aren't good enough for them to wear unless they are expensive brand names/rare/custom-made. These aspects don't come out so much in the movie, because K-Stew plays Bella as a much feistier character than Bella is in the books. But if you are not initiated (and if you are reading this, you must be initiated); the fact is, Bella is constantly struck dumb by how graceful/rich/beautiful the Cullens are and rhapsodizing about it.
I mean, I enjoyed it as an escapist jaunt for my imagination, but it gets kind of tiring that EVERYTHING is beautiful and EVERYTHING is designer or expensive or made to order. The fact that the setting and protagonists are characterized this way, without much diversity, shows that Meyer's character-building is not very mature or multi-dimensional. One of my friends said that "it's almost like she's too good at fantasy."
My take is: Yes, responsible readers should realize it's just fantasy, and we're not all going to be 5'6" and 115 lbs with vibrant hair and gorgeous boyfriends with in-laws we LOOOOOVE. But would responsible or existentially/metaphysically aware authors realize there's more possibility to a story than letting all the protagonists have everything? Want or indigence is not as pleasant, perhaps; and having unlimited funds makes for fun possibilities, but want builds character and interest.
Posts
