As the name likely suggests, I have a guest post at Ana Mardoll's Ramblings. The post is looking at the scene where Edward violently pulls Bella across the school parking lot/sidewalk-to-said-parking-lot for no legitimate reason in order to force her into his car rather than let her drive her own truck home.
I wrote about that scene because I think that it's a really good way to see the overall dynamics of Edward and Bella's relationship in a single place and can thus be used to refind your bearings if in the weeds of deconstruction you've lost sight of the bigger picture. The post is therefore called: Twilight: My Touchstone.
So if you're interested in reading my writing, which I assume you are if you're reading this, go there and read that thing. I've linked to it three times, you must do so.
If you can't comment on disqus, or just don't want to, please feel free to comment here.
If we didn't already know he was the Designated Hero, I'm sure we wouldn't pick it up from this.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking too much about gaslighting and manipulations these days, and I long ago figured out two reasons Twilight and its ilk don't work for me personally*, but this might be third, I guess? Edward is acting horrible to Bella at first. Saving her life doesn't change that. I mean, I can deal with "a bully has a geniune change of heart" trope, but... It's just... If Edward started with being less of a jerk to her, buying into their eventual relationship would be somewhat easier for me.
ReplyDeleteBut really, that's all only about what *I* think, not about what all the other people should think.
(And it's not a crossover my brain needs, nor a crossover my brain deserves, but if Edward says anything about Bella's smell once again - I'm going to *scream*.)
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*my own double standards re: fictional women being hurt vs. fictional men being hurt (I'm sorry) + I'd like the source to acknowledge that relationships *are* messed-up and unhealthy. "Yes, our OTP is horrible (and also doomed), yay" can be such a refreshing attitude, no, I'm serious...
---Redcrow
Redcrow, I don't know whether you do anime at all, but I think the show Mirai Nikki might appeal. A large part of the second half is spent dealing with the messed-up-ness of the relationship between the protagonists (and for once it's not just the girl who's weird, though she's certainly weirder).
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with your first point. Something that a lot of films simply don't bother to do these days is to give me a reason to care about the protagonist; they assume, I think, that since he's in the slot in the story labelled "hero" that I will be invested in what happens to him and wish for him to succeed. (Or her, but there are sadly few films with female protagonists that aren't rom-coms.)
I do watch anime, but I'm afraid that right now my horror quota is already fulfilled and probably even overfilled. But thanks anyway.
Delete---Redcrow