New Class, Same Blog, Now with More Twilight

If anyone reads past this blog entry they will see that often my blog was a liar. I have not looked, nor thought about this blog since the class I started it for ended. It was never particularly thematic nor did it go to any great lengths to be very good. (I am writing in a weird tense to take the blame off myself. The blog lied, the blog was not good, not me...sure.)
But clean slate and all that. I will try harder. (Me this time, not the blog.)
Moving on.

Twilight...I LOVE it. I cannot help myself. I do not post to fan forums but I occasionally check them. When I read the books last year I was instantly hooked. I have badgered the majority of my friends into reading them. However, I did hate the movie, it proved to me that despite my love of teenage vampire escapism, I really am 27 years old and it was hard to sit through.

That being said, I also hate close analysis of the storyline and or what it is teaching young girls about relationships. I am sure if I had a boyfriend who confessed to sneaking in through my window I'd be thoroughly creeped out. And, I probably wouldn't enjoy always being told what to do and who she can hang out with the way Bella is. And, there were parts of it that are slightly moralistic and even didactic--SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE WILL DAMN YOU TO HELL. Oops, sorry Edward, if vampires are damned, I'll save you a seat in hell, just in case you ever do get yourself killed (most likely defending Bella, I am unconvinced that someone that unfortunate in life became THE perfect vampire in two hours.)

All of these things aside, I think there is a time and a place to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy a made-up world and a good story. No, Stephenie Meyer isn't the greatest writer on Earth, but neither was J.R.R Tolkien, but most people don't argue all over the place about how people shouldn't read that. It sort of feels sexist, but it's probably not. I'm thinking up conflicting arguments here, and don't feel like following any of them to their logical ends.

When I was reading Twilight I wasn't thinking anything and just being totally engrossed in the story. And, I think that's a good thing and indicative of a good writer. I don't know if it's a classic that will endure for all times, but there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of novels written over that last few hundred years that were wildly popular but have since fallen out of favor...but some haven't.

I'm thinking James Fenimore Cooper, of Last of the Mohegans fame. He was also panned by writers of his day, (Mark Twain--of course he won this battle) and JFC is pretty terrible, but there is a niche for nearly everyone, so why condemn it?

I haven't always been a huge fan of popular fiction, but I see the need it fills and I can't really argue against it anymore. I don't generally read or like the most popular books. But, some I have. This sort of embarrasses me. But, it shouldn't. Life isn't a race to see who can prove their intellectual superiority by reading totally scholarly, obscure fiction. Being entertained has value too.

I'm not sure how much sense this makes. So, in conclusion, I love Twilight and am not embarrassed by it.