eclipse disappointment

Authonomy Update: 56. Today is the last day of the month, and tomorrow Pearl will go down 5 spaces. As we're clawing our way to the top, we should be at 50ish soon. Yea!

eclipse

So my eldest daughter and I joined a big group of friends (hers and mine) for the midnight premiere of Eclipse last night. They were all troopers and sat through Twilight and New Moon first (and saved seats for us...thanks, guys!). We just showed up for Eclipse and had fun hanging with our friends!

Now, I've read all four of the Twilight series books. I've even read the one posted online, Midnight Sun (part of the first book told from Edward's POV). Quite honestly, writing aside (which is a whole other conversation), Meyers tells a good story. Vampire boy meets human girl. Werewolf boy meets same human girl. Love triangle ensues. Hearts wrench. Ahhhhh...

I love that Meyers has morals and her characters convey things like, sex before marriage is wrong. She even tries to make her main vampires good by their being "vegetarian," meaning they suck the blood of animals, not humans. A stretch, but still, she tried.

But, this is where my disappointment came last night.

The characters manipulated each other the whole way through to get what they wanted.

Edward wants Bella to marry him. Bella wants Edward to change her into a vampire. They both want to consummate their love, but Edward won't before marriage (good for him!) and Bella won't marry him until she is changed (hmmm...). However, she finally agrees to his proposal.

Then, Jake loves Bella. Bella loves Edward. After stealing a first kiss, Jake tells Bella that he won't kiss her again until she asks him to. Jake goes off to fight vampires while leaving Bella upset that he's mad at her. She calls out for him to kiss her before he leaves, he turns back for a long passionate kiss, while Edward (her fiance!!!) is standing not far from them.

What?? What??

And this is what happened in the theater: During that kiss, much sighing was heard.

And all I could think of was that my teenage daughter and her friends were watching this movie that was telling them, "It's okay to manipulate others to get what you want. It's okay to be manipulated."

C'mon, Hollywood! C'mon, Meyers! Thousands, maybe millions, of teenagers will get that same message loud and clear. You threw a great teaching moment away with this movie. By the very nature of being wildly successful among impressionable kids, you have a responsibility to them. In my opinion, you blew it.

Good thing my daughter and her friends have good parents to help them process it.


On another note:

They showed a preview for Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Now, CS Lewis is an awesome story teller. At the end of the trailer, a guy down in the front of the theater yelled, "For Narnia!!" I wish we all had shouted it. :)