posted by [identity profile] kellyfaboo.livejournal.com at 07:12pm on 01/03/2009
The meta conditions of the text illuminates the meta conditions of both teenage angst-filled books and vampire novels in sharp relief.

People say its Mary Sue, but really the text is all about teenage angst and self-loathing, the tension between that the child's notion that they are the center of the universe AND the vampire's narrative of irresistibility. Bella's internal dialog is very teenaged and they way all males are on deck for her affections is very like-a-child, but not-a-child. Then of course you have the fact that none of these "safe" boys are as appealing as the guy who wants to drink her blood until she is dead.

But because the text is all about Bella Bella Bella -- because she is like-a-child but not-a-child in a different way than the Cullens -- he saves her from a WORSE bad boy, doesn't drink all of her blood, and takes her to the right of passage into adult courting. The Prom!

So, vampires are just big babies, and teenagers are so emo -- but it is also clear that the author just intended it to be a big 14-year old's idea of romance wish fulfillment. It doesn't know it is making excessive the genres it pulls from, but it is.

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