Vampire Family Values

The books are in my opinion pretty solidly superior to Harry Potter. I mean, neither books or movies are my favorite or anything, but they're competently done and I can certainly see the appeal. Probably people don't care and just want to bitch, but if you're interested, my blog review of the first Twilight film is here.

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I agree with Dagny. I can understand a bunch of middle school girls getting in a tizzy over it, I don't understand anyone over 20 having that much of an interest. As a guy trying to find a decent girl to spend some time in a coffee shop with, it's discouraging. I don't like criticizing something when I haven't read it myself, but it's not very high on my list of priorities.

As someone well over twenty, I found the characters interesting and engaging, and the heartbreak and relationships touching. Meyer also has the obsessive geek thing going; she's good about setting up all the vampires' different powers and then working through the plot taking account of all of the givens. If it doesn't interest you, don't read it, certainly.

And if you don't want to criticize it without reading it, just don't do that either. If you're serious you need to seek help, immediately. Maybe start reading some Burroughs Tarzan or something. Or just get a sex change, because I don't think you're in the right body. I disagree with your prescription there, Dr. I think what he needs is some Pratchett.

He's got fairy-tale on the brain. The point is that Twilight is in our discussion because it's relevant. Pratchett who is a good writer but no Philip K Dick isn't exactly part of the mainstream dialogue. That doesn't mean his writing is bad, but a long discourse on Pratchett's work would leave most people scratching their heads.

The numbers Twilight is bringing in indicate it can't be just 'tweens' that are supporting. In fact, there are a many something adults at my work that are going to it. It simply makes sense to me that Berlatsky would write this very nice review. BTW - for all you haters out there, why did you even click on the link in the first place????

I like plenty of stuff for guys, thanks. It's cute that you care though; very sweet.

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I recommend Tim Dorsey, at least if you're into something on the chaotic side. It'd be a pretty big departure from Twilight. Read tons of Terry Pratchett back in the day though. Got bored with it eventually, but certainly enjoyed the 10 or so books I read. Generally, if teenage girls mob the bookstore for it, I would make a good guess that it's below my preferred reading level. I'm not trying to be elitist, just making a comment on the current educational standards of the average teenager.

I think fiction writers such as Dumas, Orwell, Heinlein, Orson Scott Card etc have much more to offer than a teenage girl's wet dream. I've read all those folks. And yet, somehow, that doesn't mean I have to hate either teenage girls or the books they read. I like that you included Heinlein just to show how uninterested you are in wet dreams of any sort. Nice tie-in to that article about unclassifiable as far as genre literature.

But the damn book and whip it out every time you see someone you are interested in the book only. I promise, you will be found. I appreciate the help, but most of the girls who would find me are exactly the ones I'm trying to avoid. My degree in French Lit has turned me into a book snob. I thought Harry Potter was mostly trash, but Twilight was seriously the worst book I have every read. I'm not talking about the story, I'm talking about the writing. I shudder to every read something like that again. I was forced to watch the first twilight movie when I was with my ex.

I hated it even though I usually like vampire movies though usually of the Nosferatu, Lugosi, Hammer type. But your mileage will vary, of course. I read the first book, "Twilight", to see what the fuss was about. Basically it's porn for chicks, setting up a totally unrealistic character that appeals to all their fantasies Bella finds that Edward - this perfect guy - isn't even the slightest bit interested in the other girls, but nonetheless all the other girls get to have decent boyfriends of their own - how nice and tidy!

Bella gets her man AND gets to feel good about all her girl friends having beaus too. That said, whether intended or not there is definitely a subtext of pedophilia in Edward's concern about harming Bella accidentally. I don't know the author's intent, but I suspect that this is part of what makes the books and films so appealing to tweens who find themselves in a culture which has made it taboo for older men to love them, but still find themselves attracted to older men and wanting to be loved by them.

Vampire stories have traditionally had a strong element of dealing with sexual taboos, and nothing today is more taboo in western cultures than intergenerational relationships. Meyers intended this or stumbled across it is difficult to say, but it is present in her works AND in every other successful vampire story in the past decade.

The books really don't care all that much about Bella's girlfriends. Most of them aren't even really her friends, per se; she doesn't like them all that much. And I don't think they all get paired off successfully in any case. People like to focus on the first bit of that, but the second is at least as important. The sexual taboos are there to be defanged, and it's the defanging that's the fetish, not the taboo. That's why vampire fans often hate these books; they really are doing something different with the mythos. Also, intergenerational relationships are not the most taboo relationship in Western cultures.

That award goes to bestiality — which, of course, Twilight also flirts with. That award goes to bestiality. The ongoing issue of Edward and Bella having "rough sex," and him hurting her during intimacy, smacks of rape fantasy on Bella's part. On the one hand, other people's tastes and opinions mean little to me, and I couldn't care less if people like Twilight. On the other hand, the books are so poorly written my wife reads them, and I read a chapter or two , and the movies so vapid, juvenile, and chock-full of sparkly whiny emo losers, it's tough to suppress my gag reflex.

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I should note that Anonymity Guy is the only being capable of destroying Pingback. Unfortunately, Anonymity Guy is too busy battling heroin addiction to do anything. And Twilight, which is more hellish. I ended up watching the first movie--I'd give it two out of four stars. Not my kind of movie, but harmless, and Kristen Stewart is attractive in a goth sort of way. Interesting point about aging. I agree with her. Someday, when we finally find a cure for it, people are going to look back at us with pity.

It's just that we're used to it. How is what Obama and the progressives are offering not this? Look at the health care bill. It is not appealing to people who wish to face the world as independent adults. With it's mandates and limitations on choice it appeals to people who want to submit their responsilbility for themselves to a parental authority who will always take care of them so they never have to grow up. I also seem to recall that the majority of the Twilight-zombies I know are also Obama-zombies and universal health care-zombies So I don't really understand your observation.

Its thoughtful, but I doubt that there's any substantial correlation between Twilight and conservatism, at least on the part of it's readers. Are you responding to me or Berlatsky? Conservatism is at least in part about doubt and caution. Radical alteration and change are to be avoided. Twilight is conservative in that it's leery of change — and committed to stable families and traditional institutions like marriage. I don't see why its especially adult to subscribe to some fantasy of absolute autonomy.

That's being an adolescent, not a grown up. There are social support structures which are for meant for adults cooperatively assisting each other and social support structure that treat it;s particpants as helpless beings submitting to an authority.

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What you described as the vampire society sounded much more like the latter. I am enitirely relying on your description as the books and the movies of this series hold faint attraction for me. My comment was based on the impression that you are seeing a political philosophical correlation that was not really justified by your desription of the story. Keeping things in complete stasis is a totally progressive thing to do. Why else are progressives so gung-ho to hold onto old ways of organizing the economy?

Ok I have to add my own comments here. I am a twenty year old woman who loves Twilight. I also read Stranger in a Strange land when i was in 8th grade, so I'm not exactly a lightweight in the reading area. But I do have to say a couple of things. First Jacob also doesn't age. It is explained in the books that as long as he continues to "phase" into a wolf he will not age, so it's not exactly like Bella is choosing someone who doesn't age over someone who does because neither one of them age. Also I'm really not sure how riding mortorcycles without training and jumping off of cliffs is considered being grown up, and those things make up the majority of Bella and Jacob's interactions, especially in the movie.

Both of these acts seem to me to be a much more obvious refusal to grow up, going off without any forthought to get a thrill, it seems to me to be a very childish way to live. And as for the Cullens calling themselves a family that is more used to show their humanity, such as it is, then anything else. And the vampires do not always live together.

It is made clear in all of the books that the family lives together for the convince it offers them. The individual couples live by themselves from time to time, as full married couples. They live as a family to allow themselves as much time to live in any given local as possible. As for the comment earlier about the "rough sex" being a rape fantasy on Bella's part, it is obvious you have never read the books.

There is no discussion of "rough sex" simply the fact that Edward is so much stronger than Bella that being intimate with her in any way could lead to Bella being inadvertently hurt,however careful Edward might be. It is Edward who is worried about this, not Bella. But I suppose if this qualifies as rape fantasy then I suppose it is, but I doubt if most people would class it as that. After all, what person doesn't have that moment of panic when they are just that little bit to passionate and their partner ends up hurt, even if all it was a nip on the lips that had a little more force behind it then was intended?

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Nipped lips and nail marked backs are considered normal parts of a paasionate night, but of course if the partner was a vampire even that could be dangerous. That is the point that Edward tries to make, and that is hardly rape fantasy, rather a concern for the well being of his lover. I read as much of the first book as I could gag through, and have read parts of the others. And oh, my bad, there's no discussion of "rough sex," there's just discussion of rough sex.

The great force of Edward's passion being brought to bear is a source of fear but also of fascination. I've fallen into this truly terrible habit of using quotes online like one might use those stupid air quotes. So no, nobody says, "rough sex," but there's plenty of talk about what amounts to rough sex. You make some interesting points. I think Jacob isn't so much seen as actually adult obviously, he and Bella are still both adolescents as much as he's seen as holding out the potential, or the possibility, for a normal life involving normal aging. I'm thinking especially of the sequence in the third book I believe where Bella talks about seeing her future with Jacob, involving kids and growing older and generally turning into an adult.

The split in the book is very much between the changeless vampires always described as stonelike and the werewolves who are defined by their changeability they're so unstable that Alice can't predict their futures. I don't think Jacob or Bella are particularly interested in thrills, or that they're especially irresponsible. They both worry about homework, for example, and are very concerned about their parents and friends.

They engage in some fairly minor risky behavior riding motorcycles and cliff diving, rather than, say, drinking, drugs, or sex. They're kids, who could be adults -- unlike the vampires, who won't be. I think you're downplaying the importance of the family, both to the vampires and to Meyer. Over the course of the story, it's revealed that the Cullen's strength is precisely that they are a family, whereas most other vampires are not. It's central to how Meyer sees them. They're still individuals, and they don't do everything together, of course — but what family does?

I think its funny that were even "arguing" or discussing these B rated books and Movies as if they were anything of worth. I'm a long fan and writer of true fiction and gore, and I'm not the slightest intrigued, much less drawn to the ideals of love sick diamond fruit cake vampires. The Rice novels were enough to drain you of any good vampire lore, and now I have to suffer through tweenaged screams walking through the mall over a Book backed by some religious nut.

Vampires are not a romantic creature int he sense their love pools for humanity. If they had any love for humanity, they would have remained human. And as a fan of the true Were wolves, this movie and series makes me want to vomit up unpleasant things on the cover. I'm glad these books gave you some hope and satisfaction at I guess everyone needs to start somewhere. I'd be curious to know why you think that. Dreaming of eternal youth seems fairly clearly to be a rejection of adulthood. As I suggest in the essay, though, childish doesn't necessarily mean bad — as, for example, Chesterton would tell you.

Judging from the campaigns launched to find such things as The Fountain of Youth, adults are very much interested in eternal youth. Chesterton was speaking of seeing the world with the wonder of a child, especially how it relates to faith, he wasn't encouraging people to be eternally immature. I think Chesterton would argue that immaturity is part of seeing the world with the wonder of a child. I mean, obviously he didn't want adults throwing tantrums, presumably — but my point was just that childishness can have good and bad aspects. And as for your comment above, I have no problem with teenage girls Tween girls like Twilight.

I'm sure Tween guys have something analogous. I also don't have a problem with older people liking those things. Hell, I've read Harry Potter. Even Harry Potter seems to carry a little more intellectual weight than Twilight - the musings of an emo teenage chick. I guess the debate will always come down to "to each there own. We were walking around the convention while I held my stomach because it was still taped shut and healing. Tone Rodriguez is a veteran comics illustrator and has worked on some of the craziest projects you could imagine. Kel Nuttal is also back with letters, and his graphic design skills and aesthetics helps make the book look as awesome as it does as well as this page!

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You guys have been the most incredible, supportive and awesome folks I could ever have the pleasure of knowing and we appreciate you so much! I can't wait to hear back from you and find out what you think about the story. Thank you all again for taking the time to read all this and continuing to support the book and our twisted little family! Kickstarter is really becoming the best way to connect with fans and folks looking for new and innovative stories.

It's Vampire horror at its finest, and Volume 2 takes the mythos in a totally new direction. This is a must-read for any fang-fan! It's no holds barred, dark and edgy writing, paired with hyper detailed art and rich deep dark coloring will fully immerse you into Michael R. Martins twisted monster macabre world. Buy this comic book if you like top notch monster mayhem!

You think your family has issues? The Life and Undeath of Judd Glenny? Not at all, although I highly recommend it. And to do something different at this point is saying a lot and is a tall order! Risks are low on this one. The book is already completely done, so we're just needing to go to print to deliver on your rewards. We're working with well respected companies who have a track record of delivering on time with the highest quality in order to make sure your rewards meet our high standards. Of course anything can happen, but we feel confident you'll be receiving your rewards at or before the date we've promised.

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