Another mother nearby had a litany of reasons why the series was good for girls. “Twilight helps girls realize they don’t need to settle for anything less than what they really want,” she began. “It teaches them to keep high standards. That there are guys that will treat them with respect. Girls today need to learn this, and they can learn it from this series.”
When asked about the fact that there were almost no boys present at the event, this group of women said that they knew boys who had started to read the series because they realized that “to get the girls, they need to figure out Edward.”
As clergy and parents and even a few teachers struggle to make a case for abstinence among the young, it may seem strange and unexpected that Ms. Meyer has served up one of the most compelling and effective arguments for abstinence in mainstream American culture — through a teen vampire romance. It may also be that she is trying to stay true to her faith’s teachings on sex even within her fiction. Regardless, Ms. Meyer has somehow made not having sex seem like the sexiest decision two people can make and has conveyed this effectively to her teenage audience.
Some of her young fans are hoping for a sex scene in “Breaking Dawn,” however. As one girl told me: “I’m looking forward to Bella and Edward getting married so they can have sex.” What a novel idea.
Teen vampire romance? Such a venue cannot convey the holiness and purity of God’s standard and desire for human life.
This is like a Witches for Jesus campaign. Or Mafia dons being praised for sponsoring an orphanage for kids whose parents they have ‘erased’ or ‘taken for a one-way trip’ or whatever is the current slang for murder.
This is compromising Christianity to ‘reach’ the culture and goes beyond the pale.
Horrors!
GA/FL, I don’t think it has anything to do with Christianity. (It was written by a Mormon, after all.) But, probably, if you just take it as a secular offering by a secular publishing house, and compare it to what else is out there in that genre for teens and young adults, it’s probably preferable to most. (Except for some of the better stuff at, say for instance, christianbook.com ) It’s that kind of fiction that some read to escape and fantasize anyway . . .
I can assure you, as a Librarian, that ever since the premier of the romance between Buffy and Angel (or even a bit before between Nick Knight and Dr. Natalie Lambert, or long before with Barnabas Collins and Maggie Evans/Josette du Pres), teens have been hungry for vampire romance novels. There are a slew of them out there, most written for adults, that teens are checking out over and over and over.
This series is just the latest in the long stream of series books on the subject.
The real story is NOT what stories the books are teaching, but do parents take an active interest in what their children are getting into?
Peace
Jim Elliott <><