A friend just posted a link this blog post on facebook and it made me think of the George Eliot piece (Silly Women Novelists) in a contemporary context. See what you think:
http://carrotsformichaelmas.com/2012/01/29/10-books-you-must-read-to-your-daughter-or-how-to-keep-your-daughter-from-ending-up-like-that-horrid-girl-in-twilight/
I agree that the author of this post has similiar characteristics to that of George Eliot. Like George Eliot, she's very critical of "fairytale" books like that of Twilight, naming Bella as "having no interests or talents of any kind, is helpless, boring, and basically suicidal..." and her opinions seem to remain uncensored. Now I'm not a huge fan of the Twilight books (and definitely not of the movies), but I have read most of the series. Sure, Twilight's Bella is not a great role model to represent strong females but I think Twilight should be able to be enjoyed as a guilty pleasure for young girls. Not every girl may be into reading such fantasy books as "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter." The author does have a point that there are much better novels above Twilight that exist that have strong female characters, but I think girls should still be able to embrace their femininity with books that they enjoy, no matter how cheesy or girly they are.
ReplyDeleteI really hate how so many people bash on people for reading twilight, i mean come on inst it more important that people are finding things they actually want to read, then deciding if its "intellectual enough". I really believe that it doesn't matter what genre people like to read, as long as their reading. In contrast to what Emily Bronte was saying, why shouldn't we support each other of what we write and read no matter the genre?
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