Stephanie Meyer vs. Ann Rice

Good for them!

Having BEEN a teenage girl, though, I can tell you that many of us spent a lot of time *feeling* dumb even if we were not in fact dumb.

 

Feeling dumb when you're not dumb is infinitely preferable to feeling smart when you are, in reality, dumb.

 

Okay let's try to get this thread back on topic. Which is who people prefer Meyer or Rice, not whether the people who like Twilight are "stupid."

 

Again, I can feel only happiness about teenage girls who aspire to be better than Bella.

I didn't say they necessarily WANT TO BE Bella, but I think a lot of them can identify with Bella's insecurity. In particular, as regards the romantic theme. Many teenage girls feel that they are stupid, boring, and no teenage boy would ever be interested in them- the idea that someone who is like unto them in this way- and yet has this great romance with this incredibly hot guy (pause for eyeroll) gives them hope that that could be within reach for them too- or at least it's fun to dream about.

They *know* it's fluff. But it's fun fluff.

 

I can also comment (again, from the vantage point of having BEEN a teenage girl) that one of the things many of the teen girls liked was that the MC's didn't actually have sex until the 4th book- after they were MARRIED, in fact. And that the teen BOY was the holdout. This is unusual and fascinating in teen culture (both real and fictional). I'm not saying that teen girls aren't interested in sex (the teen pregnancy rate speaks for itself)- but the sad fact is that while many teen girls dream of a Great Romance, the boys mostly just wanted to get into our pants, brag to their buddies about it (whether they had succeeded or not), and then wander off to try to get into someone else's pants. This is a constant source of frustration and disappointment for many teen girls. They swoon for Edward because he is an old-fashioned romantic.

 

To be accurate, the topic has become about the judgement of the way Twilight fans are perceived and the logic or assumptions used to arrive at that conclusion.

 

It gets worse. Even in my small town there have been several scandals involving a majority of the girls at the high school.

I don't know that either of the books teaches any real morality, but I think it's easier to view Rice's books as disconnected from reality.

 

Let me ask you something and this goes to both you AND Steerpike:

Why are you basing the intelligence of a person based on what they READ FOR FUN???

Seriously. I honestly think Twilight is drivel and believe me, I've read better, but stating that Twilight readers are stupid is way out of line and slightly narrow minded, especially if you DON"T know all of the Twilight readers in the world.

 

You are right, but I wanted to bring it to both of your attentions because you both are the main arguers of this. Surely you'd all want to move on to something else. I just hope nobody takes Twilight as gospel...

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Honestly I don't think that was ever anyone's real argument. But I see your point.

 

True. I just thought the discussion was getting kind of tiring. One of those agree to disagree kind of deals.

 

Well, you know, I don't like to make assumptions, so I did some research on that topic today. Are Twilight fans really dumb, or is it just the ones I've come across? The question had to be asked, so I had to find an answer.

But my beef isn't about whether Twilight fans are stupid or not. It's being told my motives are different than what my motives are because someone who doesn't know me at all desires to believe something that has nothing to do with me. Of course, those motivations have been exposed so it all makes much more sense now.