tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post5228377267280619952..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Die Booth - has Twilight brainwashed a generation?Katherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-85641321381629263262013-11-22T11:39:52.345+00:002013-11-22T11:39:52.345+00:00Dennis, what is the difference between a Hollywood...Dennis, what is the difference between a Hollywood call to action and brainwashing? Is it one of degree? (I'm not being snarky, but am genuinely not sure. I'm of the 1960s generation, remember.)Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-6375608580169726102013-11-22T10:58:31.518+00:002013-11-22T10:58:31.518+00:00Die, this is a very interesting post which goes a ...Die, this is a very interesting post which goes a long way to showing how literary genres form and progress. Stephanie Meyer is in a long and noble tradition which never brainwashed anybody, including Catherine Morland. I think your argument holds well. Hunger Games and its sequels are also books which have had such charges made against them. Wednesday's Guardian had a brilliant article in which Donald Sutherland made the case that they are actually brilliant calls to action for a young generation being exploited by the old, which evidence all round us suggests is true.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-29318228069902711612013-11-21T16:42:00.874+00:002013-11-21T16:42:00.874+00:00Debbie - have to agree with you about werewolves! ...Debbie - have to agree with you about werewolves! Especially as compared to vampires. Once the werewolf of my choice understood that I was alpha-bitch in this relationship (something I'm still working on with the Scot, the Scots being harder to train/tame) I think we could have a very happy time going for long walks and playing fetch. Heel! Sit!<br /><br />Whereas, what are you going to do with a vampire? Hang around graveyards - or night-clubs, which I feel are pretty much the same, just noisier.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-71029192335296975982013-11-21T16:33:17.180+00:002013-11-21T16:33:17.180+00:00This reminds me that my friends and I used to play...This reminds me that my friends and I used to play Vampires and Werewolves in the playground at primary school, aged 8. If only I'd taken out a patent back then, eh? Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-2964865774934197622013-11-21T15:15:59.524+00:002013-11-21T15:15:59.524+00:00While 'brainwashing' is probably too stron...While 'brainwashing' is probably too strong a word, I wouldn't like to argue that certain books don't have a strong influence on readers - and even a longlasting one, if we take books like the Koran and the Bible into account. I may not have been thoroughly brainwashed by the Ayn Rand novels at a certain point in my life, but they did admittedly mark my thinking back then. And, indeed, there's a good number of novels which have a not inconsiderable didactic purpose. Pullman, anyone?<br /><br />The so-called brainwashing can also be relatively subtle, alone in the choice of words. Think about gender bias, for example. <br /><br />As to which which comes first, 'chicken or egg', the pre-existing fantasy or the books that disseminate it, it seems likely that few books could become popular without tapping into either certain basic human needs/dreams/pains or the Zeitgeist (or both). This really doesn't help us to determine the extent of influence of such novels as Twilight.<br /><br />Twilight as the Gothic novel of our times: a good comparison, but I'm inclined to think that a better writer (Bronte?) may make use of certain genre conventions while going well beyond them. You can't just take the themes on their own without examining how they're developed; how elegant the language.<br /><br />Reading rubbishy stuff may lead fans on to better, more challenging books, but then again, it may not. Turned on its head, this reminds me of the argument that smoking weed leads to heroin addiction. <br /> <br />Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66493257425614576452013-11-21T12:40:19.267+00:002013-11-21T12:40:19.267+00:00Vampires just are sexy and cool and have been gett...Vampires just are sexy and cool and have been getting fitter and fitter since poor old Nosferatu, who badly needed a make-over. it's well known Twilight was partly written to preach abstinence to girls (interestingly, it seems to be only possible with dead boys), and though I don't like that kind of message, it won't do any harm amidst all the pressure in other directions. An ex of mine worked on the films and said R-Patz has exquisitely good manners in real life. I've not seen or read the films/books but I can't stand Harry Potter and I don't see these as any worse. if they get people reading, good for them. Beautifully argued piece Die, you will be missed. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-69037292386992436162013-11-21T10:30:24.658+00:002013-11-21T10:30:24.658+00:00I admit. I've read Twilight - and some of the ...I admit. I've read Twilight - and some of the sequels. I further admit I rather enjoyed them. I wanted to strangle Bella, though, for being such a needy wimp and I think she'd an appalling role model for young girls. But personally, given the choice, I'd have the hot, sexy werewolf rather than the cold, dead vampire any day.Debbie Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06761474820689143835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-11084340716081732542013-11-21T10:29:40.831+00:002013-11-21T10:29:40.831+00:00This is a brilliant piece. Not really anything to ...This is a brilliant piece. Not really anything to add - other than to say that what goes for Heathcliffe goes doubly so for RochesterDan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-57093575188738023312013-11-21T10:16:02.138+00:002013-11-21T10:16:02.138+00:00Loved reading this, Die. Well argued and thought-p...Loved reading this, Die. Well argued and thought-provoking. It made me even sadder that you're leaving us now. I understand that you can't spare the time - but I wish you could! - You're welcome back any time.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-51985737496404600992013-11-21T09:46:32.192+00:002013-11-21T09:46:32.192+00:00dead interesting that (no pun intended). i've ...dead interesting that (no pun intended). i've never read a twilight book, but i do love the way critics, and others, tend to scrag anything that proves popular, especially with their inferiors (young people, the non-literary classes, etc). and then it changes 'subtly'. some of hammer horror's crappest films are now discussed on t'telly as if they're some sort of newly discovered 'genre,' and will probably be on university courses one day.<br /> <br />shamefully (shamefully?) i only finished wuthering heights this year, having tried and rejected it several times, and i loved it. does this make me more mature than i was, or is my brain deteriorating? <br /><br />and the reason i love stoker's dracula is because you don't have to read very far between the lines to realise that the author himself had some terrible psycho-sexual problems. as dracula is predicated on the male terror of the female, could twilight be a discourse on the female terror of being rejected by the male? or worse - accepted.<br /><br />but as i say, i haven't read twilight. maybe i should...<br /><br />fangs again, dieJan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.com