While the birthday viewing of Robin Hood was just a tad underwhelming, I have to say I enjoyed the big screen view of England. And that's about all I should say about that (I'm resisting the urge to go into a lengthy rant about good story editing, film or novel, and the current lack of same in many contemporary efforts).

Case in point: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I actually rather enjoyed this novel (didn't think I would) and only found myself becoming annoyed when extraneous bits of Edward-mooning by Bella occurred (though they were repeated occurrences). It struck me that the only thing lying between it being an enjoyable read and a great read was some extra editing to snip off some of the less than useful narrative side-bars or repetitions. And that's something, considering this was marketed towards younger readers (not that that makes them any less demanding, though).

But I digress, really, because what I'm thinking about as I read the series is as follows:

It strikes me (so far) that some of the complaints and praise about morality in Twilight are rather missing the mark (at least the complaints I've seen). It isn't what Bella and Edward do or don't do (regarding sex, that is), it's the nature of love that is being portrayed that makes the difference, and is the most interesting and the most frustrating aspect of the novel.

All individual human endeavour is either moving towards or moving away from Truth, as far as I can figure, and that's the standard by which the morality of the work should be judged (the literary quality, however, is another argument). So far, I'm noticing the depiction of love in Twilight is fittingly complex. There are suggestions of physical desire on the part of both characters -- attraction based on appearance -- but it is in the similarities and differences of mind that the attraction becomes truly complex and authentic. Bella is aware of feelings of hypnoses or magnetism when it comes to Edward (evidently he is vaguely aware of this as a side-effect of his attract-the-prey powers related to being a vampire). The attraction is both part of their love and a reaction that is separate from it. The knowledge of this disparity speaks to the health of Bella's mind, if anything. But I'm still reading and have only just finished the first of the series . . . I have heard complaints that Bella becomes subsumed in Edward as the story progresses. Perhaps Meyer is exploring that as a part of the tricky balancing act of romantic love (and, as aforementioned, I did find the repetition of Edward-the-glorious-looking rather tedious after awhile . . . it felt very immature even though the narrator is a teenager).

Edward being both what one would consider a 'fallen'/'evil'/'damned' creature as well as behaving in ways that suggest his goodness is complicated because the concept of vampire carries a lot of baggage in western philosophy (not to mention eastern philosophy) and perhaps that is where the novel becomes the most controversial. In terms of the love between Bella and Edward, however, it strikes me as a fitting metaphor that love can be both redemptive and potentially destructive. All of us who have felt deep, meaningful love have been able to see the flickers of both in ourselves, in others. The loss of self in the object of love, the intensity, the contradictory selfless and selfish impulses that manifest. Love is a potent, potent thing. And it is not always safe.

Also, in vampire tales the version of sexual interaction conjured up is usually (if not always) referring to the lust side of love (if lust can be called a side of love). Meyer does not shy away from this aspect, really. There is a goodly amount of lust between Bella and Edward, in my opinion, but it is not what we're used to seeing vampire lust depicted as and that is largely due to the emphasis on choice that lies behind the Cullen 'vegetarianism'. I'm curious about what Meyer does with this aspect in the other novels.

Obviously these novels have finally caught my attention, that's for sure. Twilight wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared (given all the panting and cooing on the part of teenage girls that I've been witnessing lately). In fact, I managed to fit in a viewing of the Twilight film the weekend before last. The least said about that the better, however. I can (somewhat) understand the oohing and ahhing that occurs over Robert Pattinson (who plays Edward), but I was generally disappointed with the film and thought it did a certain injustice to the book . . . which was far more interesting and complex. The book told the better story.

Novel and Genre: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, fantasy (young readers/teens).
Inkblots: 6.5