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[CCBC-Net] Twilight, better reads, and sex
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From: Perry Nodelman <perry_nodelman>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:57:11 -0500
On 15-Jul-09, at 12:36 PM, Maia Cheli-Colando wrote:
> From my understanding of Twilight,
> Meyer is conflating sex and violence. Sex and danger. Many elements
> in our media, religion, and music do this as well. While sexual
> objectification is shoved down everyone's throats, especially in
> advertising, girls are simultaneously told that sex is bad and
> dangerous for them. And, by implication, that they are bad and
> dangerous if they engage in sexual expression. So something like
> Twilight makes a lot of sense in terms of its appeal, because it is
> articulating a strong underlying message that most American girls hear
> and feel - the desire, the danger, the forced resistance, the forced
> obedience.
But I suspect that Twilight does exactly what Harlequin Romances have been doing for decades, and what happened in romances like Jane Eyre long before that. The deliciously weak and apparently powerless female appears about to be overcome by the enthrallingly strong and apparently all-powerful and dangerous sexuality of the male--but instead, wonderfully, he must submit to her, defer to his growing love for her, have his love for her triumph over and control and contain the violence of his passion. The result is that "the forced obedience" is his as much as it's hers. She conquers him as much as he conquers her, and so it's less about giving into the danger of desire than about having the secret power of leeching it of its danger. It's a wish-fulfilment fantasy for girls, then--to make the dangerously powerful and potentially violent male submit to her power. The sad thing is how many girls seem to buy into the ideas about the violence and danger of male sexuality enough to find this particular wish-fulfilment satisfying. Unless too many boys are still being socialized to actually be like that?
Perry, a day too soon
_____________ Perry Nodelman Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
Received on Wed 15 Jul 2009 12:57:11 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:57:11 -0500
On 15-Jul-09, at 12:36 PM, Maia Cheli-Colando wrote:
> From my understanding of Twilight,
> Meyer is conflating sex and violence. Sex and danger. Many elements
> in our media, religion, and music do this as well. While sexual
> objectification is shoved down everyone's throats, especially in
> advertising, girls are simultaneously told that sex is bad and
> dangerous for them. And, by implication, that they are bad and
> dangerous if they engage in sexual expression. So something like
> Twilight makes a lot of sense in terms of its appeal, because it is
> articulating a strong underlying message that most American girls hear
> and feel - the desire, the danger, the forced resistance, the forced
> obedience.
But I suspect that Twilight does exactly what Harlequin Romances have been doing for decades, and what happened in romances like Jane Eyre long before that. The deliciously weak and apparently powerless female appears about to be overcome by the enthrallingly strong and apparently all-powerful and dangerous sexuality of the male--but instead, wonderfully, he must submit to her, defer to his growing love for her, have his love for her triumph over and control and contain the violence of his passion. The result is that "the forced obedience" is his as much as it's hers. She conquers him as much as he conquers her, and so it's less about giving into the danger of desire than about having the secret power of leeching it of its danger. It's a wish-fulfilment fantasy for girls, then--to make the dangerously powerful and potentially violent male submit to her power. The sad thing is how many girls seem to buy into the ideas about the violence and danger of male sexuality enough to find this particular wish-fulfilment satisfying. Unless too many boys are still being socialized to actually be like that?
Perry, a day too soon
_____________ Perry Nodelman Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
Received on Wed 15 Jul 2009 12:57:11 PM CDT
