Twilight
No, this is not a review on the book or movie, but rather a questioning of those already out there. I will not spoil my blog with a picture of it. Nor do I even want to say the name. I will get down to it immediately. Are these books/movies something that Catholics should be allowed to watch, or read. Never mind writing a promoting review? It seems that to infiltrate the Church and appeal to Catholic readers, you can almost include sexual content, and no one will care about the morals of anything else in the book. Reading review after review, I’ve seen it time and time again.
”I only felt the books were not appropriate for children under 17 and I strongly suggested parents read the book series first before giving it to their children. Aside from that, I believe the books were well written and entertaining if you like fantasy romance. ” ~ The Connecticut Catholic Corner
It seems to me that people are forgetting about the vampirism (yes, I know that’s not a word) aspect of the books. Oh yes, I’ve heard it all! ”They are good vampires.”
- Main Entry:
- vam·pire
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈvam-ˌpī(-ə)r\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- French, from German Vampir, from Serbian vampir
- Date:
- 1732
1: the reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave at night and suck the blood of persons asleep2 a: one who lives by preying on others b: a woman who exploits and ruins her lover.
— vam·pir·ic \vam-ˈpir-ik\ adjective
— vam·pir·ish \ˈvam-ˌpī(-ə)r-ish\ adjective
~Taken from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
Can evil be redefined as good? The term evil is applied to loosely. Bad is what most non-good things are. Are the Twilight books evil, or merely bad? Bad, most likely. Is Satan evil or bad. Evil. Was Hitler evil or bad? Bad. He supported and evil cause, but was himself bad. Evil is something that cannot be turned around, and vampires are evil. Evil is Satan. Literally, anything evil is of the evil one and belongs to him. So go ahead and read it. Does this book promote good morals?
”Most of their teachers had read it, they insisted, and now loved the series, and discussed the upcoming film with them. Devout Catholic mothers and respected Catholic writers have defended “Twilight”. When my daughter’s high school English teacher made it required reading, I reluctantly decided to read the book find out just what was driving this phenomenon, and whether I would allow her to read it. ” ~
Catholic.org
Most Catholics promoting the series do it because they say that the main characters remain chaste. On that subject alone I could write for another hour. However, I will sum it up in a few sentences. A chaste relationship is one with not sexual/lustful thoughts or desires. It is certainly not one that I have found described in the countless reviews for the book. Had I any children, I would not let them read the book for that reason alone, if not any other. It’s not like you can skip over a chapter. It is the whole point of the series! It is the basis on which the books were written. It is the whole plot. The whole series will be summed up before your eyes. It is a lust affair between two people. It promotes bad morals. On this ground alone, no one who calls themselves a Roman Catholic should endorse it! It’s not rocket science! Again, It’s not like you can skip a chapter. Black out a few sentences. They only thing that can be done with this book is to toss it in the fireplace!
Does the book promote good morals? If you are a Catholic reviewer, I guess it does. Sure the main characters don’t have sex. With the amount of lust thrown into the relationship, it becomes a mere fantasy. Yes, people are forgetting that this book is labeled as a fantasy. If you let your daughter read this, hoping that it will set an example, and that she won’t have sex with her boyfriend, you are forgetting that the book is labeled fantasy, because it isn’t realistic! In fact, you will find it will have the opposite effect! Stop pretending you are ignorant! This series makes Harry Potter look like the New Testament. And I won’t even get into Harry Potter. I’ll put it plainly. How would you feel if one of your children did what is done in this book? How can you write a review saying that it promotes GOOD morals? You know that you are lying to yourself.
But back to the vampirism. It is obviously disgusting, to say the least. Sure, they are good. But vampires are intrinsically evil. This is a complete mock of the words of consecration, and of the Church.
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
How can someone who is a good Catholic promote this? What am I missing? What is it in this book that redeems everything else, and makes it worthy of Catholic praise?
Kyrie Eleison Lord Have Mercy
Christe Eleison Christ Have Mercy
Kyrie Eleison Lord Have Mercy
Thank you for giving me something about which I should think. I liked the story, but I’m not Catholic.
What I have to think about now is this: Being as I am a spiritual person, are there media to which I am opposed and what might the theme be of that media?
I don’t believe in censorship, but are there things I support which I shouldn’t? That is what I will think about today.
I am not Catholic, but I hated the movie. I rented it and watched it only because it was a pop culture phenomenon that I thought I should witness, expecting to see a cheesey teenybopper love story. What I saw instead was a glorification of abusive relationships.
Did the character Edward Cullen ever hurt the female character (who’s name I cannot remember)? No. But that is not realistic at all. If a girl were to start a relationship with a boy who behaved in the same way as Edward Cullen did, there is an extraordinarily huge chance that that boy will physically harm that girl.
The way that character behaves is a nearly universal behavior tactic of abusive men. To show it in a movie written for young girls as an acceptable and even romantic way to behave is irresponsible and disgusting, in my account. We should be teaching our children to protect themselves from and avoid domestic abuse, not glorifying it.
I have to say that the Vampire bit does seem a mockery of Christ’s words. I haven’t read any reviews or the plots of the Twilight series, so I cannot make any comments about the sexuality, lust, and all those things, but I can say that the idea of it, which the “Pop Culture” Phenomenon thrives on is the immorality of vampirism. Living in a world devoid of Christ’ light, and the idea of Life After Death, people wish to cling to this world. Hence the idea of a vampire Edward Cullen, is so romantic as in falling for him you gain immortality. That is, no death at the expense of others. Just another cultural self centered idea.
Creativity at its best:
i read all the books but i did not see the movie. i did not see anything that was “abusive behavior”, perhaps you could tell me where you see it, i could be missing it. I AM NOT SAYING THAT IS IS A GOOD CATHOLIC BOOK, but i do nto see anything really that condemns it. you said that it doesn’t promote good morals, yes promotes some bad morals, exchanging yor life for immoralilty by giving up your life, but it doesn promote one good moral that is lacking in every other book, waiting for marriage til sex. now you can say that it is fanatasy but don’t we always hear that we need to be carelful waht we read, watch and play? why? bc even if something is a “fantasy” it can still influence us. am i wrong? if i am correct me.
Signs of abusive behavior present in the movie:
- He suffers from moodswings causing him to be incredibly kind one moment, and incredibly rude and insulting the next. This is the “draw her in then knock her down” technique, used to chip away at a woman’s self esteem to make her feel like she’s been done some great favor when the man finally “accepts her”. This tactic is continued over the course of the relationship to prevent the woman from leaving, she starts to think “If I’m so bad, then he must be the best I can do. I’m lucky to have him, I better not leave him.”
- He goes out of his way to go pester her, even when she is on the other side of the room not even looking at him. He must make his presence known and felt at all times, a means of exerting control. Very similar to the early stages of stalking.
- He rushes into a serious relationship too quickly, a means of exerting control over his partner.
- He has a violent past. Not only that, but he admits to having violent thoughts about the girl he professes to love!
In the movies, this might be a portrayal of a deep thinking, deep feeling, dramatic character who upon “taming”, becomes a wonderful lover and partner, but in real life, this is a portrayal of an abusive man. I fear that young girls who see this as an example of how love should be are going to pursue men who behave this way in real life.
-i am sorry but he explained his “mood swings” he didn’t want to harm her, and he said that to her if you remember, that is why he avoided her, but when he found that he had control he decided to try the relationship. he wasn’t trying to bring her in that way. i am sorry but that one just isnt right.
-i am nto sure what you mean by that, i don’t remember that, could you please give some examples. i just don’t remember that.
-what do yo emanhe rushes into it? he didn’t rush in to quickly, he was actually careful in the beginning, as i already explained. and even if he did, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was trying to control her. many teens nowadays rush into things, and find that htye regret them, are they trying to control? no nto at all. they are just making a huge mistake.
-so? that is abuse? he may have a PAST but that doesn’t mean that he can’t control himself. It is like a temptation, we all get them but that doesn’t mean that we have to fall into them right?
These are classic warning signs of an abusive personality. The fictional character in the movie did not actually turn out to be abusive, but in real life, a man possessing these qualities would. Why glamorize the qualities with unrealistic explanations that, quite frankly, sound like an abusers excuses? It sets children and teens up for some very unrealistic expectations of what romance and relationships should look like.
In real life, if you meet someone who acts like this, you can be sure that he is not a vampire (because vampires are not real) and that he is abusive.
I don’t understand why a love story involving vampires cannot also depict a healthy and respectful relationship. This is not the first movie I’ve seen to romanticize this kind of warped relationship, and I’m sure it won’t be the last, and they all upset me (whether or not they involve vampires). Domestic abuse is neither glamorous nor dramatic.
Sorry that I had to approve the comment. For some reason it was blocked by my spam filter.
well i am sorry but i do not see the abusive behavior, but i do agree with you, abusive behavior is not good, and if i seen it in twilight then i would also say that noone should read it, but i am sorry i do not see it.
unless you can CLEARLY show me the behavior?
This is the problem, its glamorized in pop culture so much that people cannot even recognize them as warning signs of an abusive personality. I’m sorry, but if my examples aren’t clear enough to you already, they probably never will be, unless you one day find yourself the victim of abuse, or study the subject in depth.
Now, I have never read the books, I only saw the movie, and what I saw there was typical behavioral patterns both of abusive men, and women who tend to repeatedly get involved with abusive men. If you want page numbers and direct quotes, I can’t give them to you. I rented the movie from Blockbuster’s netflix ripoff, and mailed it back weeks ago. I do not intend to waste the money a second time. But I will tell you this, the whole first half of that movie consisted of him going back and forth complimenting and insulting her and stalking her, which is followed by a confession of violent history and intent, and results in the rushing into a serious relationship, marked by her declaration of being head over heels in love with a boy she just got to know. Furthermore, there was an over all tone of accepting and working through violence in this movie, for, even though the violence did not actually come from the model of abusive behavior, the main character still puts up with violence acted upon her to maintain the affections of her lover, rather desperately, I might add.
Just because the vampire character never does anything violent in the film does not mean that he isn’t displaying abusive tendencies. Abusers never start out a relationship hitting their partner. They slowly suck their partner in, using mind games that bear a striking resemblance to the courtship of the two main characters in this movie, until the victim’s spirit has been broken enough, and they have gotten to involved, for the victim to run when the abuse begins. By showing those mind games as an appropriate way to start a relationship, films such as this one are confusing people about the classic red flags of abuse.
But maybe the movie was just really poorly done, I have heard the books are different. I’m not saying that no one should read the book. I am 100% opposed to censorship. I’m just saying that I don’t think the book is morally sound, and that, based on the movie, I would not let my child read it without some serious explaination of what is an acceptable way to treat and be treated in a romantic relationship, and that is my choice as a parent. If adults are reading it, that’s another story, and far be it for me to say what other adults allow their children to read.
And I worry about the woman who wrote this novel. What kind of relationship is she in? If she is in one. And if she is not, I think she should probably seek councelling before entering into one. Abusers have a radar for women like her, women who think that the traits of abuse are attractive and romantic.
Again, somehow your comment was marked as spam, and I was gone during the weekend, but I am working on why. Sorry.
~SignaVeritae
this argumant is ridicilis, twilite wuz a gud mve…
okkk i see what you are getting at. unfortunately i never watched the movie so i can’t say anything about the movie, but i can say is that you are right, but the books are a little different, the show less of the “violent behavior” and more of the relationship.
I find it hard to believe rediculis read the books, he is clearly not literate.
I guess he does specify that the “mve” “wuz gud”. I assume he is refering to the movie?
hahahaha good one, yes he is refering to the movie.