I am getting sick and tired of the arguments, the picking of sides, the unreasoned attacks on either the author or people with reasoned arguments, the petitions, ect. But the thing I am getting most sick and tired of, is people asking me for my opinion.
It's not really people asking for my opinion that bothers me. What bothers be is their reactions. If I say I don't like Breaking Dawn, I get reactions along the lines of 'only someone who was never really a fan would say that'. If I express to some of my friends that I really did enjoy some parts of Breaking Dawn I am suddenly labeled as a 'rabid fangirl'. (Note: I do realize that my closer friends don't do this to me, but this is a generalization).
Now let's switch over to the chat rooms, and basic fan community. Debate; great, reasoned and slightly fired up argument; okay if the topic of debate is a large one, flame wars; unjust, unreasoned, mean, stupid, and unwelcome. The picking of sides; it can be just, when well reasoned, but if you're choosing sides to follow the crowd/friends/author to the death, or are picking sides because you think you need to pick sides, I will get mad. Mostly because this leads back to arguments.
Also, I need to say it right now. This is bugging me a lot 'Smeyer is trying to instill her Mormon beliefs on us!!!'. Do you want to know some other authors who put their religious beliefs into their writing? JK ROWLING, CS LEWIS. Do these names ring any bells? Their series' of books sell at least thousands every year and they aren't being flamed for it. Heck, Rowling has even been considered to be 'anti-christian' for having witchcraft in her books.
Now, so people can understand that you don't need to be at an extreme end of a spectrum when you have certain opinions, here are all of my opinions on the twilight series and recent occurrences...
Twilight was good, New Moon was better, Eclipse was great, The Host was excelent. Stephenie Meyer created high expectations for her books, and she'd been living up to them... So when Smeyer made the statement that basically said it was very unlikely that this book would have lived up to expectations, may I point out that if she'd not strayed so far from established cannon this story might have lived up to expectations. Look at Jo! She managed to live up to the majority's expectations, and her expectations were quite easily larger than Smeyer's were.
I do have the opinion that Bella is a Mary Sue, but when Mary Sues are well written, I am fine with it. This brings us to Breaking Dawn, Mary Sue suddenly became way too emphasized, and it was not well written.
I do not have qualms with the Quil/Claire imprint. I completely understand that there is no romantic feeling what so ever, and there won't be until she is closer to Quil's physical age biologically. I do have qualms with the Jacob/Renesmee imprint. It is too based on physical age over a mix of biological/physical. My basic point is this; Renesmee is full grown when she is SEVEN biologically. She still will not have enough experience to truly consider herself an adult, and it's very likely she will go off with Quil, no problem. It just makes me uneasy.
This series has been mainly about choices, giving up things for other things. This was one of the many things that grounded Smeyer's books in reality. Choices no longer exist in Breaking Dawn. Bella gets everything she wanted in the end, with no consequence. Way to back up a theme!
I actually did like Jacob's perspective. It was something refreshing and new. It was also something that I've wanted since I read New Moon. Jacob is the most realistic character in the series by far, and he's worthy of this honor.
Renesmee cannot exist. Smeyer competely ignored established cannon right here. Explain how this is possible scientificaly, and I might chang my mind.
My opinions on the boys... Mike is clingy and annoying. Some people like that, I don't. Edward is an empty box with luxurious wrapping. He's polite, kind, and has many other excelent qualities, but these should all be secondary to the personality, the present that's supposed to be inside the box. (Note: The following opinion is highly biaused) Ben is awesome. He's nerdy, sweet, shy, and so many other things... I was never kidding when I said I was Team Ben. Jacob, is a realistic teenager, boy person. He makes a lot of mistakes on the way in his life. Most importantly however, he has a personality. I cannot stress that enough. If I had an option between Edward and Jake my choice would be Jake, end of story. (Ben v. Jake is again, another story).
Oh, and Midnight Sun is the best thing Stephenie's written, she's stupid to not publish it. I am a writer, and other writers are saying that you need to be a writer to understand why she can't finish it. Again, I am a writer, would any of you other writers like to try and explain this concept to me?
These are my basic standpoints on the series right now. And understand, I DO love all of Smeyer's other books, but I just can't understand Breaking Dawn.
Also, I am now afraid to go into chat rooms, forums, ect. because there is always one rabid anti-fan at an extreme end of the spectrum, and rabid fangirls at the other, so if anyone has any ideas about how to get over these fears leave a comment. Also leave a comment if you feel like debating... I'm interested to hear others REASONED opinions :)
-Oceansurferg
Edits: 1) I meant that it was a stupid decision, not the Stehpenie is stupid. 2) I can now remember that I wrote this blog in response to Kaleb Nation's (AKA Twilight Guy) personal response to fan backlash. You can read it
here. 3) I forgot to add that I do not approve of personal attacks on the author. She's a human being just like everyone else, and deserves respect. You don't know her, so you can't criticize her. End of story.
