woman king

On the topic of media influencing prejudice about females…Twilight….I think it is one of the most patriarchal creations of modern media, and the fact that teens are reading it in school is troubling to me. So I think one of the main themes is “you aren’t anything without a man”. At least that is what the protagonist thinks, and there is not really any negative reaction to her in the books. Yes, I’ve read the first three. Severe boredom. Anyways, the whole plot of the first book is basically how her life was soooo bad until she met the guy, and then, in the second, after he leaves her life is meaningless. She basically tries to kill herself so she sees visions of him so her life regains its meaning. I get it’s a teenage drama and with that comes melodrama, but I don’t know if that is the best message to be sending to impressionable kids. Also, another HUGE theme is abstinence until marriage. OK, I get that it is admirable to abstain until marriage, but the main problem I have with this theme is that the protagonist gives up her life about a week after she meets the guy. She wants to drastically change her life for her man…just to be with him…not for herself…a week into their relationship, yet having sex before marriage is evil? So you can completely alter your own life for a man, but having sex is not alright? It is alright to let a man control you but not have sex with you? He becomes very controlling and in the book, it is shown as a sign of love. Another thing I find really disturbing is the fact that one character is mauled by her boyfriend when he is turning into a werewolf (seriously, I’m not kidding) and it is dismissed as him “losing control”. The reason this bothers me is this is a common excuse used by those who commit domestic violence, and their partners stay with them. She stays with him and says it won’t happen again, something that advocates want victims of domestic violence to rethink. Another odd thing is the fact that another main character, in book 3, keeps trying to kiss the protagonist, despite the fact that she resists his advances. She basically tells him no and he forces himself on her. After this, she decides she loves him too. I don’t really have to explain why this message may be detrimental. Enough for now. Some day I will write I serious research paper about Twilight and its negative affect on teens, with works cited and everything, but I’m tired.