Parents: Don't Let Your Kids See Twilight!

I agree with almost everything this article has stated, as I am not fond of Twilight at all, but really, what can you do? Forbid them to encounter anything that has to do with Twilight? Teenagers will be teenagers. In the real world, an average teenager will go through what they think is true love, then laugh at themselves thirty years later as they remember their first high school crush. Surely no teenager is that ignorant to actually go through with what Bella went through at age 18 (obsession over Edward, contemplating suicide when he leaves, and willing to give up her life to be with him). Plus, it is a fictional book. It was written for a reader's own enjoyment, not to persuade teenagers to drop their life and run away with the next person they become infatuated with. If your teenager or child, if you have one, wants to see the movie or read the books, just let them. Make sure they are viewing Bella's situation as a valuable life lesson. However, if a teenager is truly convinced that their puppy love is more serious than it should be, I think the parents should stomp their foot down and do something about it.

Please girls, nobody wants to ban books. Twilight isn't a classic either. It's like Harry Potter. It's fame/infamy will last for a short period of time and then burn to dust in the witch hunt. Or vampire hunt. Whatever.

The point is that the book isn't written well. The level of the English used has much to be desired. The characters are uninteresting and flat. One can predict their actions. Seriously. I read the books and felt as if I had already read them. It's the classic love story with a vampire twist, except Shakespeare and Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austin were elegant and loquacious authors, both subtle and brilliant with the English language. These days, Romeo and Juliet spin offs can be labeled boring, cliche, and unimaginative of the author.

Twilight is all of these things.

Are you crazy????? You are insane!!! The movie is the best ever. Do you even have a teen daughter? Well this is fiction. Do you do what fiction means? It means it is not real!!! Get the picture kids are going to see the moive wheter you like it or not! the book is great to. any ways kids are mature enough to under stand that it will never happen to them.Cinderella gave the same basic idea, to wait for your prince to come and then the end. the rest of your life is gone. Twilight is a classic that will last for years. Deal with it!!

There are always going to be fictional characters in books and movies that do immoral things or make bad decisions. The real problem isn't the material that, in your mind, should be censored. The problem is teaching your kids to have good values and not rely on movies and books to teach them how to live. Teach them good values and it shouldn't matter if the main character in a movie they saw when they were 14 becomes dangerously obsessed to a vampire.

Lira, great comments. I have a 14 yr old daughter - all the girls in her class are going to see it, except her. Her dad & I talked to her about it and explained the content and the weak female character. Our daughter decided very quickly she had lots better things to do with her time, although she will miss the fun of a night out with her buddies. She just finished Jane Eyre and couldn't put it down. A true victorian romance that appeals to young teens, and a great literary alternative to the mental junk food Twilight series. Of course all of this comes easily to her because we taught her very young to make good choices. As an only child with no extended family, we want to make sure she is self-empowered and can make healthy choices even without the support of parents and authority figures watching.

Personally, I like sparkly vampires. And I like Edward Cullen. And everything about him.

So go ahead and apply that to everyone who just saw the movie or has read the books and understands that it is a work of fiction.

Do you read Anne Rice novels or see movies based on said novels and literally banter over how horrible this is for your kids? Probably not. And if you do, you can pat yourself on the back! That's close to book burning and movie banning. The whole point is that a novel, whether you like it or not, is meant to be discussed. And that opens doors to new enlightenment and education. That is why, as teenagers, we sit for hours in classrooms learning the fundamentals of literature. I admit, Twilight is not the most well written work of functional literature... but people enjoy it as much as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (and no, I am by NO MEANS comparing these). Your best bet is to get over it and learn to have a reasonably well mannered and adult discussion with your teenagers or kids and figure out how to breach these worries.

Because, honestly... banning the book and movie is only going to make them go out and see it without you, has that ever occurred to you?

:)

Actually, Lyra got it in one. If you actually read the books, and aren't blinded by the sparkles of his majesty, Edward, that is what happens in the books. She also forgot to mention how incredibly creepy Edward is - the books read like a "How To" book for recognizing stalkers and abusive boyfriends. Edward follows Bella around, watches her sleep for months on end (in her room, without telling her), forces her to put in applications for college when she doesn't want to (which goes back to her own lack of ambition but that is her choice), she's dressed the way his family wants her to dress, he tries to force her into an abortion (AND offers her to Jacob in the fourth book without her consent!), she goes where he wants her to go, and he even takes the ENGINE out of her TRUCK so she can't see her friends.

But he loves her! So it's okay! No, really! It's all because he loves her - he wouldn't hurt her...oh wait, yeah, those bruises after they have sex. Right, forgot about those.

Twilight's messed up, and it'd be an awesome book if it was written as such, but Smeyer forgot the biggest thing about the 'forbidden love' genre and that's that everyone dies at the end. Romeo and Juliet were both idiots, not soul mates.

The book's a work of fiction.... just like any other novel, TV show or movie geared towards teens, they're entertainment, not a guidebook on how to live or make good life choices.

Sure plenty of teens might get caught up in the books (and will get caught up in the movie) and daydream about themselves being put in these scenarios but if they take it to the level of delusion and believe that this teen vampire novel/movie is the real thing or that Edward and Bella have a "normal" relationship then yeah, it might be good for a parent to step in and get them some help.

Lyra, your assessments appear mostly to be exaggerations more than anything else. You sure took some liberties there with twisting things around.

All good points, though if you delve into the books, the "message" of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series is even more scary.

Not only does Bella become immediately attached to Edward, but when he breaks up with her, she literally goes catatonic for months, then attempts suicide so that she can imagine hearing his voice in her head.

When Bella's parents find her hospitalized and visibly bruised and battered by her adventures from associating with the Cullens, the Cullens brush it off as she "fell down some stairs and out a window."

When Jacob, Bella's other beau, tries to show her how much he cares about her by forcing a kiss on Bella, all Bella's father does is congratulate Jacob with a "good for you, son."

Bella graduates high school, then immediately marries Edward, goes on a whirlwind honeymoon and pregnancy, then gives birth to a child. What an example to young women, that their heroine has no ambitions of her own, no wish to go to college, to see the world, to be her own person? All she wants to do is be Edward's wife and have Edward's baby.

Furthermore, it is revealed that all of the vampire women of the Cullen household are barren, that their eternal angst is craving for a child. None of them are complete because none of them can have children.

More than just the desire to run away with the first hot boy they meet, the Twilight series tells young women that:
1) Domestic abuse is okay as long as he loves you and wouldn't really hurt you.
2) No girl is complete without a boy, and if the boy leaves you, well it is suicide time.
3) Sexual assault is okay, as long as the boy likes you so much he can't control himself.
4) All a girl needs to do is get married and have a family. College and personal ambitions are unnecessary complications.
5) No woman is complete without having children. The only way to be a fulfilled woman is to have children.

The Twilight series propagates a stereotype of women that has taken decades to dispel. Let's not have to do it all over again.

While I appreciate your viewpoint, do you even have a teenage daughter? If you did, you would realize that seeing this movie with her could potentially open doors to discuss the very issues you just described. Because every teenage girl will go through first loves, heartbreak, obsession. etc. - teens will fervently relate to the heroine Bella. But if a teenage girl's mother is there watching the movie with her, the parent can use the movie as a catalyst to discuss these issues. Keeping teenagers from seeing this movie will probably make parents "the bad guy," but using the movie to discuss healthy relationships vs. unhealthy obsessions is a fantastic way to reach out to young women.