Lisa vs. Edward

Remember when Twilight first came out? Everyone was all in a tizzy about the brooding predator-like vampire, Edward Cullen making quick work of the vestal delicate human, Bella Swan. His very existence as a vampire identified him to some as being evil, even though his clan chose to defy their very nature and avoid feeding on humans. The right leaning journalists compared the vampire bite, which would transform Bella from a fresh faced teenager into another predatorial vampire, to teen sex. It was obvious that those who believed this had never actually read the story, because the whole by line of the series related to purity, self control, and fidelity. It was quite the scandal.

Jump ahead to now. There exists a television show in which a race of lizardlike aliens is plotting an invasion upon Earth for the purpose of breeding a hybrid race, one of the main characters enacting this plot are Lisa, the daughter of the Alien Queen who is evolving into her "breeding skin" and gets a series of young men paraded before her for her to seduce, and Tyler, the teenage son of the resistance leader against the aliens. The show is rife with scenes in which Lisa's mother sternly commands her to "entertain" another young man when Tyler's phosphorus levels turn out to be too low for alien/ human compatibility.

What I don't understand is... where's all the fuss? I mean the show features two teenagers in which one is actively seducing the other for the purpose of impregnating herself. Not metaphorically, not symbolically, LITERALLY! Could it be that Lisa is a willowy blond with batting Anime Eyes and a whispery voice, but Edward Cullen is sports a furrowed brow, perma-scowl and can bend a car with his bare hands? Edward is an obvious threat, whereas Lisa is not. Are we really still so hung up on gender that we pigeon hole women into the victim role even when they are clearly the antagonists?

Earlier today the fam and I were out in the car and  we saw a bit of an altercation taking place along side of the rode. A young twenty something couple were having a shouting match. The guy was walking briskly away with his head tucked down and cell phone to his ear. The girl was shouting after him, red faced and pointing. He continued to walk away. She reached down to the gutter next to the sidewalk, picked up a rock and flung it at him. Hubby and I exchanged the notion that if the roles had been reversed everyone within view would have called 911.

For whatever reason, women are still seen as victims regardless of the circumstances. I'm not promoting the notion that women CAN"T be on the receiving end of unfortunate treatment. But the idea that women can't be the aggressors and aren't capable of wrong doing plays into a very dangerous stereotype. Truth is people of any gender are capable of both good and bad. Vampires can choose not to feed on humans, and an Alien Princesses can fall in love with a human.

I've got them!!

I now have all four books in the Twilight Saga, so once I'm done with my school I can start analyzing the text. Yippee!!

Yes, I believe I am that much of a dork...

... enough even to post it on the world wide web. So in honor of the next movie coming out soon, and of the Halloween holiday's just around the corner. I decided to make a batch of cookies. I had wanted to try this out just to see how they looked. You can't really see in the picture but the cookies with the white frosting have a little bit of sparkle in them if you hold them up in the sunlight. The other cookies are darker, furrier and hopelessly unrequited.

Oh, and the cookie recipe is a basic sugar cookie recipe except with whole wheat flour. This makes them less sweet to offset the icing.

Cookies:

1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

4 cup flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Cream sugar & butter. Add vanilla, eggs. Add dry ingredients, mix well and chill. Cut into shapes or rounds (or do what I did and form them into balls and squash them). Bake at 375 for 5-6 minutes.

Then the icing is just some store bought butter cream icing with white sprinkles mixed in for the white ones, and decorative frosting for the black ones. I was trying to make them look like fur but I don't think I succeeded. That's okay. This was just a test batch.

Oh, and I can't figure out how to flip the picture over so its the right way.

I am still here.

Dear Readers,

While it seems that Gothgirl may have vanished completely out of the blogosphere, I have not. I am still here, and I have not been abducted by the afore mentioned aliens. Though, I do think I have located the Loch Ness monster, but more on that later. No, we have simply been sidelined by things that occasionally happen in real life, which need not be detailed in this blog. School has been on break for about two weeks now and we had such great ambitions for the time off: open an etsy store, knit some stuff, paint some stuff, practice some more recipes, etc. As it is we have had to travel out of state twice now, and are currently readying for yet another trip back. On the upside I have acquired some free yarn out of the deal.

I have completed two experimental scarves and I am currently working on something that I don't know what it is yet. As soon as it is done I will post pictures.

Did I mention that I have taken up knitting too? When I am not wrestling with an infant or a toddler and can find a free moment for my hands I have decided to try the art of knitting. It seems that all the pseudo-closet-goth/ neo-punk kids are doing it. Plus, it's rather a 'mom' thing to do. Since I qualify as both, then I figured I'd better get with the program. Also, in the 'making stuff' category I am exploring and extending my knowledge regarding Steam Punk jewelry and what not.

See, I was paying attention when my marketing class taught us about 'brand awareness' and 'creating your market'.

On top of all of this I am also trying to acquire the resources for a HUGE writing project that I would like to undertake, you know, just for fun. Yes, it does involve the Twilight books. Hehe. But don't worry I am not running out and plastering my car with "Real men sparkle" bumper stickers yet or anything. And it's not fan fiction either.

So that's where I've been. I will try, try, try to stay more current but will need a few more days to wrap things up and finish things out. School starts next week so maybe more of a schedule will arise from that.

I hope my absence has not broken any hearts as of yet....

Layers

Many have read the books and seen the movies. Many think this is a simple love story about a girl and her vampire. Many have missed the layers. I am a well read individual. I know my metaphors and parallels when I see them. I also like to sink myself into some innocuous sci fi/ fantasy juvenile literature when I feel the need, just to have a break from real life for a moment. That is how I happened upon the Twilight Saga. With a newborn at home, a toddler and a MBA in the works, I chose Twilight as my nursing book. I picked it up at the library thinking I would see what all the fuss was about, fully expecting to fall into some vapid teen romance, not knowing what really to expect. Next thing I knew I was hooked. I found myself drawing parallels right away. At first I saw the literary comparisons that the lead girl's name is Bella Swan, a plain ordinary girl. Bella being the Italian word for 'beautiful' and Swan meaning, well, Swan. It just continued from there. My husband thinks I've lost my mind and my parents think I'm over the deep end, but the story keeps bugging me. I keep feeling a tickling in the back of my brain that I need to examine my thoughts regarding this story, and perhaps it will stem out to allowing me to examine other stories. Or give me further insights into other books that I have already read.



This blog will be my attempt at unearthing the truths as I see them, one chapter at a time, to examine the deeper meanings behind the story and to glean out the hidden metaphors that saturate the story. This blog is an experiment. I am one of two fifths of my childhood family that does not have any seminary experience, and so I am approaching the story from the stand point of a regular ordinary Christian perspective. I have always been a bit of a vampire, sci fi, werewolf, paranormal literature geek.



So here we go. This should be an interesting project.

November, sung to the tune of Annie's "Tommorrow"

New Moon'll come out, November!
They told us at the ComicCon that November,
Brings New Moon...

Just thinkin' about November,
Makes me want to reread and remember,
Till they're done,

I'm sure that the day was gray and lonely,
When Bella Swan lost her one and only,
Oh!

The movie comes out, November!
Relive all the drama in November,
Come what may!

November, November! It's too far, November!
You're only three months away!

Top 5 Reasons for picking Ron Weasley

Of course there has been a great deal of media lately about the new Harry Potter premier of the Half-Blood Prince, and as such there seems to be several banner ads about who is 'hotter' between Harry Potter and Edward Cullen, the sparkly "Twilight" vampire. I for one choose Ron Weasley and here's why.



It would seem like the obvious choice would be the brooding, dreamboaty Edward Cullen or the Famous Boy Who Lived, being so misunderstood and desperate for a normal existence, Harry Potter. Between the two you have the perfect offset of the sparkly, eternally beautiful prince, and the down to earth scholar with the bookish charm.



And then there is Ron Weasley, the often overlooked sidekick. He's not quite as smart or as funny as his older brothers and his best friend is not only The Famous Harry Potter, but also star of the Gryffindor Quiddich team. If anyone has a reason to carry a grudge it might be Ron. But he does not. Aside from the occasional tiff he is loyal to Harry nearly to a fault. There were times (like when Ron was made prefect) that I thought Harry was being a bit of a baby, by letting jealousy rear its head, whereas the times that Ron was feeling left out I could not help but empathize.

And so without further ado, herein lies the top 5 reason to pick Ron Weasley over those other guys.

5. He has an even temper.

Both Harry and Edward both have a tendency to throw raging fits if they get upset, which by the way ladies, happens to be a warning sign for being abusive in the future. In "twilight" Edward rips up trees and shouts about his own dangerousness at Bella. Harry, blows his top mostly towards Dumbledore, on several occasions. But he does succeed at trashing his office more than once. When Ron gets upset he merely slinks away, storms out the door, works it out, and then comes back to apologize. Time and time again, he removes himself from the volatile situation, takes stock of his own ire and lets the situation diffuse.

4. You can't accidentally or on purpose get killed by hanging out with him.

Again, between Harry, Edward, and Ron he is the least likely to get you killed. His family has that nifty multipley-charmed-protected home that they live in, making for a great hideout place. Nobody is out to kill Ron or his loved ones, except in relation to his bff, Harry. Then with Edward Cullen there is that somewhat awkward dynamic of having to avoid certain, um, urges (which is an obvious metaphor and will be discussed in a later post), lest one accidentally get ripped asunder by Edward himself, what with him being a vampire and all. (I just wanted to use the word "asunder" in a sentence.) Plus, they both have big evil, scary, deadly, bad guys after them. Harry has Voldemort and Edward, the Volturi. Funny how both bad guys names start with "Vol". Hm.

3. The Weasley family.

You would get the family discount at Fred and George's joke shop. Sign me up. Plus his mom welcomes anyone into her home and makes that yummy Onion soup.

2. He protects his sister.

He steps in and gives Harry a good verbal what-for when it appears that he is pressing his advantage (really it was the other way around) towards his sister, Ginny. It was one of those moments that made readers go "Aw." Because a reasonably protective older brother is just so darn cute.

And the number one reason why one should pick Ron Weasley over Harry Potter or Edward Cullen is: (drum roll)

1. He's in love with the smart girl!

It might have taken him seven books to realize it, but ultimately what's not to love about the pairing of Hermione and Ron. He is the perfect foil for her if-its-in-a-book-she-knows-it-ness. He does carry a certain cluelessness about girls, but what he lacks in smoothness he makes up for with sincerity and genuine caring. The fact that he doesn't even realize what a great catch he is just makes him that much more adorable. From his truly tragic attempt at asking Hermione to the Goblet Ball, ("Hey, Hermione! You're a girl, right?") right up to the moment of declaring his concern for the Hogwarts House elves, the dynamic of will-they or won't-they kept me rivetted. And once the deal was appropriately sealed, I couldn't help but do a little happy dance for the besotted teens.

The Host, halfway through.

I'm in the middle of Stephanie Meyer's non-Twilight Saga book, called the Host. It's pretty basic on the sci-fi angle: invasion of the body snatcher's, that sort of thing. I can't help noticing some bizarre similiarities between this book and some of the theme's from the Twilight Saga. Here is a girl, an outsider, becoming apart of a family like unit to which she doesn't belong. Two men, both good guys, are vying for the affection of one girl, for lack of a better term. Also, two beings sharing one mind. This part seemed to happen in Twilight ALOT. This time around they are actually sharing one mind, physically. Even the supposed romantic overtures of the guys comes accross as the wierdly protective possessiveness that showed up with Edward Cullen. Even some minor details are shared, like the big epic sports game in the middle of the story, and the reflective eyes which the invaded humans get is an echo of the reflective skin that the vampires get in the Twilight Saga. Currently Wanda, as she is called by the surviving humans, is sharing a brain with Melanie, who the body technically belongs to. She has found the human enclave and is living with them. Melanie has no control over the body as Wanda does. When Melanie was still considered "wild" she lived on the run with her little brother Jamie and her betrothed, Jared. Now that Melanie is dormant but still very aware, Wanda is receiving significant glances from Ian. He and Jared have just had the Talk about whose intentions are leading to what. Ian says that Wanda deserves a chance at life and love, because she has turned her back on her own kind, and has repeatedly proven that she is not a threat to the enclave. Jared maintains that the body belongs to Melanie and she is still alive and therefore Ian must respect the bond that they once shared. It is an interesting situation, and I am curious to see how it is resolved.

In other news, I can't help but be slightly chagrined that New Moon is being filmed. While I am wildly excited to see the movie, it means that I am going to have to relive all the emotional treachery of the Jacob situation. New Moon was probably the most difficult to read as it accurately captures the heartbreak of rejection. And shows a different side to Bella Swan. She is a much more rounded out character in the second book than in the first. I have to give it up the Stephanie Meyer in that she skillfully weaves these situations which seem to have no satisfying resolution and yet she manages to find a way to tie things up. I could go on about the ending to the Saga but I didn't put up a spoiler warning and I know some of you readers out there have not read all of them yet. None the less, I am extremely excited to see the next movie and can't wait to see how it looks on screen.

And finally...

Spoiler Warning: The following entry may contain spoilers for all books in the Twilight Saga, including Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. If you have not read this series run, do not walk to your nearest bookstore or library and sign up to get them because in all likelihood the books will be on back order or on a waiting list.

Now, I have enjoyed reading this series as much as the next person, and there is a great deal to like about the story. It has a strong and well written female lead character, a well rounded cast so to speak, plenty of dramatic tension and surprising plot twists. I must admit I have not been so riveted by a series since Stephen King's Dark Tower series. That being said there are some quite disturbing elements to this particular set of books, and I don't mean all the vampires and killing and such. The first book seems fairly straight forward: girl meets vampire, girl loves vampire, yadda yadda yadda. But even so I began to detect a few tendencies towards something deeper. I could not help but notice that most of the main vampires became so at the brink of death and were turned for the sake of saving their lives. What I found interesting was the pattern of having to be in a death like stupor for three days and then emerging as a new and reborn creature. Hm. Who else in history was dead for three days and came back all shiny-like? Related to this the vampires also have intentionally chosen a life against their nature in that they have committed themselves not to harm or take the life of any human. So even though they are constantly craving human blood, they sustain themselves on large wildlife like mountain lions and elk and what not. I found it mildly amusing that they also choose to live in areas with animal population control problems, so they don't mess up the eco system. So not only are they good vampires, they are eco friendly environmentally conscious vampires. He he. I digress. But the lifestyle choice seemed to be a parallel to persons of faith, who are choosing to deny their human or "sinful" nature and strive to be a better, more enlightened person. It is later revealed that this lifestyle choice permits the vampire family to create stronger relationship ties being more like a family than other groups of vampires. I also couldn't help but notice that the main character, an ordinary girl with a tendency towards clumsiness, has the name of Bella Swan, Bella being the Italian word for "beautiful". As the books progressed I did begin to see a bit of an 'ugly duckling' parallel in the arc of the overall story. I am curious to compare the meanings of the other names involved, specifically Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

What disturbed me specifically about the first book, and became more apparent in the following books, was the tendency for Edward to be so very protective towards Bella. At the begining he wants nothing more than to stay away from her for the sake of saving her life. He seems to be over come with a pesky desire to kill her whenever she is around. Then out of the blue for some reason he decides then that he is in love with her, touching again on the theme of denying ones baser desires. As the story progresses, Edward exhibits behavior which would be nearly criminal in real life to the point of following Bella to another town when she goes shopping with some girlfriends. This of course is revealed when he swoops in to rescue her from a random group of thugs. His protectiveness teeters between sweet and cloying as the story continues. In later books he actually puts down an edict that she cannot be friends with certain people because they might be a danger to her, since they are werewolves and all. This coming from the vampire who is constantly struggling not to kill her. In one case, when Edward is out of town on a 'hunting trip' he even goes so far as to pay off his sister to kidnap Bella for a girls night sleepover, to prevent her from visiting said friends. All of this behavior is painted in such a way as to be a reflection of the great concern he has for her safety and evidence of how much he loves her. His affection for Bella is used as a way to justify the possessiveness and authoritative manner that he perpetually exhibits. Though, to the credit of Stephanie Meyer, Bella does stand up to Edward's behavior to the extent that she is able, but the result is usually that she is won over by his crooked smile, his smoldering gaze, and vampiric charm, which is described ad nauseum.

There are quite a few redeeming qualities in the story as a whole, and many points that I have been curious about for a while regarding vampire lore. For example, the question of what happens to a vampire's soul or what happens if they decide to try to live as a good vampire as the characters in this book do. I have been surprised that no writer has addressed these issues so far. (To answer my mother's inevitable question "Because I don't have time,"). Stephanie Meyer's take on the vampire legends is certainly unique. It is unfortunate to me at least that the characters have these questionable qualities, and I wonder now what effect the actions of the characters are having on the young female teen readership of these books. I heavily encourage parents of young girls (and boys for that matter) to read these books if your children are and be aware enough to discuss the actions with your children. My own daughter is only two but I am already hyper aware of societies brainwashing into what behavior she is supposed to exhibit. But that is fodder for a post on a different day... and I will continue my review of the Twilight Saga as well.

Team Bella

SPOILER WARNING: The following post may contain spoilers for the books Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. Thank you! Also, this post has nothing to do with food.

I just finished the third book in the Twilight series (Eclipse), and I've decided that I am on neither team. I am on Team Bella. I am so devestated right now, and please don't tell me what happens in the fourth book because I'm going to read it soon.

I'll spare everyone the feminist tyrade about Edwards tendency to show warning signs and being uber protective of Bella, but did he really have to have Alice kidnap her? Couldn't he just as easily had Alice post outside her window or something? Seriously!

But in the mean time... I'm pretty sure somebody is going to have to die next.