It’s ironic that the series chronicles Bella’s thoughts (I hear in first person, correct me if I’m wrong), but that somehow it’s Edward and his motivations and moods that predominate the series.

Maybe writing in first person was a mistake, in that writing thoughts accurately is a challenge, and likely to make the character in quesiton look vacuous and repetitive even if done realistically, because a train of thoughts isn’t the same thing as showing their motivations and analyses and actions.

She’s the main character in that she’s a blatant stand-in for the audience (and done well, there’s nothing wrong with this), but in many ways although the plot is shaped around her, her impact on it seems to be small. If she spends the whole time placating everyone else, it reminds me of the theory that women are trained to aplogise for taking up space and existing. She’s the main character, but she finds herself always apoligising for existing, and shifting the attention to Edward.

Yes. This.

I really feel the author could have done more w/ her. A lot more. More to be fair to her, if this is, in the author’s own words, Bella’s story, and not actually Edward’s.

I don’t think characters like Bella let the book down. I feel the book lets characters like Bella down.

I agree that readers shouldn’t get mad at Bella. I’m an anime fan, and all too often, fans both male and female are really down on the female characters. Yes, a character may be boy-obsessed, or weak, or not do anything or make any choices, but she’s tht way because someone has written the plot in a way that makes her a prisoner to her gender as other people see her. It’s definitely important to analyse what role the author has put her in, and criticise the messages, but we should be careful not to ‘hate’ a female character simply for being female and being cast in the role society expects of women.

I think the portrayal of Bella could be more balanced (we’ve all been obsessional teens, but even obsessive teens think about more than just boys), but it’s not Bella’s fault but the author’s and society’s as a whole. A big part of the problem isn’t that Bella’s imperfect (though she does seem to lack depth and strengths and motivations to balance the weaknesses) but that this obsessive, abusive relationship is presented as the be-all and end-all. Typical that fans might hate Bella whilst empathising with her, and love Edward, though. The creepiness of the stalking, overprotective-to-a-fault, patronising chivalrous protect-you-from-yourself behaviour is like the definition of mainstream romance to a lot of people. Wrong, seriously wrong.

Mind you, I’m spitting feathers about Twilight, and I haven’t read one book in the series yet. I intend to, and liveblogging/taking notes is an excellent way to make sure to catch all the freaky things to show how off a lot of things about the book are. I like to criticise even the series I LOVE, so I find it hard to see people defend Twilight whilst refusing to see it has very troubling elements.

So good luck with the rest of it! I look forward to seeing lots of thoughtful feminist perspectives.

Younger girls I know who have read these books are telling me “be warned, Bella’s a bitch”*. To be honest, I can not find what it is that makes them react that way. They are also a little outraged when I tell them that Edward is abusive (but I am finding the entire relationship to be abusive, but I digress). When I explain it, they get it, but it takes a lot of careful explanation first.

*I should be clear, I do not approve of that kind of thing. This should also show how even women and girls are programmed by society.