The problem with DaVinci Code is that it's written at a pre-adolescent level. Literally. The short chapters always capped by a pseudo-climax reminded me of nothing if not my old Goosebumps books from grade school; same structure, and not particularly more complex in other regards. That, and the characters announcing that they have information which they then keep from the readers for most of the book, are just cheap, obvious attempts to build suspense that, in being so hackneyed, have exactly the opposite effect of boring one to tears. I don't think much of the story myself, but I'm sure there would have been ways to generate suspense without resorting to transparent tricks that just insult the reader's intelligence.
Amen, brother. By chapter 25 I was ready to scream at each pseudo-cliffhanger. It was remarkably tedious, and I found it amusing how the film, lacking the chapter ending device, was utterly devoid of any tension whatsoever, revealing the underlying flaccid quality of the story itself.
Coincidently (or perhaps not), the local paper ran an article to coincide with the latest film's release that quotes Melissa Click, professor at Ole Miss, who reached similar conclusions as you did: the story essentially promotes abstinence and displays genophobia.
I don't think I've read that particular analysis, but it's not as if the (barely) subtext of the first couple of stories is hard to read, and if you're familiar at all with basic gender studies analyses, it kind of jumps out and grabs you by the throat. (*rimshot*)
Going from the inherently conversative context of antisexualism, other aspects of the film suddenly make more sense: the retrograde gender roles, the domestication of transgressive sexuality (the kernels of rape, bestiality and necrophilia in vampires/werewolves) into a more-or-less sanitized kind of fairy tale, the carefully paired-off and heteronormative Cullens as an eternal nuclear family, where father will always know best because the 'kids' are trapped in their infancy. I would take issue, however, with the idea that it's not about eroticism (and the article was accompanied by similar comments from fans about asexual 'love' relationships). Twilight isn't about philia (that would be a film like Wall-E); the characters can't stop gibbering about how difficult it is to restrain their passions, clearly eros. But it's a failed eros, a limp, unfulfilled eros, since consummation would be 'bad'; training the next generation of the Junior Anti-Sex League. The way I see it, if it's anti-erotic, then it is about eroticism, just coming at the subject from a negative viewpoint, yes? So I guess I was wrong about there being nothing there; not that I loathe it any less, I just now loathe it for different reasons--which is to say, the erotophobic agenda.
Good point - it is about eroticism, just from the opposite direction. However, I think it's a tad judgmental to condemn it for this. As I've mentioned, the story plays in many ways on the entirely natural anxiety experienced by adolescent girls. You do feel a bit like prey, no matter how confident and self-possessed you are, when you become aware of your own and others' sexuality. It is a rare female who makes it to her sexual awakening without being lied to, aggressively cajoled, and/ or berated by one boy or another as he attempts to achieve his own sexual goals - and many girls experience far more frightening things such as physical assault at varying levels. I don't think most guys are aware of how common this is, but I've seen studies which put the percentage of girls who are in some way physically threatened or coerced into sexual play at around 75-80%. I know I experienced it, as did just about every other female I know (the grand majority of these experiences were not traumatic, merely highly annoying). Most of us just accept the unwelcome gropings, being backed into dark corners and the like as the way of the world and count ourselves lucky that we live in a time when it is kept to about as much of a minimum as is possible for the human race.
There is a fairy tale quality to Twilight, for it, like many fairy tales, is an exaggerated parable about the little death, and the connection between sex and death runs throughout the imaginations of many cultures. Is it retrograde in many ways? Sure. As I understand the story, not having read it, when Bella does experience sex with Edward, it is safely in the confines of marriage, and it results rather quickly in a pregnancy - a pregnancy whcih threatens her life but which she selflessly (or masochistically, depending on your point of view) insists upon carrying to term. The core of the story, therefore, is the standard romance formula - two lovers overcome great obstacles, suffering greatly in order to be together (Edward suffers because he desires to eat Bella, Bella suffers to bear his child - his vampirism therefore, could also be read within this forumla as a way to saddle him with physical suffering equivalent to carrying a life-threatening pregnancy). Some of the erotic thwarting exists to build tension in the story - it's no dumber than the story device of two destined lovers hating each other upon first meeting, and that's been done in SF to death and back (Han and Leia, Crichton and Aeryn, Mal and Inara), nor is it really any more anti-erotic than Buffy and Angel, wherein their first sexual experience together results in him losing his soul and becoming a monster who proceeds to torture his former lover (break the message about eroticism down in
that one! It's not particularly flattering to either sex.)
All of which is to say, it's not the message in Twilight that's any more offensive than most stories. It's just really badly written. The plot structure is ridiculous, the characterization is minimal, the dialogue is gag-inducing. It's just bad, but lots of stories are bad, and lots of people love them. I love things that are of equally poor quality. To return to 300, it constructs a vision of white male moral superiority equated with individualism and freedom played against the most retrograde Orientalism, with literally monstrous depictions of dark-skinned evil hordes resulting in subtext that I find just as retrograde and loathsome as any message Twilight has to offer. But I recognize in the end that it's all pretty harmless.
Oh, I'm familiar with Miller's comments, and I believe he's being entirely forthright on his opinions. I've also seen Zack Snyder's comments on the film, where he's repeatedly said that the movie has no ideological message one way or another (in apparent contradiction of Miller, and the superficial reading of the film that rather obviously sets itself up in the Clash of Cultures mode). But I don't believe Snyder. To me, 300 is like Starship Troopers or Colbert: the grotesque exageration of the message purposefully undermines it.
Is it a simple story? Of course: it's propaganda. It's Triumph of the Will with sandals and shields. Pretty good guys, ugly (and how!) bad guys. The film admits as much in the final scene, where you discover that the entire movie was a story being told to energize the troops on the eve of a major battle with the Persians--a 5th century B.C.E. version of a USO show--and by a character who wasn't even there for key scenes, and couldn't really know how they turn out, to say nothing of providing a source for the more fantastical elements of the movies (exagerated storytelling). Unreliable narrator; he's even missing an eye as though to reinforce his limited vision. That's how I see it, anyway; I admit I'm no film studies guy, so I'm not the best person to be mounting this defence. But that was my impression of it, and I'd be willing to bet that, give it ten years or so for scholarship to develop, 300 will be recognized as quite the subversive film (though not without difficulties), whatever its roots.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
I think you have some quite defensible points about 300, though unlike Colbert I don't think its exaggeration was conceived satirically. Which is not to say it can't be taken that way, and time will tell whether or not it is treated in such a manner. Your interpretation is vividly rendered with great style, so kudos!
It's a extreme version of that ditz who published her Star War fanfic a while back (Another Hope I think as the title) and started boo-hooing when the legals spanked her.
Your daughter is so lucky.
