Sorry it took longer than I promised. Medyo natatawa pa ako sa timing dahil irerelease ko ito ngayong Christmas Eve. Pero I learned that my boss is going to read this as she would (and probably already did) it’s first half. (Click here for more Twilight bashing)
I also didn’t want to succumb to being one of those emotion-driven haters. It’s hard to find the balance between writing too little and come off as a hipster and writing too much which will make me lose most of my intended audience (Shout out to those Twilight lovers out there).
#6 The werewolves/shape shifters twist.
I know that this is part of #5, but I can’t resist writing about this separately. If Stephenie wanted a surprising twist to the story, this was not how to do it.
The first four books described the Quileutes as werewolves. Walang kahit anong clue that they something else. Wala ring introduction ng kahit sinong shape-shifter who can change into something else besides a wolf. That’s something I would do if I wrote this series. Bigyan mo naman ng kaunting foreshadowing. Para naman di parang pilit lang na nilusutan yung fight scene sa end.
I think Stephenie got lazy. I don’t know if she was on a hurry to get the entire thing done and over with kaya pina-publish niya na yung book ng ganun lang. Pero I think her fans deserve better.
#7 Jacob imprinting on Renesmee.
Come on, Stephanie! You can do better than this, girl. Ano ito? To appease the Jacob fans, you HAD to give him something? This doesn’t make sense at all! Werewolves este shapeshifters pala are supposed to be genetically and culturally adverse to vampires. So, paano mangyayari na mag-iimprint si Jacob sa isang vampire-child?
At wala na bang ibang character dito?! Why can’t he fall for another Quileute? He’s supposed to be the Alpha ng pack, di ba? Calling niya to lead his people. This is just another example of a youngster choosing romantic love over more important things like family or responsibility.
#8 Bella’s complete disregard of her own and her family’s welfare.
Throughout the entire series, paulit-ulit ang theme ng recklessness ni Bella when it comes to romantic love. She liked having a bloodsucker watch her while she slept (knowing that her dad’s on the other room). She got kidnapped and almost brought vengeful vampires on her parents. She went befriended bikers, went cliff-diving, hinarurot niya ang motorcycle, and ran away from home straight to the toughest vampire family’s lair in Rome. She literally offered herself up to Edward and begged him to take her like it was the only thing worth doing in her life.
Tapos, ano pa? She chose to be a vampire herself. At di dahil napilitan siya ha? Even if Edward warned her about the risk that she’ll lose her soul, she still made him promise that he’ll turn her into one! Ano yun? Forget the afterlife? I’ll get my eternity here on earth lang ang peg ni ateng?
She’d rather spend her life with Edward than with her parents who loved her noong una palang. Tama ba yun? Yan na ba ang definition ng pagmamahal? Wala na bang ibang klaseng love kundi physical attraction?
#9 Renesmee’s ridiculousness. I’m not just talking about the name. Her very
existence is ridiculous.
Just when I thought di na magiging mas ridiculous ang series na ito, nabuo bilang core theme si Renesmee. Una sa lahat, the name is BAD. Did Bella want to punish her kid? This baby will probably live forever and of all the classy classic names out there, you choose Renesmee?
Tapos, ito pa… Vampires are supposed to be dead, di ba? How was it that Edward’s sperm were alive? I know fiction book ito, pero it has to, at least, touch the ground naman. At wala bang ibang vampires who had sexual relations with humans before maliban sa magulang ni Nahuel? E sa pagkakapinta sa kung gaano ka-twisted ang mga vampires at kung gaano katagal na silang naninirahan sa mundo, wala bang nakaisip na gumawa nito? Stephenie writes how some vampires made vampire kids by turning them, pero walang nakaisip to do it the natural way? Aren’t they supposed to be smart?
The movie version of Renesmee made it worse. Instead of working with a real baby, they opted for a cheap CGI version. Ok naman sana kung realistic yung effects e, kaso hindi! Ang sagwa. Pati yung dalagang version niya sobrang robotic yung movement. Wala ba silang pambayad ng talent scout who will find a baby, a kid, and a young adult who looked alike enough to be the same person? E lahat nga ng mga artista halos e may look-alike sa 9gag e!
#10 The way it ruined an entire generation’s idea of love.
If this is what love is, I’d rather live without it.
Nung nabasa ko yung Twilight, ok pa ako e. Napa-shrug ako at bulalas na iba nalang siguro talaga ang panahon ngayon. Pero after reading the others and watching their movie counterparts, I found myself pacing to and fro the room, expressing my frustration in growls and whines and (occasional) blood-curdling screams, before falling into an almost catatonic state staring at the wall. It wasn’t the bad writing that upset me. It’s the fact of the millions of people who read and loved it, a huge percentage of those were kids.
Literature and media is the best way to teach kids about everything. And with the amount of fame that Twilight got and the outrageously wide breadth of its reach, I’m scared about what it did to kids. It’s ridiculous how parents let their kids read these books and watch these movies with little or no supervision. Pero sabagay, I hear of tweens reading 50 Shades of Grey. Isang masigabong palakpakan naman para sa mga pabayang magulang diyan! Pag umuwing buntis ang mga anak ninyo (wag naman po sana) walang sisihan.
Love is supernatural. I know this from experience. Scientists try to explain how it works, psychologists try to understand how it starts, pero wala parin akong na-encounter na explanation that will suffice. That’s why it makes sense to use supernatural characters in set in painfully normal situations to capture the magic of it. Pero hindi ito ang pagmamahal na pinortray sa Twilight.
They had a teen-aged girl fall in love and get obsessed with a vampire who was just as obsessed with her. She completely forgot about her safety and her family’s dahil ang naging focus na lang niya is to be with Edward. Tapos, just when properly na-rub na into my face yung pagiging true love ng nagaganap between them, enter Jacob na mamahalin din ni Bella. Talk about true love, eh?
For a book about love, Stephenie managed to set in writing EVERYTHING that love is NOT. Romantic love is NOT greater than familial love. Sacrifice is not about coercing someone to turn you into a vampire. Sacrifice means giving up things or even people that you love to keep them safe. In forcing Edward to be with her, marry her, consummate their marriage, keep the baby, and go out into war, Bella managed to put everyone at risk and get a handful of people & vampires killed just for her idea of love.
Kids, love is not like that. Love can be found in the loud thundering of a pair of young reckless hearts as it is in the stillness of a kind lady’s who chose to take care of her nieces instead of running away with her lover.
I may come off as a snob for hating this series, but there is NOTHING more snobbish than concluding that Edward and Bella’s epic love is more genuine than any other kind.
I think Stephenie is a genius for writing books that will sell. She intended to make the most money out of this which she did. If that is her original intent, she’s rich so kudos to her. If she genuinely believed that THAT was love, then I feel really bad for her. If she wrote that to teach kids about love, then pray for me as it will take time for me to overcome this loathing that I reserve for those who lead the young ‘uns astray.
Kailangan ko pa bang sabihing di ko nirerekomenda ang mga librong ito? Please, spare your kids and get them as far away from this material as possible.
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