I think I'm in that stage of the project where my patience is waning. At this point in the novel, all we're getting here is a rinse and repeat cycle. I wait for a moment in which I can experience just a fraction of what the fans feel when they read this and really enjoy it, and then I am let down. I was hoping to see some goddamn vampire baseball, and the actual scene in which the Cullens play baseball is less than three pages.
Still...
Look at them in their little uniforms! Ain't they cute!? Aw my goodness!One of my biggest sources of frustration...well, it's not Edward and Bella anymore. I mean, they're themselves. But I've kind of become immune to them. My responses are more just eye rolls than spasms of fury. "Oh, look. It's Bella being a little shit towards her dad. Yay." or "There's Edward calling Bella a child and making another insecure show of overpowering her. Big effin deal." Now I'm mostly frustrated because of the complete mediocrity of the Cullen clan and their presence in this chapter, as the individual characters within the Cullen family are supposed to be a big selling point if this series. I'll get to them later, as they're absent for more than half of the chapter.
Most of this chapter focuses on Bella having a bland conflict with Billy Black (Jacob's father, in case no one remembers; I know I didn't) about dating a Cullen. Bella's a little bitch to him, but Billy convinces her to let Chief Swan know about it.
The actual scene in which Bella tells her father about dating Edward is kind of sweet, but uneventful, not nearly the huge issue Bella was making it out to be in earlier chapters. His response, as Bella describes it: "It appeared that Charlie was having an aneurysm" (357), then her father "thunders" out a few questions and Bella explains that she and Edward are "the same age," and Chief Swan gets Edward's name wrong twice ("Edwin"), and Bella petulantly corrects him, and then he calms the hell down as though he never had a problem with anything. He meets Edward and everything is just gravy. The scene in the movie that has Billy Burke cleaning his gun and drinking a beer while having this conversation is more enjoyable, in my opinion.
LOCK & LOAD MO-FOS!So then Edward drives Bella off to the location of the baseball game in Emmett's bromobile (a big red jeep). And there is a repeat of a scene that we have seen before in the previous four chapters, which is Edward and Bella taking seven pages to discuss their relationship. The following piece is from pg 365.
B: You were mad.
E: Yes.
B: But you just said --
E: That I wasn't mad at you. Can't you see that, Bella?
B: See what?
E: I'm never angry with you -- how could I be? Brave, trusting...warm as you are.
B: Then why?
E: I infuriate myself. The way I can't seem to keep form putting you in danger. My very existence puts you at risk. Sometimes I truly hate myself. I should be stronger, I should be able to --
Shuuuuut uuuuuuuup. Do we really need another conversation like this, in which Edward moons over these magical qualities that Bella never genuinely exhibits? We get it. Her attraction is to strong to resist, powerful as you are. You love her. She is your life. I suppose the fans who believe that they are Bella need to be reminded of this extensively, and in every chapter. NOW LET'S SEE SOME FUCKIN' BASEBALL!
Okay. Well. We get baseball. Sort of.
The thing is, vampires swing their bats so powerfully that they can only play baseball if there's a thunderstorm over town, which Alice can predict, because she is convenient like that. I was excited to get to this scene because I thought that seeing the Cullens interact with one another would be a nice way to exemplify their character. But...I need to take a step back and understand how Meyer thinks. The baseball scene isn't here to reveal anything we don't already know; it's simply another instance in which Meyer can showcase her vampires' superpowers and how happy and perfect they are as a family. Period.
It's not really a scene though. Much of the actual play is summarized, and its further dulled by the fact that Bella (and by extension, Meyer) doesn't seem to know very much about the game, and can't actually see what's going on, everybody is moving so fast. And here's where I started to get really vexed:
"The score constantly changed as the game continued, and they razzed each other like any street ballplayers as they took turns with the lead. [Shooooooow this. Show it. I am thirsting for character, THIRSTING. Let me see vampires razzing each other, please] Occasionally Esme would call them to order. [SHOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!] The thunder rumbled on, but we stayed dry, as Alice had predicted." (371)
Thanks Bella. You worthless hack.
Anyone who's ever been in a writing class knows the saying "Show don't tell." It's more complicated than that though, because Meyer does in fact SHOW a lot, but the things she SHOWS are worthless, 7 pg conversations like the one I just cited, and many instances of Bella fixing herself breakfast and getting on the computer. Meyer prefers to TELL things that should be shown, like...interesting things: Bella's social anxiety, Edward's angst about his status as a bloodsucker, the individual characters of the Cullen family, AND A GAME OF VAMPIRE BASEBALL. DAMN YOOOOU!
Well, it's not totally true that the Cullens have no character. Some are more distinguishable than others. I decided to make a list of each of them and give you my current perceptions of them:
Carlisle: Doesn't do much to distinguish himself beyond being a McFatherFigure. His dialogue is
quite bland.
Esme: Doesn't play baseball, but prefers to act as the ref and keep order in the family. I was interested to find out that Esme had thrown herself off a cliff after her newborn baby died. These were the circumstances in which Carlisle turned her. She introduces this information "matter-of-factly" as though it doesn't bother her at all, so I'm not sure what purpose this information serves. Esme also wants for Edward whatever Edward wants, though she seems to have some unspoken reservations about Bella being there.
Alice: Annoying. And still defined solely by her clairvoyance and physical appearance, dancing everywhere, slapping everyone "dainty high-fives" (371). Maybe I just have something against characters that are perky all the time.
Jasper: Ahh, I got nothin'. I think Jasper is supposed to be the "charismatic" one, but he has only one line of dialogue (that I remember) in this chapter. Really, I think he's just there so that Alice can have a mate.
Emmett: I think I might genuinely like him. He's the bear-obsessed, he-man one, and he shows some glimmer of a personality when he compares Edward's...I guess...arguing to sounding like "a bear choking" (367). He also winks at Bella, making me believe that he is also one of her admirers and would dump Rosalie for her in a hummingbird's heartbeat given the opportunity. Hump away, my overly-masculine friend. Hump away.
Rosalie: Continues to be the most interesting for me simply because she dislikes Bella (as most people realistically should), and guess what: SHE DOESN'T HAVE A SINGLE LINE OF DIALOGUE IN THE WHOLE DAMN CHAPTER.
Oh yeah...and Alice envisions some bad vampires a-coming. They were mentioned vaguely in a previous chapter, so vaguely that I don't think I brought it up in the blog. Everybody becomes anxious (because they will undoubtedly want to eat Bella, and I will be undoubtedly cheering them on), but for now Alice claims that they are merely interested in joining the baseball game.
Fun fun.
WHAT'S WORKING: I'm pretty sad to come to find out that individual characters within the Cullen clan are merely blank canvases. Like Edward and Bella, we are told that they have certain characteristics, but what we see of them is quite limited.
It's possible, however, that part of the fun of Twilight is the way in which is leaves these blank spaces. This generic style of character development, I would assume, is perfectly designed fanfiction fodder. I mean, there might be a reason people don't write a lot of fanfiction for Catcher in the Rye or Lolita. ...There might be other reasons for that too though.
What's lacking in Twilight that would make this fun and enjoyable for me (not, mind what would make it good, long-lasting fiction; what would make it FUN and ENJOYABLE) is some level of cleverness or surprise. I like to be surprised when I read. I like to read things that I myself would not be able to come up with. I never really get that as I read this novel, and that just makes me angry, and kind of envious. I read Terry Pratchett novels with enthusiasm, and though I would never tout the Discworld Series as lasting, literary genuis, Pratchett does VERY WELL what he does, and he's much cleverer than I am. I think I get some of this from the Harry Potter series as well. It's clear to me that J.K. Rowling has an expansive imagination teeming with all sorts of interesting mythology, which she has researched and built upon.
As for the mass appeal of Twilight...well...I feel like Philip J. Fry sums it up pretty well.
The plot of Twilight follows this pattern as well. It seems as though Meyer is terrified of anything that would upset the flow of Edward and Bella's relationship, foreshadowing things to death and never really venturing to make conflict where it would intensify an emotional situation. Emotionally intense situations are limited strictly to how much Edward and Bella love each other, and how dangerous that is. But intensity to me would be Edward or Bella thinking, "You know, I don't know very much about this person. Maybe they would betray me." Or even a moment of, "Maybe this obsession really IS unhealthy, and maybe I should consider that seriously instead of brushing it off as something more powerful than me." But the characters of this novel never consider those questions, because it is clear that the author has never considered them, nor are they questions that an audience, caught up in the fantasy, would WANT to consider.
The lack of substance in this story...I don't know if it was INTENTIONAL. I mean, I think that Meyer probably believed that she was producing fully fleshed-out characters; I don't doubt at all that she loves them like her children. But the lack of substance, for the particular audience at which this book is aimed, I think, actually WORKS FOR the experience rather than against it. The problem, of course, is it doesn't do much for anyone beyond that audience.
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EMMETT, I HOPE YOU HAVE MORE TO SAY IN CHAPTER 18. PLEASE TURN THINGS AROUND FOR ME, BUDDY.
Wish me luck,
Jenchilla
Damn, I was hoping that the book version would be a bit more titillating since I felt the movie rendition of it could have been a bit more of a show.
ReplyDeleteActually, that brings up the thought I had from the last post. I believe that it might have been slightly interesting if the baseball game were a method for the family to temper their abilities and practice self-control versus reveling in their superiority. The game could then either continue in that fashion or gradually become more intense as they became competitive. But, alas, such a degree of training might reveal that they aren't flawless and actually work towards improvement.
Yeeeeah. I don't think Stephanie Meyer is thinking on that level, and I don't think she could imagine the Cullens actually needing improvement. IMHO, the baseball scene in the movie is MORE entertaining, because you get to see the characters interacting with one another. In fact, there are a lot of things the movie does right that the book doesn't.
ReplyDeleteMaybe SMeyer originally considered elaborating on the baseball scene, but then she decided that teenage girls don't want sports...they want more Edward and Bella! OHEMGEE! Best couple ever!!! ...Excuse me while I visit the toilet and proceed to lose my dinner.
ReplyDeleteWhatever. I still chalk it up to poor character development. They're beautiful and sparkly and perfect because Meyer says they are, goddammit!
I also have a feeling that Meyer takes easy outs a lot when she's writing about things that she either has limited knowledge about or is not particularly interested in. That would require adequate research, and SMeyer won't have any of that! When I read that passage during my read-through of Twilight, I thought...Well, how horribly convenient that Bella wasn't paying much attention! That way Meyer doesn't have to go into excruciating detail! And trust me, it doesn't end with the first book. I got up until halfway through Breaking Dawn before the series became too painful for me to complete. Until then, the novels were like a train wreck. They were horrible beyond words, but that was why I felt compelled to finish them.
Big mistake.
Bottom line is, I think that you're right on the mark about SMeyer preferring to leave her characters as blank canvasses, and how this might work for the daydream-obsessed audience that it is targeted for. For me, I hated it. Cardboard characters is an understatement. Honestly, I've read fanfiction (with much WORSE prose than Meyer's) that have more dynamic, interesting characters.
What pains me is that I think we're bound to see a trend in characterization following the success of this novel. I mean, I have WRITER friends who admit that they enjoyed this book. Somehow, I fear for the future of literature. Or maybe the editors and companies will wise up and learn to spot detestable Mary Sues.
/End rant
Too true LA. I chalk up a good deal of the development problems in this novel to good old-fashioned laziness. Meyer did blaze through the thing over the course of a summer, and it shows. On top of that, it clearly hasn't been properly edited. It's particularly infuriating for writers who actually...you know...THINK about what it is they do.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that this may start a literary trend concerns me. But what concerns me more is that Twilight is offering its audience something that mainstream media doesn't, and girls are eating it up like chocolate. I'm interested in finding out what drove a generation of females to the edge of the Twilight precipice, a land of plotholes, wish-fulfillment, lazy writing and poorly-developed characters.
You got all the way to Breaking Dawn?? Wow, I commend you. I think you have more patience than I, my friend.