The Great American Twilight
For so long as she has been recognizable as an actress, Kristin Stewart has been criticized for one thing, her seeming inability to portray any emotion with her face. This is not a judgement of her nor is it an assassination of her character or a criticism of the Twilight Saga. I have not seen nor read any of the Twilight movies or books. At this present moment I have no intention to do either. This is not a review but rather an observation that I made after reading Linda Holmes’ review of the most recent movie addition to the franchise.
In her review, Holmes writes, “But when a saga popular with pre-adolescent girls peaks romantically on a night that leaves the heroine to wake up covered with bruises in the shape of her husband’s hands — and when that heroine then spends the morning explaining to her husband that she’s incredibly happy even though he injured her, and that it’s not his fault because she understands he couldn’t help it in light of the depth of his passion — that’s profoundly irresponsible.”
The thing is, Twilight is not a love story. It can’t be. Twilight is not about a high school student choosing between two potential partners. From everything I know to be true about Twilight and from all of the adoration and critique that I have read, I can not accept that this movie is that same old cinematic story of a love triangle. It is in no way a throwback to Threesome or an homage to Fight Club’s vicious cycle of Tyler, Marla and the Narrator. That being said, I want to choose my words very carefully, because the intent here is not to divide or pick sides or to make even the most skeptical person snarl in disbelief.
This evening, as my Friday was winding down I hopped onto the good old fashioned (still uncensored) American version of the Internet and I watched and read content that related to all of four popular current event stories.
The first article was about the current race for American Presidency. The article focused predominantly on the recent follies of the Republican debates. There was a related video of Jon Stewart (presumably no relation to Kristin) on his Daily Show railing Herman Cain‘s recent attempt to answer a question pertaining to President Obama’s approach to Libya. Stewart commented on Cain’s hesitance saying, “it’s like he’s trying to download the answer but that little ball is spinning, he’s just buffering.” Cain pauses uncomfortably several times during his Libya answer and blames his stumbling on the lot of stuff twirling around in his head. To which Stewart comments, “being President is a real non-stop head-stuff twirl-fest.”
While humorous, the recent chain of “gaffes” amongst the Republican candidates running for President is nothing if not alarming. And that’s an objective view. If you look at the current state of The United States and economies around the world, it doesn’t take a Harvard graduate to tell you that something is amiss, that the world as a whole is in need of ideas and lucrative suggestions. If there was ever a chance for anyone to step forward and say, “hey! I know how to fix this thing,” today would be a greater day than any. Yet we trudge on, banner-waving the same hypocritical ideologies that led us here in the first place. We certainly don’t know how to fix a fraudulent banking system, correct job growth, stimulate the economy or perpetuate ourselves into better living but we do a fine job on a national scale of removing protesters from parks with unnecessary force.
Which brings me to the media circus that is Occupy Wall Street (OWS). There are those that applaud this movement and those who oppose it. Those who think it has many legs to stand on and those who think it’s a gathering drum circle of hippies with no merit. The critics of the OWS movement are quick to point out that while those involved in the protests are great at identifying the problems in our current system, that there are no logistical or probable ideas coming out of these protests that could fix the aforementioned problems. Yet, a quick cut to the ideas being brainstormed by those running for President and there’s not many great ideas coming out of that camp either.
The OWS, much like all of the predominant political parties in Washington, is a collective in need of a leader.
And what of this claim that OWS is just a drum circle making noise pointing out the inherent problems in the path our nation is taking? The squeaky wheel gets the grease and I am certain we can all agree that we didn’t overlook those Homeland Security ads that ran nationwide instructing us to say something if we see something. Because that’s what we do, when we see something suspicious we tell someone of authority, right? We make as much noise as possible until someone listens and our claims are investigated. I mean, that’s what you do in your own life, right? If there’s a mysterious charge on your bank statement or a confusing misprint on your phone bill or if the service at the restaurant was sub-par, we complain. We tell someone. So, surely, even if they have no idea how to fix the unmistakable issues at hand then they are at the very least an alarm summoning those who should know what to do.
I’m sure there’s more than a dozen people who wish there was such an alarm built-in to Pennsylvania State. Because that’s what we are supposed to do when we see something that we know is not right. You interrupt it. You stop it. You get in the way and you prevent it from happening again.
You chose one political party in your youth because you recognized it as the flagship of your morality, it represented your upbringing and your world view and your personal life goals. You supported that party’s candidates even when they misstepped, even when they misspoke, even when their views were not entirely succinct with yours. You gave them the benefit of the doubt.
Now however many years have passed and you step back, you look at the political arena, at the vast American perspective and you don’t recognize it. You can not wholeheartedly point your finger at any of the candidates on that debate stage and say with absolute confidence, “I think this person is qualified to run our country and speak on behalf of the free world.” You can’t.
Our relationship with our government is abusive. Which is to say that our relationship with ourselves is abusive. We are left standing in the middle of a love-hate relationship, expressionless and lacking empathy. Thus, while I personally agree with Holmes’ response that the latest addition to the Twilight Saga is a ludicrously unhealthy portrayal of young love, I can also confidently say that Twilight is not a love story. Twilight is the most brilliantly masked political satire of our time. While one arm of the political Medusa persuades you, seduces you and turns you, the other side goes after your offspring.
The one thing that is being widely overlooked about all of these simultaneous news stories, all of these articles and videos and news segments and sound bites, they are all related- forged together by ignorance.
Ignorance is the problem. And Bella’s facial expression is our answer.
So, while I admirably agree with Stephen King’s** comparison of J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer, the undeniable truth is that we are not a nation of inspired youth discovering our inner potential and overcoming our fears. Instead we are a nation of cold-hearted individuals, held captive by our fears because for so many generations we have been raised to believe that we have a limited number of options and in the end, no matter which choice we have made, we have found ourselves broken-hearted and abused by a system that was intended to be of us, by us, for us. Sadly, it has turned against us.
But then again what do I know?
.
** The quote I was originally referring to is this, “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity… Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend”. However, there is debate over the source of this quote, though many websites attribute it to King, it appears to have come from Robin Browne.
