Twilight: Does Anyone Actually Remember This?

[Frustration]

Look, either you see the battles as atrocities, or you don't. There isn't a whole lot of middle ground there.

[Beastro]

Yeah, the power dynamics aren't great (nowhere near as bad as in the various ripoffs, though), the whole "soulbond with a baby" thing is squick and Meyer acknowledging it doesn't make it any better, and while she's clearly aware that it's not OK to be racist against native americans and so casts them as powerful badass manly-men, she's still kinda being racist by accident...

The most amusing thing to me about my niece's friend who can't get enough of the books and movies is that she's Native.

[Worffan101]

Yeah, the power dynamics aren't great (nowhere near as bad as in the various ripoffs, though), the whole "soulbond with a baby" thing is squick and Meyer acknowledging it doesn't make it any better, and while she's clearly aware that it's not OK to be racist against native americans and so casts them as powerful badass manly-men, she's still kinda being racist by accident...

The most amusing thing to me about my niece's friend who can't get enough of the books and movies is that she's Native.

Honestly, a lot of people will ignore accidental passive discrimination as long as there's no overt active discrimination.

And, well. Twilight is perfect for teenage girls. A touch of action. A hot dude fawning all over the bland protagonist whose biggest trait is a snarky internal monologue the reader wishes they had. It's like Throne of Glass, a fantasy for teenage straight girls.

[Frustration]

Logically, saying someone is special and awesome due to their racial and ethnic background is just as much a prejudice as saying they're inferior and loathsome... but it doesn't tend to produce offense in the same way.

Humans are foolish animals. Expecting them to behave reasonably is itself unreasonable.