Female Fantasy, Jane Austen, and Twilight

At this point, I’m almost finished with my reread of Northanger Abbey and I find it as delightful as ever.  As a book nerd, I love that it’s a Novel About Novels, that Jane Austen both mocks and embraces the conventions of the novel, and that Catherine often imagines her life unfolding as the pages of one of her favorite Gothic novels.  The father of the man she loves has to be a scary murderer because he a) lives in a castle, and b) is very grumpy!

By the end of the story, Catherine is mortified to discover that she has jumped to a ridiculous conclusion and has spent too much time imagining herself in the world of the books that she likes.  At the same time, however, her basic instincts about General Tilney turn out to be correct.  He’s not a murderer, but he’s cold, full of himself, and entirely obsessed with wealth and rank, to the point where he kicks a young woman out of his home simply because she doesn’t turn out to be as rich as he thought she was.  I don’t ever feel like Austen is trying to scold Catherine – rather, she seems to imply that Catherine is, for the most part, a good judge of character who just lets her imagination run away with her sometimes.

This got me thinking, oddly, about Twilight.

Ever since I read the Twilight series a few years ago, I’ve come across essay after essay about why the series is anti-feminist.  Many of these comments come from women.  Some come from men.  Men have asked me why I have bothered reading Twilight, especially when it’s so anti-feminist.  I even saw a father say that he didn’t want his daughters to read Twilight because it would give them unrealistic expectations about romance.

Well. All right then.  Nice job, guys.  You are certainly doing the feminist movement credit by telling women they shouldn’t be reading something. “It’s not right for a woman to read.  Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking…”

“But the female characters in the story are so poorly-written!” they say.  Okay, guys.  Did your objection to poorly-written female characters stop you from watching and enjoying comedies like Superbad, The Hangover, and Hot Tub Time Machine?

*crickets chirp*

“But the Twilight series is so stupid!” they say.  Okay, guys.  Did your commitment to only watching artistic, high-brow films stop you from watching Spiderman 3 and Transformers 2?

*crickets chirp*

“But watching Edward and Jacob onscreen will give girls unrealistic expectations about guys!” they say.  Okay, guys.  Now are you going to stop drooling over Megan Fox and watching porn?

*crickets stare at each other awkwardly and try to hide their erections*

Here’s something that a lot of people don’t seem to understand: Twilight is not going to ruin an entire generation of young girls. Why?  Because most girls can, in fact, tell the difference between fantasy and reality.  A girl who swoons when Edward takes apart Bella’s car when she wants to see Jacob, is not likely to put up with that crap if a boyfriend did that to her in real life.  A girl who DOES find that kind of behavior romantic in real life would have those issues regardless of whether Twilight existed or not.

Now, I’m not trying to say that fiction and fantasy has no effect on our lives and the way we look at the world.  Of course it does.  But girls need to be trusted to be able to read and enjoy whatever they want.  Don’t tell them they shouldn’t read Twilight. Tell them they should read it if they want to, and then engage them in a critical discussion about it.

As for you young girls that gather your rosebuds while ye may – read Twilight. Enjoy your Edward in a box.  Enjoy your Jacob – he’s a fox!  Enjoy your Twilight on a train.  Enjoy your Twilight on a plane.  Read it, love it, here and there.  Read and love it everywhere!  Above all, read.

Besides, Twilight readers may eventually find their way to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and that can only be a good thing.