The Twilight Saga – A Critique

The Twilight Saga is a gateway drug… lowering inhibitions and desensitizing.  It creates a fantasy world where girls experience Edward’s advances vicariously within their own imaginations.  My review follows:

“The apple on the cover of Twilight represents ‘forbidden fruit.’ I used the scripture from Genesis (located just after the table of contents) because I loved the phrase ‘the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.’ Isn’t this exactly what Bella ends up with? A working knowledge of what good is, and what evil is.” 

- Stephenie Meyer, author of The Twilight Saga

 

“The prohibition against eating ‘of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ spells this out: ‘for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die’.”

- Catechism of the Catholic Church #396

What would you say if your high school aged daughter told you she was dating a vampire who had to fight the urge to kill her and suck her blood every time they were together?  And you thought dating a football player was bad enough!  If you were a sensible parent you would intervene and end the relationship, fearing that it might end in tragedy.  In fact, you would have an obligation to protect your daughter from the danger she was unwilling to recognize.  Your love for her would compel you.  So, what would you say if I told you your high school age daughter really is dating a vampire, vicariously, by reading The Twilight Saga?  Oh come on – you might think – it’s not the same thing at all.  The story is just a fantasy.  What’s the big deal?  Nobody is really getting hurt here.  Or are they?

Anyone who reads The Twilight Saga will notice that the story is full of disturbing things.  The main character Bella is in a romantic relationship with a vampire, Edward, who does have to fight the urge to kill her and suck her blood every time they are together.  She doesn’t tell people when they go out alone together, because she doesn’t want him to get in trouble if she never comes home.  How romantic!  When Edward leaves for a time, Bella begins indulging in reckless behavior which can cause her death.   She does this because it enables her to imagine Edward’s voice reprimanding her, which makes her feel like he cares.  She notices that she is becoming an adept liar due to the complicated nature of their relationship.  Their physical involvement damages her body and covers her in bruises because he has super human strength.  Carrying a half human/half vampire baby breaks her ribs and spine, covers her in yet more bruises and leads her to the frequent practice of drinking human blood out of a styrofoam cup to keep the unborn baby’s thirst satiated.  Meanwhile, Bella’s beloved Edward tries to persuade her to abort the child and consent to be impregnated by their friend Jacob instead, since Jacob’s child would not cause her the same difficulties.  Jacob’s response to this suggestion?  “Impossible.  Wrong.  Sick.  Borrowing Bella for the weekends and then returning her Monday morning like a rental movie?  So messed up.  So tempting.  I didn’t want to consider, didn’t want to imagine but the images came anyway…” (Breaking Dawn, p.181)  Jacob offers his services to Bella, to which she responds “‘There isn’t much you wouldn’t do for me, either, is there…I really don’t know why you bother.  I don’t deserve either of you.’” (Breaking Dawn, p.196)  

 

If there is anything striking in The Twilight Saga it is Bella’s seemingly total lack of a sense of her own dignity and worth.  Ultimately, she is killed during the delivery of Edward’s child because the vampire baby eats its way out of her body.  She is then reanimated by vampire venom which allows her to go on living – not as a human, but as a vampire.  This requires the surrender of her human soul, which she willingly relinquishes because, as she says earlier to the already damned Edward “You can’t make me go somewhere you won’t be…That’s my definition of hell.”  (Eclipse, p.455) And of course, it is Bella’s definition of hell that matters, right?  She defines her own reality.  She has decided that it is Edward who gives her life any sense of meaning or purpose even though their relationship has quite literally turned her into a monster.  In spite of all this, the series ends with Chapter 39 of Breaking Dawn entitled “The Happily Ever After”.  The only way we can be driven to accept the title of the ending is to confess with Bella in Twilight “I’ve always been good at repressing unpleasant things” (p.169).

And repressing unpleasant things is exactly what many are doing in response to The Twilight Saga.  Some are praising the series.   Phrases like “old fashioned morals” are being used to describe the content.  Bella and Edward’s relationship has been called a chaste courtship because they do not consummate it until after they are married.   We parents are meant to be happy about this, placated by the fact that our teen daughters will not be reading the most erotic scenes until the fourth book.  Isn’t that laudable?  But honestly, what effort is being made at living chastely in the first three volumes when the couple repeatedly place themselves in occasions of sin and then act on their impulses?  Edward sneaks into the house without her father’s knowledge and lies in bed with her all night long – every night!  Old fashioned?  Chaste?  The descriptions certainly aren’t. Meyer relates these at times in disturbing detail.  While we’re pretending the couple’s behavior is chaste, we may as well pretend it is prudent, honest and obedient.  There is a reason Bella’s father would not allow this behavior if he knew about it.   Why should our daughters play along?  

Edward is lauded by many for his self control because he seems to have a handle on his sexual desire and his blood lust, cutting things off at just the right moment.  Repeatedly.  This fact is meant to be proof of his love for Bella.  Let’s grant for the sake of argument that it would even be possible to habitually dance on the edge of a cliff, teeter a bit, but regain balance just prior to falling off.  Is this kind of control consistent with Edward’s character?  He gives in to his desire to pursue a relationship with Bella saying “I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.”  (Twilight, p.87) He then goes on to say “I got tired of trying to stay away from you.  So I’m giving up… Yes – giving up trying to be good.  I’m just going to do what I want now, and let the chips fall where they may… But I am warning you now that I am not a good friend for you.”  (Twilight p.88) He constantly tells Bella how bad he is for her but keeps showing up anyway.  If he tells her how bad he is before he gets physical with her, does it somehow make him noble?   No.  If he was truly a hero, there would be no Twilight Saga because he would have left her in peace.  But he doesn’t suck Bella’s blood!  Isn’t that great?  No.  He may not kill her with his fangs, but their relationship does cause her death – both physical and spiritual.  But he tries to discourage her from becoming a vampire because she will lose her soul!  Yes, and then he agrees to it as long as she will marry him first.  He acknowledges “Bella’s life means nothing to her” (Breaking Dawn, p.181) and takes great advantage of that fact.  This is not love and Edward is not a good friend for Bella.  He is not a good friend for our daughters, either.

 

So, what about Bella?  If the relationship between Bella and Edward is not one of love, then what is it?  Her friend Jacob describes her as “a classic martyr.  She’d totally been born in the wrong century.  She should have lived back when she could have gotten herself fed to some lions for a good cause.” (Breaking Dawn, p.187)  But what is a martyr?  A martyr is a witness.  And what witness does Bella give?  Is she heroic?  No.  She is a girl who will do what it takes to get what she wants in spite of the cost.  She uses and is used.  Sometimes she suffers, sometimes she causes others to suffer.  Either is of no consequence to her.  That is not heroism, that is selfishness.  Some people endure incredible personal suffering to get a face lift, but it doesn’t mean getting a face lift is heroic!  Bella exercises her right to choose and does so badly, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.  There is no “good cause” Bella sacrifices for – only her own will.   As it says in the Catechism regarding Original Sin and the eating of the forbidden fruit: “In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him.  He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good…’” (CCC #398)  She eats the forbidden fruit, but unlike Adam and Eve, her eyes are not opened and she does not feel shame.  Her death is simply called “The Happily Ever After”.  This is one fantasy our daughters can do without.

  *For an example of a true gentleman, visit my new post “A YOUNG MAN OF HEROIC VIRTUE”*

A Response to Deekin Chip

Dear Deekin Chip -

Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you.  I put my response to you on the back burner, knowing it would take some time – and then I forgot about it!  Fortunately, Thankful Mom in the comment section reminded me to get back to it.

The first thing I want to confirm is that I have read all 4 books and seen the movie.

All I have time for today is to address the question of Jacob – I say Jacob lusts, you say he doesn’t.

For the sake of representing you accurately, I will quote the text of your comment here:
Jacob doesn’t “lust” after Bella; in fact, his is a ridiculously puppy-dog infatuation until the changes come to him later in the series (won’t spoil the plot for anyone who hasn’t read past Twilight). But his devotion to her is absolute, and chaste, except for the rare occasion that he makes a (bad) decision out of emotion instead of logic. There is nothing sexual about Jacob’s attraction as depicted in the books (or in the movie, as far as I remember).

First – you have used some pretty strong language to support Jacob.  You say his devotion to Bella is absolute and chaste, except on rare occasions (which would mean that it is not quite absolute) – AND that there is “nothing sexual about Jacob’s attraction” depicted in the books.

I’ll present to readers here why I think your assessment is inaccurate.

How about in Breaking Dawn, p.181 – when Edward has proposed the idea of allowing Jacob to “share” Bella and impregnate her so that she does not have to carry Edward’s half-vampire children?  What is Jacob’s response?

“I didn’t want to consider, didn’t want to imagine, but the images came anyway.  I’d fantasized about Bella that way too many times, back when there was still a possibility of us, and then long after it was clear that the fantasies would only leave festering sores because there was no possibility, none at all.  I hadn’t been able to help myself then.  I couldn’t stop myself now.  Bella in my arms, Bella sighing my name…”

Or how about Jacob’s reaction when Bella’s clothes are ripped off for medical reasons during the horrific delivery of her child? (This pregnancy required Bella to drink human blood to keep the child alive – and the child subsequently ate her way out of Bella, killing her in the process – at which point Bella was “turned” into a vampire.)

“How many times had I imagined her naked? Now I couldn’t look.  I was afraid to have these memories in my head.” (Breaking Dawn, p.349)

Jacob doesn’t want the grotesque-naked-Bella images (which are real, by the way) messing with his fantasy-naked-Bella images. I am making an assumption here from the words of Christ - ”Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28) that these statements of Jacob are sufficient to show his lust, but I will take things a little further.

How about the “Tent Scene” raved about by girls on fan sites?  (The “Tent Scene” is in Chapter 22 of Eclipse. To give a little back story here – Edward the vampire is always cold.  Jacob the warewolf is always hot.  They are stuck out in a tent together with Bella, who is freezing… So, Jacob decides to get into her sleeping bag with her and zip it up… to keep her warm, of course.  To understand these excerpts, you need to know that Edward has the ability to read thoughts…)  Here are some excerpts:

p. 491 – “He crammed his body into the nonexistent space, forcing the zipper up behind himself.  And then I couldn’t object – I didn’t want to anymore.  He was so warm.  His arms constricted around me, holding me snugly against his bare chest.  The heat was irresistible, like air after being underwater for too long.  He cringed when I pressed my icy fingers eagerly against his skin.  ’Jeez, your freezing, Bella,’ he complained.  ’S-s-s-s-sorry,’ I stuttered.  ’Try to relax,’ he suggested as another shiver rippled through me violently. ‘You’ll be warm in a minute.  Of course, you’d warm up faster if you took your clothes off.’  Edward growled sharply…”

p. 494 – “‘Perfect.  Now you can keep an eye on everything else, while I take care of your girlfriend for you’…
‘Please!’ Edward hissed.  ’Do you mind!’
‘What?’ Jacob whispered back, his tone surprised.
‘Do you think you could attempt to control your thoughts?’  Edward’s low whisper was furious.
‘No one said you had to listen,’ Jacob muttered, defiant, yet still embarrassed.  ’Get out of my head.’
‘I wish I could.  You have no idea how loud your little fantasies are.  It is like you are shouting them at me.’
‘I’ll try to keep it down,’ Jacob whispered sarcastically.”

p.504 – “‘Sleep well, Jacob, ‘ Edward murmured.  ’Enjoy the moment.’
It was quiet again, and the tent held still for a few minutes.  The wind seemed to have decided that it wasn’t going to flatten us after all, and was giving up the fight.  Edward groaned softly.  ’I didn’t mean that quite so literally.’
‘Sorry,’ Jacob whispered.  ’You could leave, you know – give us a little privacy.’…
Edward started humming to himself, louder than usual – trying to drown out Jacob’s thoughts, I assumed.”

Then, we have a later scene between Bella and Jacob, where Jacob is heading off to a fight, and Bella asks for a kiss (yes – she who claims to be hopelessly in love with Edward is playing Jacob at the same time).  WARNING – the following passage has the type of eroticism that I don’t think vulnerable persons should be exposed to.  Please skip it if you have any doubt in your mind as to whether you can read further without it causing you difficulties:

Eclipse, p.525 – “Jacob rocked back on his heels, and then lurched forward, closing the distance between us in three long strides.  I knew he would take advantage of the situation.  I expected it.  I held very still – my eyes closed, my fingers curled up into fists at my sides – as his hands caught my face and his lips found mine with an eagerness that was not far from violence.
I could feel his anger as his mouth discovered my passive resistance.  One hand moved to the nape of my neck, twisting into a fist around the roots of my hair.  The other hand grabbed roughly at my shoulder, shaking me, then dragging me to him.  His hand continued down my arm, finding my wrist and pulling my arm up around his neck.  I left it there, my hand still tightly balled up, unsure how far I could go in my desperation to keep him alive.  All the while his lips, disconcertingly soft and warm, tried to force a response out of mine.
As soon as he was sure I wouldn’t drop my arm, he freed my wrist, his hand feeling its way down to my waist.  His burning hand found the skin in the small of my back, and he yanked me forward, bowing my body against his.
His lips gave up on mine for a moment, but I knew he was nowhere close to finished.  His mouth followed the line of my jaw, and then explored the length of my neck.  He freed my hair, reaching for my other arm to draw it around his neck like the first.  Then both of his arms were constricted around my waist, and his lips found my ear.
‘You can do better than this, Bella,” he whispered huskily.  ’You’re overthinking it.”…
p. 527 “My arms were already  around his neck, so I grabbed two fistfuls of his hair…struggling to pull my face away from his.  And Jacob misunderstood.  He was too strong to recognize that my hands, trying to yank his hair out by the roots, meant to cause him pain. Instead of anger, he imagined passion. (Ed. note – Isn’t it interesting here that Jacob’s fantasizing plays a role in his misinterpretation of reality?)  He thought I was finally responding to him.  With a wild gasp, he brought his mouth back to mine, his fingers clutching frantically against the skin at my waist… But the utter defenselessness of his sudden joy cracked my determination, disabled it.  My brain disconnected from my body, and I was kissing him back.  Against all reason, my lips were moving with his in a strange, confusing way they’d never moved before – because I didn’t have to be careful with Jacob and he certainly wasn’t being careful with me. (Ed. note – this reference to being “careful” refers to Bella’s relationship with Edward.  They have to be “careful” in their passion – not because it would be immoral to use each other for pleasure – but because Edward has super-human vampire strength which could kill her if he got carried away.) My fingers tightened in his hair, but I was pulling him closer now….”

Bella does come to her senses and stop, and they share a final, less passionate kiss before Jacob leaves.

As I said above, that is all I have time for today.

Now – let the readers decide:  does Jacob lust, or doesn’t he?  This is a vital question.  We need to be able to recognize lust.  Why?  Because sexual fantasizing is grave matter – meaning that if it is undertaken with full knowledge and full consent, it is mortally sinful.   Actions like Jacob’s in the “Tent Scene” (and elsewhere…) could send a person to hell for eternity.   An eternity in hell for that?  Why?  Because such actions are not loving.  They are selfish.  Think about it – Bella is freezing to death, and this supposedly noble young man exploits her vulnerability completely by indulging in sexual fantasies all night while she is close to him.  This is not loving. Using another – and in this case using another at a time of extreme vulnerability – for selfish pleasure is an abuse of human dignity. The degree of selfishness here would kill the life of Christ in the soul.  This is not absolute or chaste devotion akin to the love of Christ.

These matters should not be treated lightly.  What do you think?

Pope John Paul II and Joanna Krupa’s nonsense….

I’ve seen a lots of people try to justify inappropriate behavior – but this is one of the worst I have ever seen.

Joanna Krupa – a Polish “supermodel” – is trying to use Pope John Paul II to justify her involvement in pornography!

Fox News uses the following headline:

“Krupa’s Pics Pope-Approved?

Polish swimsuit star Joanna Krupa says Polish pope approved toplessness” 

Here is an excerpt from the Fox News article:

“It should come as no surprise that Joanna Krupa is comfortable removing her clothes. 

The Polish-born beauty is one of the most Googled gals on the internet, has been named the “Sexiest Swimsuit Model in the World” by Playboy, and graced the cover of almost every men’s magazine on the planet, from Maxim to Esquire to GQ.

But did you know the first Polish pope was involved in her frequent disrobing?  (Ed. note – That statement is outrageous.  This is is meant to be – wink wink –  salacious.  It is irresponsible journalism.)

“I think worrying about going topless in a photo shoot or film is really ridiculous,” Krupa told FOXNews.com in an exclusive interview. “And the fact is Pope John Paul said, since we were born naked, it is art, and it’s just showing a beautiful body that God created.”  (The FACT is that Pope John Paul II has never said that.  Shouldn’t a responsible journalist check into what the Pope has actually said?  Follow the link at the bottom of this post to Steve Kellmeyer’s article, “The Naked Truth” to see what the Pope actually teaches in the Theology of the Body.)

Amen.

“I was born in Europe, and Europeans have a more casual, natural way of dealing with nudity,” Krupa adds. “Interestingly enough, these days, you see nudity and toplessness in almost every critically acclaimed movie, and whenever I pick up a French Vogue, I see bare breasts, and French Vogue still sets the standards.”

And even though Krupa is in an industry where so many sleep their way to-the-top, she says she has never once sacrificed her moral integrity to land a job.  (Ms. Krupa has a lack of self-awareness.)

“I can tell you that I am very proud that everything I have achieved to date has happened due to the hard work of my team and myself,” she said. “I was never tempted to give in because I have always been in committed relationships (?), and take the word ‘committed’ very seriously.” (Which is why she uses the plural “relationships”?)

What has Pope John Paul II REALLY said regarding this kind of exploitation of women?

Here’s an excerpt from #14 of his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women) available online here.

“After original sin, contrary forces are at work in man and woman as a result of the threefold concupiscence, the “stimulus of sin”. They act from deep within the human being. Thus Jesus will say in the Sermon on the Mount:“Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28). These words, addressed directly to man, show the fundamental truth of his responsibility vis-a-vis woman: her dignity, her motherhood, her vocation. But indirectly these words concern the woman. Christ did everything possible to ensure that – in the context of the customs and social relationships of that time – women would find in his teaching and actions their own subjectivity and dignity. On the basis of the eternal “unity of the two”, this dignity directly depends on woman herself, as a subject responsible for herself, and at the same time it is “given as a task” to man. Christ logically appeals to man’s responsibility. In the present meditation on women’s dignity and vocation, it is necessary that we refer to the context which we find in the Gospel. The dignity and the vocation of women – as well as those of men – find their eternal source in the heart of God. And in the temporal conditions of human existence, they are closely connected with the “unity of the two”. Consequently each man must look within himself to see whether she who was entrusted to him as a sister in humanity, as a spouse, has not become in his heart an object of adultery; to see whether she who, in different ways, is the cosubject of his existence in the world, has not become for him an “object”: an object of pleasure, of exploitation.”

Jesus said – any man who looks lustfully at a woman has committed adultery with her in his heart.  This is treating a woman as an object of pleasure and exploitation.  A woman is a subject responsible for herself – if she places herself in the position of an object of adultery, she is responsible for that.

Anyone who has any familiarity with the Theology of the Body whatsoever would know, without question, that Pope John Paul II would never, ever advocate pornography!   For an excellent analysis of this and a much fuller explanation of the teachings of Pope John Paul II on nudity, see the following by Steve Kellmeyer: The Naked Truth. 

Selfishness vs. Love

Today, my son wanted to watch “A Muppet Christmas Christmas Carol”.
True – it is almost April – but it is also two days since the Solemnity of the Annunciation, when we celebrate the Word becoming flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  That means it is only 9 months ’til Christmas!
Also – it is a Friday in Lent.  A penitential day.  A day to reflect on our own sins.  It is actually a great day to watch “A Muppet Christmas Carol”!  Ebeneezer Scrooge undergoes a process of conversion which prompts us to think about ourselves.

Currently, readers of the blog are engaged in a pretty intense debate in the comment section of the page devoted to alerting readers to the dangers of indulging in fantasy.  (See here.)  I’d like to move this discussion over to a new post, and I want to direct the attention of the participants to a specific topic – that being, selfishness vs. love.

Anyone who knows A Christmas Carol (and the Muppet version is my favorite) knows that Ebeneezer Scrooge is a very unattractive character at the beginning of the story.  He is, truly, the epitome of a selfish man.  You may say that he views those around him as parasites – and therefore treats them accordingly.  Ebeneezer is not a happy man, though, in spite of a life dedicated to taking care of #1.  Part of living in community is recognizing that we all need one another.  Individualism is not a virtue.  Ebeneezer cannot see that at the beginning of the story.

During the night, he is visited by the souls of a couple of his damned friends, but also by three different spirits – the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.  It is interesting to notice that the ghosts do not sit down and argue with Ebeneezer.  They show him reality.  Is this emotional manipulation?  Of course not.  Emotion is a necessary part of human existence.  It can enable us to experience sorrow, but it also enables us to experience joy.  Putting a brick wall up around our heart (our emotional center) may protect us from certain sorrows, but it also makes us incapable of joy.  It is like eliminating the nerves that enable us to distinguish between hot and cold.  You can’t just feel hot things and not cold things.  If you lose your ability to distinguish, you can’t feel either.

So – Ebeneezer is shown the ramifications of his decisions.  Selfish decisions.  They have cut him off from the rest of the community.  He is particularly moved by his encounter with the Cratchett family.  Tiny Tim – a little crippled boy (or frog, if you are watching the Muppet version) could be considered a parasitic individual.  He takes and takes… can’t even walk home on his own.  What is it that makes Tiny Tim a person?  Does he have human dignity because his parents (Kermit and Miss Piggy) want him?  What is it about seeing Tiny Tim interact with his family that has such a profound effect on Ebeneezer?  Could it be precisely the fact that the Cratchett family love Tiny Tim?  That they see a dignity in him that is utterly beyond their ability to ascribe to him based on their wants?  That Tiny Tim is intrinsically worthy of love?

Perhaps Ebeneezer has never encountered something like that up close before.  If he had, perhaps he had written it off as emotional manipulation or sentamentalism.  Maybe it took an examination of his own life, and the context of his own failures and hurts, to put things sufficiently on the line for Ebeneezer to have his eyes opened.  The world did not change on the night Ebeneezer had this experience.  Ebeneezer changed.  He had been blind, but he – through the aid of others – discovered his sight. 

So – this brings us to love vs. selfishness.  

Love will sacrifice for the sake of the beloved.  In some cases, the only loving thing to do is to walk away from a relationship if it will harm the beloved.  This is why I have argued all along that Edward does not love Bella.  He fundamental decision is to use her for personal satisfaction in spite of where he can see it leading (ultimately Bella becoming a vampire, the hideous pregnancy, etc.).  Theirs is a relationship of obsession.

I think a lot of people reading the series do not see this because they may be experiencing similar challenges themselves – having emotional needs that they are trying to meet through fantasy (which is where the other post comes in).  The Twilight Saga is harmful to a person in that situation.

So – let’s have a discussion of love vs. selfishness.

What is love?  How do we define it?  How do we live it?

March 25, 2009 – Feast of the Annunciation – God becomes an embryo

On March 25th, we celebrate an incredible feast – a Solemnity, in fact – the Annunciation.  At Mary’s “Yes”, all of creation will never be the same.  God becomes man.  Not a full grown, strong, independent, self-reliant fellow… but, a vulnerable embryo, entrusted to this young woman to nurture and protect.  What does this say about the love of God for us?  What does this say about human dignity? Can anyone tell me, from the other posts on this site, how this conflicts with the values presented in Twilight?  (I’m referring to anti-human statements and Meyer’s attitude toward weakness and vulnerability.)

Fr. Z has this to say:
This is the very Feast of the Incarnation.

Today we celebrate that moment when our Lord elevated our humanity by taking our human nature into an indestructible bond with His Divinity.  In the Incarnation God opened for us the path to “divinization”, His sharing of something of His own divine glory with us in the eternal happiness of heaven.

In the sin of our First Parents, offending God and loosing so many of our gifts, the whole human race sinned.  In justice a human being had to correct the offense, but such a correction was entirely impossible for a mere mortal human.  Such a correction required the intervention of one who was both man and God.

He’s only getting started.  Please read the rest here.

Also, check out what Pope Benedict has to say in this article from Zenit: 
POPE: WOMEN CRUCIAL TO UPHOLDING HUMAN RIGHTS
…The Pontiff called the congress “an exemplary response” to Pope John Paul II’s “call for a ‘new feminism’ with the power to transform culture, imbuing it with a decisive respect for life.”

Faced to the many ways in which life is compromised, especially in “its most vulnerable stages,” he said, there must be a “positive and proactive response.”

He continued: “The recognition and appreciation of God’s plan for women in the transmission of life and”
“The nurturing of children is a constructive step in this direction,” he added.

“Beyond this, and given the distinctive influence of women in society, they must be encouraged to embrace the opportunity to uphold the dignity of life through their involvement in education and their participation in political and civic life.”

The Holy Father asserted that “because they have been gifted by the Creator with a unique ‘capacity for the other,’ women have a crucial part to play in the promotion of human rights, for without their voice the social fabric of society would be weakened.” 

Ladies – we really need to check out what the Church is teaching here.  The Holy Father is telling you that you have the power to transform culture by your decisions in favor of the most vulnerable.  This means cultivating love instead of selfishness.  Avoid wasting time on fantasy!  There is a real world in need of your loving presence.  Spend your time wisely, forming yourself in virtue.  If young women (and older ones, too) are, en masse, wasting their time fantasizing about fictitious vampires and warewolves – their voices are lost.  The social fabric of society will be weakened.  Stay alert and be sober.  You are crucial to ensuring a “positive and proactive” response to the threats to human life so starkly facing us today.

Chicago Twilight Convention – Promoter of the Occult

Over the weekend (Feb. 6/7/8), we had a Twilight Convention here in Chicago.  If you are wondering if The Twilight Saga is a gateway into the occult, have a look at some of the speakers crammed in between meet and greets with stars from the Twilight movie and discussions of the movies to come:    
12:30 PM – 1:00PM     Modern Vampirism in Practice & Culture  - Presented by Sebastiaan T. van Houten
Sebastiaan T. van Houten
Sebastiaan is one of the central personalities of the Vampyre/vampire subculture. He joined the community in 1992, an is now known as an authority on Vampyrism, fangsmithing and Strigoi Vii. Sebastiaan is the founder of a number of businesses & organizations including Sabretooth, Endless Night Productions and The Sanguinarium. He has appeared in numerous TV shows, documentaries and publications, including A&E, CNNfn, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, USA, MTV, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, The Financial Times, InStyle Magazine, Glamour & Skin Two.  Sebastiaan is featured in National Vampire.               

 

Want to know more about “The Sanguinarium“?
“The Sanguinarium was a network, community and resource for the vampyre subculture and scene founded in 1995 by Father Sebastian as Clan Sabretooth in New York’s underground club scene.  Inspired by the “vampire connection” of vampire bars, nightclubs and safehouses founded in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, the Sanguinarium serves to bring this vision to life as a real “Vampyre Connection”.  It has expanded to include organizations, businesses, havens and individual members who are united under a code of ethics and morality known as The Black Veil (a.k.a. The Thirteen Rules of the Community).  Although officially disbanded as an actual organization in 2002, the Sanguinarium continues to exist in practice. Anyone, including individuals and Houses, using the terminology and concepts provided by the founders, movers and shakers of the Sanguinarium is considered by them to be a part of the Sanguinarium, and now the Strigoii Vii.                 

The manifesto found on their web page states:

The Sanguinarium is a network of individuals, social organizations and businesses for which the vampyre/vampire is a metaphor, representing a community interest in fetishism, the Occult, theatrics, art, lore as well as individual and spiritual expression and exploration . . . The Sanguinarium’s final goal and purpose is to bring together all people who enjoy and find pleasure in darkness, occult, vampyrism and dark fetishism.

Father Sebastian (formerly known as Father Todd) operates the Vampyre Almanac, which produces and promotes many club events, publishes and promotes various documents and books, and provides publicity for the Vampyre subculture and BDSM/fetish scene, often mingling the two to provide a unique aesthetic. The newest venture to hit the scene is the Ordo Strigoii Vii (OSV), which is a dark spiritual pathway and Vampyric religion designed for the Vampyre subculture. The OSV is a recognized church in Amsterdam and is supported by the Church of Satan. 

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM  Vampires – The Creatures of the Night
 A slide presentation for all ages by Martin V. Riccardo – the Director of Vampire Studies

Martin V. Riccardo

Martin V. Riccardo is a behavioral hypnotist and the director of Vampire Studies, an information center for vampire fans, which he founded in 1977. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today in relation to his vampire research. Mr. Riccardo has written several books on vampires and many magazine articles. He has communicated with thousands of vampire fans over the years and is one of the cultural experts consulted in National Vampire.  Founded in Chicago in 1977 as the Vampire Studies Society by Martin V. Riccardo, the organization was the first vampire fan club to use the word “vampire” in its name (there had previously been several organizations built around Dracula). For several years the society published a Journal of Vampirism. The word “society” was dropped in 1990 and Vampire Studies now exists as a correspondence network and information clearing-house for people interested in all aspects of vampire lore. 
 

Here is Amazon’s description of his latest book, Liquid Dreams of Vampires: The vampire is a mutable creature that has gone from the embodiment of evil in folklore to the epitome of the last romantic and erotic taboos of the 20th century. Riccardo explores the role of the modern vampire by gathering personal accounts of dreams, nightmares, and fantasies involving these shadowy blood drinkers. The letters he receives range from tame daydreams to erotic storylines and gory confessions. From these memoirs, the image of the fiend is slowly transformed to a surrogate religious figure and a reflection of the repressed darkness within us.                 

Here are some fan reviews of the book:
With his landmark book, Liquid Dreams of Vampires, Martin Riccardo has once again established himself as America’s foremost authority on Vampires and the occult. His previously well researched publications have been invaluable sources of knowledge for not only the causal student interested in the allures of the fanged-fiend, but also for the academic scholar as well. The dreams portrayed in Liquid reflect a wide variety of emotions and experiences, and the author reflects a common-sense approach to deciphering their meanings. While most people may not have had the nightmarish sensation of a Vampire at their neck, the book does reflect a sense of the unknown everyone can relate to. Seeking the Vampire, like truth itself, goes on . . . 
And another:
Mr. Riccardo relates the fantasies, daydreams, nocturnal dreams, real-life experiences and realities of current living vampires and their victims (victim is a harsh word in most cases). I had been checking out vampire sites for sometime when someone recommended this book. I thought I was in the minority regarding my “vampire” dreams, but I see that there are many others who have had very similar experiences, including the physical manifestation of bite marks (perhaps psychosomatic, perhaps not). I believe that anyone who is interested in vampirism or is a vampire should get the book and read it with an open mind. Many sanguinarian (blood-drinkers) today do not believe that vampirism is transmitted from vampire-to-vampire, but that one is born with vampirism. Perhaps both are true. 
and one more:
So far Liquid Dreams of Vampires is the best book about Vampires that I’ve ever read. Some of the stories are very erotic & informative. This is a book that you’ll never forget! 

So, what does Mr. Riccardo do in his spare time?
Martin V. Riccardo has been lecturing on the subject of vampires for numerous libraries, bookstores, and organizations since 1977.   Like in Forrest Park – see story here.  So, what does Mr. Riccardo have to say about his lecturing?  “Riccardo hopes people who attend his all-ages friendly slide show just have fun with the fantasy image of the vampire and the vicarious thrill of being frightened.”         

Yeah.  I bet. 
PARENTS – WHERE IS THE TWILIGHT SAGA LEADING YOUR CHILDREN?

For an exorcist’s view on Twilight, click here.

 

 

Twilight Deemed Dangerous by Exorcist

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International and an exorcist, spoke last Sunday in Essington, PA on Exorcism and Spiritual Warfare. He made direct reference to Twilight.  
Read an excerpt from an article in The Bulletin:
“Fr. Euteneuer explained the basic exorcism procedure, and the tactics the devil uses to possess a person. The first tactic relies on seduction, trying to get the victim to invite him into their lives.
‘Most people with demonic problems have opened a door somewhere,’ said Fr. Euteneuer. He cited the popularity of the occult in bringing people closer to demonic interaction, primarily through the growth of the New Age movement and other paraphernalia. He said that even Hasbro markets Ouija boards to children.
‘I’m very set against Harry Potter,’ he said. ‘It’s pumping into our children’s minds the language and imagery of the occult. It’s extremely spiritually dangerous.’
He also called attention to a growing fascination with the cult of the vampire, especially through the popularity of books and movies like Twilight, where the main character falls in love with a vampire.
‘I predict that in the next 10 years or so, we’ll see an explosion of occult activity,’ said Fr. Euteneuer. ‘The number of soft-core occultism in the form of things like Harry Potter, Wicca and the New Age is on the increase. These are the gateways to the hardcore stuff. Ask any inner-city police department if they’re seeing evidence of Satanism. They’re organizing whole task forces to deal with crimes having to do with these things. As society becomes more faithless, this wickedness comes and fills the vacuum.’”
 See the entire article here.

CHICAGO’S TWILIGHT CONVENTION FEB. 6, 7, 8 was promoting the occult.  Click here for the evidence.

It’s How Guys Do Fancy

Here is an excellent post... read it here: “It’s How Guys Do Fancy”.
 The author of the critique of this commercial has good things to say about the respect we should be showing one another – even in our dating relationships. I would add that the woman in the commercial – although dressed to impress – could have shown more respect to her boyfriend by dressing more modestly.

Girls – men like the author of this post are out there.  Don’t settle for an Edward! 

Please pay a visit to www.truemanhood.wordpress.com

January 21st – the Feast of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

Today’s Office of Readings:

On Virgins by Saint Ambrose, bishop
Too young to be punished, yet old enough for a martyr’s crown
Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. It is the birthday of Saint Agnes, who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve. The cruelty that did not spare her youth shows all the more clearly the power of faith in finding one so young to bear it witness. There was little or no room in that small body for a wound. Though she could scarcely receive the blow, she could rise superior to it. Girls of her age cannot bear even their parents’ frowns and, pricked by a needle, weep as for a serious wound. Yet she shows no fear of the blood-stained hands of her executioners. She stands undaunted by heavy, clanking chains. She offers her whole body to be put to the sword by fierce soldiers. She is too young to know of death, yet is ready to face it. Dragged against her will to the altars, she stretches out her hands to the Lord in the midst of the flames, making the triumphant sign of Christ the victor on the altars of sacrilege. She puts her neck and hands in iron chains, but no chain can hold fast her tiny limbs. A new kind of martyrdom! Too young to be punished, yet old enough for a martyr’s crown; unfitted for the contest, yet effortless in victory, she shows herself a master in valour despite the handicap of youth. As a bride she would not be hastening to join her husband with the same joy she shows as a virgin on her way to punishment, crowned not with flowers but with holiness of life, adorned not with braided hair but with Christ himself. In the midst of tears, she sheds no tears herself. The crowds marvel at her recklessness in throwing away her life untasted, as if she had already lived life to the full. All are amazed that one not yet of legal age can give her testimony to God. So she succeeds in convincing others of her testimony about God, though her testimony in human affairs could not yet be accepted. What is beyond the power of nature, they argue, must come from its creator.  What menaces there were from the executioner, to frighten her; what promises made, to win her over; what influential people desired her in marriage! She answered: “To hope that any other will please me does wrong to my Spouse. I will be his who first chose me for himself. Executioner, why do you delay? If eyes that I do not want can desire this body, then let it perish.” She stood still, she prayed, she offered her neck. You could see fear in the eyes of the executioner, as if he were the one condemned; his right hand trembled, his face grew pale as he saw the girl’s peril, while she had no fear for herself. One victim, but a twin martyrdom, to modesty and to religion; Agnes preserved her virginity, and gained a martyr’s crown.

For more details on St. Agnes, visit Fr. Z here.

IMPORTANT: Do girls need “fantasy”?

The most common objection I face when critiquing the Twilight Saga is “it’s only fantasy!”  In other words, any of the disturbing questions raised about the series are irrelevant and need not be addressed because the genre  of “fantasy” makes them intrinsically harmless.

Is this true?  Let’s look more closely at “fantasy”. 

“fantasy” - 

1. The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy. 
2. An imagined event or sequence of mental images, such as a daydream, usually fulfilling a wish or psychological need.

If we look at the uses of the word “fantasy” given above, how would we apply them to The Twilight Saga?  Well, it seems #1 could be applied to Meyer herself – the experience of writing the series.  I would say that #2 is what fans often engage in when reading or thinking about the series.  (For those who enjoy the series, I would ask if you think #2 applies.)

Now, have a look at this assessment 
by Steven Earll, MA, MS. LPC, LAC in his article Signs of Trouble: Five Criteria for Addiction Assessment :

Fantasy

“All addictions and compulsions involve fantasy. If an addiction or a compulsion does not divert a person’s mind from reality, it’s not worth doing. For the addicted person—or the person starting down addiction’s path—life’s stresses often feel overwhelming or unbearable. Fantasy is a method of survival that allows mental escape from pressures.
Fantasy creates excitement and anticipation, which, in turn, often triggers an addiction episode. James 1:13-15 is an excellent description of addiction. 
When tempted, no one should say “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire (fantasy), he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
People are enticed by their own desires, or fantasies, which stimulate the need to act out the addictive behavior. When fantasy is nurtured, it takes on a life of its own. The fantasy about engaging in the addictive act and the emotional rewards resulting from the addiction behavior become a preoccupation. This preoccupation is so strong that many times it triggers physiological responses in the brain and body.
In other words, what people think about, their bodies treat as real. The addict begins to physically respond to the addiction when they fantasize about the physical act involved. A sex addict will experience excitement and arousal by thinking about a sexual encounter or anticipating looking at pornography. A drug addict can begin to feel the warmth and euphoria of intoxication by anticipating the drug use. Preoccupation about food can turn off the physical hunger response of an anorexic. The hardest part of recovery from an addiction is taming the mind and controlling the fantasy process. The power of fantasy is the enduring power of addiction.”

Fantasy is not intrinsically harmless.   But The Twilight Saga – please – how bad can this be?  Let’s recall our attention to comments by Robert Pattinson, star of the movie version of Twilight, regarding the reaction he is receiving:
“How is the Twilight fandom is different from the Harry Potter movies? I think you’ve mentioned that the sound of the screams is even different.
It’s different because I think it’s almost solely females of a certain age group, and they have a very specific tone. It’s much more to do with the sort of sexuality aspect of it. So many girls made this guy [their ideal], so when they see you it’s like all of their energy is projected onto you. It’s a really strange experience. I’ve never been in an experience where people just want to touch you — it’s like being in a boy band.

Is it weird to have girls that are so young have this incredibly sexualized thing around you?
It’s weird that you get 8-year-old girls coming up to you saying, “Can you just bite me? I want you to bite me.” It is really strange how young the girls are, considering the book is based on the virtues of chastity, but I think it has the opposite effect on its readers though. [Laughs] ”

 

Is this really something to laugh about?  
Well, we have this article by Rob Jackson, MS, LPC, LMHC, NCC which suggests not:

The Growth of Trouble: Q & A with a Female Addict :

“Many of the men I talk to who are addicted to pornography had childhood experiences which “sexualized” them sooner than they might normally have experienced. Did you have any sexualizing events early in your life? 

Anonymous: Yes, several different types, in fact. First of all, my family did not practice much modesty or personal boundaries. I regularly was exposed to my Mom completely undressed and my Dad wearing only his underwear. I remember in third grade even drawing a picture of my Mom naked and getting in trouble at school. I was asked to bring toilet paper to my Dad as he used the bathroom quite often, and used the sink and mirror as he showered behind a translucent shower door. There were many other instances like this, which aroused a great deal of curiosity in me about the human body.
RJ: Did your parents give you any teaching about sexuality?
Anonymous: None at all. The subject was “taboo” and made them very nervous. I learned quickly that you didn’t ask questions about sex at our house. This lack of information coupled with my curiosity seemed to fuel in me a compulsive search for sexual information.
RJ: Where did you find information about sex?
Anonymous: At first I would look up the words “sex” or “reproduction” in every dictionary and encyclopedia I could get my hands on. Then, I discovered a stash of explicit romance novels at my grandmother’s house. Whenever I would spend the night over there, I’d stay up all night just overwhelmed at the feeling I got when I read those passages.
RJ: How old were you at the time you were reading the novels?
Anonymous: About nine or ten, I guess. Some of it I didn’t understand, but there was enough I did understand that I could kind of put the rest together in context. I had grown up seeing my parents and one grandmother watch soap operas religiously every day—I remember the days before I started school, our day’s schedule revolved around it—so the dramatic, romantic stories in the books already had a familiar appeal to me. I was an advanced reader, so I just took to them like a fish to water.
RJ: Did this material cause you to seek pornography in other forms or places?
Anonymous: By the time I was eleven or so, I started babysitting. Every single house I went into, I would search to see if there was any explicit material. Whether it was a medical dictionary at a doctor’s house or more romance novels, I would find them.
…RJ: Did you ever try to act out the things you were seeing?
Anonymous: When I was about eleven, I was approached by an older teenager in my youth group who was kind of a misfit and happened to be overweight and adopted like me. I realize now, as an adult, he was also addicted to pornography. He started telling me how beautiful I was and would offer to “teach” me about sex. I wanted more than anything to be adored like those women in the novels, and, even though I fought off his advances because I knew it was “wrong,” I kept wanting to be with him because I wanted to feel loved. 
After several weeks, he forced himself on me even though I was crying and telling him to stop. Even then I continued to see him because I thought being loved was worth performing sexual acts for him. Of course some of the sexual behavior created pleasurable responses in me, so I almost felt betrayed by my own body because I didn’t want him to do these things to me, but I liked them.”

…And this is where “fantasy” becomes reality.  Harmless?
For more worthwhile discussion in these issues see www.pureintimacy.org 

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Luke 12:34

“What a pity to be killing time when time is a treasure from God!”  - St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge #706

Why Meyer’s claim to be “anti-human” is anti-Christian – the Incarnation

As we approach Christmas, there are some beautiful readings on the Incarnation which give us a real insight into human dignity. Reflecting on them gives us added reason to question the compatibility of the work of Stephenie Meyer with the truths of the Christian Faith.

What exactly does Meyer say about human beings?  It wasn’t until I had read In Love with Death - The Twilight of American fiction By Gina R. Dalfonzo in National Review online (here) that I realized that Meyer claimed to be “anti-human” on her own website.  The relevant quote from the Dalfonzo article here:

“Meyer once retorted to critics who accused her of misogyny, “I am not anti-female; I am anti-human.” Whether she was aware of it or not, this was far more than just a flippant remark. Just like the allegedly positive messages about romance and sexuality, any value that Meyer and her characters place on human life is only on the surface.” 

You see the evidence of this worldview in the books, especially after Bella is “turned” into a vampire.  For example, see Breaking Dawn p.469 when she contrasts her prior “hideous human” face with her new “glorious immortal” vampire face.

Why is such language anti-Christian?

Look at the contrast with the lofty understanding of the human person, especially in light of the Incarnation – when the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word through Whom all things were made, took our human nature in the God-man Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin:

The mystery of our reconciliation with God

“To speak of our Lord, the son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as true and perfect man is of no value to us if we do not believe that he is descended from the line of ancestors set out in the Gospel. Matthew’s gospel begins by setting out the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, and then traces his human descent by bringing his ancestral line down to his mother’s husband, Joseph. On the other hand, Luke traces his parentage backward step by step to the actual father of mankind, to show that both the first and the last Adam share the same nature. No doubt the Son of God in his omnipotence could have taught and sanctified men by appearing to them in a semblance of human form as he did to the patriarchs and prophets, when for instance he engaged in a wrestling contest or entered into conversation with them, or when he accepted their hospitality and even ate the food they set before him. But these appearances were only types, signs that mysteriously foretold the coming of one who would take a true human nature from the stock of the patriarchs who had gone before him. No mere figure, then, fulfilled the mystery of our reconciliation with God, ordained from all eternity. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Virgin nor had the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that within her spotless womb Wisdom might build itself a house and the Word become flesh. The divine nature and the nature of a servant were to be united in one person so that the Creator of time might be born in time, and he through whom all things were made might be brought forth in their midst. For unless the new man, by being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, had taken on himself the nature of our first parents, unless he had stooped to be one in substance with his mother while sharing the Father’s substance and, being alone free from sin, united our nature to his, the whole human race would still be held captive under the dominion of Satan. The Conqueror’s victory would have profited us nothing if the battle had been fought outside our human condition. But through this wonderful blending the mystery of new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth we too might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence the evangelist declares the faithful to have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”    (This is from today’s –  Dec.17 – Office of Readings – A letter of Pope St. Gregory the Great)

 We are born of God.  Created by Him and then re-created through salvation won by the God-man, Jesus Christ.  Christ has bestowed an unparalleled dignity upon us, that we might be called “children of God” – for so we are.  (1 John 3: 1-2).  No human face is hideous.  No Christian can be anti-human. 

Feast of St. Lucy – Virgin and Martyr

Young girls today should remember that it is still possible, with the help of God’s grace, to be an innocent, virtuous and dignified young woman.  

First, lets define our terms.  

Here, we speak of  ”innocent” meaning “uncorrupted by evil, malice, or wrongdoing”.  Who would want to say that they or their daughter, sister, etc. WAS corrupted by evil, malice or wrongdoing?  We should strive for innocence.  

“Virtuous”?  ”Conforming to moral and ethical principles; morally excellent; upright.”  Morality is a positive thing.  We speak of moral “excellence”.  No such thing can be said of immorality.  There is no “immoral excellence”.

“Dignified”?  ”Having or expressing dignity” – “dignity” meaning  ”the quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect.”  Are we worthy of esteem and respect?  Yes.  Why? Because we are created in the image and likeness of God.  To be dignified is to act in a manner consistent with the dignity of our status as a child of God.

Living a true Christian femininity (or masculinity, for that matter) requires the same courage today as it did in the days of the early Christian martyrs.  Here is one example, celebrated today:

 

 

Saint Lucy (d. 304) (detail) 

by Paolo Veranesa (1528-1588)

SAINT LUCY (SANTA LUCIA)

Tradition tells us that Saint Lucy was born of noble, wealthy, Christian parents in Syracuse, Italy. Lucy had few memories of her father, for he died when Lucy was an infant. As a young girl, Lucy took a secret vow to consecrate her virginity to Christ. Thus her mother was quite dismayed when Lucy, as a teen, refused marriage to a young pagan. When Lucy’s mother developed a hemorrhage, Lucy persuaded her to visit the tomb of St. Agatha to pray for healing. When her mother was healed, Lucy revealed her vow of virginity and asked permission to bestow her fortune on the poor. Joyful at her cure, Lucy’s mother agreed, but Lucy’s pagan suitor was incensed. With the persecution of the emperor Diocletian at its height, the jilted young man accused Lucy, before a judge, of being a Christian. When Lucy refused to relinquish her faith, the judge ordered her to a brothel. However, guards who attempted to drag her to the house of sin were unable to budge her. Similarly an attempt to burn Lucy to death failed so she was dispatched by thrusting a sword into her throat. The date of Lucy’s martyrdom was December 13, 304.

(Text from The Confraternity of Penitents – www.penitents.org)

Interview with “Edward” – Robert Pattinson

For those of you who keep arguing that this is just “harmless” and don’t know what the big deal is – WAKE UP!  Here is some (unintentional) proof that something is rotten in the state of Denmark…

 

“How is the Twilight fandom is different from the Harry Potter movies? I think you’ve mentioned that the sound of the screams is even different.
It’s different because I think it’s almost solely females of a certain age group, and they have a very specific tone. It’s much more to do with the sort of sexuality aspect of it. So many girls made this guy [their ideal], so when they see you it’s like all of their energy is projected onto you. It’s a really strange experience. I’ve never been in an experience where people just want to touch you — it’s like being in a boy band.

Is it weird to have girls that are so young have this incredibly sexualized thing around you?
It’s weird that you get 8-year-old girls coming up to you saying, “Can you just bite me? I want you to bite me.” It is really strange how young the girls are, considering the book is based on the virtues of chastity, but I think it has the opposite effect on its readers though. [Laughs]

Do you think that’s part of it, though? One of the things that seems to make Edward so attractive to younger girls is that you can have it both ways. He’s the ultimate bad boy, and someone that you shouldn’t want, who would never harm you.

That’s exactly what it is. It’s a certain type of girl. I don’t know what it is — when you look at fan sites [you can tell] — but there’s definitely a very large fleet of people, it’s actually Americans, that want those type of guys…”

(This is from an interview with Rolling Stone -www.rollingstone.com)
FOLKS – this is not a book about chastity!  Chaste books don’t do this to little girls.  THAT is why it is having the effect that it is having. 

NEW POST 12/27: IMPORTANT: Do girls need “fantasy”?

Another quote from Michael O’Brien to help keep us sane…

Reading Michael O’Brien is like drinking coffee.  Suddenly, you wake up!
Here is a quote for today: 

We must ask ourselves why evil concepts, if they are wrapped in the aura of “culture”, now enjoy a special exemption from the normal rules of discernment. Why do we presume that a sensually powerful series of children’s books will not affect a young reader’s interests and activities? Why have we come to assume that the experience of plunging the imagination into that alternative, and ultimately false world, will remain sealed in an airtight compartment of the mind? We must ask ourselves how we arrived at a position where we allow our children to absorb for hours on end, in the form of powerful fiction, activities that we would never permit them to observe or to practice in real life.

Books and films which three generations ago would have been instantly recognized as unhealthy for our children, are now considered acceptable, and those who oppose them alarmist or “hysterical.” Why is this so? Why are threats (recognized for thousands of years as real threats) to our children’s well-being now being interpreted as harmless? To what degree have our judgments been influenced by the pagan worldview — possibly affected to the core? To what degree have we mistaken the assimilation by paganism for legitimate inculturation? What, precisely, is a legitimate adaptation of non-Christian culture? Can we really “baptize” the symbols and activities of the realm of darkness without negative effects? These are particularly urgent questions, because we are no longer the early Christians cleansing a classical pagan temple and consecrating it as a church. We are “Late Western Man,” to use C. S. Lewis’s term, and we are in the midst of a social revolution that is assaulting the truly sacred and degrading it at every turn.

See full text here:

http://studiobrien.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=69

 

Just Fantasy? Think again: “The War for Our Children’s Souls”

(Jae Stellari – this post is in line with your earlier comment.  Many make the claim “it is JUST fantasy/fiction/a book/ a story”)

NEW POST 12/27: IMPORTANT: Do girls need “fantasy”?

The finest contemporary writer on the topic of fantasy literature, etc. is Michael O’Brien.  Please visit his excellent website:  http://www.studiobrien.com
The following  excerpts are taken from his article “The War for Our Children’s Souls”, written at the time of the Harry Potter craze.  If you read carefully – especially the third paragraph – I think you will notice an incredible similarity between what he is saying about the Potter series and the comments I wrote about Twilight in the post “Is Twilight Anti-Christian? Yes.”

“…The power of symbols, specifically their transmission through children’s literature, has been examined in depth by scholars as varied as the psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, the theologian-ethicist Vigen Guroian, and the philologist-fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien, all of whom emphasize the remarkable beneficial effects of the right use of symbols. They refer to classic fairy tales as an exemplary literary genre that helps form in a child a genuine sense of virtue. This is so, they believe, because such traditional stories reinforce the “moral order of the universe”, regardless of how fantastic the scenes and plots may be. ..

…the symbols in our minds exercise a certain power over us (often subconsciously), and this is especially so in the minds of the young. Symbols are keystones in the architecture of thought, indeed in our perceptions of the structure, if you will, of reality itself. If we lose symbolism, we lose your way of knowing things. If we destroy symbols, we destroy concepts. If we corrupt symbols, concepts are corrupted, and then we lose the ability to understand things as they are, rendering us vulnerable to deformation of our perceptions and our actions…

There is of course some courage and love in the Harry Potter series, but it is the mixing of these admirable qualities with loathsome behavior that makes it so deceptive. It must be remembered that courage and love can be found in all peoples, even those involved in the worst forms of paganism. The presence of such virtues does not automatically justify an error-filled work of fiction. In Potter-world the characters are engaged in activities which in real life corrupt anyone who practices them, weakening the will, darkening the mind, and pulling him down into spiritual bondage. Rowling’s characters go deeper and deeper into that world without displaying any negative side effects, only an increase in “character.” This is a lie. Moreover, it is the Satanic lie which deceived us in Eden: You can have knowledge of good and evil (youwill decide what is good and what is evil), you can have enhanced life, you can have God-like powers. (EDITOR’S NOTE: SOUND FAMILIAR?  READ STEPHENIE MEYER’S QUOTE AT THE BEGINNING OF “THE TWILIGHT SAGA – A CRITIQUE” EXPLAINING THE APPLE ON THE COVER OF TWILIGHT.) In Potter-world the message is, such powers are a birthright, a natural faculty that needs only to be awakened and informed in order to be used properly.”  

Let us pray for the grace to discern wisely.

A Young Man of Heroic Virtue

If we take the time to investigate, it is not difficult to find models for the youth of today – for example, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.  He lived a joyful, pure and authentic Christian manhood.  His brief life was one of self-giving.  Young men, be inspired.  Young women, be hopeful.

St. Irenaeus, one of the Church Fathers, once said “The glory of God is man, fully alive”.  To be “fully alive” is to be alive in Christ and radiant with love – not to be an “undead” bad boy!  (Did you ever notice that “Cullen” rhymes with “sullen”?)  When we are filled with love, we are driven outside of the realm of selfishness.  Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati exemplified this truth.  His life was so good, his love was so pure and his generosity so sincere that today, more than 80 years after his death, his body remains incorrupt.  Many Saints’ bodies have been found incorrupt years after their death. This is a miracle- a gift from God who has power over life, death and decay.  Jesus said in the Gospel of John: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10) 

Here is an introduction to his life:

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a saint for the modern world, and especially for the young people of our time. Born in 1901 in Turin, Italy, his time on earth was short-only 24 years-but he filled it passionately with holy living. Pier Giorgio was a model of virtue, a “man of the beatitudes,” as Pope John Paul II called him at the saint’s beatification ceremony in Rome on May 20, 1990. He was described by friends as “an explosion of joy.” As Pier Giorgio’s sister, Luciana, says of her brother in her biography of him, “He represented the finest in Christian youth: pure, happy, enthusiastic about everything that is good and beautiful.”

To our modern world which is often burdened by cynicism and angst, Pier Giorgio’s life offers a brilliant contrast, a life rich in meaning, purpose, and peace derived from faith in God. From the earliest age, and despite two unreligious parents who misunderstood and disapproved of his piety and intense interest in Catholicism, Pier Giorgio placed Christ first in all that he did. These parental misunderstandings, which were very painful to him, persisted until the day of his sudden death of polio. However, he bore this treatment patiently, silently, and with great love.

Pier Giorgio prayed daily, offering, among other prayers, a daily rosary on his knees by his bedside. Often his agnostic father would find him asleep in this position. “He gave his whole self, both in prayer and in action, in service to Christ,” Luciana Frassati writes. After Pier Giorgio began to attend Jesuit school as a boy, he received a rare permission in those days to take communion daily. “Sometimes he passed whole nights in Eucharistic adoration.” For Pier Giorgio, Christ was the answer. Therefore, all of his action was oriented toward Christ and began first in contemplation of Him…

Read more of this biography here: http://www.3op.org/frassati.php 
And for further information on Blessed Pier Giorgio and the young people inspired by him, click here:

http://www.frassatiusa.org/

Fascinating information on incorruptables can be read here:

http://www.overcomeproblems.com/incorruptables.htm

Is Twilight Anti-Christian? Yes.

Amidst the throng of Christian supporters of The Twilight Saga who insist that the books are pro-chastity and pro-life (even the actor who plays Edward in the film sees that the pro-chastity claim is false – see this) and that Edward Cullen is a fine example of a virtuous suitor, I would like to up the ante.  I say these books are actually anti-Christian – and that Edward Cullen is an anti-Christ figure, and right here, right now, I am going to show you why.

There was a time (which is thankfully returning) when young children were asked “Why did God make you?” They would be expected to reply: “To know, love and serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next.”  Why was it so important that young children had that memorized?  Because that one little sentence captured the meaning of human life.  It also gave direction.  Anything that I would do that helped me to know, love and serve God and be happy with Him forever was a good thing.  Anything that I might do which prevented me from knowing, loving and serving God and being happy with Him forever was a bad thing.

OK – so, now we need to look at Bella’s reason for living.  Is it consistent with the truth?  (And if you are about to say “but this is just fantasy“, please be patient.  I have posted before about the effect fantasy has on our ability to relate to reality.  For example, see the post “Real love and real beauty go together…” or read the posts which lay out Michael O’Brien’s clear thinking on the matter.)

After Bella’s “rebirth” as a vampire in Breaking Dawn, she says, ”I was amazing now – to them and to myself. It was like I had been born to be a vampire.  The idea made me want to laugh, but it also made me want to sing.  I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined.” 

With this “rebirth” into the vampire family, (an anti-type of Baptism) Bella embraces the unfortunate consequence that newborn vampires have an insatiable lust for human blood and unparalleled strength, which makes the habitual slaughter of innocents a forgone conclusion.  Or does it?  We discover that this law of vampire nature is not going to apply in Bella’s case.  Why?  Because her will is so strong that she is able to perform the (prior to) impossible.  ”And then I realized what it might mean, if my ’superpower’ was no more than exceptional self-control… What if, like Carlisle, I never killed a single person?  What if I could be a good vampire right away?… ‘Have you ever seen an equivalent to self-control as a talent?’ Edward asked Carlisle…’It’s similar to what Siobhan has always been able to do… She has this way of deciding her goals and then almost willing them into reality.” p.466/7  Did you catch that?  Bella has the power to decide her goals – in this case to be a “good vampire” – and then through her exceptional self-control, she basically wills it into reality.  This is a world where God and His grace are unnecessary.  Bella saves herself from her bloodlust.

It is not surprising to find this here, and it is directly related to Bella’s stated reason for living.  She has decided that she was born to be a vampire.  If she can choose the entire orientation of her life, certainly she can choose to do away with little details she finds unpleasant.  She is the ultimate arbiter of her own destiny.  This is fatal pride.  This is the pride of the Garden of Eden, the pride of Babel, the pride of all who would claim no need for a Savior since they can handle things on their own… a common sin in our self-sufficient generation.

That is consistent with Meyer’s use of the apple on the cover of Twilight and the introductory quote from the book of Genesis, of which the author states: “The apple on the cover of Twilight represents ‘forbidden fruit.’ I used the scripture from Genesis (located just after the table of contents) because I loved the phrase ‘the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.’ Isn’t this exactly what Bella ends up with? A working knowledge of what good is, and what evil is.”  Meyer, however, does not give a complete reading of the Scripture in Genesis.  Most importantly, she completely evades the consequences of the rebellion.  Of this, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#396) states: “The prohibition against eating ‘of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ spells this out: ‘for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die’.”

So what does Bella experience by becoming a vampire?  A greater ability to enjoy the “forbidden fruit” that is Edward:  ”I could really appreciate him now… He was all new, a different person as our bodies tangled gracefully into one on the sand-pale floor.  No caution, no restraint.  No fear – especially not that. We could love together - both active participants now.  Finally equals… I was never going to get tired, and neither was he.  We didn’t have to catch our breath or rest or eat or even use the bathroom; we had no more mundane human needs.  He had the most beautiful perfect body in the world and I had him all to myself, and it didn’t feel like I was ever going to find a point where I would think, Now I’ve had enough for one day.  I was always going to want more.  And the day was never going to end.  So in such a situation, how did we ever stop?”  p.482/3.  The purpose of Bella’s life had become knowing, loving and serving Edward and being happy with him forever. 

She had found, in Edward, this fulfillment – in a day that was “never going to end” (thus the title Breaking Dawn).  Of course, this language immediately draws the Christian mind to the “endless day” brought about by Christ.  ”Salvation” for Bella comes as a consequence of surrendering her soul in order to live a supposed never ending day as a vampire.  Here,  power, beauty and unrestricted sterile sex with her blood drinking vampire spouse become the equivalent of paradise – the “happily ever after”, as the final chapter of Breaking Dawn is called.  Of course, salvation can only be found in the Person and Eternal Reign of Jesus Christ (Col. 3:1-11), the One Who gives His Blood as a ransom.  The “promise” presented in The Twilight Saga is the same found in the garden of Eden, whispered by the serpent… “You will not die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4-5)  Meyer turns Revelation on its head, suggesting that the snake is right.  Bella eats the forbidden fruit and gets everything she wants as a consequence.  DON’T FALL FOR IT!  IT’S A LIE!

Part two: Meyer’s says she is “anti human” – why is this anti-Christian?  Read here.

NEW POST 12/27: IMPORTANT: Do girls need “fantasy”?

  *For an example of a true gentleman, visit my new post “A YOUNG MAN OF HEROIC VIRTUE”*

Why is “making out” unjust?!

Last week, I was giving a talk to children in our religious education program.  I was trying to explain genuflection, and why a bodily act of adoration in the presence of God was not only appropriate but also a requirement of justice.  The reasoning is very simple.  God is God.  We are not.  In justice, we adore Him.  Why?  “Justice”, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “The cardinal moral virtue which consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and to neighbor.”  

Fair enough.  Justice requires that we will to give God His due.  But why are bodily gestures important?  Because human beings are integrated creatures – composed of body and soul.  The separation of these two is only effectively accomplished by the pains of death.  If we attempt to effect a bodily succession from the union, we will undergo an internal battle with personal carnage to match the ravages of the Civil War. 

The things that we do with our bodies should correspond with the disposition of our hearts.  Think about it: if I am meeting up with a friend and they reach toward me with an outstretched hand, smiling, I know I am being invited to shake their hand.  If I turn and walk away without saying a word, my body language has been sufficiently insulting to damage the relationship.  As someone professing friendship, my body language has been a lie.  It has not been in correspondence with the disposition of my heart. 

The same is true of the most intimate of friendships – those tending towards spousal union.

Let’s think about this in context.  What is the disposition in the heart of a person whose body is “making out”?  Well, interaction which causes or intensifies sexual arousal has a defined goal.  That goal is a completed act of sexual intercourse.  Anything short of that is simply incomplete and frustrating.  Now – before anyone starts suggesting that this article says a dating couple should never touch each other, please note that the key word is “arousal”.  It is possible to kiss someone or touch someone in a loving, chaste manner that does not lead to arousal.  (If you have to ask how far you can go, you are going too far.)  

So, if you cannot lawfully complete an act of intercourse, “making out” is unjust.  (Here, I use the term “lawfully” to refer to the laws of God.  A lawful act of sexual intercourse is within the bonds of marriage, between a man and a woman, with nothing done willfully which would thwart the procreative potential of the act, namely no contraception or sterilization.)  Why is it unjust?  Well, what did the Beatles say in “Day Tripper”?  ”She’s a big teaser – she took me half the way there.”  If you buy a ticket, you expect to be taken to your destination.  If the conductor throws you off of the train half way through the journey – or perhaps even a few hundred yards before reaching the platform – you have been treated unjustly.

No one has a right to use another human being for the sake of pleasure.  To do so is unjust.  Women can be especially guilty of this when they desire to “make out” but, technically, remain a “virgin”.  Such a course of action is not chaste.  To exact the maximum pleasure out of a physical encounter with a man only to cut it off cold turkey before completion is really like waving a glass of ice water in front of a person dying of thirst.  It’s just mean.  And obviously, we can only be that mean through a lack of charity.   In other words, we are not treating the one we claim to love in a loving manner.  What we are doing with our body does not correspond to what we claim the disposition of our heart truly is.  Using a person we are with because he does things that cause pleasure… well, that is treating a human being like a piece of chocolate cake. This defies the virtue of justice which calls me to have a constant and firm will to give my neighbor (in this case, my beloved) what he is due.

Timely words from Pope Benedict on Beauty, Truth, Goodness and the Arts

POPE SAYS TRUE BEAUTY LINKED TO TRUTH

Cautions Against Valuing Mere Appearances

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 25, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The search for beauty without truth and goodness can drive young people to fly toward artificial paradises that simply hide interior emptiness, says Benedict XVI.

For complete text of this article, please visit Zenit:   http://www.zenit.org/article-24363?l=english

And the same story covered by Catholic News Service:

Superficial beauty is fleeting, fails to inspire, pope says
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Beauty that is only skin deep cannot last, cannot lead people to seek what is really true and good and cannot respond to the human longing for something that inspires genuine awe, Pope Benedict XVI said.

In a message to the joint session of the pontifical academies Nov. 25, Pope Benedict said the lives of individual Christians as well as the work of Christian artists, writers and poets should help people see that authentic truth, beauty and goodness are always intertwined.  
   (Click the CNS link above to read the full article.)

 

* As you can tell from the review on this site, this is a timely message in the wake of The Twilight Saga books and movie…. In his address, Pope Benedict quoted Pope John Paul II’s “Letter to Artists” in which he called upon artists “to stir up awe at and desire for the beautiful, form the sensitivity of souls and nourish the passion for all that which is an authentic expression of the human genius and a reflection of divine beauty.”  Crass exploitation of the passions is not elevating.  It does not form a sensitivity to beauty in souls.  In fact, it desensitizes and manipulates.  

Real love and real beauty go together…

If any of you have heard of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, I think some of their efforts have been a little misguided – but this video really hits the nail on the head.  What is fantasy doing to our ability to relate to reality?  Girls: do you like what happens in this video?  Do you think it is fair?  If not, why not?  

“Twilight” – success at the box office spells trouble.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES —  The vampire romance “Twilight” drained the box office in its opening weekend, taking in $70.6 million.

Catherine Hardwicke’s film also enjoyed the biggest opening ever for a female director, blowing away the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder’s “Deep Impact” in 1998.

Drawing from its huge fan base of teenage girls, who fell for Stephenie Meyer’s novel of forbidden love between brooding vampire Edward Cullen and bookish high schooler Bella Swan, “Twilight” made a whopping $20,636 per theater, according to Sunday morning estimates….

The tremendous take for “Twilight” far exceeded expectations, which had been set around $50 million.

“Teen girls rule the earth,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. “If you look back at the `Hannah Montana’ movie, how well that did, and now this movie, the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated. It was always teen boys who were the coveted ones, but someone finally caught on to the idea that girls love movies, too, and if you create something that they’re into, that they’re passionate about, they will come out in big numbers and drive the box office.”

Look out parents – this trend is going to continue and it is aimed right at our daughters.  Take a stand now before things get any worse. 

I just saw “Twilight”, the movie…

Having just seen the movie, here are some basic impressions:

There is a sense in which seeing “Twilight” the movie is a relief after reading the books because you get spared all the disturbing descriptive language. The film is not as intense as a consequence.  Edward’s nightly nocturnal visits to Bella’s bedroom really only amount to two brief occurrences on screen – one in which we get a thankfully brief introduction to the passion between Bella and Edward, which Edward cuts off quickly.  I was very grateful that there was no audio of Bella’s thoughts during the whole thing – which we are unfortunately never spared in the novels!  There is no way they could put the contents of the books in this movie and keep it a PG-13, so I suspect that’s why the sexuality had to be toned down.  Fewer parents could be duped into taking their young girls to see an R rated film, and poor Stephanie Meyer wouldn’t even be able to view her own picture if her claim to have never seen an R rated movie is true.  The violence in the story came off as much more intense than in the book, however.  You see why you never want to get on a vampire’s bad side.  The other thing I noticed is that on the screen, the story comes off sillier than the book because when you take a human being and try to make him fit the unattainable description found in Meyer’s novels, it just doesn’t work.  In one scene, I actually burst out laughing (when Edward appears ill at Bella’s arrival in Biology class) because it seemed so dumb.

My overall feeling watching the movie was one of sadness for Bella.  

She moves to this little town in Washington in the middle of March during her junior year of high school because her mom has got a new man who plays minor league ball and the happy couple are moving down to Florida together for Spring training.  Bella speaks of how her mom had stayed home for her in the past, but she was obviously unhappy, so Bella wanted her to move on.  The selfishness of the mother is palpable. 

Plenty of “normal” kids try to welcome Bella and make her feel at home, but she simply isn’t interested in them.  She is fascinated by the guy who isn’t very nice to her.  It’s definitely weird – I guess it is that smoldering “bad boy” appeal.  She actually says to him early on “Your mood swings are giving me whiplash”.  He does seem moody and, frankly, unattractive.  They just seem to be physically attracted to each other from the start and everything is predicated on that.  Bella can’t enjoy spending time with anyone else – girls, boys, her dad… she really is obsessed.

I think the most telling scene in the film is when Bella figures out that Edward is a vampire.  He explains that she does not fear him because she believes a lie.  He tells her “I’m the world’s most dangerous predator… everything invites you in… my voice, my face, my smell… I’m designed to kill… I’ve killed before”.  And what is Bella’s emphatic response?  ”I DON”T CARE!”  Her only fear?  LOSING HIM.

At that point, my internal radar was firing off – this is downright SATANIC! 
The angel of light has come and she will end up selling her soul for him by the end of the series.  That is terrifying!  What is more terrifying still is the fact that millions of girls feel the same way, and their mothers are claiming that Edward is an example of a virtuous gentleman… the deception is a powerful one!

And it doesn’t stop there.  The Cullens (Edward’s “family” – comprised of other, non-blood related vampires who live under one roof with father figure, Dr. Cullen, and his wife) are so welcoming to Bella – they invite her in to their beautiful, airy, spacious and modern home where art hangs on the walls and classical music beckons.  We find this happy family in a kitchen they have never used before (vampires don’t eat, of course), eyes on a television cooking show as they work together to prepare a special Italian meal for their guest.  You get the feeling that no one has ever shown Bella this amount of hospitality in her life.  They take her out with the family to play a game of vampire baseball and rally round to protect her from wicked vampires who seek to take her life.  It reminded me of the attraction young men can have to gangs.  They will join a group of dangerous people – who cares what they do? – and even want to become one of them just for that sense of belonging and family.  Yes, the Cullens try to avoid killing humans, but they are still VAMPIRES!  And Bella definitely wants to become one of them…

That is left for the obvious sequel. 

Today, I saw girls as young as 7 or 8 in the theater.  I suspect the movies, like the books, will continue to get darker.  (Please see the review on the book series “The Twilight Saga” on this page.)  I can’t see how they’ll get through all four without an R rated picture – but maybe they are just counting on the fact that most of their audience will be old enough to get in by then…

Roger Ebert doesn’t think Edward is virtuous, either….

Here is the beginning of his review….

By Roger Ebert

If you’re a vampire, it’s all about you. Why is Edward Cullen obsessed to the point of erotomania by Bella Swan? Because she smells so yummy, but he doesn’t want to kill her. Here’s what he tells her: He must not be around her. He might sink his fangs in just a little, and not be able to stop. She finds this overwhelmingly attractive. She tells him he is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. I don’t remember Edward ever saying that to her. Maybe once. He keeps on saying they should stay far, far apart, because he craves her so much.

Should a woman fall in love with a man because he desires her so much? Men seem to think so. It’s not about the woman, it’s about the man’s desire. We all know there is no such thing as a vampire. Come on now, what is “Twilight” really about? It’s about a teenage boy trying to practice abstinence, and how, in the heat of the moment, it’s really, really hard. And about a girl who wants to go all the way with him, and doesn’t care what might happen. He’s so beautiful she would do anything for him. She is the embodiment of the sentiment, “I’d die for you.” She is, like many adolescents, a thanatophile.

If there were no vampires in “Twilight,” it would be a thin-blooded teenage romance, about two good-looking kids who want each other so much because they want each other so much. Sometimes that’s all it’s about, isn’t it? They’re in love with being in love. In “Twilight,” however, they have a seductive disagreement about whether he should kill her. She’s like, I don’t especially want to die, but if that’s what it takes, count me in. She is touched by his devotion. Think what a sacrifice he is making on her behalf. On Prom Night, on the stage of the not especially private gazebo in the public gardens, he teeters right on the brink of a fang job, and then brings all of her trembling to a dead stand-still…

you can read the rest at www.rogerebert.com

Twilight’s Message re: Marriage and Family

As we continue to examine The Twilight Saga in the light of the Gospel, it is worth noting the negative treatment given to marriage and family life in the series. 

To begin, it is essential to know that Bella is the child of divorce, but has sought no healing for that wound.  The ongoing ramifications of her parents’ divorce permeate the story, but Bella does not seem to be aware of the impact it has had in shaping, or in this case, deforming her character.  Without healing, dysfunction breeds further dysfunction.

This is clear in Bella’s attitude toward both of her parents.  She refers to her parents by their first names. They do not hold a position of authority over her.  She treats them as somehow less than peers – almost as if they are her children.  This is what she says about her mother:

“I’d spent most of my life taking care of Renee, patiently guiding her away from her craziest plans, good-naturedly enduring the ones I couldn’t talk her out of.  I’d always been indulgent with my mom, amused by her, even a little condescending to her.  I saw her cornucopia of mistakes and laughed privately to myself.  Scatterbrained Renee.  I was a different person from my mother.  Someone thoughtful and cautious.  The responsible one, the grown up.  That’s how I saw myself.  That was the person I knew.”  (Eclipse, p.45)

Her mother, Renee, abandoned her father, Charlie, when Bella was only a few months old.  Renee took Bella with her, but allowed her to spend a month with her father every summer.  But her mother’s irresponsibility is one key to Bella’s problems: “I didn’t relate well to people my age.  Maybe the truth was that I didn’t relate well to people, period.”  (Twilight, p.10)  When a child is forced to parent their own parent, the world is turned upside down and the ability to relate to others is damaged.

This lack of a father is equally problematic for Bella.  She arrives at her dad’s house, greeted with “an awkward, one-armed hug” (Twilight, p. 5).  She walks in to see “a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then one of the three of us in the hospital after I was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school pictures up to last year’s.  Those were embarrassing to look at… It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that Charlie had never gotten over my mom.  It made me uncomfortable.  I didn’t want to be too early to school, but I couldn’t stay in the house anymore.”  (Twilight, p. 12)  When Bella’s father brings up a friend they would go fishing with during their summers together, she can’t remember the man, saying “I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory.”  (Twilight, p. 6)  The memory of her parents’ marriage, the thought of her father’s vulnerability or pain, the lack of his presence growing up – this is all too much for Bella.  So, she has become adept at blocking things out – a skill that contributes enormously to her willingness to enter into an unhealthy (deadly) relationship.  In addition, we have this sentiment expressed by Bella when her father gets up early one morning to put snow chains on the tires of her truck: “My throat suddenly felt tight.  I wasn’t used to being taken care of, and Charlie’s unspoken concern caught me by surprise.”  (Twilight, p.55)  A show of concern makes her throat feel tight.  She has been so deprived of appropriate parental care that the experience of some causes a physical reaction.  That is serious.  However, the author never makes reference to Bella being abnormal or dysfunctional – but she is clearly both.

Is it any surprise, then, to witness Bella’s reaction to Edward’s desire to marry her:  ”So you can ask for any stupid, ridiculous thing you want – like getting married - but I’m not allowed to even discuss what I…” (Eclipse, p.443) She never quite overcomes this sentiment that marriage is stupid and ridiculous, but she does consent to it in order to get Edward to agree to engage in sexual relations with her and allow her to become a vampire.  Shortly before the big day, we get some insight into her mind:  ”I briefly contemplated my issues with words like fiance, wedding, husband, etc.   I just couldn’t put it together in my head.  On the one hand, I had been raised to cringe at the very thought of poofy white dresses and bouquets.  But more than that, I just couldn’t reconcile a staid, respectable, dull concept like husband with my concept ofEdward.  It was like casting an archangel as an accountant; I couldn’t visualize him in any commonplace role.” (Breaking Dawn, p.6)

And Bella’s attitude to becoming a mother?

“I’d never imagined myself as a mother, never wanted that.  It had been a piece of cake to promise Edward that I didn’t care about giving up children for him, because I truly didn’t.  Children, in the abstract, had never appealed to me.  They seemed to be loud creatures, often dripping some form of goo.  I’d never had much to do with them.  When I’d dreamed of Renee providing me with a brother, I’d always imagined anolder brother.  Someone to take care of me, rather than the other way around.”  (Breaking Dawn, p.132)

This is so, so very unnatural!  But it is consistent with her upbringing.  The girl spent her childhood parenting a parent.  Why would she want to be a parent again?  Nevertheless, she does seem to make an exception for Edward’s child, “This child, Edward’s child, was a whole different story.   I wanted him like I wanted the air to breathe.” (Breaking Dawn, p.132)  She uses the frightening term “wanted” – a common term used by pro-abortion forces –  ”Every child a WANTED child” – as if the value of a child can be determined by the fact that it is wanted by the mother.

So for Bella, marriage is stupid and ridiculous, a husband is dull, and babies are loud creatures dripping goo (unless, of course, the child is WANTED).  Her painful, unhealed wounds left from her parents divorce shatter her concept of what is true, good and beautiful – and she is then held up as the heroine in the story in spite of life choices which amount to abject failure.  So tell me again – WHY should we let our daughters read this?

Other interesting points…

These are points from another reviewer that I have found interesting – Stephen Isaac at Plugged in Online (media reviews from Focus on the Family).  Here are some things he has said about Bella:

- “As interested as I’d become in the inner workings of Bella’s brain—and you do spend most of the saga occupying her head—I began to notice something that bothered me. Bella is more than a little obsessive. And she is critical of herself to a fault. At school, as she falls for Edward, she begins to see him as the only light in a dark world that seems to get dimmer and dimmer as she gazes at what she imagines to be his brilliance. She longs to be with him every second of every day. She dreads the, ironically, sunny days when he’ll invariably skip school and she won’t see him.

 She quickly becomes enslaved by the idea of the two of them spending eternity together, a concept she doesn’t yet fully appreciate…

– She won’t see reason or listen to logic even after she learns Edward’s secret. And she won’t let anyone, not even him, talk her out of her “need” for him. She muses, “I refused to be convinced to fear him, no matter how real the danger might be.”

She’s not kidding. All the way through the very last page of the very last book (there are four in all), Bella never takes a single step back. She paints the colors of her existence, her very soul, onto his alabaster skin, asking him first for this world, then the next one, too. It’s her obsession that drives her to demand he turn her into the same sort of creature he is. It’s her vanity that makes her want it done now.

Consumed as she is with young love and the unblinking conviction that as a human she’s nothing more than an awkward ugly duckling, she not only refuses to let anything or anyone stand between her and Edward, but also her self-determined destiny of vampiric perfection and immortality. Not her family. Not her friends. Not her life. Not even her soul—when Edward attempts to convince her that becoming a vampire will doom her to eternity without hope of salvation. “Compared to the fear that he didn’t want me, this hurdle—my soul—seemed almost insignificant,” she thinks. And then, a few pages later she says to Edward, “So let’s both just be hopeful, all right? Not that it matters. If you stay, I don’t need heaven.”…

- And she—our heroine—spends a fair amount of time tamping down her conscience to make things work out the way she wants them to.

“I curled into a tight ball. No, Edward wasn’t a killer,” she tries to convince herself in New Moon. “Even in his darker past, he’d never been a murderer of innocents, at least. But what if he hadbeen? What if, during the time that I’d known him, he’d been just like any other vampire? What if people had been disappearing from the woods, just like now? Would that have kept me away from him? I shook my head sadly. Love is irrational, I reminded myself. The more you loved someone, the less sense anything made.”

Pages later, she’s giving in to the idea that if she puts herself in danger, she’ll feel closer to her temporarily out-of-the-picture man, er, vampire. She crashes a motorcycle, pushes her luck in a dangerous neighborhood and even jumps off a high cliff into the ocean, hoping this ultimate life-endangering stunt will stir her comforting memories of Edward’s care for her…

- I’ll add that if it were up to Bella, marriage wouldn’t have been part of the deal, either. She loathes the idea of submitting to the ancient institution, preferring the relative brevity of death to the agonizing eternity of matrimony. “I was sure that at least my mother—were I to tell her every detail of the truth—would be more strenuously opposed to me getting married than to me becoming a vampire,” Bella thinks halfway through the third book, Eclipse. “I grimaced to myself as I imagined her horrified expression.”…

- Sensuality isn’t the only thing that builds as the books pile up. Occult references and violence do, too…

- Bella muses dreamily after finally becoming what’s known in these pages as a bloodsucker. “It was like I had been born to be a vampire. The idea made me want to laugh, but it also made me want to sing. I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined.”

How did she get there? Pregnant with Edward’s half-human, half-vampire baby, Bella dies during childbirth. She’s brought back to undead life by Edward, who pumps her heart and limbs full of his venom.

And everybody lives happily ever after.

Sure, there’s a big row with the ruling class of vamps known as the Volturi. But the new and improved Bella saves the day and then heads home with Edward for another all-night rendezvous. Life is therefore revived amid agony. Salvation is found through death. Bella is beautiful. She’s powerful. She’s in love.

“Bella, I just beheaded and dismembered a sentient creature not twenty yards away from you,” Edward says to her after killing an attacking vampire. “That doesn’t bother you?”

Bella just shrugs…” 

You can read the entire review (it is pretty long) at Plugged In Online.