Finally! Bob put forth a really coherent, and cogent, argument about why this series is bad. Up until now, I haven't heard any argument against the Twilight Saga that didn't boil down to either, "vampires don't sparkle" or "it's a lame teenage romance series" when both are really just matters of taste. In the case of the first, as John Funk pointed out in his "View From the Road" column (which you can [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/view-from-the-road/7603-View-from-the-Road-What-Do-WoW-and-Twilight-Have-in-Common]read in its entirety here[/a]), is that if that concept were done by someone with more talent and creativity, we'd probably be more accepting of it. In the case of the second, teenagers for whom the series is targeted really couldn't care less as there's no accounting for taste, really, when you're a kid or a teenager. Like Bob said in his "Stealing From the Next Generation" article in his Intermission column, we thought a lot of things were cool or good when we were 14. But then we grew up.
But I think what Bob said rings true most of all. I don't know if Stephanie Meyer is consciously pushing an agenda or not with these books. Writers, as they say, tend to write what they know and often tend to use their stories or their characters as mouthpieces for their own personal soapboxes whether they realize it or not. So for Meyer as a Mormon to be writing stories that espouse her Mormon beliefs shouldn't come as much of a surprise. But at least we as informed adults are aware of it. Teenage and tween girls on the other hand may not be, so they may not know of this series' implications, and that's what's troubling about it. (Of course, like Bob said, putting it that way may make me sound like people like Dave Grossman and Jack Thompson who have said, "Video games teach kids to kill," which would make me in effect just as bad as they are).
Still, it's probably the best argument I've heard against this series, and makes for a more legitimate one than any others I've heard about why it shouldn't be liked.
Oh, and Bob, you really only have to do this one more time. Breaking Dawn comes after this and it's the last book in the series. The one after that is simply a retelling of the series from Edward's perspective. As creatively bankrupt as Hollywood may be, I doubt even they would want to make the same movie twice.
