Twilight, chapter 4

Another day, another dollar, another chapter full of moping teenagers. Why are they moping? Lets find out…

Plot: Bella dreams of Edward, walking away and leaving her alone. Holy Mother of overwrought symbolism, Batman. BTW, this chapter apparently covers an entire month. It feels like three years. But I digress. Bella, post almost truck-squishing, becomes even more inexplicably popular. Seriously, these kids need to get out more. Edward ignores her in class. A girl whose name I haven't bothered remembering asks Bella's permission to take Mike to some kind of dance shindig. Edward tells Bella its better if they aren't friends. The entire school lines up to ask Bella to the aforementioned dance. I treat a bottle of tylenol like a pez dispenser. Bella decides to go to Seattle instead of the dance. Seems excessive…. Edward, whose hearing is apparently reaaaaaaly good, asks if she wants a ride. She nods, dumbstruck by the full gloriousness of his beauty. I open WebMD and search "bipolar disorder." Finis.

Rant: Really? Stephenie Meyer, listen carefully. People are not plot devices. Edward, for whatever reason, doesn't want to be friends with Bella. I'll buy that, since I wouldn't want to be friends with someone that miserable either. And, as a character choice, it works. We already know this is a love story. Him falling for her, after struggling desperately not to, is a strong dramatic arc, and will make the eventual payoff all the better. Yes, its been done, but the whole vampirism aspect is enough of a twist that I'd be willing to overlook the recycled plotline. This, though, isn't a struggle. There is no dawning affection, gradual breaking down of the insurmountable barriers seperating the two leads. SM has decided its time for them to get close, and so they get close. These aren't characters, believable people with personalities and hopes and desires and fears. They are chess pieces sliding on a board.

I don't mind a little deux-ex-machina in my literature. JK Rowling, for example, changes the rules of her own world every six pages, usually as a way to ratchet dramatic tension. And it works, in large part because she never screws with the personalities of the characters we've come to love. Twilight is… I don't even know. Wish fulfilment, maybe? But no, that isn't it either. Wish fulfillment usually involves happiness of some kind. And these characters are all miserable. There is no humor, no light or laughter or joy. Just rain and fear and desperation. Maybe its just me, but I like to think there's more to life than that.