Book Talk...

...for a moment, I promise.

I know that i must talk about the craziness that is my week. From the insane editor at the romance publishing house , to m*therfudging loan lenders who screwed me over royally. Royally.

I am no longer as broke as I was, thanks to my mom, and I am trying to solve the internship problem by sticking with it until I can find another one in production. I have never wanted to carry a 10 pound camera around Midtown new york as much as I do know.

But before I get to all of that (tonight maybe. 9pm) I must talk books for a moment. Yesterday I went to the library because being around books soothes my nerves. Yes I work at a bookstore, yes I intern (regrettably) at a publishing house, but I am much more of a fan of reading books than anything else. And because of my shittastic couple of days, I wanted to grab some books to drown myself in.

As you may, or may not know, I am a fan of horror movies. Not in that weird way where my walls were decorated with posters of scary movies as a teen. I never wore slasher tees and talked obsessively about the demise of good horror movies in chat rooms, I simply have enjoyed scary movies since I was a kid and of course as an adult (eww, i hate the word). I read a lot of scholarly text on the horror genre, because beneath all the gore and unnecessary nude scenes there is a science to it all. Particularly in my area of interest, the final girl.

If I go back to school, I would take some classes in film studies, just so I could earn some sort of degree or certificate in that study. I love films, and some are as interpretable as books are. The point is, I have been meaning to read this book called The Final Girl by Daphne Gottlieb. It is a collection of poems detailing the plight of final girls (the ones who survive horror movies). Surprisingly the public library had a copy and yesterday I got through half of the poems before bed, which led me to have this crazy dream about my not so long ago teen years.

At the bookstore, because it is summer, we are bombarded by teenagers who have nothing to do all night. Of course they gather around the newstand and drool over the pages of teen magazines which almost exclusively feature the stars of Twilight. The books and movies bother me more than anyone could ever know. And until last night I didn't have a clue why. I like vampires. I like cheesy romances. I like British boys, but for some reason I border on hating the books and the movie with a passion.

The teen idols circa the late 90's and early 2000's are very different from the ones today. Where I had Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Freddie Prince Jr, and Joshua Jackson the 'newest' crop of teenagers have Robert Pattinson (?), Zac Efron (who doesn't bother me so much) and Kristen Stewart.

When I woke up this morning I suddenly remembered that in regards to vampire flicks, and teen dramas of my yesterdays, the heroines who starred in my teen vampire dramas, or Thursday night line up were strong, almost masculine tragic heroes. While Belle encompasses the whole 'Damsel in Distress' era, there was a time (for my generation anyway) where women/girls trapped in extraordinary situations kicked ass and were much more of the savior than the one waiting to be saved.

This is just a tentative argument, the kinks have to be worked out, but from what I can see there are a slew of books, movies, and other forms of media that are bringing the whole damsel in distress thing back. I don't know much about Twilight but I know that Belle is someone who is constantly being rescued throughout much of her narrative, there are few to none ass kicking heroines on tv anymore... I mean heroines who have to deal with supernatural elements and who aren't waiting to be rescued throughout half of it. I am on the fence with Sookie Stackhouse.

Buffy Summers, Liz Parker, Sidney Prescott, The Sisters from Charmed, and Julie James (just to name a few) were girls ( and teen idols) who did not succumb to their extraordinary situations. Buffy Summers slayed vampires because it was her duty, Liz Parker fought to save the life of her alien soulmate Max Evans because of love, and poor Sidney Prescott spent several movies evading all the insane men (and one woman) who tried to kill her. Now, all I ever see on TV and movies are capable women being rescued by not so capable men. Sookie, despite her skill, is always being rescued by Bill , Sam, Eric, Jason...and don't even get me started on Belle who apparently is being rescued all the damn time.

Along with these damsel like women, the male teen idols (especially) are flawed, premature male figures. Though they are the ones doing the saving, you wonder if they are equipped to do so because they seem to vacillate between action and in action. Edward is absent for most of the 2nd book, making him a hero that is replaceable and not stable.

Damn it all to hell I think I am on to something. Growing up with female teen models who were strong, smart, and never ending in their pursuit to save themselves or their loved ones, makes the re-adjustment to this new teen model difficult. Especially when the girls are only in the position of being saved and the boys are not only the anti-hero but very feminine in nature.

If my argument holds up, then my (and others) dislike of Twilight has a lot to do with the lack of a strong final girl in these books and movies. Instead of having a strong protagonist we can look up to, we instead have these girls who are in wait for the knight and shinning armor to save them (and us) . I don't know if this is a feminist argument, but maybe the need to be rescued has a lot to do with the times. Stephenie Meyers got incredibly lucky that instead of women wanting a warrior women who saves the day, there is a new desire for 'us' to lay in wait for someone to save us and love us.

Sorry for the babble but I had to write it down before I forgot my argument. I really need to get into graduate school, I have no where to discuss my theories. Damn.

Time for work.