Friday, July 2, 2010

I'm Sick of Hearing about Eclipse (from Emily)

and about that author in general. The literary community at BYU is still trying to forget she is at all connected to us.

But Womanist Musings wrote an interesting review of the most recent vamp flick. In this review you'll find a discussion of the "it's just entertainment so the social implications don't matter," argument. (An argument my LDS friends should be very wary of, if I might be so presumptuous to say so). But you'll also find a critique of how feminism does and doesn't play into the movie, and a critique of how racial stereotypes play in. I am particularly intrigued by the section where she discusses the objectification of Jacob. Do the film and the audience objectify him from a racist standpoint?

But here's another question. Does the author of this post go too far by pulling Stephanie Meyer's religion into her critique? As a member of the same faith (and an alumn of the same major at the same university, to boot!) I'm pretty horrified by how the twisted non-doctrinal, BYU-culture, and Utah-culture phenomenons have shown up in that book. But is it ever, ever, ever fair to critique a piece of artwork for the creator's religion?

1 comment:

  1. You know, when we study classical artists we also study their historical and cultural background because it gives the art a context. Art does not exist in a vacuum and while it is important to analyze a work without bringing the author into it, I think it is also important to do the opposite. Stephine Myer's religion, in my opinion, influenced her to make her characters behave unbelievably (and castrate vampires, but hey, I can rant about that elsewhere). I think she's imposed her morals on her characters rather than let her characters organically follow their own morals.

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