November 29th, 2008
by
Nabil
Hey there, this is Nabil, posting with guest-access in Liz’s backyard.
Last night I saw Twilight. I haven’t seen Let the Right One In, so I’ve seen half of the vampire movies previously discussed here– the opposite half– and have a different perspective. I thought it might be fun to provide a counterpoint.
First off, Twilight is awesome. It is absolutely hilarious, and also kind of sweet. We saw it in the same theater that we had seen Black Sheep– the were-sheep horror comedy from New Zealand–and it is even funnier.
I felt a bit guilty for my hysterical laughter– I wanted to be respectful and supportive of the young women in the front row who were having a rather different experience–but my friend Theo, another queer transman, kept leaning over to whisper evil commentary to me until our glasses clinked. I will say, in my defense, that my laughter was affectionate.
Truthfully, desire is laughable, no? The sweetness in this movie came from its faithfulness to a very very young model of female desire– we never see the vampire object of desire’s bare chest, much less anything more risque. I think the characters kiss a few times, but mostly he gives her magical flying piggy-back rides, broods romantically, is rude to her because he can’t stand how much he loves her, and turns out to be made of glitter. Edward Cullen seems to be the current version of a My Little Pony– aimed at a similar demographic. Ted is commenting that he is sort of the My Little Boyfriend, the special glitter version with the sparkles in his mane and his tail.
Without wanting to dismiss the importance of romance narratives as important wish-fulfillment tools for one-down folks within patriarchy, this movie is ridiculous. Its ridiculousness is what makes it charming. The ridiculousness comes from the unabashed specificity of the desires it was designed to reference and incite– carried out to the logical extreme of little-girl desire, this brooding rude obsessed protective lipstick-wearing boy band member dangerous vampire is Made Of Glitter! Edward is both ridiculously specific and entirely generic, with nothing there that is not designed to incite the movie’s heroine and viewers– there’s a speech he gives early on where he warns her that everything about him is designed to suck her in and make her want him– and an extremely honest portrayal of sexiness for the middle-school set.
When my brother was in high school, he had a screen saver on his computer that embarassed me. It was a skinny blond woman with a cheesy smile and enormous breast implants, and whenever I happened to come into his room and catch a glimpse of it I felt embarassed on his behalf. I was embarassed for him because the image was such a parody of teen male desire– and I was more embarassed for him because he didn’t seem to be a bit embarassed for himself. There’s a simiilar squirming embarassment in this film– but for several reasons this embarassment is more pleasurable. I laughed at the film with my dear friend til our glasses clinked together– but I was also proud and pleased for the makers of the film, and for the girls and young women who will get to watch it and coo over it together.
How delightful to see a parody of young female desire released into mainstream theaters! How glorious for teen (and pre-teen) girls to get the same pleasure my brother did with his screen saver– how absolutely lovely for us older folks to be embarassed on their behalf! I cringe and squirm and laugh in half-recognition– remembering the ridiculous secrets I whispered to my best friend in the playground when I was a lassie-to-lad– and also recognizing how similarly ridiculous my desires now are. Adult fantasies are different then little-girl fantasies– but really no less ridiculous.
***
Edited to put spoiler about Let the Right One In beneath a cut– thanks for the reminder from Ide Cyan!
Since I haven’t seen Let the Right One In, I’ll be a bit briefer on this one. I mostly wanted to pass along something that a pal of mine pointed out– that the adorable little girl vampire Eli several times says rather vehemently that he’s not a girl– and that he is coded by virtue of a male Jewish name and by contrast with the blond-straight haired characters as foreign, strange, of color. Hearing these details makes me much more interested in seeing this film– a little-girl vampire who kills the bullies of a little boy is somewhat-interesting– a genderqueer vampire of color who only looks like a sweet little girl is a somewhat more complicated story.
Not having seen the movie yet myself, I can’t yet vouch for whether these details are correct. If they are, it’s striking that none of the other reviews or blogs I’ve seen about the film– including those by feminists– have mentioned the genderqueerness or racial aspects of the film.
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Filed under Sexuality & queerness, TV & Film | Comments (10)
All my girlfriends and I are AGOG for Twilight. WHO IS WITH US
” If they are, it’s striking that none of the other reviews or blogs I’ve seen about the film– including those by feminists– have mentioned the genderqueerness or racial aspects of the film.”
There’s plenty of talk over at IMDB about that, generally from the angle of OMG! That is so disgusting!
When I saw “Take the Right One In” I thought the story was about love between two characters, a love so true it does not matter *what* one of the other character’s is. Oskar accepts Eli.
I see my cautious wording about eschewing spoilers was entirely disregarded.
As the aformentioned queer transguy who went to see this with Nabil, while I did find it funny and I did find the sexual ideal to be a very childish one, one thing I found deeply disturbing is the behavior of Edward towards Belle that may be viewed as charming by some I found them to have some of the traits and behaviors of an abusive relationship. Declarations like “you are my addiction”, him breaking into her home to watch her sleep, following her to nearby town to keep an eye on her, literally at the end of the movie having the power of life and death over her are all behavior that would make an adult seek a restraining order. As Nabil said this behaviors could be viewed as acceptable by adolescents with a very simplistic view of relationship but it worries me that this same view continue through out the series and Belle never does become an independent person and never truly does grow up. The message in the series is it’s better stay young and innocent than gain experience and independence.
“I see my cautious wording about eschewing spoilers was entirely disregarded.”
Are you referring to the genderqueer bit?
Yes.
Thank you for adding a cut, Nabil.
Well, the reviewer does mention it and wonders why no one else talks about the genderqueer aspect. It seems like a fair point, but that aspect is being discussed in other places around the net.
[...] Take two on Twilight, Let the Right One In at Feminist SF – The Blog! (tags: twilight.series twilight(film) not.read) No tag for this post. [...]
Rude comment from “Buffalo” removed by me, for name calling.
Oh goodness, I thought I was too old to get caught up in the Twilight frenzy. I think your post really got how I was feeling, except for I wasn’t the one laughing…eek lol
I referenced you actually in a Videoblog film review:
http://www.shamelessmag.com/blog/2008/12/twilight-and-feminism-can-they-be-friends/