Customer Reviews

Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a fan of 'Twilight' and of Blackwell's 'Pop Culture and Philosophy' series, I decided to give this volume a try. My review of the book: not as good as the others. While not actively bad nor mediocre, 'Twilight and philosophy' is much more uneven than other books in the series. Some of the essays are perceptive, in depth discussions, others are rambling, incoherent polemics. One of the things that I like about volumes in the Blackwell series is that the authors clearly love the pop culture subject that they are discussing, but I see no such enthusiasm here. Some of the authors appear to be fans, but a couple of the authors can barely keep their contempt for both their subject matter and their readers in check. The undercurrent through these essays is pretty clear: Twilight is stupid; people who read it are stupid; this is why they are stupid, and this is what we need to do to reprogram them so that they become less stupid. They are entitled to their opinions, but why should I pony up $18 to be told I'm stupid? I can get that from a message board for free.

Some of the gems in the collection:

'The Tao of Jacob': talks about Jacob Black and the way of the werewolf from the Taoist perspective. Fascinating, lovingly crafted, and contains some beautiful prose. The philosophical implications are studied in depth, the author clearly knows the books and the essay is plain fun to read

'Carlisle: more compassionate than a speeding bullet': I did not approach this one with high hopes. I thought the title was silly and had no idea what the author was aiming for. The Terjesens surprised me; this is actually a good character study on Carlisle, the way of life that Carlisle represents and what this means (both in the series and to the reader)

'Undead Patriarchy and the possibility of love': studies the relationship between Edward and Bella in depth and raises questions about the nature of love, the nature of feminism and the meaning of 'equal relationships'. Considers both sides of the issues, but manages to make its case without being shrill.

The bombs:
'Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: byronic and feminist heroes...or not': The short answer is no, Bella sucks (no pun intended), Edward sucks more (pun intended) and 'Jane Eyre' is a better book so you're dumb for reading 'Twilight' instead of 'Jane Eyre'. That's Abigail Myers' contribution in a nutshell, and I wish that I could say that her essay is more in depth than that, but it's not. Remember how I said that some of the authors clearly don't like their subject? This would be one of them.

'Bella Swan and Sarah Palin': The hypothesis of this essay is already pretty strange: women like Bella Swan and they like Sarah Palin and here are the reasons why. Sounds like it belongs on a post with a 'mood of the day' emoticon. Unfortunately, unlike the Terjensens, Naomi Zack never transcends her silly title. Her work is rambling and unfocused, lurching from one point to another, throwing out 50 cent words and other philosophers along the way as if she's hoping that if she sounds smart enough, readers will fail to notice what a shallow piece she's written. She talks a great deal more about Sarah Palin than she does about Bella Swan, never really manages to tie Palin to 'Twilight' beyond the idea that Bella, like Palin is an anti-feminist wish fulfillment model, and caps off the hot mess with a truly bizarre polemic against religious parents and consumerist society, advocating for other "intellectual feminists" to maintain "doctrinal purity" by reprogramming the poor 'Twilight'/Palin brainwashed sheep. I'd be worried about the elitist (self-confessed, no less), bigoted tone of this piece, except few readers are likely to slog through more than 3 paragraphs and will therefore miss her freaky manifesto at the end. I wish that I'd been so lucky.

The rest of the essays are good or average. Worth a look, but I'd buy it on sale or check it out from a library.

Although I'm probably a little older than the typical Twilight fan demographic, I found this compilation of essays interesting and helpful for thinking about the characters and especially for exploring other vampire/werewolf lore, literature, and philosophy that fell through the cracks in college. Essays in this book give you concise background on writers (like the Brontes, Lord Byron)in a easy and conversational style. I actually found the footnotes good for tracking down other books, biographies, and videos which I have checked out at the library or (of course!)ordered on amazon.com. Literature and philosophy courses in college would probably be more engaging if professors lectured like the contributors to this book write.

This thought-provoking book of philosophical essays indeed cast new light upon my favorite YA series. Aside from what I consider digressive essays on vegetarianism, each essay's thesis is worth thoughtful consideration, whether one agrees or not with the argument. The essays are rather graphic regarding abusive relationships. The intended audience is teens & adults. Consider pre-reading this book before handing it to a young or an immature teen.

This will be short: I'm a big Twilight fan so was interested to see what this book was all about. I found it to be worthwhile, although a bit overanalytic. I mean really--delving into the name of "Forks" because it is a sharp, pointed object? Puh-leeze. I enjoyed the Twilight series because it's a good story with characters that seemed real to me...not because I wanted to spend time pondering whether or not Bella epitomizes modern feminism.

Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)this book is really good i love it better than the film so if you loved the film you love this. my all time fav. i got it for wife but she hasnt had the chance to read it cos i cant put it down that good

I only read one page before deciding that this book was way too dry for my taste in reading. It took me almost a year to sell the copy I bought on Half.com for $1.25. I really regret purchasing it in the first place. I don't think most fans of the "Twilight Saga" would enjoy this heavy, boring book.

It was a poor choice but I needed it for a class in college. I would have rather have read almost anything else.

Long winded prose about how Bella, like Sarah Plain, is not a true feminist. (yawn)

Continual references to the fact that Bella and Edward serve as models only for those who are heterosexual (few and far between as they are) (weird)

I did appreciate her arguments on how Twilight both does away with the need for God AND (paradoxically) is a reflection of Stephanie Meyer's LDS faith. (keen observation)

Generally reads like a feminist, anti-religious blog. So, if that's what your into... maybe you'll be one of the few who thought the book was worth the money.

The twilight and philosophy book takes twilight and examines some of the fundamental elements of the series including the vampires powers, Edward, Jacob, and Bella; through the different aspects of not only ancient philosophy but also recent philosophy. It also looks at some of the things that clearly influenced Meyer when she was writing, especially her religion.

This book definitely needs to be approached with an open mind, and even though you may not agree with everything, each chapter sets out not to preach the author's point of view, but simply to open your mind to different interpretations and dimensions of the series.

This book uses twilight as an avenue to allow people to understand basic principles of philosophy in a fun and interesting way. It focuses on what we can learn from the series, it's strengths, and it's weaknesses. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the series, not only as an interesting read, but also for the critical thinking skills it teaches.

"It must be good, it's Twilight" seems to be what is considered a valid argument if you're one of the many that has been swept along on the wave of runaway success the Twilight franchise has become.
As for me, I wanted to read something different connected to the stories, and thought a philosophical approach might be interesting.
And interesting it is (if you're one of the aforementioned teenagers) otherwise, it's a money spinning exercise.
Freud would be spinning in his grave if he read this pap, seriously.

We are not talking about ontology or metaphysics here, we're talking about milking the Twilight cash cow.
Not to mention the fact that this "guide" is interpreting the subjective nuances of the story, subjective as in different for each viewer.
Having a book that tells you that when Edward does this it means.......... and when Bella said this it means.......... shows no respect for reader or viewer. That's the magic of a good story, you formulate your own opinions.

When I think about the factual books that could have been written (and maybe are somewhere?) on the real social commentary of films like Clockwork Orange, and One flew over the Cuckoos nest, I can't think about a film about teenage vampires in the same league, sorry.

Then again, it's Twilight, so it must be good.