Twilight * Official Twilight Thread * All Twilight Discussion here

moonspinner · Jun 23, 2011

LocoRoco said:
Slytherin, while seen as evil in the beginning of the series, it is made clear towards the end that not every person in the house is evil, unless ambition and cunning are evil?!

In the last book, when Harry returns to the Room of Requirement... there are lots of Gryffindors, almost as many Hufflepuffs, a good number of Ravenclaws... and no Slytherins. And when Voldemort demands that Hogwarts produces Harry or everyone will be destroyed, Pansy Parkinson and the rest of the Slytherins are the only ones who want to hand him over.

You and I may not personally like Twilight but it's a phenomenally successful book series that has made a lot of money for its writer and launched an even more successful movie series that has made a lot of money and stardom for its cast and crew. So saying it flops is inaccurate.

You should read Enid Blyton books, at least her boarding school books. In fact, they should be essential reading for any child of school-going age, especially in light of the present-day Potter-mania. The character and morality of stories like Malory Towers and St. Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl in School really puts into perspective the morality of the Potter books.

moonspinner · Jun 23, 2011

susan rocks! said:
But lying and bullying happens in all shcool, whether they're boarding schools or otherwise.

Yes, they do and like I said earlier, they are not supposed to be good things or to be presented as good things. No child should read a book and come away thinking that it's ever right to tell lies to make friends.

susan rocks! said:
Personally, I think the Twilight books are a whole lot of pointless twaddle, but if you think so too, why are you arguing the point with me? This makes no sense.

Because earlier in this thread, someone was trying to hold up the Harry Potter books as superior based on its morality and I had to point out that the very nature of the Potter books (children books as opposed to YA literature) and the praise lauded on them make them more morally insidious than other books.

susan rocks! said:
at least HP teaches us that love conquers all, which while slightly unrealistic, is a better thing to learn that you should become undead for your boyfriend who's 100 and something years old.

There's something in the Bible about how when you love your friends, your family etc. you aren't showing a superior love to your enemy who does exactly the same thing. I've always found the "power of love" message of Harry Potter to be suspect. And, in the same vein, a lot of Twilight fans will argue that it has the same "Power of Love" message: Bella becoming a vampire for love and having a baby and living happily ever after.

I think the difference between a book that tells you that it's OK to become a vampire for your boyfriend and a book that tells you that it's OK to tell lies to make friends is that... the odds of being in one situation (being tempted to lie to fit in) are far greater than the odds of being in another situation (having an undead boyfriend). Do I think Twilight is better for presenting the less likely morally dubious option? No. But I think the fact that Twilight has never really been presented as a book that teaches anybody anything makes it less harmful in the long run. And, conversely, that is why I always find statements that Harry Potter books are good books because they are moral stories worrisome.

That's about as clear as I can make myself. *shrugs*

katsullivan · Jun 23, 2011

I LOVE ENID BLYTON BOOKS! OMG! I still have my old copies of Malory Towers and the three-in-one volume of the Naughties Girl in School! I have to confess that I totally shipped ship Elizabeth/Julian when I read the Naughtiest Girl series.

moonspinner said:
Do I think Twilight is better for presenting the less likely morally dubious option? No. But I think the fact that Twilight has never really been presented as a book that teaches anybody anything makes it less harmful in the long run. And, conversely, that is why I always find statements that Harry Potter books are good books because they are moral stories worrisome.

Yes, to this and just about everything you said. And if I may say something for Twilight, at least Carlisle and Edmund have faith in God, believe in Heaven and eternal life. At least, Edmund makes a point of not wanting to sleep with Bella until they marry because he doesn't want to endanger his soul. A lot of blogs mock him for that (and I think even Robert Pattinson has insulted Edmund for that as well) but I thought it was very brave of Stephenie Meyer to put that in YA romance in this day and age when being a virgin is seen as the epitome of "uncool". Like moonspinner argues, not many girls will have to choose whether or not to date an undead boyfriend, but a lot of girls will go out with boys who will want to pressure them to "put out". And maybe reading Twilight will help those girls realize that when a boy really loves you, the last thing he'll ever want to do is to force you to sleep with him.

LocoRoco · Jun 23, 2011

^Okay, well, I'm not going to say anything offensive, promise, I'm not going to annoy more, but I'm going to carry on discussing?

Edward may have wanted to wait for marriage, and he may have had the right idea there, (even though I don't completely agree with those views) but does that completely over-write the fact that he's a vampire and that it's only due to a lot of willpower that he hasn't killed anyone. And I salute him for that, but still, it souldn't undo everything that he is.

Okay, maybe JK didn't have all the right ideas, but any kid with any common sense would know that you shouldn't lie your wayinto a friendship. Hermione just didn't want to get in trouble, she didn't want to be a snake, and that, to be honest, in normal in any school situation.

katsullivan · Jun 23, 2011

As long as we are all civil, there is no reason not to continue this discussion. But please remember that a lot of people on this thread like Twilight.

LocoRoco said:
Edward may have wanted to wait for marriage, and he may have had the right idea there, (even though I don't completely agree with those views) but does that completely over-write the fact that he's a vampire and that it's only due to a lot of willpower that he hasn't killed anyone.

I'll respond to that in reverse: vampires are not real but if they were, I think the fact that Edward uses a lot of will-power to not kill anyone is an admirable thing. And there's a lesson there... that even if someone is biologically or socially inclined to do something wrong (like the way certain children become bullies because of the environment they are brought up in, or do drugs or sleep around)... then it is possible to make the effort, with God's grace to rise above your circumstances.

As for the first... well, obviously I'm a Christian and I have Christian values and I think that premarital sex is wrong. Even if I didn't, common sense tells me that if a boy really loved me, he won't pressure me into sleeping with him (nor I would him if I really loved him). I know a lot of people will think that this is foolish and impossible, but this is my belief. Regardless of what either of us thinks, the fact that Meyer wrote a hero that believes in this - something that so many people now will laugh at you or pick on you in school for - is very brave of her and has given a lot of courage to a lot of young people who might have been pressured into early sex.

moonspinner · Jun 23, 2011

katsullivan said:
I LOVE ENID BLYTON BOOKS! OMG! I still have my old copies of Malory Towers and the three-in-one volume of the Naughties Girl in School! I have to confess that I totally shipped ship Elizabeth/Julian when I read the Naughtiest Girl series.

Enid Blyton should be essential reading for this Harry Potter generation, really. She did everything Rowling did, and did it a hundred times better, without turning her students unbearable or passing across twisted morals. Friendship, courage, adventure, competition, fun times... Malory Towers, and the rest of them had it all and there was still a lot of emphasis on how these were children who were in the process of building their characters and that peer pressure was no excuse for you not to do the right thing.

katsullivan said:
Yes, to this and just about everything you said. And if I may say something for Twilight, at least Carlisle and Edmund have faith in God, believe in Heaven and eternal life.

I've only read the first Twilight book and I guess in typical Hollywood fashion, all the religious elements have been pruned from the movies because I don't remember Edmund being a virgin from the films. A few weeks ago, I found out my little nephew (to me, anyway, he's 14) was getting mocked on at school because he's in abstinence club and he's a virgin. For Meyer to write what she did... make Edmund a virgin and tie it to Christian reasons... is pretty courageous, if you ask me. But maybe, you need to be a Christian to appreciate that.

LocoRoco said:
Okay, maybe JK didn't have all the right ideas, but any kid with any common sense would know that you shouldn't lie your wayinto a friendship. Hermione just didn't want to get in trouble, she didn't want to be a snake, and that, to be honest, in normal in any school situation.

Little kids don't have a lot of common sense. It's something that experience gives people. Now I know that anyone who wants me to tell lies is just a user but when I was a kid? I grew up in a no-nonsense household and I still felt peer pressure to lie to people and to myself to "fit in". And you see it everyday now with gangs, girls who lose their virginities earlier and earlier and little boys who do un-imaginable things. So it's very easy from an adult perspective to say, "of course, you shouldn't lie to fit in with people". But kids face a lot of pressure to do exactly this.

katsullivan said:
I think the fact that Edward uses a lot of will-power to not kill anyone is an admirable thing. And there's a lesson there... that even if someone is biologically or socially inclined to do something wrong (like the way certain children become bullies because of the environment they are brought up in, or do drugs or sleep around)... then it is possible to make the effort, with God's grace to rise above your circumstances.

I've never thought of it, that way. But that actually makes a lot of sense.

katsullivan · Jul 21, 2011

moonspinner said:
Enid Blyton should be essential reading for this Harry Potter generation, really. She did everything Rowling did, and did it a hundred times better, without turning her students unbearable or passing across twisted morals. Friendship, courage, adventure, competition, fun times... Malory Towers, and the rest of them had it all and there was still a lot of emphasis on how these were children who were in the process of building their characters and that peer pressure was no excuse for you not to do the right thing.

Do you know any good Enid Blyton fanfics? Nice ones that are in keeping with the spirit of Enid Blyton? I went looking around the Net a while ago but I was scared off by all the stories that seem to assume that school-girl best friends = lovers.

moonspinner said:
I don't remember Edmund being a virgin from the films. A few weeks ago, I found out my little nephew (to me, anyway, he's 14) was getting mocked on at school because he's in abstinence club and he's a virgin. For Meyer to write what she did... make Edmund a virgin and tie it to Christian reasons... is pretty courageous, if you ask me. But maybe, you need to be a Christian to appreciate that.

Edmund being a virgin is a big deal in the books. There's a time when Bella is trying to seduce him and he yells that he's protecting his virtue! Which was fantastic! He wasn't protecting her virtue, but his own. He went into this speech about how he has so many things he regrets in life and his virtue is the one thing he has kept with God's grace. There's a big deal in Twilight about Christianity and where souls go when they die or become vampires. Carlisle is a Christian and he still believes that as a vampire he will go to Heaven. Edmund is a Christian and he thinks being a vampire makes him doomed. That is why he is so hesitant to change Bella. The movies delete all that. It's criminal.

moonspinner said:
Little kids don't have a lot of common sense. It's something that experience gives people. ... So it's very easy from an adult perspective to say, "of course, you shouldn't lie to fit in with people". But kids face a lot of pressure to do exactly this.

Thank you. This is why so much in the Harry Potter books are fundamentally harmful. I still can't believe that nobody called out Harry or Hermione in Book 5 and told them that what they did to Marietta was exactly the kind of punishment Voldemort dealt out to his own followers.

SpiritedWolf · Jul 21, 2011

Ok, I'm not really following this convo as much as I should, but I do have one thing to say....

HIS NAME IS EDWARD!

Please do not call him Edmund because it makes it look like you haven't even read the books, and therefore your opinion on the subject is moot in my opinion.

Thank you for calling him Edward.

Narnia_bookworm · Jul 21, 2011

katsullivan said:
Thank you. This is why so much in the Harry Potter books are fundamentally harmful. I still can't believe that nobody called out Harry or Hermione in Book 5 and told them that what they did to Marietta was exactly the kind of punishment Voldemort dealt out to his own followers.

I don't agree with this comment. Kids are smart and often underestimated about what they know. It's fiction and it doesn't mean kids will treat others that way, when if they are brought up right, and can realize what's right and wrong they will know its wrong, and just appreciate it for the wonderful works of literature that books are.

I mean growing up for me there were a lot of books that had characters behaved badly towards others, but I knew not to treat other kids like that.

katsullivan · Jul 22, 2011

Narnia_bookworm said:
I don't agree with this comment. Kids are smart and often underestimated about what they know. It's fiction and it doesn't mean kids will treat others that way, when if they are brought up right, and can realize what's right and wrong they will know its wrong, and just appreciate it for the wonderful works of literature that books are.

I mean growing up for me there were a lot of books that had characters behaved badly towards others, but I knew not to treat other kids like that.

I think there's a difference between what kids read as behaviour that is done by the villains and called out as bad (like Malfoy's prejudice, the Dursleys's abuse, etc.) and behaviour that is done by the heroes and called out as bad (like Harry using the Prince's book in Book 5) and behaviour that is done by the heroes and is not called out as bad (like the Marietta incident). Let me share my personal experience:

In Book 1 of Malory Towers, there's this horrible girl called Gwedolen Mary that I guess would be the Draco Malfoy of the school - spoilt, bratty and antagonistic. She decides to play a trick on the "Neville" of the class, Mary Lou (funny how much I remember their names!) by pushing her in the pool and holding her down. Gwen herself hates swimming in the cold pool but she sees that Mary Lou is actually "Scared" of water and that gives her a bit of power. So Gwen dunks Mary in the pool and is having a good time and the other girls come to stop her and Darrell (the "Harry") gets their first. She saves Mary and turns on Gwen and slaps her six times. Darrel is a sweet, somewhat shy girl but she has a wicked temper. This is the first time anyone in school ever sees that red-rage side of Darrell and the girls are scared. The Class head-girl tells Darrell to stop and Darrell turns on her and insults her. She walks away, spitting mad and half-way to the locker rooms, she comes to her senses. She's ashamed of herself, of losing her temper, of slapping Gwen... and she turns around, finds Gwen and apologises. The other girls go to find Darrell and tell her she's in disgrace for her actions (hitting another girl, insulting the head) and Darrell - before they even speak - tell them she's sorry. They are shocked. They tell her that she still has to be punished - detention and - this is worse - an apology to Gwen, and Darrell shocks them again by saying, "oh is that all? Because I already apologised to her."

Wow, that was long. Well, I wanted to say that that little scene taught me a lot as a young kid. It taught me that "justified" anger was still anger. That losing control like that was always something to be ashamed about. That you had to take responsibility for your own actions. That yes, Gwen "deserved" it but it wasn't Darrell's place to punish her: she should have stopped with getting Mary Lou away and let the Head girl and the prefect take over. That Darrell was big enough to apologise when she came to her senses and she didn't wait for anyone to tell her to do that.

In short, it taught me a lot of things that I didn't know. Kids are smart, but they are also impressionable. And let's face it, parents can only train a kid so far. By the time the kid goes to school and starts rubbing shoulders with kids from all sorts of homes (because let's face it: not every parent does the best by their children; some children come from single-parent homes, some children may as well not come from homes, that's how bad things are), kids are going to pick up anything. There is a reason why kids who were perfect angels at home go to school and start joining gangs and having "lipstick" parties. Let's not kid ourselves and think that somehow, magically, kids will read a book and know what values to take from it or not.

Which is why I really, really admire what Meyer did with the Twilight series: how she made virginity and religion a big deal in a book about vampires and werewolves. How she made Edward

such an admirable hero: even though he has his jerk-ass moments, he is still a basically good man trying to find his way to Heaven and not wanting to imperil his girl-friend's soul: it's really a very touching metaphor for what happens when a Christian is dating a non-Christian: how they have to discuss things like abstinence and marriage, etc. See "Pretty Little Liars" and how Hanna's boyfriend's choice to wait is demonized and he's made out to be a jerk who doesn't care about Hanna because he doesn't want to sleep with her. Even "Mortal Instruments" that I love so much has some very harmful instructions about pre-marital sex: Isabelle is supposed to be a strong, powerful woman because she's slept with lots of guys by the time she's fifteen! Fifteen, people!

We need more writers like Meyer and more books like Twilight to balance the equation.

moonspinner · Jul 25, 2011

katsullivan said:
Do you know any good Enid Blyton fanfics? Nice ones that are in keeping with the spirit of Enid Blyton? I went looking around the Net a while ago but I was scared off by all the stories that seem to assume that school-girl best friends = lovers.

Yikes! It never even occurred to me to search the Net from Enid Blyton fanfics so thanks for the warning! I used to write Enid Blyton fanfic back in the day. Specifically ‘Naughtiest Girl in School’ fanfic. But that was in long notebooks with ink and sadly, I don’t have any clue where those are. I wish I did. They’d probably be horrendous but I think they’d be fun to read.

katsullivan said:
He wasn't protecting her virtue, but his own.

That’s an important difference, I think. Pity about the movies removing all that but what do you expect from Hollywood? The Narnia movies turned Aslan into Lion Yoda.

katsullivan said:
I still can't believe that nobody called out Harry or Hermione in Book 5 and told them that what they did to Marietta was exactly the kind of punishment Voldemort dealt out to his own followers.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you so much right now! THIS! THIS is exactly what should have happened to make that whole episode make sense. When I read the part where Hermione explains that she made the Summoning Coins from the same kind of magic that Voldemort put in the Dark Mark, I was like… “mmm… is this going where I think it’s going?” And she makes it a point to say that the magic is different because it’s not a Summon that is branded in the person’s skin… only for her to later on put a spell in the Roster that brands ‘SNEAK’ into someone’s face permanently. I always expected this to come up later. I was always waiting for there to be a lesson in this somewhere. And it never comes! In the next book, Harry sees Marietta wearing a balaclava and he laughs about it. And the horrible thing about the whole scarring is that it’s exactly like you said: it’s a punishment. The scar doesn’t prevent anyone from betraying the DA. It is exactly the kind of behavior that Voldemort would do – seek to punish and avenge when you would expect the good guys to do the opposite – seek to win people to their side, to bring people together.

SpiritedWolf said:
Thank you for calling him Edward.

English is not my first language and I sometimes get things mixed up. I guess I don’t need to explain why Edmund is on my brain…

But I confess that I’ve only read Twilight – the first book but I’ve watched all the movies. Do I get a pass?

Narnia_bookworm said:
I mean growing up for me there were a lot of books that had characters behaved badly towards others, but I knew not to treat other kids like that.

I think katsullivan put it best really:

katsullivan said:
I think there's a difference between what kids read as behaviour that is done by the villains and called out as bad (like Malfoy's prejudice, the Dursleys's abuse, etc.) and behaviour that is done by the heroes and called out as bad (like Harry using the Prince's book in Book 5) and behaviour that is done by the heroes and is not called out as bad (like the Marietta incident).

Can I say that I am shocked and envious that you remember the Epic Darrell-Bitch-slapping-Gwen Swimming Pool scene so well! You are so blessed to have such a vivid memory!

katsullivan · Jul 28, 2011

Could you please tell me a little bit about the fanfic you did write, if you can remember it at all?

moonspinner said:
Can I say that I am shocked and envious that you remember the Epic Darrell-Bitch-slapping-Gwen Swimming Pool scene so well! You are so blessed to have such a vivid memory!

LOL! I don't forget things like that.

It's school-work I have a hard time remembering.

moonspinner · Aug 15, 2011

He he. Just seeing this.

Well, let me see... I wrote this in the midst of my Agatha Christie craze so there was a murder mystery and a spy story somewhere in the middle of it. Basically, it was an AU if Elizabeth had had to leave Whyteleaf without being vindicated in "The Naughtiest Girl Becomes A Monitor" and she went to America. Then the war started and she became a spy; and Harry, her contact in Britain was murdered and she would have been exposed but she ended up using some of her old classmates for cover: Richard, the musician; and Katherine and Robert (who were a couple. Shipper me!) And Julian and Arabella (who were engaged! LOL!), and Arabella's "match-up" Rosemary and Martin got dragged into it as well. And Elizabeth has to figure out which of them is the double agent that betrayed her before she's caught. And I think it ended up being Rosemary - at first, you'd suspect Arabella, then there were clues pointing to Katherine (who was sometimes jealous of Elizabeth's friendship with Robert and used to say things like, "I was his second choice"), and at the very end, it really looks like it's going to be Martin... then Rosemary confesses. Then there's a romantic mystery, where Richard wants Elizabeth to resign spy life and be his musical partner for life - but she ends up with Julian in the end.

(And she and Robert never had feelings for each other, by the way. That was just Katherine's insecurity and she apologises for it at the end. And Elizabeth and Arabella end up being friends, too.)

Red Roses · Sep 6, 2011

K, so I can't stand anyone bashing my favorite series so it's time for me to join the discussion.

I apologize in advance in case something I say offends someone. But let's all please remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this is mine:

I like Twilight. I love Harry Potter. It goes without saying that if I could pick only one of these series I would pick Harry Potter every single time. Why you may ask? Because Harry Potter is superior to Twilight in (almost) every single way.

First of all, I prefer JKR's writing over SM. (come on, you can't expect me to write out their whole name every time. you know who they are.

) I like SM's style, though. I like how she describes things in so much detail. I can't say much else for this, other than it's just preference. I like JKR's style. End of story.

Next thing I'm going to come to, is whether or not the story is realistic. No, I'm not talking about magic or vampires, I think we can form our own opinions on whether or not those things are real. I'm talking about the way the characters act and feel. This is probably the biggest factor as to why I prefer HP over Twilight. Everything/everyone in Twilight is waaaay too dramatic for my liking. I mean, when Edward left Bella, Bella was depressed for months. This, I can deal with. After all, she loved him. Of course she's depressed that he left her. But then Bella starts doing reckless things just so she can hear Edward's voice and this is where I draw the line. I dunno, I just find it insane that she would endanger her life just to hear the voice of someone who told her he didn't love her anymore. Oh. And the biggest thing that makes me dislike Twilight: the ending of Breaking Dawn. I mean, seriously? Pretty much the whole book is about how there's going to be a huge battle at the end and NOTHING happens. Gahh, it frustrated me to no end. What a disappointing ending: they all live happily ever after. Let's face reality people. Who do you know that has the perfect life? Who is living happily ever after? The ending to HP however, was, in a word: epic. Although the good guys win, both sides experience heavy casualties. Erm... I can't really think of anything else at the moment, though I'm sure there is. I haven't read Twilight in a while so I'm kinda rusty on the details...

K, next thing: the movies. Where do I start? The movies suck. For both series (excluding Deathly Hallows Part I and II, which were two of the best movies I've ever seen

). When the Twilight movie first came out, I was going to go and watch it with my friends. Thank god I didn't! I eventually watched it on DVD and I cannot even begin to describe those few hours. The actors CANNOT act. K, I'm going to stop there because if I continue I'll end up saying something I'll regret. Now on to the HP movies. I'm not a huge fan of the HP movies (though that hasn't stopped me from watching them countless times). I guess it couldn't be helped for the HP movies though. Have you seen how thick the books are? If all the little details were to be included there would be like 20 movies! Might as well make a show... (No, I do not want them to make a show. I hate it when they make books into shows. Look what happened to Vampire Diaries!)

K, now for the characters. I think Bella is the most annoying main character ever! She's so self-sacrificing and all the whining annoys the crap out of me. Harry's self-sacrificing too, I'll admit, but at least he doesn't whine. Well... not as much as Bella. I'll admit it: pretty much all of Order of the Phoenix is Harry whining about how he's been holed up with no information, when he's done more than anyone in the Order. And I'll also admit, that OOTP is my least favorite HP book because of this. I absolutely cannot stand whining. Your life sucks. Okay, I get it. Stop harping on about it! >.< Other than the whining though, I really like Harry as the main character. He's brave, and humble too. Can't think of anything else to say about him at the moment. It's past 1:30am here and my mind's not working too great...

Two characters I really want to compare are: Hermione and Bella. At some point in the series, the man they love leaves them. Edward does this in New Moon, to protect Bella from him and Ron does this in Deathly Hallows for various reasons. Hermione loves Ron and is very upset that he left but despite that she continues to work alongside Harry and find the remaining Horcruxes so they can destroy Voldemort. Bella too spirals into depression but she doesn't deal with it nearly as well as Hermione. She starts doing dangerous and reckless things just so she can hear Edward's voice! Let's not forget that she uses Jacob again to help her do these dangerous things, like getting him to fix the bikes and asking him to go cliff diving (that's what it's called right? I have all the Twilight books except New Moon so I can't check...). She also used Jacob in Twilight when she was flirting with him trying to get him to tell her about Edward. and look where this led poor Jacob: madly in love with a girl who uses him. Not to mention the fact that Bella continues to hurt both Edward and Jacob later on, when she realizes that somewhere along the line, she fell in love with Jacob.

Speaking of which, that's another thing I don't like about Twilight: how all the guys are in love with Bella. What do they see in her anyways? I guess it's not my place to judge but still I hate the message it sends out. A lot of shows/movies/books are sending out this message these days and it bugs me to no end: you aren't beautiful unless you have guys tripping over each other trying to get you to admit you love them more than the next guy. (This is also why I gave up on Vampire Diaries.)

Other than that though, I like most of the character from Twilight. I love Alice and Jasper. They're so cute! ^.^ I wish they were mentioned a little more often... especially Jasper. Edward annoys me a little, but I still love him. He's great. Better than Jacob...

Also, someone said earlier something about how Harry Potter is morally wrong and one of the examples they gave is Hermione lying to McGonagall to get Harry and Ron out of trouble. Please. Kids know the difference between right and wrong. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and I doubt that that one example would teach a kid that he/she should lie.

K, I can't think of anything else at the moment though I'm sure there's more things. Sorry if there's any grammar/spelling errors. My thoughts were spilling out faster than I could type them and I'm too lazy to edit. xD

moonspinner · Sep 6, 2011

katsullivan said:
Wow, that was a kick-ass fan fiction! If you ever find it, please can you scan it out or something and post on the Net? I would love to read the actual story.

Although I wish Arabella had been the evil spy instead, not Rosemary. How could Julian have ever wanted to marry her?

I wish I could find it! There were some scenes that I remember now that were really neat - if I say so myself. Like Elizabeth hiding a gun in Richard's piano one time. I don't even know if that's possible but I thought it was a cool idea! Then there was a scene where Julian - who was an army medic on sick leave - threatened a German spy by strapping him to his surgical table, paralyzing him with anesthesia and threatening to perform a live autopsy. (I wrote a lot of this fanfic while reading Agatha Christies and watching James Bond movies.

)

Gosh, I hated Arabella, too! But I just had to make her and Elizabeth friends. If you remember, Enid Blyton was big on reconciliations and giving people second chances. Huge, in fact. One of the reasons why I find Harry Potter books so problematic is that you have all these little kids becoming life long enemies from eleven... and it never changes. You even have the previous generation to prove to you that yes, rivalry over which colors your dorm room is decorated with is something that continues into adulthood, and passes on to your children. Horrible. On the other hand, Blyton boarding books were always big on giving the "trouble" cases a break. Lots of problematic children are fixed and become best friends with the other kids who didn't like them: see everyone from Robert to Kathleen to Martin in the books: a bully, a mean-spirited glutton and a thief. And the "good" guys like Elizabeth and Julian are not without faults: Elizabeth has a bad temper and is impulsive. These aren't in anyway seen as good things and she has to continuously work on them. Julian is lazy: also something that he has to fix. On the other hand: Harry and his friends can do no wrong. Harry tortures someone: it's gallant. Hermione Confound someone so her boyfriend can cheat his way into the school team: it's romantic. Ron and his brothers pick on Muggles with magic: it's "fair" because the Muggle in question is a bully. Ginny is "fiesty" for Knocking out the sports commentator. The whole concept of two wrongs doesn't make a right is completely lost in the Harry Potter books. It's two eyes for an eye and people don't choose to become good or evil: they are born that way and you can tell for sure that an eleven year old will grow up to be a monster. *shudders*

So even though I didn't want to make Arabella out as a good person, but I couldn't help it. Once I started writing a Blyton fanfic, I just sort of went along with the kind of story she would tell i.e. if Blyton ever wrote a story involving spies and murders and love triangles.

There just had to be a reconciliation of sorts, a redemption of the "bad" guy.

Besides, having Arabella as the evil spy would have been waaaay to obvious, don't you think.

I liked the idea of Rosemary better. She's a quiet mouse of a person and you don't know very much about her - other than the fact that she is easily influenced. I had a back-story about her that she spent some holidays in Germany and she got mixed up with some Hitler Youth folk who recruited her to become a spy.

Narnia_bookworm · Nov 14, 2011

I'm looking forward to Breaking Dawn part 1, and I am going to a midnight showing. Its an alright series, but The Hunger Games is a lot better!

Narnia_bookworm · Nov 19, 2011

I saw the movie twice in one day yesterday. I saw it at midnight and then at 7 pm. I loved every part of it! Its the best Twilight movie ever! I loved all the fantasy/paranormal stuff of the vampires and werewolves, the wedding,honeymoon, and spoiler warning the Bella death scene was really powerful and emotional! I give it five fangs out of five.

Narnia_bookworm · Nov 20, 2011

Breaking Dawn part 1 is number 1 at the box office. A lot of people loved it! That is great because it is truly a fantastic movie. Its one of my favorite movies of 2011.

Lila · Nov 20, 2011

Narnia_bookworm said:
Breaking Dawn part 1 is number 1 at the box office. A lot of people loved it! That is great because it is truly a fantastic movie. Its one of my favorite movies of 2011.

Good to hear! I'm not sure if I'll see it or not, but I'm just glad that they didn't completely ruin the book. I actually enjoyed it.

Anaïs Nin · Nov 22, 2011

Narnia_bookworm said:
I'm looking forward to Breaking Dawn part 1, and I am going to a midnight showing. Its an alright series, but The Hunger Games is a lot better!

I have a friend who is an extra in the Hunger Games.
It's all she talks about.
I haven't read the series, so I don't know much about it.

Twilight, however, I know a lot about. haha.

Twilight * Official Twilight Thread * All Twilight Discussion here

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