Titanic to Twilight: How Sexism Determines What’s Cool

This article is complete BS. There are plenty more reasons to hate Twilight than just because it's aimed at women. I'm a woman, I know.

And this is why I hate some women, and I am one! Twilight has so many things wrong with it and articles like this make it no better. Putting its films and books on par with works like Titanic and The Da Vinci Code is why some people despise Twilight and its fans. It's because they constantly compare their precious series to other works that are much better and more thought out. Titanic and Da Vinci Code were books/films for adults and Twilight is a film targeting teenage and little girls. Can't the author of this article pick a better female targeted movie to focus on for their article than the awful series that is Twilight?

"Women's concerns" and "Men's concerns?" Why, it almost sounds as if the author is stereotyping. Yes, romantic love in fiction is almost always targeted at women, but men are also capable of worrying about their romantic lives, and romance is as much a "man's concern" as it is a "woman's concern." Concepts are intangible and do not have genders. Though fiction may be aimed at a specific gender through its construction, the universal themes portrayed have no such bias and can appeal equally to both sexes. A woman is as capable of enjoying a romance as she is capable of enjoying an action movie.

I'm a woman, and I'm disgusted by Twilight for promoting the same sexist ideals this article tries (and fails) to attack. Bella has no self; her character exists solely to highlight how much stronger, smarter, and overall better her male suitors are than she is. She has no goals, no cares, no life outside of her man. Her entire world revolves around a shallow, obsessive, dangerous, unequal romance based on lust, a romance that is shown as the ideal. That, among a myriad of other reasons, is why I hate Twilight.

And for the record, I love Mamma Mia, in all its kitschy bubbly goodness. I have nothing against romance. It's the glorification of domestic abuse that I can't stand.

...a response to this article was posted here: http://ophelia23-surfacing.blogspot.com/

Good article with some excellent points. I just wrote an article on Twilight's gender gap and compared its female/male split with other films that might be considered female-oriented fare.

Interestingly--particularly in light of your observations regarding "Sex and the City"--my research found that the "Sex and the City" movie actually had by far the largest popularity differential between women and men of the 40-plus films surveyed.

Here's a link to the article if you're interested:

www.examiner.com/x-956-Atlanta-Movies-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Twilight-New-Moon-and-the-huge-gender-gap-in-popularityhow-does-it-compare-to-other-movies

I really appreciated what the author brought forth in ths article. The Da Vinci Code was long, boring and convoluted. So was Titanic, I hated every second of it while my ex-boyfriend sat next to me and wept. Badge of honour? Yeah, maybe.
I wish people would just stop bashing Twilight. . . "It's sexist, it's an unrealistic depiction of love, the main character is an empty shell. . . ."
You know what, I am a university grad, with a good job, and I love Twilight. And you know why? Because I take it at face value. It's a fun read, and brings back some fond memories of being that age. Do we all forget about those insane, irrational crushes we had when we were 13 years old? Or the feeling of your first kiss or make-out session? Come on people. Lighten up. I love horror movies and have seen many a vampire tale in my 25 years. Stephanie Meyer offered a fresh new spin on a timeless supernatural being. Just like Bram Stoker did all those years ago.
Sure it's easy to bash Twilight and it's devout falling of tween 'Twihards' and 'Twimoms'. But you know what else is fun? Losing yourself in a silly, little book about teenagers falling in love. Try it, you just might like it.

Wtf? I'm a woman and I hate Twilight. Dudes don't pretend to hate Twilight, they just do. How can you like a book about a creepy and abusive stalker? Then there's the pathetic girl who can't think of anything but him. She is weak and spineless, an insult to my gender. Every single thought of hers involves how "hot" the sparkly [redacted] looks. And every single chapter, Edward has to jump to the rescue and save her life. What a piece of garbage. She fell in love just because he's hot and he loves her back just because she reminds him of a tasty steak. lol

I am a freaking teenager and to me, this book is rubbish. It reminds me nothing of the crushes I get. Mine are a little less puppy love and a lot more serious. This book is ridiculous. I never lost myself in this book. It is horribly boring and just getting past the first chapter was a task. In the beggining, all Bella does is wine and complain about Forks.. WHY THE HELL DID YOU MOVE THERE IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT?! Then she meets Edward. No, scratch that. Then she sees Edward and falls in "love". The next thing you know she is going on and on and on about his stupid looks. IT IS SO BORING! I CAN'T BELIEVE PEOPLE GET INTO THIS CRAP!

This is a silly story about teenager lust, nothing more. I can't believe people compare the beautiful film Titanic to this rubbish. Titanic is a touching story, based on things people actually went through. This is just some faerie tale.

I love Crow's second paragraph. It's so true. It's sad, because it seems the writer of this article is a feminist. Yet, she can't even indentify the obvious sexism in the book.

Sorry if this made no sense and I seemed to have no idea what I saying. I am just a teen after all. lol

I agree with many of the commentors here in that there are a number of reasons to dislike the Twilight series besides its "girly" nature. For one, it isn't very well written. I spotted a number of errors in mechanics in the first book, and Meyer overuses adjectives and adverbs. More importantly, the series is rather sexist. It's not just Bella who seems to be vapid and unconcerned with anything other than her love life, all of her female (human) friends seem this way, as well. Bella's mother also doesn't represent a strong female character, as Bella implies that her poor, scatterbrained mother needs to be taken care of by her new husband (or boyfriend, sorry, I can't remember at the moment).

I understand that Bella needs to be accessible to her audience, and that making her overly strong or invulnerable would make that difficult, but she doesn't have to be a superhero in order to be strong. What really concerns me about the series is the idea of young girls reading it and seeing Bella as a role model, or thinking that the way that Edward treats her (i.e., as an inferior who doesn't know well enough to make her own decisions) is in any way okay. And, as a teenaged girl, I do find it a bit offensive to see teenaged girls portrayed in the way that Twilight presents us on the whole.

I'm writing my Extended Essay on this topic, so thank you for this article and all of the comments on it, because they've been really helpful.

Oh, and just a note: I've only actually read the first book in the series. If that has caused me to make any mistakes, please correct me.

Have you ever read Twilight? Because if you have, you'd know that the reason why so many people hate it is not because it's aimed at women, but because it's sexist, shallow, badly written, and the main characters are 2-dimentional and boring. Not to mention the pedophilia in the fourth book. And honestly, you actually compare Twilight to Titanic? You seriously need to come up with some better reasons for your statements here.

Those of you who have read the books have every right to weigh in with your opinion. Twilight may very well be crap, but that's not the point. There are a lot of people (mostly men) who have an almost instinctive negative reaction to media that are perceived to be "female oriented," without ever actually reading the book or seeing the movie. What is it about Titanic, Mamma Mia!, or Twilight that causes that kneejerk reaction in some quarters? Is it the romance? The female lead character? Is it "gay?" I don't know the answer, but I'm glad the article raised the question.

As I recall, Man who SPARKLE are usually GAY.... and it was the damn Titanic's fault for crashing into the iceberg in the first place! poor little iceberg...

It's not sexism, it's discerning crap from mega-crap.
I think Twilight is terrible because it presents a shallow, unrealistic idea of love to impressionable young girls, setting themselves up for a pretty big reality check when they find out that it doesn't work anything remotely like that.
That and it's got to be one of the lamest, worst interpretations of Vampirism anywhere ever.
They sparkle for God's sake. Bram Stoker is rolling in his grave.

I don't think that I have ever met anyone over the last 13 years who didn't like Titanic. And. I don't think I have ever met anyone who decided to be as insulting as to compare Titanic, one of the best love stories ever told, to the crapfest known as Twilight

Everyone has a right to their opinion. I believe that the people who bash Twilight are just to embarrassed to admit they really like it. I am not saying it is the best book or movie out there but it sure the hell is not the worst, for it to be bashed.
I am not sure what part of 'fiction' um, meaning 'NOT real' people don't get. It's not a real story, it's a damn forbidden love of a guy that treats Bella damn good in the book actually. I am rather happy with my relationship, I couldn't ask for more. I am very happy. But what girl hasn't dreamed of being treated like a princess, like she means more than any? Um hello, again Cinderella is fake their is no prince charming coming to rescue anyone form their messed up life. People brought up that Bella was weak, yea when Edward left her she was. I recall having my heart broke it sure wasn't peaches and cream.
Since it was compared to Titanic, if I am correct, that chick fell in love over a very short time on the cruise. Is she weak? I think she was to weak to break up with her boy-friend, or whatever he was.
Da Vinci Code, really?How fake and screwed up was that movie, I won't even go there.
I don't get why people just can't let people enjoy themselves. Ok you don't like it fine but what pleasure do you get out of bashing it and the people that do like it. I am 28 and work is Social Work, I enjoyed the book and movie as I do many other books and movies. It's funny I actually know people of all ages male and female that like the story and went to see the movies. I also know some that don't but they don't get off putting other people down.... Sounds kind of bullish to me.

I'd like to think that books targetted at girls don't have to be sophmoric, poorly written, and filled with situations where the woman gets swept off her feet by a stereotypical white male whose main value to her is that he can protect her from all the things she isn't strong enough to protect herself from.

but Sex and the City as well. Mamma Mia is pushing it, but I generally enjoyed it even if I will never watch it again.

Titanic is about a young woman who falls for a man who tells her that there's more to life than just following the typical mother/wife path. When he dies, it's a tragedy, but it also inspires her to take life by the horns, as she does.

Twilight is about a young woman who solely defines her life by a man. It's the complete antithesis to Titanic's main idea. Comparing the two is grotesque.

Twilight is utter crap, though. It's sexist not only to women, but to men too. I'm sure most women will say "it's about time", but that still doesn't make it right that Twilight objectifies men almost every five minutes.

How can anyone hate Titanic yet love Twilight? Titanic is a romantic movie that will go down as a classic. It ranks up there with romance films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Titanic won 13 awards, it got placed on various AFI film lists. Twilight has yet to have any of that honor and never will. Its a fantasy film that is just pop culture. Nothing memorable.

I am a woman, and I despise Twilight so much because it is not like Titanic and The Notebook.

I agree that Twilight isn't that "great" but neither is let's say Transformers which is equally as sexist and stupid yet isn't as bashed and hated. I am Number Four is the worst movie I've ever seen yet there isn't an entire army of people against that movie. Yes, Twilight isn't good but it gets attacked more just because it's geared towards women.

To Get_a_Life and others who think that because Twilight is fiction that no one takes it seriously:

Since ancient times, the ability of fiction to impact society has been known and understood. Readers internalize stories. When you've got popularity at critical mass and not being another fan is social suicide (being a fan is acceptable), then what starts happening is fans and pseudo-fans talk about how romantic and perfect the characters are, and when you hear all the time about how a character's actions are so ideal and how everyone wants to date someone like that, the bad actions become good. I've encountered more people than I can keep track of who genuinely see nothing wrong with Edward's actions toward Bella. They actually say his breaking into her bedroom to watch her sleep, how refusal to let her see her friends, him having his sister literally kidnap Bella and hold her against her will, and so on, are all romantic and proof of love. Many fans have become so used to hearing how perfect Edward is that they believe it.

There's truth to the saying that if you say/hear something often enough, you'll start to believe it. Many fans, MANY, now believe Edward's actions are just fine. They've internalized a lie.