"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Movie Monday - from Breaking Dawn, the novel, to Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the novel, and a lot of stuff in between

And, of course, Miss M, who is apparently eating the purple ribbon she won for growing so fast:

Just a little background before I discuss BD and LCL: Some of you may remember that I maintain a small lending library at our Association’s clubhouse. We have about 2000 books and I arranged them into non-fiction, fiction, and mystery. We survive on donations and we get some interesting ones: Austen, Shakespeare, books on the Hudson Valley in NY, an excellent bio of Hitler. It’s a pretty dull job except when someone stole our copy of Obama’s bio (no, the donor did not take it back.)

About twice a year I have to cull the shelves and I take books to local libraries for their book sales. At those times, I’m amazed that, outside of cast-off book club choices, most of my fiction is the Nora Roberts type. (Side note: Read her bio in Wikipedia for a look at the chicanery in the romance novel business, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Roberts )

Romance novels are hugely popular so I was not surprised at the reach of the Twilight saga. Since Meyers was writing this romance for a wide chronologically-aged audience it also didn't surprise me that she always stayed in the "romance sex" zone. You know, the fade-to-black type sex scene.

So, with the girl's interest in Twilight, posters everywhere, and with a possibility I may be the parental chaperone at the midnight showing of Eclipse (NO! By all that is holy, NO!) I read Eclipse and then I read Breaking Dawn, too, too many times.

This was supposed to be a Movie Monday discussing Breaking Dawn, the novel and how it could or couldn’t be made into a successful movie(s). I even got as far and writing the following as background:

A couple of plot points in the Twilight saga which I think were crucial for the story although they might go against my philosophical grain:

1: Edward and Bella had to wait for sex until marriage. Apparently, Bella is quite fertile (I think Meyers gives us enough information to even figure out her cycle but I’m not going there) and she gets knocked up the first time she and Edward cohabit (How is that for Victorian?) Can you imagine if Bella went through her vampire/human pregnancy unmarried, under Charlie’s care (OK, she had reached majority but what was she going to say to Charlie: Hey Dad, Edward knocked me up and I’m going to go live with the Cullens. Don’t call.) So I get the chastity before marriage.
2. Nessie had to be born. Although Edward and Carlisle wanted to perform an abortion, Nessie was essential for the final show-down with the Volturi since they came en masse to destroy the Cullens because Irina told them that the Cullens had committed the unforgivable sin: creating a newborn vampire, Nessie.

But then before I had to wrap my brain even more around BD, I found this site:

http://www.thetwilightforums.com/

which will probably tell you all you want to know about the Twilight saga. It seems to be well-moderated so that the comments are informative and entertaining. After I found this site, everything changed.

It was here I read a fantastic suggestion for adding a battle to the Breaking Dawn movie (except for Irina’s death, BD has no violence.) The suggestion was, and I paraphrase:

When Alice returns, Aro takes her hand and sees the battle which may be their future. Since both Aro and Edward will be able to read her mind, there could be a great battle scene here: the battle shown and Edward telling the story. This may be a scene not in BD but one which would be definitely in the spirit of the whole saga.

And then there was this review of the saga on this site:

It's... pretty shittily written. I mean really Stephenie Meyer kind of phones it in. I didn't spend money on them (borrowed from a friend), and the lasting impression I have is just that Meyer basically wrote an impossible love story with weird fantasy elements, and that of course teenage girls everywhere love it - it's about a guy who loves you to the point of obsession with all your flaws and all the insurmountable differences, etc etc. It's the kind of shit teenage girls dream about (myself back then included). - Laurasaurus Jezebel

So, after finding this forum, I decided it was redundant for me to pursue this topic: Breaking Dawn, from book to movie. I still think this last novel has a lot of problems: no violence, lousy descriptions of a lot of sex; bloody birth; and boring. But you will get a lot of possible “fixes” on this site; plus, much, much more.

So there I was on last Saturday morning, not having a review for Movie Monday and overloaded on lame romance sex scenes in BD.

What to do? I wanted to cleanse my mind. I wanted to read in the grown-ups' world. I wanted Lady Chatterley's Lover.

OK, I guess I'll give a little background on this also. I had first read LCL and a young teen - for the sex scenes. Hey! Kids do that. (I’m amazed I had the balls to check this book out of my small hometown library.) I don’t know if I read the expurgated or unexpurgated version but after reading it again this weekend, I know that I sure missed a lot - except the sex.

So, this weekend I remembered I had a hard copy of the unexpurgated LCL. (Yes, I grew up and got to buy my own books.) and I started reading it, again Wow! I discovered that this is a great book beyond the explicit sex. It has dated features (we call it an orgasm, Lawrence calls it a crisis at times) but it thoughtfully addresses the role of sex in the relationship between men and women. It explores the "coming of age" of Connie Chatterley and how her relationship with Mellors takes her from her zone of passive indifference into living. It examines the poverty of the working class and the arrogance of the rich. It tackles the relationship between Clifford Chatterley and Mrs. Bolton (something I definitely missed the first time) It examines the modern novel, the arts, the brittle sophistication of the cultured rich, the Lost Generation of the 1920s. And it's chocked full of metaphors.

So I guess, LCL was my reward for plowing through BD. I felt like I was back in the land of real living.

I have no problem with teens swooning over the Twilight saga though I do feel sorry for the movies’ stars and the adulatory frenzy they are greeted with each time they make a public appearance. What a crazy way to make a living!

I do have a problem when these “rite of passage romance” books are adored (not just read for entertainment, but adored) by older teens and adults. Go read better books. LCL or Sons and Lovers by the same author (D.H. Lawrence.) Or try Edith Wharton or Kate Chopin; women early in the 20th century who presented strong and tragic situations between men and women. Closer to this time period, Anne Tyler, Earthly Possessions is a great book about a woman’s reexamination of her marriage after her life takes a bizarre turn. And don't forget, A Handmaid's Tale. Now there's a cautionary tale.

But I'm going to end my posting on on a fun note. What did I get out of the Twilight saga? How about this “chocolate” game? (I’m making it a “chocolate” game because of the age of the intended book audience – but “wink, wink” for all you older readers who may have played this game without a different type of “food” product.)

Here’s how you play: (You can add your own rules.)
For chocolate overload:
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella and Edward lock lips.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella describes Edward’s perfection.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella or Edward say “I’m sorry.”
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella refers to Jacob as my “best friend”, etc.
Eat a piece a chocolate each time Nessie appears and she is not described in some terms of perfection.
And for those on a diet:
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella or Edward’s hands roam past the waist.
Each a piece of chocolate each time a vampire is described as less than perfect.
Each a piece of chocolate each time Bella, as a human, uses the bathroom.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time you read a realistic sex scene.

Enjoy.