The Twilight Saga

I cant stand Bella Swan!!

I'm sorry for all the Bella lovers out there but there is something about her I dont like. As a writer myself, i would never put my main character (who are mainly girls) to always be a depressing girl. I have nothing against Kristen Stewart I just dont like her character. She's not girly she doesn't wear skirts, barely makeup, she's always depressed about something. I remember in New Moon she was sleeping on the floor in the bathroom. I understand that Stephanie Meyer is trying to potray Bella as a normal teenage girl but teenage girls dont have a blank face, they are happy and excited to go to prom. A normal girl loves to go to prom and be with their boyfriends. I really dont understand her character. She's really not normal to me. 

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Permalink Reply by shruti lautner on May 11, 2013 at 6:37am

you r right

Permalink Reply by balletgirl on March 1, 2013 at 12:08am

well not all teenage girls are the same. some girls like prom, lots of attention, and girly things, and some don't. i guess it's not popular or "the norm" to be the Bella type, but those types of girls do actually exist. you just never noticed them because they're the quiet ones.

 as far as Bella Swan is concerned, i feel like she is an undeveloped character. so much could have been done with her character, but all was wasted on true love- edward- happy ending. she could have still had a happy ending but i felt like the road to get there should have been harder. i feel like she didn't have much to do and didn't work hard enough. everything just easily fell into place.

Permalink Reply by JJ on March 28, 2013 at 8:54am

I haven't read them in a while either because each time I have read them I dislike Bella more and more and I really do not want to hate her so I thought I should probably stop...  She is extremely annoying. 

Permalink Reply by Jacen Caedus on April 8, 2013 at 8:32pm

Never thought I would defend Meyer's writing, but one must "give the devil his due".

So, here goes: on several occasions in the novels, Bella described herself as being atypical, different, abnormal.

If you feel that was omitted from the films, I feel you did not truly pay attention to them.

Permalink Reply by JJ on April 20, 2013 at 12:54am

I think that you have the best topic title and it conveys my thoughts of Bella perfectly "I can't stand Bella Swan!"  Most of my opinions about Bella comes from Eclipse was firmly planted in my mind before the movie came out so therefore it has no basis for my opinion of Bella.  However I do not think she is a very good example in Twilight or NM either.  My opinion is also not based on Kristen Stewart, who I do not think is a very good person, but besides the point. 

Let me first say that I do not believe that Meyers was writing a girl for other girls to follow.  

MEYERS -- " I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else's real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it's a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she's in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don't think so.

Do I think eighteen is a good age at which to get married? Personally—as in, for the person I was at eighteen—no. However, Bella is constrained by fantastic circumstances that I never had to deal with. The person she loves is physically seventeen, and he's not going to change. If she and he are going to be on a healthy relationship footing, she can't age too far beyond him. Also, marriage is really an insignificant commitment compared to giving up your mortality, so it's funny to me that some people are hung up on one and not the other. Is eighteen too young to give up your mortality? For me, any age is too young for that. For Bella, it was what she really wanted for her life, and it wasn't a phase she was going to grow out of. So I don't have issues with her choice. She's a strong person who goes after what she wants with persistence and determination."

Meyers was telling a story and some of the things that Bella does is to further the story.  And as a plot device for a story I was able to read her character and really not give it much thought, it was in the second or third reading that her actions started to bother me more and more.  

I think that Bella is an absolute horrible example for any teenage girl to want to model her life after.  

I think it is good to have a character who isn't Ms. Popular, who stumbles, doesn't wear make-up, enjoys reading and who feels like she belongs to another generation.  (I actually know a person who would swear she was born in the wrong generation, she works every day with horses and has no need for technology other than a vehicle, but that is beside the point).  The problem that I have is that she doesn't embrace this difference and learn to love herself despite of it.  Instead Bella changes into a vampire, beautiful, graceful, and strong and feels that THIS is what she was born for.  I'm sorry... That is like a girl getting plastic surgery and then saying that God made her for that...  How sad. 

Bella is a walking contradiction.  There is no denying that she would die for those she loves and in that way has no sense of self preservation.  It makes her seem extremely selfless and devoted.  However her stubbornness makes her also extremely selfish.

She uses Jacob, leads him on, and then drags him around like the little lost puppy that he is.  It starts in Twilight when she flirts to get information.  She never tells him this and therefore Jacob has a false assumption about her from the very beginning.  I let Bella off the hook in New Moon because she was single and she was free to move on with her life as best as she could.  She is as honest with Jacob as she could be.  

Then in Eclipse she can't let him go!!  The begining of the book starts off with a note from Jacob to Bella which is clearly in response to a note that Jacob received from Bella.  Jacob made it very clear that they couldn't be friends as long as she was friends with the Cullens and she couldn't respect him enough to let it be.  She felt like she had to "fix it" not for Jacob but for herself.  She wanted to be able to stop feeling guilty.  It wasn't until at the school with Jacob talks to Edward that he sees that Edward isn't being truthful with Bella and reconsiders his pursuit of Bella.  I made a list of over 12 times that Bella sees Jacob in Eclipse. 

Bella's attachment to Jacob is also disrespectful to her relationship with Edward.  Edward makes it very clear that he does not want her spending time with Jacob, but Bella is stubborn and does what she wants anyways.  As a results she ends up hurting them all.  She cheats on Edward the moment she kisses Jacob back.  Yes Jacob manipulated her, but she also manipulates Jacob telling him that she has changed her mind and that they will work it out.  She is implying that she will leave Edward in order to be with Jacob.  

She has a terrible relationship with both of her parents that I hope no teenage girl models.  With Renee she acts as the parent and has no real respect for her as an authority figure.  With Charlie she lies to about Edward being in her room almost every night, lies about studying with Jessica for a test , and makes elaborate college plans that she has no intention on following through on.  Jacob and Bella both lie to their dads about the motorcycles and who knows how many stories they came up with for her multiple trips to the ER. (Seriously, why was it Edward who had to think of putting a helmet on her!! Stupid kids).  Her going against Charlie in order to continue to date Edward in Eclipse is completely disrespectful and gives her dad an ultimatum that she keep her boyfriend or she will move out.  How cruel and selfish.  With both of her parents it is a second thought and almost hind-sight that they would miss her if she traded her humanity for immortality, eventually she does think of it but even never seeing her parents again (or so Bella thought at the time) was valuable enough for her to change her mind. 

I do respect Bella's devotion to the people that she loves and I do believe that Bella has a basic sense of "right and wrong" and she is a good person.  But she has no religious moral compass.  She has no faith.  She does mention heaven and would like to go there, but not unless Edward is there.  She gives almost no thought to her soul and would gladly give it up in order to be with Edward.  Marriage has no sigificance for her, which makes sex fair game at any time as long as they are in love.  I do think it is good that she wants to be in love to have sex, but I don't like how she keeps pressure Edward. If it were gender reversed and it was Edward pressuring her most people would freak out and say horrible things about him, but for it to be Bella, she is "normal".  Which is funny the only part of Bella is that is normal is that she wants sex from her boyfriend (not normal when said boyfriend is a vampire, but that is another subject) and Bella is only worried about what other people think of her when it comes to getting married right out of high school because she doesn't want other people to think that she got knocked up and had to get married. So she didn't care about these people enough to actually become real friends with them, but cares enough that she doesn't want them to think badly of her or of Charlie who couldn't "control" his daughter. 

Now I understand that Bella is a teenage girl and she should have the right to make mistakes.  I also understand that it is a book and in order for it to be interesting she can't be perfect, but Meyers didn't allow for natural consequences to take place.  The biggest complaint of Breaking Dawn is that Bella gets everything she wants without there being any consequences.  She doesn't let Edward, Jacob, or any stop her.  She is still stubborn like she has been throughout the whole time and that stubbornness continues to hurt Edward (who even had Jacob feeling sorry for him because he looked so miserable) and she continues to hurt Jacob with acting so happy and thrilled just when he walks into the room (which also hurt Edward).  There seems to be a difference between a mistake that serves the plot of the story and a serious character flaw.  Bella seems to the later. 

Permalink Reply by Elita on April 20, 2013 at 5:56am

Well, if publishers would not demand more books from Meyer... Bella would stay loved, right?

 

Because all those problems are tied with added stuff: Bellas weird connection with Jacob which leads nowhere, Jacobs "love" toward Bella & imprinting in Bellas daughter, Edwards character"s changes...

Permalink Reply by JJ on April 20, 2013 at 11:15am

Without NM and Eclipse I think that Bella would have remained a teenage girl who still lies to her father, however it was to protect him.  She still had her boyfriend sleeping with her (or at least she was the one sleeping) almost everynight and it was known that her father wouldn't approve.  I still do not think that is a good example for other teenage girls. 

"Well, if publishers would not demand more books from Meyer... Bella would stay loved, right?"

Wouldn't that same question be asked of you except about Jacob.  If it weren't for the additional books (NM and Eclipse) that he would have stayed a loved character or at least an indifferent character as a random family friend.  Right? 

If you feel justified in hating Jacob due to most of his actions from Eclipse, then shouldn't I feel justified in not liking Bella? 

I know that these books were not apart of Meyer's original plan, but she still allowed them to happen.  She wrote it and felt like it was something that the characters would do and therefore I hold the characters responsible for their actions.  (It is weird talking about fictional characters like they are actual people, lol) The point is, I don't pick and choose what portions of the books I like and therefore consider it "valid" and then take the portions that I don't like and blame editors, producers, or whoever and say that it is not valid.  All four books are "canon" and therefore all four books make up "Bella".   

Permalink Reply by Elita on April 20, 2013 at 1:48pm

I agree that Jacob without added part would stay lovable character.The thing is, without New Moon and Eclipse there is not too much Jacob in Twilight saga.

 

 She wrote it and felt like it was something that the characters would do

I disagree. I do not believe that Edward and Jacob would coexist so happy around.

I do not believe Bellas happy smiles by seing Jacob after her wedding. If she decided and left him, there is no place for such behaviour, then. In very first Twilight book Bella says how hard it is for her to make decision, but when it is done, she never regrets it and never looks back.

Etc.

Permalink Reply by JJ on April 20, 2013 at 3:54pm

You disagree, but obviously Meyers would disagree with you because she wrote it.  You can argue that Meyers wrote her characters "out of character" and that might be true.

Unless... Meyers made the choice to have her character change and adapt so then something that Bella said she wouldn't do... With different circumstances (that Meyers created) then Bella might actually do something that she said she would never do.  

You can see this happen with Jacob's character.  In the start of Breaking Dawn he is ready to start a war with the Cullens when he thinks that they have turned Bella.  He believed that they had broken the treaty and therefore like any other vampire should be destroyed.  He learns he is wrong about Bella being changed and then throughout the book the more time he spends with the Cullens he later actually gives his conscent for Edward to change Bella.  That was not breaking character, it was circumstances and Jacob developing more of a friendship with the Cullens that changed Jacob's mind about Bella being changed. 

I do agree with you that Bella's behavior towards Jacob after being married to Edward was inappropriate and mean to both Edward and Jacob. 

Permalink Reply by Elita on April 20, 2013 at 5:48pm

I think we can agree that Meyer is not a skilled writer.

 

She both created and destroyed Twilight world by herself.

 

I still do love Twilight because of Edwards and Bellas love story - despite Eclipse book, which is so contrary with idea of whole saga about eternal true love. (New Moon book does not contradict with Twilight.) 

Permalink Reply by Pinkie on April 20, 2013 at 6:02pm

I completely agree with you.  I think we all read so differently and when we add how we personally feel on issues to that different reading level, we end up with all the more differences. 

Permalink Reply by JJ on April 20, 2013 at 6:06pm

I'm not sure about "skilled" but she is certainly an interesting story teller.  The same reasons that I do not like Bella and find her extremely annoying, also make the story interesting.  I feel like that is the same for Edward and Jacob as well, the actions that they do that I really, really don't like, also make the story interesting and by far the story would not be the same without those actions. 

The good, the bad, the ugly, lol, I think that Meyers created characters that are easy to relate to and out of the three main characters it is easy for people to find a favorate.  And that is pretty cool. 

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