I'm Ready for Some Intelligent Fare

Last week, I visited my local Salvation Army in search of some reading books and found Stephanie Meyer's sequel to "Twilight", "New Moon" for two dollars. I figured, what the hell - why not? Then I found the prize - Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" by Bill Moyers, the written transcript of Moyers' last interview (which took days and was broadcast years ago but you can watch it on Netflix!) with Campbell prior to Campbell's death.

If you haven't heard of Joseph Campbell, you may have experienced the results of his writings through modern movies like the Star Wars trilogy which feature hero archetypes from his books, and through many other movies and books. It's a kind of formula, but it works, and most books that I've read and movies that I've seen (and loved) follow Campbell's "hero's journey" - which most of us follow in our own lives as well (though we're not aware of it). Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, even Wesley Gibson of Wanted (the movie).

Unfortunately "Twilight" does not follow such a formula. Instead, I spent a few hours each night struggling through the first book, and its recently acquired sequel, till I finally set it down without finishing it. One more "No, don't leave me," and I'm gonna puke.

There are no archetypal heroes in this damn series. I wouldn't want my kids to follow Bella's example of whining, whining, whining (teen anst or not - er, do you want cheese with that?) and the more I read the book, the more I wished Victoria would just show up and kill her already and end my misery (alas, this does not happen).

Don't worry - I'm not about to spend the rest of my post to rant about the Twilight series. I know friends who love it, and I also know that the people who do range in age from 9 to 90, so I guess there is something there (though not much). I do have to admit that I liked the movie - it took me two viewings to get into it, but it was okay. I liked the soundtrack and I found that I liked Cam Gigandet who played James.

But I'm done with needy girls, and lame plots. I'm ready for some strong, intelligent women (and men). I'm ready for some real heroes (and heroines!).