To fans of all things everywhere, please try to learn how to use a critical eye.
Every form of media, whether it be books, t.v, film or anything else is not perfect. To be a fan of something, you don’t even need to pretend it’s perfect. You can still enjoy something even if you can criticise it. And you do NOT need to defend something if someone else points out an issue in it. It doesn’t mean “You can’t love this thing” it just means “be aware there are issues that you shouldn’t absorb into your own view of the world.”
Books/comics are separate from any t.v. or film that is based on them.
i.e. Percy Jackson/ Avatar the Last Airbender- both film adaptations have been heavily criticised for not accurately showing the ideas as the books/comics/ films they were based on. This is because authors, whilst they can give advice on adaptations, rarely make the final call, so lots of things end up being changed between media types.
My biggest reason for this post is a joke conversation I had with a colleague about Twilight and the fact that vampires can’t have dark skin (because transforming into a vampire sucks melanin from your skin, as SM claims).
A lot of people have been replying with “But what about Laurent, he was black.”
Correct. In the movie he was black, in the books he wasn’t (he was described as having ‘olive skin’). SM, the author of Twilight, did not write any POC vampires until Breaking Dawn (when we were introduced to the Amazon Coven/Egyptian Coven etc.) This is an issue.
I consider the main cast of the books to be Bella and Charlie, the Cullens and the werewolves, everyone else comes and goes. The fact that we are expected to believe that a family of 7 vampires came together, who were all white and apparently straight is incredibly interesting. It is also a problem.
There is NOTHING saying these characters couldn’t have been POC, yet none of them were. They were described as being physical perfection, so beautiful that everyone stopped to stare at them, so they should have been a more diverse group of people to reflect the beauty of all people.
Now, I’m not saying that I don’t like the books or the films, despite a multitude of issues. I do. But I can still look at them and think “Damn, it would have been so much nicer to see a more diverse cast so that everyone can be seen as the peak of beauty as vampires.”
So, for anyone out there, please try and view things responsibly. Don’t get defensive when people point out issues, it’s okay to do that and still be a fan of something. Tysm.
