comment #1

Krillian says ...

When's the last time anyone worried about whether a male character in high school was a good role model or not?

comment #2

Rich S. says ...

The Twilight thing is as old as Cinderella. Almost equally potent is the whole Luke Skywalker/Harry Potter/ Captain Marvel thing for teenage boys: powerless kid is told he's special and has super powers.

It's all about powerless adolescents wanting to feel special, primarily through recognition from an outside source. It's incredibly alluring wish fulfillment and will be repeated as long as there are stories to tell.

In the case of Twilight, it's probably not healthy to more modern eyes, but I don't know if it's as dire as your correspondent fears. It still comes down to, "the dreamiest boy in the class noticed me, ME, and no one else."

comment #3

Eloi Manning says ...

""The two worst famale role models on this planet are Bella from Twilight and Carrie Bradshaw. Both are so desperate for what they can't have they're either depressed about it or burying themselves in artificial baubles. Neither can have any sort of existence without a man, whatever kind of guy he might be. Chris Rock said his first goal is to keep his girls off the pole; keeping them away from this other crap should be goal #2.""

It's great that this guy has so little faith in his daughters' ability to separate fact from fiction that he's advocating banning them from watching Sex & The City or Twilight, lest they be led astray by the scandalous depiction of girls actively pursuing male companionship. How very totalitarian. He might want to dress them in a burka too, y'know, in case they attract the attention of a man he might not approve of.

Clearly they need to be set up with one of Daddy's Wall Street stockbroker pals. Now there's an upstanding bunch of men.

comment #4

Gordon27 says ...

It seems a wee bit unfair to take the aspects that people relate to in a character and complain that they're the same aspects that make the person a poor role model. Especially to do so without indicating who a "proper" role model is supposed to be.

comment #5

Eloi Manning says ...

Good article on this kind of attitude from Scott Mendelson: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson/is-obssessed-exploiting-r_b_191458.html

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

There are no good articles from Scott Mendelson.

comment #7

Mr. F. says ...

I guarantee you: NO ONE will pay $20-30 to see a first-run movie in their own home... unless they invite over half the neighborhood and everyone chips in. But no individual, nor even any family, would pay that kind of money for a first-run movie. Why? Because they can wait a mere three months and see the same movie under the same conditions for... $1.99. Or they can subscribe to Netflix and pay $7.99/month. If people are really so excited to see a movie, they'll make the trip to the theater. If they're just interested, but don't care all that much... a three-month wait is NOTHING.

comment #8

TL says ...

"But I just don't have time to go to the theater. In this economy you have to work long hours to keep your job, and there are so many other things that need doing that I simply can't take the time to go to theatres.

I hate to say it, because I love cinema and seeing movies as they're intended, but I totally agree.

comment #9

Studly Semite says ...

As every man who has mistreated women knows, what women say they want out of life and what they actually respond to are complete opposites. Of course Bella is the typical heroine out of bodice ripper literature and is what women, WHETHER THEY LIKE TO ADMIT OR NOT, respond to on a deep level, the same way as men respond to extreme violence and sadism. Hollywood gets rich by serving up junk food, not broccoli.

comment #10

frank_delsa says ...

people who complain that fictional characters are not good role models are quintessentially boring people.

comment #11

PopcornEyeglass says ...

IFC on Demand is basically what this guy is asking for.

But seriously dude, the movies you mentioned are all spaced out by a month or so. I know that "this economy" is making us all work four times the hours we used to, but you can make time for two hours a month.

comment #12

Circumvrent says ...

If this guy works in the Financial Sector, he probably has Time Warner Cable in Manhattan, and can take advantage of their pretty good On Demand offerings - the most I ever paid for an in-theatres movie was THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. It ran me $9.99, which was a little pricey but was still worth it. Most are $4/5.99.

Once those movies start being successful, others will follow suit. I'd watch A SERIOUS MAN tonight for $10 definitely.

comment #13

lipranzer says ...

I haven't seen either TWILIGHT or the SEX AND THE CITY movie, and it's possible that they're both more what they've been described as - an abstinence fable (for the former) and fashion and accessories porn (for the latter). If they are, that's great, and I'll get around to watching them. If they aren't, well, as Rich S said, these are fantasies, and they've always been around. What I object to is the idea that they're somehow empowering to women. I've never found regression empowering.

comment #14

DarthCorleone says ...

Mr. F & Circumvrent said more or less what I was going to say. You don't have to wait long at all for movies to show up on PPV, and they don't cost anywhere near $20 or $30. If you're that busy with work that you can't go to the theater occasionally, I find it difficult to believe that waiting the two or three months for PPV movies is going to affect your enjoyment too much, unless you're spending the time you could be going to the theater frequenting internet film discussion threads and having the new releases instantly spoiled for you.

comment #15

Mark says ...

I like it. Put the art theaters out of business, and give people less of a reason to leave their houses. With more and more telecommuting to work, it's the best way to combat influenza epidemics.

comment #16

Phreaker says ...

"Now we're glorifying a girl who's so desperate for a real connection that she'll fall for a guy who might actually kill her? And this is romantic? As the father of two small girls, this scares the crap out of me."

It's even worse than that. Oh, would that it was that simple. Bella is a horrifying role model because she sacrifices everything at the age of 19 or something to marry and get pregnant -- her forsakes her human life and even possibly her vampire life to carry a baby that is maybe going to kill her (Christian pro-lifer fantasy). Bella is supposedly smart but once the guy enters her life that's it. Ambition, gone. Education, gone.

And I really hope that it doesn't make young teens think that's the way to go.

As for the Carrie Bradshaw thing? Yeah, don't agree at all.

comment #17

LexG says ...

Kristen Stewart = MOST ALLURING WOMAN ON THE PLANET, or at least up there with Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, and Jessica Biel.

Bella = PURE sexiness.

comment #18

Redmond says ...

Phreaker said:

"Bella is a horrifying role model because she sacrifices everything at the age of 19 or something to marry and get pregnant -- her forsakes her human life and even possibly her vampire life to carry a baby that is maybe going to kill her (Christian pro-lifer fantasy). Bella is supposedly smart but once the guy enters her life that's it. Ambition, gone. Education, gone."

Actually, Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer is a Mormom, but in this case: tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to...

comment #19

pasuga says ...

"Here we are on the verge of another Twilight film, and the scary thing is that it's entirely based on low self-esteem among young females. It's essentially the story of the ordinary girl drifting through her boring life until she meets a 'special guy' who finally sees her inner beauty. Sure, he has some problems, but he loves her, right? Haven't a million girls with low self-esteem had one bad relationship after another due to chasing guys who didn't care who they hurt? Now we're glorifying a girl who's so desperate for a real connection that she'll fall for a guy who might actually kill her? And this is romantic? As the father of two small girls, this scares the crap out of me."

Have you read the books? I don't think it's entirely based on low self-esteem at all, although I would certainly agree Bella has it at the beginning of the series. You can turn that view on your head 180 degrees if you look at it from the viewpoint that it's actually Bella who saves Edward - emotionally in 'Twilight" and physically in "New Moon." (I remember Rob Pattinson saying that in an interview, just can't remember where, and I'm quite sure this is where Stephenie Meyer was coming from when she was writing the series.) In the final book (MAJOR SPOILER)

Bella almost single-handedly saves both her human and vampire families and everyone else they care about. The story arc is (among other things) about a young girl growing up and becoming empowered.

comment #20

BurmaShave says ...

Since she had it, I read BREAKING DAWN without having read the previous ones after much explanation from my girlfriend at the time, and I must say what doesn't get talked about enough is that Stephanie Meyer is batshit out of her mind.

comment #21

pasuga says ...

I'm sorry you had to go through that. That book is totally weird if you haven't read the first three, and even then a lot of the fans hated it.

comment #22

The Winchester says ...

"It's great that this guy has so little faith in his daughters' ability to separate fact from fiction that he's advocating banning them from watching Sex & The City or Twilight, lest they be led astray by the scandalous depiction of girls actively pursuing male companionship."

He can claim that. I'm banning any potential offspring of mine from watching them on general taste principles.

comment #23

Uncle Milty says ...

I could give a shit if they're good role models or not. They're boring characters, played by unattractive, one note actors.

comment #24

Krillian says ...

1. Again, when is the last time anyone complained about a male character in high school not being a good role model? Most teenagers are insecure. Must all female characters be N.O.W. robots?

2. You can be a sane person and write freaky fiction.

3. I haven't read the books, but my wife has, and my understanding Bella is quite a different person by the end of Breaking Dawn.

4. My wife loves the books and the first movie, and so I hope Movies 2-4 are good because I'm going to see them all with her in theaters. (Actually I don't care, because if they're painful she'll make it up to me.)

5. In this economy, I'm not paying $30 to see a movie at my house. I have Blockbuster Online. If I'm seeing a movie in theaters, I'll pay the $17 it costs for me and my wife to go out sans kids. ($12 if the movie's been out two or more weeks.) (No, we don't get popcorn.) Yes, I would love it if A Serious Man was playing at a theater near me, but I can wait.

comment #25

AitchCS says ...

Comment #9 sounds like he is living in the 19th century.

comment #26

Noiresque says ...

In the media world it is acceptable to gleefully mock Jennifer Aniston because 5 years ago she divorced the Man with the Golden Nads, and it is echoed and lapped up by the ,asses. To have buckets of schadenfreude dumped on an attractive, self-made millionaire because she is 40 and single and her ex took up with someone younger he met at work is nastiness in the extreme.

Keep that in mind, and this guy will realise that SaTC and Twilight are the least of the problems facing his daughters in the coming years when monitoring what depictions of women his daughters will be confronted with in the entertainment world.