Hey guys I would really aprpeciate your info! I'm having a hard time thinking of a question that isn't too broad! I want to talk about Twilight so any help would be great :)
1.) In many of the scenes in Twilight, Edward is making Bella feel that she is wrong and almost stupid for believing he is a Vampire, when really he is. Does this represent society today and the relationship between men and women?
2.) In Twilight, while all the Vampires have special powers, the women seem to have the less "important" ones. Is this a reflection in today's society with women in the work force and their contribution to society?
3.) In the scene in Twilight, when Edward tells Bella that he is a Vampire and that he may kill her, Bella responds with "I don't care". How does this represent women in today's society and their willingness for love?
Thank you!!
Hello! Here are my suggestions:
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't do question number 1 because it would be hard to say that Edward tries to make Bella feel stupid for believing he is a vampire, I read it as he is trying to withhold a secret, and is ironically trying to protect her. You could make an argument about why Edward is so serious about withholding the information from Bella, as if she couldn't handle it, when he knew the first day he met her that she was different, he couldn't read her mind, and this frustrated him in a romantic sense.
I like question number 2, I would maybe rewrite the actual question, ask if this is how a majority of society still portray women, how women in the work force today are seen as less important, whether it be the "glass ceiling" effect in big corporations, or when people hear teacher they think of women, but when they hear doctor, they think about men.
I think question number 3 is the best. I think you could really work with this question, showing how today women are still seen as hopeless romantics, without a brain and not much of a mind of their own once they are "swept" up into love.
I think all of your questions are analytical, significant, and specific. Question 1 maybe should be reworded, Question 2 was a little unclear at first, and Question 3 was great.
I agree with Lauren that question three is the best and has the most potential for a great paper! I think that the scene you pointed to is one of many that show women in this light. Therefore, you will have good support for the paper.
ReplyDeleteThe other questions are not bad, but I think they might be more difficult to support. For example, while question two is interesting I don't know how true it is. Alice can see the future and that seems to be a pretty important power!
I like the second part of question one but think the first part needs to be reworded somehow. I don't know if Edward is trying to make Bella feel stupid, but he is definitely stereotypical in his actions towards Bella.
These questions are great...my favorite is number 2. I also like number 3. I don't really think the questions are to broad, so you are good to go!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Emma,
ReplyDeleteThe question for me is, what's at stake in each of these questions? It seems that each is about a particular assumption Twilight is making about gender. The first is about the gender ideology of knowledge (i.e., who knows - or can know - what, and how is this determined or maintained?) The second seems to focus on the gender ideology of power (who gets to do what?), and the third is more about the relation between the (woman's) self and the other in depictions of romantic love (i.e., how much of herself does she get to keep? is "true love" supposed to equal self-erasure?). Okay, I've just made these sounds a lot more complicated than they were when you started - but they *are* complicated, and the paper is a chance to explore and reflect upon that complexity in really interesting ways!
What I would do, therefore, is pick the theme you really want to explore and look to the scene you have chosen to explore it. But don't just look at *what happens* in order to draw out your interpretation - look at other aspects of the film as well. You might, for example, look at the mise-en-scene (the setting, lighting, costuming, facial expressions and line delivery of the characters,etc.) and/or the cinematography (duration of shots, camera angle, perspective, etc.) to interpret those deeper messages the film is sending.
FYI: Twilight is still available at the library if you'd like to take a look.