Comments on: On the Question of Whether Stephenie Meyer Is a Racist

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:49:18 +0000

I believe everyone is looking into this crap too much. If you can pin point moronic things as such, it is probably because you are a racist. Does it really matter?

Plus, in my opinion, if you are too afraid to say things like black, it’s probably that you are the one that is racist. (I just used black as an example) I don’t know if you understand what I am implying….

I don’t believe Stephanie Meyers intended for it ’seem’ racist. You only find things like this if you are looking for it. Mormon stupidity and such.

Also, all this bull about how these books aren’t great influence to teen girls– news flash! It’s pretty hard for a girl to go looking for a vampire boyfriend. It’s just literature… and it’s fake, to an extent, like many other books out there.

This is a stupid topic. Let go of all this racist bull….

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:45:52 +0000

Yeah, ditto what Celamba said, entirely. As for TWILIGHT being an unhealthy read for teen girls, I gotta say, having BEEN a teen girl, that that first love experience is the most intense, reckless feeling there is and I sure didn’t act circumspectly and did become absorbed with all things HIM. Women, especially young women, are very invested in their emotional lives and when we are truly besotted the practical, cerebral rules can fly out the window. TWILIGHT may not have a PC feminist POV but it’s more or less honest from a female emotional POV. Juliet didn’t exactly make some great, pro-feminest choices either, but we celebrate R&J as great romance literature and not a cautionary tale of damaged teen co-dependency.

By: celamba

celamba — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:45:20 +0000

I think the discussion on whether Stephanie Meyers and her books are racist is ludicrous. As someone who has read the books I didn’t see any. I read the books with some trepidation but tried to keep an open mind while reading them. Most of Valdes-Rodriguez’s arguments seem to stem from the fact that Meyers is a Mormon and not the books themselves, not to mention she has inaccuracies in her allegations. The only racism I see is that of Valdes-Rodriguez and that against Mormons. I can’t really comment on Mormons as I don’t know much about them. Besides what does Stephanie Meyer’s religion have to do with the book? Everybody believes in something even if it’s nothing. I don’t see Valdes-Rodriguez commenting on her own religious beliefs.
Also Jacob is named after Stephanie Meyers brother and is considered a good guy in the book (I mean he’s Bella’s best friend). As for Bella choosing the “(white) vampire over the (brown) werewolf” well it had nothing to do with racism it was because she cared about the Vampire more and she even says that if she hadn’t met Edward she would have been most likely with Jacob (see other books). Also in the book(s) the most evil of the vampires is not Laurent but the tracker. There are quite a bit of white evil vampires in the books. Besides villains and heroes come in all shapes and sizes, to imply an author can’t make a villain a minority because that would make them a racist is ridiculous. While I believe the book(s) had its critisms this is definitely not one of them and I can only conclude that Valdes-Rodriguez is attacking Meyers from a position of ignorance. Some people will only see what they want to see.

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:00:56 +0000

I think the fact that people are even debating this, is purely ridiculous! Stephenie Meyer is NOT a racist. People are just questioning this because Stephenie is mormon. And its not a surprise that Mormons aren’t the most popular religion group. That is why people are making such a big deal about it. If J.K. Rowling was Mormon, people could argue the same thing. Stephenie probably was just making up a name for Jacob. She probably would be horrified if she found out people were saying such hateful things. Is it really that necessary to bring religion into everything? Also, I disagree. Breaking Dawn was a refreshing and true to the story book. It was the best book in the entire series. It allowed the characters to mature and to really develop. I applaud Stephenie for sticking to her guns and writing the novel she wanted to. Stephenie Meyer is an amazing writer. That is why she is so succesful. And… as with success, comes criticism. The only reason people are saying such hateful things is because some don’t like the fact that a Mormon can be so succesful. As for those people, your rage and jealousy is something I pity.

By: That's important?

That's important? — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:26:11 +0000

She’s racist, and I’m not just talking about Alisa’s text, the point is in Bella and Edward’s honeymoon at Esme Island (In Brazil, btw.)
She make we, the brazilians, look like trash, she says something about that Brazilian Vamps are anti-social, i don’t remember that correctly, but I just HATE breaking dawn, and I guess that good part of the Brazilians (who are so crazy like Americans about Twilight) will hate this too.

Unhappy, in Br, we just can read Breaking Dawn like e-book, here we just have New Moon and Twilight. I’m really hoping that when the fourth book appear here people think like I think, what’s the meather? Why some people have this bad-imprection with my country? We are just NORMAL.
And we’re happy and nice people, I swear. Just telling people who is always saying bad things about 3rd World Countries or is Racist to know better that countries/people. I’m a white-brazilian girl, but that don’t changes nothing. I just LOVE my country, with all problems we have here.

Sorry for take it personal, anyway.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:44:30 +0000

Valdes-Rodriguez got certain things quite wrong on Mormons:

a) they did not dress up as indians to kill people
b) “Jacob” is not a Lamanite, and not dark skinned
c) Laurent’s dark skin could just be a comparison: the Cullens represent good, and Laurent represents evil

By: Drew Armstrong

Drew Armstrong — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:55:16 +0000

Um, do any of you who are claiming Mrs. Meyer to be a racist have a clue as to what her husbands first name is? Figure it out… Look at the dedications in Twilight… Poor writing means un-enjoyable writing… There are all sorts of styles and if you want to take an american novelist class at an upper division university level you are not going to be reading Fablehaven novels, Levin Thumbs or Harry Potter… these are stories… not “All’s Quiet on the Western Front” and never were intended to be. They are fun… we don’t all go to the movies to watch Oscar nominees only… we go for fun… these were fun. I just read all 4 this past week… Totally fun. (By the way… the first 3 chapters of Twilight were dry and boring… Stephanie herself said she was surprised that it got picked up by her agent after she read the first 3 chapters… It gets better…)

Look… I like Titanic, No Country for Old Men, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Chicago… But I also enjoyed the Simpsons Movie… who doesn’t like spider pigs? This is fun… it is not designed to show up in an American literature class 45 years from now.

By: Kat

Kat — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:30:58 +0000

Stephenie Meyer had a great idea. She is neither a great storyteller or a great writer. I couldn’t get past 50 pages because it was so badly written. I kept telling myself “stick it out” because it has to get good at some point considering all the adulation. Uh uh!

I could see the appeal if I were 12 years old again. I think it’s great that younger people are more inclined to read because of writers like JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer but they’re terrible writers.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:28:45 +0000

1) As much as I love Jacob, Bella fell in love with Edward first and loves him more. She didn’t pick Jacob just he doesn’t have white skin.

2)She named Jacob after her brother.

3) The evil vampire is James, not Laurent. And James is white, not dark skinned.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:03:04 +0000

Stephenie named Jacob after her brother so…..