#I think Bella’s kind of a self-insert but stephenie Meyer is a specific person

[maddie-grove]

I was never really on board with the “Bella is too generic and only functions as a blank slate for the reader to project on” criticism of Twilight, because when I read it as a teen, I specifically couldn’t get into the romance because Edward was so overbearing. Not even the creepy stuff like watching her sleep—I was willing to accept that as part of the heightened setting—but more the scolding and freaking out if she does anything he seems unsafe or imprudent. And the thing is that it totally makes sense why Bella’s into that, because Renée and Charlie both kind of suck in the opposite way. But my own mom tended to err on the side of being overprotective so I was just like “girl, why would you want a guy who thinks you’re too big a baby to go shopping by yourself?”

I’m not saying readers didn’t project on Bella, but. Like. I was in the Sweeney Todd movie fandom. Teen girls were projecting on Mrs. Lovett, a middle-aged Victorian woman who bakes corpses into pies. All because she had a Hot Topic-ish wardrobe and liked a guy who didn’t like her back.

#twilight #I think Bella’s kind of a self-insert but stephenie Meyer is a specific person