Bill Condon, the director of the latest installment in the Twilight series, was interviewed by io9 writer Charlie Jane Anders, and in said interview he claims that his movie is very "female" for a variety of reasons.
Mixing "horror" and "romance," according to Condon, results in "female horror." Twilight, as a story, is about "the important markers in a woman's life," and you know, it has a lead female character, so.. it's "female" and for women, I guess. He says Bella is an "incredibly strong female character," and that she is heroic "because she is thinking about sacrificing any kind of sense of safety in the service of something that she thinks of as more important than herself." He thinks Bella's story is "an extraordinary kind of journey for this character who started out in such an ordinary way."
Before you think I'm misquoting or exaggerating or in general being a c**t again, here're the exact quotes:
Quote:
io9: There's a lot of horror that deals with alienation, but not a lot of horror that deals with romance as its main subject - what's it like mashing up horror and romance?
BC: It's so interesting. Another way of saying that, is that it's female horror, you know? [Twilight] concerns itself with important markers in a woman's life, and the woman is the central character. It's through her point of view that we experience things. It gets more inside the ideas, like the horror of what's growing inside you. That's also connected to your lover growing inside you. The horror of being invaded, along with your desire to be invaded. You know, all those issues sort of swirl around this film franchise.
Is Breaking Dawn a feminist narrative? Is Bella a role model for women?
I don't know about "role model." But I do think she's an incredibly strong female character, who has a sense of what she wants, and what's right, and goes after it. I find her extremely heroic in this movie, because she is thinking about sacrificing any kind of sense of safety in the service of something that she thinks of as more important than herself. But that's just the physical thing she goes through. And then in the second part of it, when she turns into a fierce kind of warrior vampire goddess. It's an extraordinary kind of journey for this character who started out in such an ordinary way.
What's neat is that the interviewer, Charlie Jane, has zero opinion on anything he says. She's clearly a huge fan of the series and has read the books (she asks in-depth questions about imprinting and stuff) but she offers zero insight into what her own thoughts are or what she thinks of Condon's answers. Perhaps io9's general policy for interviews is not to make too big and splashy a deal of it; just cut and paste the questions and answers. That's possible. It is also possible that Charlie Jane agrees with Condon completely (she is a fan of the series, as I said, so it is unlikely that she thinks Bella sucks). I have no idea. But what I do know is that there is no comment offered by anyone on his statements within the article itself. (I also think it's a really lazy way to post an interview; you don't have to write anything. You just copy 'n' paste. End of article.
I, on the other hand, am chock full of opinion. And I think that there's some insulting insinuations behind Condon's answers.
First of all, mixing actual, real horror with romance results in "female horror." No. There is no such thing as "male" or "female" horror. There is "horror" and various themes within the individual horror films can appeal to either men or women or both in various ways for any number of different reasons. I have seen films that appealed to my femininity and personal life experience that I would call "feminist" horror, that explored gender and sexuality not only from a white, male perspective but from multiple perspectives. None of these films were about "romance." There's nothing wrong with mixing romance and horror - just when you do, please don't call it "women's horror." Because it's not. The stories do not frighten adult women on any level - they show adolescent girls the importance of having a boyfriend (to paraphrase Stephen King, who got it right).
And while we're at it, since when is getting married immediately out of high school and getting pregnant when you're not emotionally or mentally ready to be a mother characterize "the important markers in a woman's life?" The important marker's in a MAN's life do not include getting married and having children, apparently. These are what marks a woman's life; not discovering her sexuality (does Bella even get a chance to do that?) or finding a life's purpose or career or solving the riddle of her own identity or exploring the world - NO. A woman's life consists of finding a boyfriend when she's 17 and then MARRYING him as fast as possible so she can have a baby.
Don't snap at me. That's what the director's statement implies. Did he mean it to sound that way? Probably not. He's a dude, and he just thinks that if you're talking about stuff in chicks' lives, the important stuff is probably, like, babies and boyfriends, right? He doesn't know. He's just a dude.
I'm appalled that he calls Bella an "incredibly strong female character." Not because Bella can't be strong simply because she's in a romantic story. Bella may very well BE strong. I think that's okay. I'm irked that Condon says she's strong NOT because she faces off with vampires and wins, or because she seeks out an innovative, interesting life despite her father's fears, but that she is heroic "because she is thinking about sacrificing any kind of sense of safety in the service of something that she thinks of as more important than herself." Yet again, we have a female character who must put an end to her own desires, dreams, and safety so she can better serve her man and his baby. Now she's a baby machine. Just like Stephanie Meyer was before she started writing this shit.
He thinks Bella's character "started out in such an ordinary way" and now her life is "extraordinary." I think, on the surface, that may seem like the way it is. But maybe we can read Bella's narrative in a healthier, less sexist way, too. Maybe Bella wasn't so damn ordinary before she met her man. Maybe Bella was a young woman with hopes and dreams starting out in a new town having to forge her own destiny. That's not ordinary. Having a boyfriend and getting pregnant didn't make her "extraordinary," like he seems to imply. It made her ordinary. Even though she's surrounded by vampires and werewolves and men who would fight to the death to be near her, Bella ends up just like you, and me, and all the other normal women in the world: married and pregnant, with no career (just kidding, I'm not pregnant). I'm not sure what her "journey" is except the journey of rushing into marriage with an abusive guy who knocks you up asap, then almost dying because the pregnancy is tough and you're barely 17. Yeah, real heroic.
Maybe I'm a lesbian feminazi, but I just don't see anything about the Twilight movies as feminist, or as specifically about women. I think they are FOR women, because the media (Condon) sees women as creatures who like romances about having babies and boyfriends and all the exciting vampire and action shit is secondary, so that's what they create FOR women. But these are not stories ABOUT women. Bella is a character completely controlled by the men around her, and her destiny is intertwined with theirs irrevocably.
Make stupid teenage paranormal romance movies like Twilight and make as much money as possible, but please don't say you're making "women's horror" when you're not. Stop stereotyping and blaming women for this horrible series that makes me want to shoot myself in the eyeballs repeatedly. Blame the people who deserve it: Stephanie Meyer. But don't blame me. I don't want to watch this shit.
), but The Expendables sucked. All those action stars, and we get a script that wouldn't be greenlit back in the 80s. If that's the best action film the genre has to offer, then I'm glad I'm a horror fan. 
"Makes me want to shoot myself in the eyeballs repeatedly."
Thanks for that vision. Made me laugh quite a bit.
Zak Willis from West Philly