I couldn't disagree more.
I’ll just warn you now that this is going to be a bit of a rant, which I reserve the right to do on my own blog. Here’s the thing… I see a lot of these memes on Facebook about Bella vs. Katniss, how the former is a terrible role model for young women, and the latter is what we should all strive to be.
Well, I disagree. I have nothing against Katniss, or kickass females in literature, quite the opposite. I love them! One of my favorite characters in my own Forbidden Trilogy is Lucy—also a fan favorite—because she’s strong and kickass and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Love it!
But here’s the thing. There are many kinds of strength in the world, and killing food (or people) with a bow and arrow isn’t the only kind. It concerns me that in this post-feminist wave to empower girls to be strong, independent women, we are devaluing other qualities that also carry their own kind of strength.
But first, let’s talk about the fact that this is fiction. That means it’s not real. These people aren’t real, their stories aren’t real. I hate to break it to the weeping fans who have gone viral with Youtube videos, but Bella and Edward didn’t break up. The actors who played them broke up. They are not their parts.
Sure, if you take the romance out of the Romance, you won't have much. Duh!
Now that we’re clear on that, let’s talk about this image. Yes, if you took out the love triangle in Twilight, you would have been left with a book about a girl who moves to a rainy town. Know why? Because the series was A ROMANCE. So, yeah, if you take the romance out of the romance, then you’re not left with much. Duh.
The Hunger Games was never billed as a romance, and as far as romances went, it kinda sucked. I never liked Peeta, and her choice at the end of the series was less than epic—especially given the pragmatic way in which she made the choice. Not a romance, people. So the story is inherently going to be about other things, with romance on the side, thank you very much.
Twilight was a romance, with a teeny tiny bit of adventure on the side. Sure, you may think that romance sucked too, and you’re totally entitled to your opinion, but to say that it sucked because the story was about the romance, is kind of like saying you really hate the chicken dinner because it had chicken. Um, okay, next time order something different. You know, something without chicken. Or maybe something with chicken on the side.
So, because of this inherent difference in a romance and a dystopian adventure, you’re not going to have the same kind of female lead. Sure, Katniss is badass. She kills dinner and can probably cook it. She takes on an empire of baddies and survives a hero. Awesome. Love it. We need more girls like her in our literature.
But why does Bella have to be villianized to make Katniss a great hero for girls? People say she’s weak, she’s boy obsessed, she’s boring, she’s dating a pedophile. Whatever.
**On a totally side rant to the main rant… Edward is not a pedophile, and not just because he looks 18 (which he doesn’t, let’s be honest.). No, he’s not a pedophile because A: He’s a FREAKING VAMPIRE! I find it so ironic and bizarre when people try to hold NOT REAL, MYTHOLOGICAL beings to human standards. And not just human standards, but distinctly western morals. Hell, in some places, the age of consent is 17 and even 15, so no pedophilia there. So, mostly US morals.
But B: He’s not a pedophile because a pedophile is someone who is sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. Get it? We can arbitrarily assign a random age that says “poof, you’re an adult and can consent to stuff,” but notice it’s arbitrary? Different countries and even different states have different ages. It means nothing. Biology rules, and throughout history puberty has been the deciding factor for that stuff. I’d say Bella satisfies any criteria for this being a mutually consenting relationship. Plus, they didn’t even have sex until marriage, so come on people… **
Okay, mini side rant over, let’s get back to the main issues. I’m not going to debate the writing quality or story or plot quality of the books. I’m just looking at these two girls, which I’ve already shown is still not a fair comparison since by the nature of them being fiction, they are bound by the tropes of their genre.
But let’s look at Bella. Why is she getting a bad rap? Here’s how I see her.
1. She’s courageous. Bella risks her life time and again for the people she loves, not just her boyfriend, but her father, her mother, Jacob, Edward and his whole family. She’s not physically strong, but let’s face it, who among us would stand a chance against super strong super fast vampires? None of us are Buffy (as much as I would totally love to be!). Bella was ordinary, like most of us, and she had no chance against those characters. But she did have courage, and she was willing to die for those she loved, without hesitancy.
2. She’s caring. Bella is criticized because she cooked and cleaned for her dad. She’s too domestic, not at all in line with the modern feminists idea of strength. But why is this bad? She knows how to care for her family. She wants to be a wife and a mother. I’m not saying women should be forced to be those things, or that they should be deprived of an education or career, but shouldn’t the freedom to choose also allow for the freedom to make the choices Bella made? Is it so bad that she found happiness in caring for her family in that way?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not little miss housewife. My husband and I both care for our kids and house, and he probably does more during times when I’m working more. I can’t make elaborate dinners from scratch, and when I first read Twlight it seemed absurd that she did all that stuff. But I talked to my best friend, who often had to cook and clean for her whole family growing up, and I realized not everyone was raised on boxed mac and cheese. Go figure.
So again, why are these qualities signs of weakness? It seems to me that being in a loving relationship with someone, and having a supportive family, and enjoying that, is a lot healthier than running off with a bow and arrow to fight other teens to the death for sport. Given the choice, I’d take the happy family, wouldn’t you?
3. She understands love and loss. Okay, I know a lot of you think her response to Edward leaving was weak and pathetic and <insert a bunch of insults here.> But, I gotta say, that would be me if Dmytry left. I mean, I have kids, so I’d pull it together, but if I didn’t, and the entire life and entire family I fit in with and loved disappeared… if the man I loved and my best friend and a life so extraordinary it was beyond real… if it all went away, I’d be curled up in a ball for awhile too. It would take some time to pull it back together. If you’ve ever loved like that, felt that deeply, then you know… it’s not something you can snap back from. When Dmytry and I were apart, it tore me to pieces sometime. And this was a romance. It was about the love. But even when she didn’t think she was good enough for him, she still risked everything to save him, because that’s the kind of person she was. Is that really so bad?
4. She’s smart. I don’t think she’s given enough credit for this. She reads British classics for fun (and that was before it was all the rage) and she did well in science. School wasn’t the focus (remember, romance?) but we see enough about her to know that she was smart. She was level headed and grounded. She got her work done and read and studied and still helped with the cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping. She may not have had big plans for her future, for what she wanted to be when she grew up, but then, neither did Katniss. But she had a good head on her shoulders and she did well in school.
5. Her love endured. Even after Edward left, even after she thought it was over because she wasn’t good enough, her love endured. She was honest with Jacob and she was never wishy washy. She made it clear from day one that if ever given the chance, it would be Edward. She showed that you can love deeply, and she did. She deeply loved everyone in her life, her parents and Jacob and Edward and his family. And in the end, her daughter. She gave of herself entirely to her love and never let it go.
Family first. That's not a bad thing.
That last quality is what does it for me. It’s what makes her so strong. Nothing could break her, even when she was dying. Even when she couldn’t fight the big bad guys. She stayed true to the people she loved. I think that’s a pretty amazing quality. Also, once she was a vampire and actually had a fighting chance to… well… fight, she did. She protected everyone from the Volturi. She was the hero. No one ever talks about that.
Katniss was up against humans. Bella was a human up against immortal super beings. She wasn’t a super hero, at least not until the end, but she embodied a lot of qualities that made her a hero in my eyes.
This doesn’t take anything from Katniss. She had her own strengths and struggles. They live in different worlds, in different genres, and so the kind of role model they become is very different, but I think there are worse role models for young women then Bella Swan. Several pop stars and reality television stars come to mind.
Do I think all girls should act like they live in a paranormal romance and spend their lives searching for a sparkly soul mate? No. But do I think that intelligence, loyalty, courage and steadfast love are admirable traits that anyone would do well to cultivate? Why yes, yes I do.
What about you? Are you #TeamBella or #TeamKatniss? Or, like me, do you see value in both, for different reasons?
Also, while you’re here, take a minute to enter my September giveaway for some fun books and swag. Oh, and you get some kickass heroines in my books, don’t worry! (They’re action/adventures with romance on the side.)
If I’m honest I would be Team Bella, not because I think she’s better than Katniss, because the two are completely different, but because I identify with her love for Edward. My husband is my best friend and I honestly dont know what I would do if he left me. My heart aches just thinking about it now.
I have read and loved both Twilight and The Hunger Games and enjoyed both. Both books are different, for different reasons, they are different genres and as such should NOT be compared.
Shona,
I too enjoyed both series for different reasons, and I too have that kind of love with my husband, so I relate to that. I can identify with doing anything to save my husband and children. But I loved Katniss and Hunger Games too. For me it’s not about making one better than the other, I think that whole way of looking at it is short sighted. There are so many ways to be strong. In my Forbidden Trilogy Sam and Lucy are best friends and each girl is so different, but they are strong in their own ways.
This is a great entry! I agree completely!
Bella and Katniss are from two different worlds, and they shouldn’t be compared. Bella has the most admirable qualities, in my opinion, because she faces danger even when se knows she can’t win. She’s up against immortals, and she knows this. Still she’s courageous and cares for others more than she cares for herself, and I wish more people in our world were like that. She not weak. I see a lot of myself in her, which is why I love the series so much. She’s shy, ordinary, good in school, and cares for her family over everything else. That’s basically me. And I would also curl into a ball for a while if my boyfriend left me, because I love him more than anything. He’s the building block upon which I have built my life for the past two years, and if he disappeared, I’d have to uproot my entire life. That’s not something you let go anytime soon.
Of course, Katniss is a cool feisty heroine, but to say her qualities are superior to Bella’s – especially in our ordinary world where we don’t do bow and arrows and where such skills are not necessary – is stupid and narrow-minded.
So keep it up! It’s great to see that someone defends Bella, for once, and that it’s not just me!
I think that kind of love is what made this series so famous. People either relate to it, or they want it. I agree totally. My husband and I are co-writing a romance launching in January, called Sunrise & Nightfall. Danika isn’t so much the feisty can kill people heroine, she has a quieter strength, but in that strength she saves the man she loves. There’s a lot of beauty in that kind of inner strength and steadfast love.
Really enjoyed your post and definitely agree. I enjoyed both series immensely and liked both heroines. Another difference: Katniss lives in a world that turns the safety of childhood into a luxury most don’t have and forces her to be badass to survive. Bella lives in the real-ish world where teens can be normal teens. Not sure we should hold that against Bella. Also, I never thought it was just losing Edward that sent her into that tailspin in New Moon – the one people point at to say she fell apart over a boy. To me, part of her turmoil was also that she’d been introduced to a whole mythological world that was taken away when he left, a world no one else knew existed, a world she could never tell anyone about (without risking a quick trip to the psych ward), a world in which she felt she fit in for the first time. What she lost was bigger than just a boy, and she didn’t have a soul in the world she could share any of that loss with. Imagine losing the love of your life AND not being able to explain the full significance of the loss.
Really enjoyed your post!
Exactly! And her best friend was included in this. She lost everything. Who wouldn’t be devastated by that?
Kimberly — THANK YOU!
This is quite literally the blog post that I’ve been meaning to write for a year and haven’t quite gotten around to. Now I don’t have to! You’ve said what I’ve been thinking, and you said it oh so well.
I get tired of the Bella-bashing, as though the only female worth looking up to is one that can shoot a bow and arrow. Katniss is courageous, and she’s physically and mentally strong. Those are great qualities. But they’re not the only great ones.
What’s worse, I fear that young girls who are nothing like Katniss (I myself was quiet, bookish and clumsy) will hear all this “Bella’s lame/Katniss rocks” hype and think they’re “unworthy.” I’m glad that there are people like you who understand there are many versions of “girl power.”
Thanks for your eloquent post!
That was the point I wanted to make, that there are many ways to be empowered and strong, and badass fighting is just one of them (and quite honestly, not the one most of us need in this world.) I’m so glad you could relate!
I agree completely that there is more than one way to be a strong female role model. (I just don’t see any of the ways of being a strong role model in the character of Bella.)
There is strength in nurturing and strength in loving, just as there is strength in learning and fighting skills and physical strength.
I guess that’s where we agree to disagree about poor Bella, hey? 🙂
This is a fantastic post! I too, see value in both, and honestly, I think Bella gets maligned more from Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of her than from the books. (And that has to do with the screenplays and directorial choices as well) I really like what you had to say here.
Thanks! I liked them both too.
I loved this post! I actually liked Twilight and Bella. I agree, she lost more than Edward in New Moon. She lost a whole family that she loved. She lost Alice, her best friend. She lost a whole world that for a moment, she actually felt like she fit into. And, she wanted to be with Edward the rest of her life, those were her plans. She wanted to be turned so she could be with him, so she lost the whole future she dreamed of. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a wife and mother. Being a mother is harder than any ‘real’ job out there. If you never want to marry or have kids, more power to you, but don’t degrade someone else just because they have different dreams. Now, maybe if you know she decided her biggest dream was to be a bum under a bridge, then I can see where there are issues. But wife, mother? There is nothing wrong with that. And lets face it, as a vampire, she has all eternity to decide if she wants to get a degree and work somewhere for a while.
People can say that wanting to be with someone when you are young like that is weak and whatever. But I can identify with it. I married my husband when I was still 16 and he was barely 18. No, I was not pregnant, we were just in love. We will have our 18th anniversary at the end of this month and still act like newlyweds most of the time. So love like that can happen. My husband is my best friend, he is the other half that makes me whole. If something happened to him, part of me would die. We have children now, so I would have to hold it together for them, but at night, when I would be alone, you can bet your boots I would be curling up in a ball and crying my eyes out.
Also, for those who think he was a pedophile. The vampire children had to be destroyed because they never matured beyond whatever age they were turned. A turned three year old remained a three year old both physically and mentally, no matter how much time passed. So Edward may have been a hundred years old, but in reality, he was still 18.
I love to hear about love stories like you and your husband. That makes my heart happy! And I agree with you, age is irrelevant. Sometimes love happens that way. My husband and I are that way and we are deeply in love, best friends and forever partners. Thanks for coming by and sharing!
Sometimes, I think there is more beauty in the quiet strength and steadfast love than there is in the in your face, kickass type strength.
I couldn’t agree more. That’s the kind of strength we need more of in the world.
I have to thank my friend Laura up there for linking this. Excellent read. I’m an avid reader of YA and I loved both Bella and Katniss, for entirely different reasons. But I loved Bella first. And yes, something about their love resonated. Like several of you, I have that kind of love for my husband of nearly 15 years (20 together). He was in the hospital overnight recently (gallbladder attack that they first thought was heart, THEY, not us) and that one night I had to spend at home without him really stunk. It didn’t feel right and I didn’t like it one bit.
I hate when I see all the Bella-bashing. If Bella were in Divergent, she’d be Abnegation, she’s selfless almost to a fault, for those she loves. She is so fiercely loyal to those she loves. The world could use more people like her, IMO.
Thank you for coming by, Stephanie! I’m glad you found the blog. And I agree, her qualities are to be admired. Also, I just love that so many people identify with the love, and that you have that kind of marriage too. 🙂 xo
I’d offer this perspective(which I acknowledge is not going to win me friends but so be it): neither one of them is a good role model for young women.
And here’s why. Neither one of them is the agent of their own story or actions. Both Bella and Katniss are tabla rasa characters–they allow readers to not so much identify with the character and their experience but to imprint qualities tof the characters they (the reader) find attractive (or wish they possessed) onto the character/character’s experience. Genre-withing-genre aside, neither one of these characters is *truly* an active character. All of the criticism leveled against Bella, may also be leveled against Katniss. Ditto to all the praise: both are spurred to act by love for family friends (Katniss volunteers to protect her sister, and then later Peeta), both are caring (remember Rue?), both understand loss, and both are intelligent just in different ways (book learning vs. survival/adaptability–quantifying one kind of intelligence over the other seems a bit trite to me). Acumen with a bow and arrow makes Katniss no less strong or weak than Bella’s transformation into a vampire. Neither one of these characters makes a decision for herself: Bella “turns” because she is dying; Katniss fights because she’s told she has no other option.
I agree that both characters have those qualities, I defended Bella because she’s the one who is attacked the most, but Katniss also had those attributes. Bella chose to turn long before she was dying. It was planned, an active choice on her part, one made as part of her life plan. When she got pregnant, she chose to wait, to have her baby, knowing it could kill her. But I would disagree that she wasn’t an agent of her own story. She planned to turn with or without Edward’s help, and actively wanted to be a vampire in order to protect her family from threat and to spend her life with her new family.
In every story, there is an inciting incident, a call to action that propels a character from the status quo of life and into whatever challenge and adventure awaits. I don’t think that makes either of these young women bad role models, that they had this call to action.
So while we may disagree a bit on this, I do appreciate you coming by and offering your perspective! It’s always fun to have other points of view expressed intelligently, as you have done. 🙂
Katniss makes lots of small decisions in her own way of rebelling against what has been thrust on her. How can her decision to shoot her arrow at the new (formerly rebel) leader be anything but a decisions she makes on her own?
True. But she wasn’t always an active hero in this cause, she was pulled into it rather reluctantly, which doesn’t make her bad. I just don’t think Bella is either, even if she’s not as skilled physically until she’s turned.
I totally agree with this post, I always loved the Twilight series, books more than movies, but loved them too. I also liked the movie Hunger Games, and I have not read the books yet, but I didn’t see much of a love triangle in Hunger games (movie) I didn’t really care for Peeta much, liked the guy back home (hot! of course being Liam Hemsworth helps) But I agree on that there should not be any comparisons. I love Twilight and am not ashamed to say I read the entire series at least 8 times, I have never done that with any other books, did read Harry Potter a few, but mostly re-read before each movie, lol. Anyway, I see so many that used to be fans of Twilight, become haters, and I do not understand it. Most even admit that Twilight is what started them on paranormal books. It did me, I mean I did read a few, mainly the Night Huntress series, and that’s about it at that time. Now its all I read, the Paranormal, I just like the extra that it brings to a good story.
I do like some dystopian’s like Hunger Games as well, but it all started with the romance of Bella and Edward. I mean, Hunger Games (Movie anyway) it seemed more of a one-sided romance (he liked her more I think), she played along to help out their cause, to make it to the end, and live.
I will read those books soon as I get caught up in tour books, but from the movie, that’s how it played out to me.
SO great post, and I am like you, see value in both characters, and really hate seeing the Team anything to tell the truth, not everything is a competition.
It is odd, isn’t it? I too have seen a lot of people who used to love Twilight now become haters, and I’m not sure what that’s about. It’s like it’s trendy to hate on the books now that they’re super famous. I don’t get it. Anyways, thanks so much for your comment! 😉
I am sorry but I would have to disagree on certain points from this article (I personally am not a fan of twilight, for different reasons, but this is not an attack). To begin with I will talk about the age of readers of twilight. Like it or not twilight’s most common readers are from 12 to 15 years old (Yes I have met many 12 year old girls and younger reading this book). Unfortunately this poses a problem, you see this group are children who are often easily influenced by literature. I personally think that teaching a child that you need a man in order to be happy is not a good lesson. I understand what you are saying about how it feels to really love someone, but the twilight series, in particular new moon, teaches that when you lose the person you love it is okay to completely destroy your life by, distancing yourself from friends and family, and participating in risky activities. Any relationship that a 15 year old girl has, is most likely not going to stay for long, but this series teaches these children to expect their romance to last forever and also that they have no life without their boyfriend. I think it is alright to show Bella going through a realistic grieving process, as long as after she pulls herself together with the help of friends and family and gets over Edward. While I am not a big grey’s fan, I always refer to this sort of concept when having this discussion. In Grey’s Anatomy when Meredith finds out the Derek was really married she falls apart for a bit, but she stands on her own two feet and puts on a fake smile and tries to move forward. This is the sort of character that children need to see more of.
I am sorry but there is no way that Bella is a good character influence on growing children.
I have to admit that I am not a Bella fan. It might partly be because we were going through some issues with a certain teenage daughter at the time the books came out, but it’s the way I feel.
She was willing and eager to become something inhuman, despite the fact that she thought that in order to do this, she would have to essentially run away from home and let her family think she was dead. In the end that didn’t happen, but she didn’t know that at the time she was pleading to become a vampire. She states that she thinks college is a waste of time. She doesn’t show much interest or caring for the feelings of her friends throughout the book. She focuses solely on her love-interest to the detriment of the rest of her life. When he leaves, she loses herself completely and becomes like a zombie for months, and then develops what is essentially a death-wish. She has very little respect for her parents. Her happiness and well-being exist solely as a result of being with her boyfriend. She even thinks him sneaking into her room to watch her sleep is romantic, when most boys would be in trouble with the law for doing such a thing.
She may have had some good qualities, but they are by far overshadowed by the rest of what occurs in the book and by the traits and values she evinces in most of the book.
Just my opinion though. 🙂